Palace 0-2 Hull

0
2
N'Doye (51, 90+2)
Sat 25th April 2015
Selhurst Park
Att: 
23,876
Atmosphere
3
Performance
4

Crystal Palace racked up consecutive 0-2 losses at Selhurst Park as Hull City took a vital three points back to East Yorkshire. Two second half strikes from Dame N’Doye secured the win for the visitors in a game shrouded in controversy.

N’Doye’s opener should not have stood as a clear Robbie Brady handball went unpunished by referee Mark Clattenburg. This is not the first time this season that a poor Clattenburg decision has cost Palace this season and nor would it be the last.  After costing Palace the win at The Hawthornes earlier this season by denying Palace a clear-cut penalty and allowing a West Brom goal to stand with Julian Speroni elbowed in the build up to the goal, Clattenburg further added to his list of terrible decision by ruling out a would be Yaya Sanogo equaliser for a pull on Paul McShane. Replays showed that the former Palace defender made a meal of minimal contact.

With Palace hunting a late level, Chung-Yong Lee, making his debut for the club, was caught in possession and Hull broke away to put the result beyond doubt.

On the Beach?

Are we? The players like to keep saying that clocking off is “not us” but do the last two games tell a different story? Whilst I think that we created enough chances to win last week against West Brom I think that we can all agree that the intensity wasn’t quite there.  ‘Wasn’t quite there” changed to definitely not there yesterday as a Hull team in terrible form run rings around us.

If Glenn Murray scores early instead of finding Steve Harper’s heel or if Sanogo’s goal is not chalked off then we knock their fragile confidence and win. Ifs and buts will not win you football matches, however, and instead of building on that momentum we allowed Hull to work themselves into the match and win for only the 6th time in 61 attempts.

It is obvious that if we applied the sort of intensity that we have previously this season, we would have been celebrating our 6th straight win yesterday. Instead we are picking apart two poor defeats on the bounce and questioning the mindset of the players.

Thankfully we have some of the big boys in the coming weeks and the players will naturally be up for these games so this problem should go away.

Match of the Day Coverage: Referees

There were several penalty appeals in yesterdays match yet not one of them was covered in the Match of the Day footage. Further, the commentator even went as far as saying that Clattenburg had a fantastic afternoon in the middle!

For most of the season the show has been quick to slate referees when ever possible yet this approach seems to have disappeared over the past few weeks. It has left me wondering if someone has asked them nicely to stop abusing the referees and highlighting each and every little decision.

But to go from one extreme to the other seems ridiculous. How has he possibly had a fantastic afternoon when he has missed a clear handball and disallowed a goal because a defender has gone down like he has been hit in the back by a speeding car?

With John Moss putting in a horror show last weekend and Clattenburg this weekend, why are these two being discussed as the referee’s for the FA Cup final? Two of the worst for what should be one of the most important domestic games of the season. It’s wrong.

Man of the Match: Julian Speroni

Several brilliant stops, extremely unlucky for the opening goal and helpless for the second. In a week where it has been revealed that he has triggered an extension to his contract, this was a great way (individually speaking) for him to cap the week. Well played, Jules.

Up Next: Chelsea

It looks like we will be trying to prevent them from winning the league, for at least one more week. Lets hope we can spoil the party… needless to say, we need to improve on the last two weeks.

Come on you Palace.

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Referee: 
Mark Clattenburg

Crystal Palace

Palace Manager: 
Alan Pardew

Opposition

Opposition Manager: 
Steve Bruce