Crystal Palace Pile on the Misery with a 3-0 Victory over Manchester City

To borrow a football cliché, it was men against boys as Crystal Palace U23s routed title holders Manchester City U23s 3-0 at the Joie stadium. Goals from Franco Umeh, Roshaun Mathurin and Danny Imray sealed all three points and made for a happy journey back south for the Eagles. For the Cityzens, however, this loss rooted them 22nd in the table. A title defence that will seemingly be as successful as their counterparts on the red side in Manchester in 2013/2014, and we all know how that went.

City started in a typical possession-based 4-3-3 and looked to use their technical abilities to pop it around their South London counterparts and create overloads out wide. With highly rated Michah Hamilton and Joel Ndala on the wing, it was a viable tactic. It worked for the first, well, ten minutes, until Palace showed everyone why City are the second worst defensive team in the league this season.

Dan Imray, who was the standout player in the match at Right Back, put in a brilliant cross. City’s defenders panicked and desperately tried to clear the ball, only for the ball to fall at the foot of Franco Umeh, who took this early Christmas present with glee and slotted it away to make It 1-0.

Afterwards, City tried to probe through Palace’s tough defence but could not find the correct key to unlock it. This resulted in them taking many pot shots from outside the box, which could be mistaken for them aiming to hit the Etihad instead of the opposition's net. Palace had many opportunities to counter City, and they did so through the pace and ball carrying of Adaramola at left-back. The Irish U-21 international was a constant thorn in City’s right-hand side and got into numerous dangerous positions with his final ball letting him down.