Crystal Palace won 1-0 in their first European match, with Jean-Phillipe Mateta scoring the only goal. Eberechi Eze was absent and will not play for the club again, leaving a creative gap that hindered chances against a deep defensive block. The squad relied on runners and crosses targeting strikers such as Ismaila, Mateta and Devenny but lacked a dribbler to break lines. The club is actively searching for replacements and expects new signings within about ten days, though incoming players will be ineligible for the Europa Conference League second leg. The team remains unbeaten this season and prepares for Nottingham Forest.
When you play against such a deep block you maybe need someone that can dribble past one or two players and score on his own. This is what Eberechi gives us. We have other profiles now, Ismaila is a runner, JP is in the box and Devenny. We tried to find them in the wings with many crosses into the box.
Ebs will not play for us any more so it does not make sense to talk about him. It's gone. It looks like wishing him all the best for the new club and for us it is about bringing more players in but they will not be allowed to play in the second leg. We knew that more or less this would happen so we have already been looking for weeks for the right replacements
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