Crystal Palace were put to the sword in a 3-0 opening-day defeat to newly-promoted Huddersfield in Frank de Boer’s first competitive game in charge.
Joel Ward's own goal was quickly followed up with a powerful header from Steve Mounie to put Palace two behind inside 26 minutes.
Palace improved after the break but Mounie slotted in a third goal for the Terriers 12 minutes from time to condemn De Boer’s side - featuring three summer signings – to an embarrassing start.
Here is how News Shopper rated Crystal Palace’s players…
Wayne Hennessey - 5
Nervoussly parried a cross early on then looked anxious passing out from the back and did not get close to any of Huddersfield’s goals.
Joel Ward - 5
Unlucky for the own goal, made a brilliant last-ditch tackle to deny Huddersfield a third but struggled to provide attacking support in his advanced wing-back role.
Scott Dann - 6
Spent much of the game orchestrating his two centre-back partners from the middle but passed the ball out well from the defence. Put Palace’s best chance over the bar after a loose ball fell to him in the box. Wrong man, wrong place.
Jairo Riedewald - 5
Didn’t get near Steve Mounie in the air for Huddersfield’s second and struggled physically against the Terriers' target man all game, but showed impressive distribution. Timothy Fosu-Mensah - 6 Got back brilliantly to make a stunning challenge when Mounie was through on goal, showed raw attributes but looked disorganised in the back three and tired in the second half.
Luka Milivojevic - 5
Misplaced passes his only real contribution before being taken off at half time.
Jason Puncheon (c) - 6
Struggled to dictate the tempo from centre midfield, dropped deeper after Milivojevic’s withdrawal and looked composed with more time on the ball. Combined well with Loftus-Cheek as the game went on.
Patrick van Aanholt - 6
Offered decent delivery from set-pieces but did little to support Zaha down the left wing until later in the game when his forward runs caused problems.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek - 6
The debutant looked bright, not just because of his fluorescent boots, and drove forward well through the centre but could not find a killer pass to unleash Benteke.
Wilfried Zaha - 7
Comfortably Palace’s best attacking threat, carved out chances for himself with neat footwork but failed to convert them. Palace’s man of the match.
Christian Benteke - 6
A constant threat in the air for Palace but had little support for knock-downs and only offered Palace a ‘route one’ option with a lack of movement.
Subs:
Andros Townsend - 6
James Tomkins – 6
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