Five takeaways from Crystal Palace’s 5-1 win over Swindon
Pierre Sage began his Crystal Palace tenure with a 5-1 victory over Swindon Town in a behind-closed-doors friendly. Missed the game? Here are 5 things I took away from the opening 90 minutes of our pre-season.
3-4-2-1 FOREVER
As expected, the Eagles continued to play a 3-4-2-1 formation with both XIs under the new boss.
One of the major upsides to hiring Pierre Sage (+ his coaching staff) was the fact he’d be bringing in a style of play that is built on the same structure that saw so much success under Oliver Glasner – time will tell how flexible the Frenchman is with his formation though.
An interesting wrinkle with how we lined up was that we saw a left back lining up at left centre-back in both halves, Tayo Adaramola played at left centre-back during the first half, with Tyrick Mitchell operating at wing-back. After the interval, Borna Sosa moved into the back three whilst Dean Benamar provided width.
That could be a tactical choice, but it probably is an adaptation due to the limited players available at the moment.
Either way, it is a big sign that Sage is quite wedded to 3-4-2-1.
FAST. FAST. FAST.
Palace’s football looked intense in almost every phase.
There was a high press without the ball, quick passing in possession and a clear desire to exploit pace in wide areas. Players were encouraged to release the ball in one or two touches rather than slowing attacks down.
The first-half XI did not always handle those demands well unfortunately – but it’s only the start of our pre-season under a new manager.
David Ozoh, who flourished in parts of this game, gave the ball away with a sloppy first time pass that resulted in a penalty for Swindon that was well saved by Walter Benitez.
Also, Tayo Adaramola was tackled as he attempted to carry the ball out from left centre back, which led to the visitors’ only goal of the game.
This style can reap fantastic rewards, as seen for Nketiah’s beautifully worked 2nd goal, but it is a high risk style. Prepare for some nervy moments at Selhurst, and some glorious goals.
THAT #28 IS DECENT, WHO IS HE?
Cheick Doucoure played 45 minutes for the first time since his terrible injury in January 2025, which for me was the highlight of yesterday’s match.
Our 22/23 Player of the Season has had such a long, torrid spell on the sidelines that it’s easy to forget the level of player we’re talking about here.
The Malian was receiving significant interest from Liverpool off the back of his maiden campaign in England, and if he’s able to stay fit then he will be like a new signing (don’t roll your eyes).
How did he actually play? Very well. The massive pinch of salt comes from the fact it was against Swindon Town, but he looked recognisably like the midfielder Palace supporters remember.
No sign of a loss of mobility after all this time and no sign of any lack of physicality in his game, which you sometimes see in a player coming back after a long time out.
He intercepted passes, got the ball out wide quickly and put in a couple of strong tackles.
Palace have badly missed a midfielder capable of reading danger, covering space and crunching every single player he sees. A fit Doucouré would restore qualities that have been absent from the squad for far too long.
A long way to go yet, but, as a wise man once said ‘I’ve seen signs’.
BOYZ 2 MEN
As you would expect there was a large academy presence across both XIs.
David Ozoh shone in moments, using his physicality and anticipation to win headers and drive through midfield, however he did lose the ball for the Swindon penalty as mentioned earlier.
George King, Charlie Walker-Smith and Mofe Jemide had fairly solid outings while Tayo Adaramola had an up & down 45 minutes.
The two stand outs, by a distance, were 18-year-old Dean Benamar and 17-year-old Joel Drakes-Thomas.
Benamar bombed down the wing relentlessly, often beating his man and making things happen in the final third.
JDT looked very tidy, carrying the ball up the pitch to relieve pressure and working really well in tight areas.
As you would expect, they had wonderful chemistry with one another and that often led to space being created for Matheus Franca. I hope we see lots of those two throughout this season – they clearly have talent to spare.
OPPURTUNITIES GIVEN, BUT NOT TAKEN BY EVERYONE
A new manager, preseason and 4 competitions again this year presents plenty of opportunities across the squad.
Today, some of Palace’s forgotten men took their first chance under Pierre Sage, some… didn’t.
Matheus Franca scored a hat-trick. It doesn’t matter that it was against Swindon, that is good news full stop.
He played the second half in that fluid front three and he showed great movement and a deft touch to get his goals, as well as almost comical confidence to step up and take the penalty (which he dispatched brilliantly in fairness).
Despite a spluttering start to life in SE25 due to neglect largely, this was a genuinely bright showing from our future Balon d’Or winner.
Let’s hope he carries this momentum throughout the season and finds a future with us.
The argument can be made that as a club we’ve failed Jesurun Rak-Sakyi.
It’s my view that he was ready for the first team in the 23/24 season and yet he rotted away in the reserves, not even getting a loan move to keep his development going.
Despite that though, the former England U20 international is an exceptionally frustrating figure nowadays. Given an opportunity to impress the new manager or any potential scouts watching from EFL clubs, he jogged around for most of the time he was on the pitch and didn’t do his defensive work anywhere near as much as his 17 year old replacement for the second half.
He had one strong moment, getting on the end of some lovely passes between Oscar Mingueza and Will Hughes, chopping inside and having a decent shot that was well saved.
Aside from that though, yet another opportunity missed for Jes. He now needs a permanent move – for his own sake.
With Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jorgen Strand-Larsen unavailable due to their participation in the World Cup, the job of leading the line fell to Eddie Nketiah in the first half and Brennan Johnson / Matheus Franca in the second half.
That’s a lot of money across both of those players, one of them took their opportunity while the other struggled.
Nketiah scored two goals, pressed well, put himself about a bit and looked a cut above his peers, as you would hope he would.
Johnson, albeit playing in an unfamiliar #9 role, didn’t do anything to suggest his fortunes are going to change any time soon. The former Spurs man looked like a man playing out of position and couldn’t seem to find the same wavelength as Franca and Drakes-Thomas, often under-hitting passes and drifting out of the game.
However, as we’re not getting carried away with Nketiah and Franca goals, there’s no need to get carried away in the opposite direction with Johnson either.
All in all, a really interesting outing in the South London sunshine. It’s fair to say the Pierre Sage era is going to be fascinating to watch develop, and I cannot wait to see the first team slot into this system as preseason rolls on.
