Schlupp finds an immediate rapport with Van Aanholt
CRYSTAL Palace’s Jeffrey Schlupp paid tribute to his “understanding” with Patrick van Aanholt after scoring his first goal for the club in Saturday’s 2-0 victory at Fulham.
Schlupp’s fine finish gave Palace a half-time lead, before Wilfried Zaha later secured all three points at Craven Cottage, after being put through by Van Aanholt’s fine through-ball.
The latter was also denied a similarly good goal when his first half finish was ruled out for offside, but he showed consistent signs of developing a promising partnership with Schlupp on the left wing.
They had been expected to remain rivals to be the club’s first-choice left back, but Roy Hodgson has instead retained the Dutchman there and started Schlupp in front of him on the left wing.
Their combination will potentially provide greater width after the loss back to Chelsea of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and Schlupp said: “Patrick and I have a great understanding down that lefthand side.
“The moment he got the ball there was a bit of eye contact for me to show him where I wanted the pass and he played it perfectly and I just had to concentrate on hitting the target, it went in so I am happy.
“You could see how much it meant to me with the celebration, I have waited a long time and enjoyed that one.”
Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic added of Palace’s goals: “Schlupp turned really quickly and smashed it in. For the second goal, we made a few mistakes and they finished the action and killed the game.”
He gave full debuts to six summer signings, including deadline-day arrival Joe Bryan, who later went off with an injury, and he said of his new left back: “He has an ankle problem. He couldn’t finish the game.
“I used Joe, who has been with us for only one day. I take all the responsibility. Bryan did a great job for us and will be a great addition to the team.”