Fulham pass up opportunity to punish lack of Palace ambition
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With Roy Hodgson content to steadily edge Crystal Palace towards Premier League safety, this point earned is another feather in their pragmatic manager’s cap on his 150th game at the helm. For their increasingly dissatisfied fans it is a rather different story.
This was the second successive game in which Palace have been outplayed and the four points they unexpectedly have to show from those matches will do little to placate their disgruntled supporters. Does continued Premier League survival – which Hodgson looks likely to deliver again – override all semblance of ambition?
Given Palace’s lack of effort to win, this must go down as a missed opportunity for Fulham, but it serves as further proof that Scott Parker is capable of keeping his side in the top flight after extending their unbeaten run to five matches to move three points behind 17thplaced Newcastle United.
Parker counted his side unlucky not to have taken all three points with Josh Maja twice going close, including being denied by a stunning Vicente Guaita save from a point-blank header, after the hour mark, and Ruben Loftus-cheek hammering a sweet half-volley inches wide minutes later.
“In terms of the opportunities we created, we fully deserved to win,” said Parker. “I believe in this team. They believe as well. I believe we can beat clubs and go into Thursday’s game [against Tottenham] trying to win.”
Hodgson had made no apologies for the manner of his side’s unlikely victory at Brighton – where they had just three shots – and insisted he had not set his side out to be so passive, in the absence of injured creator Wilfried Zaha.
“Our ambition was to attack and to create lots of goal chances,” he said. “But you have to play the game that’s out there. I’ve got to be happy that in a game where we didn’t create enough chances, that we did enough defensively to draw the game.”
With Hodgson’s contract up at the end of the season, there is a large section of the Palace fan base unable to stomach much more of this drab football but, with a 10-point cushion to the relegation zone, safety looms again for Palace. Fulham, meanwhile, have reason to believe they can join them.
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hnewcastle sweat over extent of injuries to Saint-maximin and Almiron that could deprive struggling side of creativity
Worst-case scenario
Newcastle are likely to know the extent of Miguel Almiron’s knee injury today, but it does not look good for the Paraguay international, who fears he has suffered significant damage to his ligaments. If that is the case, he will be sidelined for eight to 10 weeks and will miss a huge chunk of the most important stage of the season.
Allan Saint-maximin was taken off with a groin problem, having regularly opened up the Wolves defence. His injury is thought to be less serious, but means he is highly unlikely to play against West Bromwich Albion on Sunday in a game Newcastle must win.
When Newcastle lost his counterattacking threat, Wolves took charge of the game and pinned them back in their own half, which led to their equaliser and required some valiant defending and goalkeeping to hold on for a point.
Make no mistake, without Almiron, Saint-maximin and Callum Wilson, who is still five-to-six weeks away from a return with a hamstring tear, Newcastle look like a side who are destined for relegation. No team in the Premier League can cope with the loss of their three best attacking players at the same time. Newcastle and Bruce have a huge problem if the worst-case scenario unfolds. He will probably lose his job and the club will be heading back into the Championship.
Middle-case scenario
Newcastle do have players to come in and injuries are part and parcel of football. They cannot start to feel sorry for themselves and have enough quality to muddle through, possibly setting up a must-win last game of the season at Fulham.
Much will depend on Arsenal loanee Joe Willock, who has impressed since arriving in January, Ryan Fraser, who looked sharp and bright when he went on against Wolves, and £40million misfit Joelinton.
Fraser’s impact since he arrived from Bournemouth has been minuscule, largely due to injury problems, but he created Newcastle’s goal against Wolves with a lovely cross and is the sort of player who could provide ammunition for Andy Carroll or Dwight Gayle in attack.
Willock missed a big chance against Wolves, but has vastly improved Newcastle’s midfield with his box-to-box energy.
As for Joelinton, most fans have given up on the Brazilian coming good. He has scored only three Premier League goals since arriving
Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl is urging a change in the club’s transfer strategy after their season has become derailed by a spate of injuries.
Having started the season strongly, even briefly leading the Premier League table in November, a sequence of seven defeats and one draw in the past eight league games has left the club 14th ahead of their match at Everton tonight.
Their latest major injury blow came last week when Oriol Romeu, their main holding midfielder, was ruled out until the end of the season with an ankle fracture. Hasenhuttl said the club’s policy, which supplements a relatively small first-team squad with emerging talents from the academy, was not enough to compete for a leading league position over a full season.
“It is the time to see realities,” he said. “You cannot make from every young player a Premier League player. We want to be more successful. This is only possible if we have a bigger squad and better players in the width of the squad. This is the goal for the future, otherwise you never make a step forward.”