Home / Football / Crystal Palace vs Hull a few quick thoughts
Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace vs Hull a few quick thoughts

  • Hull’s tenure in the Premier League is not a long one as they are sent back to the Championship at the first time of asking
  • And on the evidence of yesterday’s performance you would have to say that they only have themselves to blame
  • Marco Silva’s men had not won away from home since August and they were going to have to end that barren run if they were to take the relegation battle drama to the last day
  • But it must be said that they got off to the worst possible start as they were behind within just three minutes
  • Andros Townsend’s hopeful flick on was miscued by Andrea Ranocchia and that allowed Wilfried Zaha to latch on and score
  • A goal that would settle the nerves of Crystal Palace and that is exactly what they would have wished for in this 6 pointer
  • Hull had failed to have a shot on target in the first 30 minutes as manager Silva looked more and more infuriated on the touchline
  • The mood would not have been helped on 35 minutes when Christian Benteke doubled Palace’s advantage and all but made the Selhurst Park side safe from the drop
  • Zonal marking or lack thereof would once again prove the downfall as the Belgian international was given the freedom of the penalty area to double Palace’s advantage
  • The wind was very much out of Hull’s sails as they look totally abject in South London
  • Two poor performances and completely the wrong time of the season, defeat to Sunderland the week before should have been a huge red flag but the way they went down yesterday with nothing resembling a battle will be the biggest bug bear to the legion of Hull fans that made the journey down to the Capital.
  • At 2-0 they were as good as relegated as they would have to find three goals to overturn the deficit and take matters down to the last day of the season
  • But their plight and their afternoon would get far worse
  • A late collapse for Hull meant that an already party like atmosphere at Selhurst Park would turn into jubilation
  • Sam Allardyce’s men would be three up with just five minutes remaining
  • Luka Milivojevic a signing in the January transfer window scored from the penalty spot to put the game beyond any doubt
  • And Patrick Van Aanholt another January capture would put the icing on the survival cake as he was allowed to surge forward and fire past Eden Jakupovic to complete the rout and send Hull packing to the second tier next season
  • For Allardyce it was job well done as he once again pulled off the great escape
  • The wheels may have taken longer to get into motion but they picked up pace at just the right time to ensure Palace once again feature in the Premier League
  • While for Marco Silva it was a case of oh so nearly
  • His contract is up at the end of the season and he will surely be targeted by other clubs both here and on the continent after the work he has done at Hull
  • He may not have been able to keep them up but he certainly made survival a viable concern for a while, he was just let down by the players at the worst time
  • His stock has risen but as for the players you do wonder how many of them will be picked up by other Premier League outfits in the Summer
  • Will Hull be able to bounce back at the first time of asking, we will have to wait and see until this time next year
  • As for Palace the next step will be to make sure they are not in this situation next season and get themselves higher up the table

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: