This was better from Crystal Palace but still not good enough. A degree of improvement seemed almost inevitable after the mortifying 4-0 home defeat at the hands Sunderland last week and, sure enough, Sam Allardyce’s side were relatively solid for an hour here.
Joe Allen then scored for Stoke and, with Palace unable to muster any response, another defeat was sealed, the sixth in Allardyce’s eight league matches in charge. Four points from 24 available is a sorry return from his tenure and endangers Palace’s Premier League status as well as his record of never being relegated from the top flight.
“I wasn’t too disappointed with the performance but at the end of the day we still haven’t come away with any points and it’s very evident that if we don’t start getting points it is going to get harder and harder,” Allardyce said.
Palace have won only seven of their past 46 league matches, showing their problems predate the manager’s arrival in December but that is no consolation to him. “I was hoping that I was going to turn it around a lot quicker than I have but I haven’t managed to do that yet,” he said. “We’ve just got to keep working on the training ground.”
Allardyce had delved deep into his managerial repertoire before this game in an attempt to stimulate a response to last week’s fiasco. He had summoned the players for a 7am training session the day after the Sunderland humiliation, hired a sports psychologist to get inside players’ minds and watched the Palace chairman, Steve Parish, give them a dressing-room lecture and cancel a planned team excursion to Dubai next week. That all amounted to more of a boot up the backside than an arm around the shoulders and it had something close to the desired effect, as Palace kept Stoke at bay for most of the first half.
Luka Milivojevic, the Serb midfielder given his first start since his arrival next month, was one of only two alterations to the Palace lineup who had started against Sunderland and he had a steadying influence, patrolling just in front of the Palace defence. He subdued Allen for long periods – but not for the whole game.
Wayne Hennessey, retained as goalkeeper despite recent errors, had an encouraging start, making a strong save from Marko Arnautovic in the ninth minute. Palace bared their teeth for the first and almost last time in the 17th minute, James McArthur heading wide from a cross by Andros Townsend. Patrick van Aanholt then brought a comfortable save from Lee Grant with a long-range trickler.
Mostly, however, mediocrity prevailed. So a flourish from Stoke’s Ramadan Sobhi on the half-hour was very welcome, although not for Joel Ward, who was left spinning like a man caught in a revolving door as the 20-year-old Egyptian winger tricked his way past him and clipped a cross to the back post. Allen proved a less than trusty assistant to the young magician on this occasion, heading over from six yards. Bruno Martins Indi produced a much better header from Charlie Adam’s corner just before the break but Townsend cleared it off the line.
At that point Allardyce was satisfied. He would have been thrilled in the 55th minute if Christian Benteke had been able to get off a shot after a low drive from the edge of area by Jason Puncheon ricocheted to the feet of the Belgian seven yards from goal. But Martins Indi reacted faster than Benteke and nicked the ball away.
Palace continued to look vaguely threatening until, in the 67th minute, Allardyce was assailed by a familiar sense of dismay. After making a smart run into the box from deep, Sobhi collected a delightful pass from Arnautovic, the winger held off a defender and teed up Allen. This time the Welshman was unerring, firing low into the net from 15 yards.
Allardyce brought on Jeffrey Schlupp for Wilfried Zaha immediately. Later he made two more substitutions. None made any difference. Palace were beaten as soon as they fell behind.
