Eze does it
HODGSON HAILS HIS GOAL HERO
HAPPY HOUR: Eberechi Eze breaks the deadlock in the 60th minute
ROY HODGSON’S return to Eze street sent his opposite number Nuno Espirito Santo spiralling into his worst period as Wolves boss.
Eberechi Eze’s 60th-minute strike ended a miserable run of just one win in 10 games for Crystal Palace.
It also lit up a game which had done little to warm the soul on a miserable afternoon.
Eze showed a deft touch on the edge of the area before powering a left-foot shot past Rui Patricio.
Hodgson said: “He’s a good player and is doing very well. I don’t think he will be a tap-in man.
“The goals he gets will be up there for goals of the month. He scores very good goals. The important thing is the goals he has got is a very good return for a midfield player.”
While the goal brought joy for Hodgson, it extended Nuno’s pain to one win in 10 games.
The loss of leading scorer Raul Jimenez has been a massive setback with Wolves picking up just six points since he suffered a horrific head injury at Arsenal in mid-December.
But Nuno’s side looked a shadow of the one that spent the summer in Germany playing a Europa League quarter-final.
And the shrewd Portuguese boss was scathing of his side’s display. He said: “It was not one of the best performances. We came with the expectation to try and improve to build on our momentum.
“We lacked creativity and speed in our possession and circulation. We lacked passes to break the lines of Palace. We didn’t do it. We have a lot of concerns – creativity, speed and breaking the lines – we should do better.”
For 45 minutes this was the sort of game pools panels were invented for.
There was nothing to separate these two sides coming into the game, in points or form.
It showed in a mostly incident-free first half sound-tracked by the barked instructions of Wolves skipper Conor Coady.
It was not until the final minutes of the first half that Palace got in behind his well-drilled troops.
Ki-Jana Hoever was caught ball watching as Patrick van Aanholt ran in behind him and the left-back’s pull-back fell to Clyne, whose shot was deflected into the path of
Batshuayi, who hooked the ball over from six yards. Wolves showed little in goal threat at the other end until new boy Willian Jose came alive in the 56th minute with a sharp swivel volley which forced Vicente Guaita into the first save of the game.
All of a sudden the spaces for players to run into began to open up.
Clyne sped down the right and the ball was transferred inside from Andre Ayew to Eze, who with the drop of the right shoulder opened up the chance to switch his balance to his left and drill a shot from the edge of the box past Patricio.
Wilfried Zaha should have wrapped the points up at the end of a break.
After racing the full length of the pitch aided by Batshuayi, the Palace talisman cut inside Coady and rattled a left-foot shot against the bar.
Jose had a golden chance to level with a free header from a corner but Guaita reacted brilliantly to keep the ball out.
CRYSTAL PALACE: Guaita 6; Clyne 7 (Ward 85th), Dann 6, Kouyate 6, Van Aanholt 6; Milivojevic 6, McCarthy 6 (Riedewald (46th) 6); Zaha 6, Eze 7, Ayew
7; Batshuayi 6 (Townsend 81st)
WOLVES: Patricio 6; Boly 6, Coady 7, Kilman 6; Hoever (Traore (63rd) 6), Dendoncker 6, Moutinho
5 (Silva 78th), Semedo 6; Podence 6 (Vitinha 68th), Jose 6, Neto 7
STAR MAN: Eberechi Eze
REF: S Hooper
Crystal Palace’s next game: Newcastle, Tues (a)
Wolves’ next game: Arsenal, Tues (h)