Attempting to maintain a status quo is a dangerous game to play in the Premier League. Yet more dangerous is attempting to maintain it after selling off the family silver.
In the 11 months since Wolves last played at Selhurst, Julen Lopetegui has come and gone, while star midfielders in Rúben Neves and Matheus Nunes have been cashed out, among many others, to offset financial concerns.
Sasa Kalajdzic, Wolves’ saviour last week at Everton, was not ready to start after the cruciate injury that meant he played no part last season.
When he was introduced with nine minutes left, Wolves were behind to the inspiration of the outstanding Eberechi Eze. They could find no way back and Odsonne Édouard, with his second goal, soon put Palace beyond reach.
Matheus Cunha’s header in the dying seconds of added time broke the sequence of all Wolves’ Premier League goals this season having been scored by substitutes. Gary O’Neil had repeated the trick on Sunday, with Hwang Hee-chan equalising Édouard’s opener in a quick exchange of second-half goals. It became the turn of Wolves’ defence to be sub-optimal.
O’Neil has been handed a sow’s ear compared to recent Wolves predecessors. Fábio Silva, signed three years ago and still to live up to the reputation with which he arrived, wore No 9 and spent 74 minutes chasing shadows. At Bournemouth last season, O’Neil proved himself in crisis management but his new team’s lack of attacking quality or variety appear to make this assignment an even taller order.
“We lacked a little bit of punch,” said O’Neil, who felt until Palace’s goals his team had been unlikely to lose. “We didn’t threaten their goal for a variety of reasons.”
Wolves are not alone in losing talent. Palace’s decisive goalscorer in last season’s fixture, Wilfried Zaha, has departed for Galatasaray and Michael Olise, though still at the club, was missing through injury. It left creativity in the highly capable hands of Eze, assisted by the contributions of the reliable, underrated, and always energetic Jeffrey Schlupp.
For Eze’s first genuine burst after a drab opening 10 minutes, he had João Gomes in a tangle that had VAR checking for a possible penalty, eventually not given. That unnerved Wolves’s defence, who then almost coughed up the opener. Goalkeeper José Sá’s pass mistakenly put Jordan Ayew in, only for Max Kilman to make a goalline clearance.
Each Eze burst brought the Holmesdale End ultras to their feet. The Wolves fans in Selhurst’s away corner, shielding their eyes in the sun, could only yearn for such an entertainer, though Pedro Neto, a remainder of the club’s still sizeable Portuguese contingent, had his moments in assisting both goals. “I’ve always liked him,” said O’Neil, saying he has seen improvements in his squad since his arrival on the eve of the season.
Silva’s sole meaningful effort on goal came on the half-hour, a difficult chance ballooned behind, for which he received a fist-bump of encouragement from Pablo Sarabia, the Spaniard similarly starved. Still, the first half closed with the visitors enjoying the greater possession and Neto forcing a save from Sam Johnstone.
“The first half was nowhere near what we are capable of,” said Roy Hodgson, happy with the result if not his team. “I wasn’t pleased with the performance and neither were the players. I made certain people buck up their ideas. I told them if they continued playing like this, we would lose the game.”
After 10 minutes of second-half torpor, Eze robbed Gomes and was pulled back for a yellow-card offence. No matter. Within seconds, Édouard had scored, telescoping his leg ahead of Kilman to stab in after Cheick Doucouré’s interception and Tyrick Mitchell’s overlap.
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O’Neil threw on Hwang as soon as Édouard’s celebrations died down and within moments, the Korean had diverted Neto’s cross in via a shoulder. The shock of an equaliser served to lift Palace rather than Wolves.
Sá made a fine save from Ayew’s bludgeoned volley as Eze began to step up his involvement. He first slapped in a vicious free-kick that had Sá sprawling to save and then, from Joel Ward’s ball to Jean-Philippe Mateta, controlled and stabbed home with the panache of a player called up to the England squad and flush with confidence that this is his time to shine.
