Crystal Palace suffered a heavy defeat at Leeds United on Saturday Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.7 million) once again proves to be the difference maker.
Here are our Scout Notes from Elland Road.
IN FORM CALVERT-LEWIN
Calvert-Lewin remarkably took his tally to six goals from his last five games on Saturday.
Both strikes came from Ethan Ampadu (£4.9m) long throws, as Leeds’ physicality and ability to win duels/second balls proved too much for Palace.
Calvert-Lewin has now scored for the fifth game in a row, scoring in quick succession against Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Brentford and Palace.
“Very happy. So obviously he’s a top player for us. I’ve spoken from the start about how highly I rate him and rate him. From the first day he came in. Of course the numbers don’t lie. He’s in red-hot form at the moment. For me, as I said, one of the best English strikers in this league. He’s proven it before when he’s been fit and he’s shown his quality. And right now he’s on track to really be a top, top class player for Leeds as well.” United.” – Daniel Farke on Calvert-Lewin
There are also few forwards who can beat Calvert-Lewin with shots in the last five Gameweeks.
Crucially, five of his 13 attempts were from inside the six-yard box, a league-high.
“In the six-yard box that’s where I have to be. When you’re in a good moment and you have the ball, the ball starts to fall for you and that’s where I am at that moment. The belief remains the same, my belief in myself is what I’ve always had. But when you start hitting the back of the net it pays off in a different way. For me nothing has changed, week after week I try to do my best for the team and keep performing well.” – Dominic Calvert-Lewin
STACH IMPACT
Daniel Farke’s switch to a 3-5-2 formation also makes the most of it Anton Stach (£4.9 million).
The German midfielder has scored four attacking goals in as many games since returning from a head injury after firing in a late free-kick on Saturday.
With thirteen shots and thirteen chances created in the last four Gameweeks, he is clearly one of the best sub-£5.0m midfielders to target at the moment, having only narrowly missed out on defensive contribution points (DefCon) against Palace.
Elsewhere, Joe Rodon (£4.0 million) and Jayden Bogel (£4.4m) combined well on the right.
Center back Rodon took up a number of advanced positions and even looked like a winger at times, with two of his four goal attempts coming from open play.
PALACE “BULYED”
Palace conceded all four goals from set play at Elland Road.
In addition to the aforementioned concessions from long throws, a recycled corner kick and a direct free kick also found the net.
Oliver Glasner’s team have now conceded nineteen times in the Premier League this season, eleven of which came from dead ball situations.
“We were bullied by set plays. Every set play was dangerous. I can’t remember any big chances from open play. We could have got two or three more from set play goals. Four against is shameful. It’s the fourth game in recent weeks that we have lost because of set plays. We got two against Manchester United, (one) in Strasbourg and at Arsenal. It seems we are not sharp enough. We need to show a different formation or mentality. When you defend set plays like today, you have no chance to get a point in the PL.
“That’s why we ended up losing and conceding all the goals. In our attack we had difficulty winning duels and we lost so many balls. Not enough situations were created and when the opponent plays man to man you have to win your game. Uche did it at the end and we got a penalty. Sometimes you can go back to basics and we weren’t nearly good enough in that today.” – Oliver Glasner
Justin Devenny‘s (£4.3m) late penalty provided consolation, but after big changes from the 2-2 draw against KuPS just 48 hours earlier, this was a desperately disappointing display.
Chris Richards (£4.6 million), Maxence Lacroix (£5.2 million), Marc Guehi (£5.3 million) and Adam Wharton (£5.0m) certainly funded DefCon.
Palace now face another rapid turnaround, with a trip to Arsenal in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday ahead of Sunday’s home game against Tottenham Hotspur.
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