September 11 2017

Lee Chung-yong

After a fourth successive league defeat, Mike Scott rates the Palace players’ fruitless trip to Turf Moor.

The Eagles made unwanted history away at Burnley, becoming the first side in the English top flight in the best part of a century to begin a campaign with four defeats and no goals…

Wayne Hennessey - 6

His first action of note was picking the ball out of the back of the net for the seventh time this season, but Hennessey can’t take much of the blame for the comical nature of the goal. He looked more confident when receiving the ball from his defence than previous games, having clearly been given the freedom to kick the ball upfield if need be. Pulled off a great save towards the end of the game from a curling effort from Burnley substitute Ashley Barnes. Barely called on to make any other saves.

Scott Dann - 6

Dann looked more at ease in a back four with Cabaye ahead of him, looking assured without being tested on a day when the home side created no more than sporadic chances. Had three golden chances to score, with two cleared off the line and then the best of Palace’s 20-plus attempts just before the end, when he guided a Cabaye cross wide from three yards out when it was infinitely easier to put it in the net.

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Timothy Fosu-Mensah - 5

As solid as anyone in the back line in the first three games, Fosu-Mensah had a much more pedestrian afternoon at Turf Moor. Out of position on more than one occasion, he was lucky that Burnley conspired to find themselves in offside positions much too often. Some wasteful balls forward didn’t help his cause either.

Jeffrey Schlupp - 6

Had the quieter job of the two fullbacks, with most of Burnley’s play coming down Dann’s flank, but he ensured there was very limited space for the two forward men to play into. Was a pivotal player going forward, but promising positions were wasted too often with poor or no end product. Was forced to make up too much of the slack left by Lee.

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Joel Ward - 5

Another tough day at the office for Ward, the home side targeting his area of the pitch from the off. Burnley were strongest in the first 15-20 minutes of the game and they were nearly two goals to the good when Sam Vokes got the better of the right back, only to head a cross past the wrong side of the far post. Ward did make some telling journeys forward, but there were some wasteful balls in.

Yohan Cabaye - 7

A commanding performance from the Frenchman stemmed from the visitors playing a higher line than perhaps Burnley were expecting; Cabaye was the instigator of much of the creative play, feeding balls nicely through to McArthur and Townsend. His set pieces asked plenty of questions, with a couple of decent long range efforts himself forcing saves.

James McArthur - 7

Freed to make the forward runs he enjoys by playing in front of Cabaye, his work ethic was appreciated by the travelling support. Had an excellent opportunity to head Palace an equaliser midway through the first half, having lost his marker with his run, but did seem guilty of lacking the confidence to go direct for goal on other occasions. Was tactically subbed for Jairo Riedewald (6) with ten minutes to go, who (despite an immediate misplaced pass) did look to make things happen from his midfield position.

Jason Puncheon - 5

Painfully low on confidence, the majority of his involvement in moves was with his back to goal, looking to make short passes and move on. Guilty of very little movement off the ball, his involvement was minimal for long periods. Some good set-pieces did create chances, with a couple of his corners looking menacing, but no goals from over a dozen corners does tell its own story.

Lee Chung-Yong - 4

His soul-sapping back pass with three minutes on the clock, setting Chris Wood up as well as any Burnley winger will this season, will give Palace fans nightmares for days to come. More than that, he looked a player utterly out of his depth as a makeshift left wing option. Overlaps from Schlupp did help things a little, but he created nothing of note, being replaced by debutant Levi Lumeka (6) on 64 minutes, who had a decent opportunity to score from a Townsend cross.

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Andros Townsend - 7

In Zaha’s absence, Townsend has looked the most likely source of that elusive first goal of the season. Guilty of not tracking back to cover Ward quite enough, what he didn’t do in defence he made up for in endeavour in the Eagle’s continued barrage of moves in the second half. On another day, his balls in could have created two or three. It was also noticeable he was curbing his urge to turn in and shoot himself, looking instead for Benteke.

Christian Benteke - 5

Benteke was given much better service than in the previous three games and he really should have stuck at least one away. There were times when other players did not seem to be making the runs to join him in the middle, but there was no lack of crosses and set pieces for him to work with. He hit the keeper with a one-on-one in the 79th minute that was crying out to be hit anywhere but where he placed it. It does look a lot like he needs one to creep in, just to give him his confidence back.