For much of the first half at Selhurst Park yesterday, it looked like Conor Gallagher had been playing in the Premier League for years.
The Crystal Palace debutant, on loan from Chelsea for the season, struck the woodwork five minutes in and produced a box-to-box performance reminiscient of head coach Patrick Vieira's time at Arsenal.
With Wilfried Zaha a peripheral influence and Christian Benteke marked out of the game, Gallagher was Palace's best player. He had two of their seven opportunities and created another but his influence waned in the second period.
The cause of that was a decision made in the Brentford dressing room at the interval in which they decided to mark the 21-year-old more closely.
Before the game the Bees head coach Thomas Frank had considered Zaha to be the hosts' biggest danger and was impressed by how his team negated the Ivory Coast international's influence.
But Vitaly Janelt was tasked with tracking Gallagher more closely in the second half.
“We spoke about him at half time because we knew he’s a very good offensive midfielder who likes to find pockets in the half space,” Frank said. “We adjusted it at half time and I don’t feel he was a threat in the second half. We got that adjusted.”
Vieira was impressed by Gallagher's debut but needs more from the rest of his attack. “He had a great game, he was unlucky not to score that chance he created,” the Palace head coach said.
“He's full of energy. The club worked really hard to bring him to Palace. A couple of clubs wanted him. I was really pleased we convinced him to come to us. He'll be important for us.”
