Rodriguez gives Pochettino a leg-up after Palace blunder

THIS was not the Crystal Palace we have come to know under Tony Pulis. Since the start of January only Liverpool and Arsenal have collected more points at home.

But for once Palace were bereft of ideas and lacking in their usual intensity. Only in the opening 15 minutes of the second half did they threaten.

The only goal of a less than entertaining game could have been avoided. Jason Puncheon’s defensive headed pass was woefully short and when goalkeeper Julian Speroni rushed out to try to block Jay Rodriquez, the rebound went the way of the Southampton man. From a prone position he stuck out a leg to steer the ball into an empty net.

Overall Saints, playing with the freedom of a team under no pressure, deserved to maintain their unbeaten Premier League record against Palace. With all four of their England squad members from midweek starting, they had the one key attribute that was missing from Palace’s play: quality on the ball. This was their sixth away win and they have now surpassed their 41 points from last season.

At times yesterday they resorted to niggly fouls and might have been down to 10 men when Howard Webb pulled out yellow instead of red to punish Dejan Lovren for going in late and hard on Yannick Bolasie. But that was down to frustration at not being able to turn their superior possession into more than one goal, although Ricky Lambert went close to a second when he hit a post.

‘We’ve got a good balance and are showing the potential we have for the future,’ said manager Mauricio Pochettino, who has been at St. Mary’s for 14 months.

‘The goal showed how brave Jay is and what technique he has. He fully deserved his England call- up, even though he didn’t play. To my mind, he’s has the talent and skill to go to Brazil.”

With top-scorer Marouane Chamakh sidelined with injury, Palace played Glenn Murray up front but last season’s 30-goal hero hardly had a sniff.

Very much still in a dogfight, Pulis’s team have back-to-back away games in the north-east and he won’t need reminding he has never been relegated as a manager.

‘The disappointment today is that we didn’t create anywhere near enough chances,’ he said. ‘We got in over 20 crosses but in tough, tight games you need a break and we never got one. But Rodriquez showed great appetite and energy for his goal. Maybe we just needed to relax more.’