Team Focus: Palace Playing to Strengths Out Wide to Great Effect

There is something engagingly simple, almost old-fashioned about Crystal Palace’s style of play. They sit two players in front of the back four, and have tremendous pace on the flanks. In three of their four league games this season, they’ve played with three of their four wide men – Yannick Bolasie, Jason Puncheon, Wilfried Zaha and Bakary Sako – as a sort of rotating cast, one going through the middle and two attacking the full-backs. Straightforward as it may be, though, it’s clearly effective.

On Saturday, the suspicion was always that if Palace were going to hurt Chelsea it would be on the flanks. With the right-back Branislav Ivanovic enduring an awful start to the season, apparently unable to turn, it was down the Palace left that they really prospered. Bolasie set up the first for Sako (albeit he wasn’t credited with an assist because Sako’s initial shot was blocked) and then Bolasie and Sako combined to set up the second for Joel Ward.

Bolasie registered four assists for Palace in the league last season and the sense was that he perhaps didn’t deliver quite enough end product. His pass-completion rate was just 71.7% and he delivered only 1.0 accurate cross per 90 minutes out of 5.9 attempted. This season he is crossing far less often – although it is early and he has played at times in the centre – and is finding the target with 0.9 per game out of 3.6. That is, 25% are accurate as opposed to 16.9%. That’s reflected in a generally improved pass completion rate: 82.1% as opposed to 71.7%.

Zaha has also become less wasteful this season. Although he’s yet to register an assist - he managed only two last season – and his cross accuracy has actually gone down, his pass completion rate has gone up from 73.3% to 81.7%. This is a more disciplined Palace, giving the ball away far less often than it did. The directness and energy of last season has been augmented by a greater sense of control.

It’s the less flashy, less heralded Jason Puncheon and the new signing Sako who have been the real threats this season, though. Puncheon has two assists, and has seen improvements both in his pass completion and (just) in his cross accuracy. His dribbles and shots per game have both increased, but the real leap has come in his key passes per game, from 1.8 to 2.3 – again, that’s probably a result of him spending more time in central positions.

Sako, as he proved in his three seasons at Wolves, is quick and a smart finisher. His first two appearances have already brought him two goals and an assist, while his pass completion rate is 88.7%: there’s something remarkable about all four of Palace’s creators, the players who play the riskiest passes, having a pass completion rate of over 80%. Sako is averaging 5.5 shots per game and has been accurate with 1 of every 4.6 crosses he attempts per 90 minutes.

The picture is of a team brimming with self-confidence, with a very clear game plan. Palace actually have the fourth lowest possession of any side in the Premier League – as you’d expect from a direct team (only Leicester have played fewer short passes) – and they’re only 12th in the shots per game table. In terms of shots on target per game, though, they’re joint fourth. Obviously it’s early, but that suggests a team playing to its strengths.

It’s also to be expected that a side that uses the flanks as much as Palace will have fewer shots – and they attack down the middle only 21% of the time, the joint lowest figure in the league with Leicester. The wings are the strength and all four payers who can play there have started the season well.

Just how high up the table could Palace realistically finish this season? Let us know in the comments below