Oliver Glasner again cut a frustrated figure as his Crystal Palace side continued their winless run, saying his club’s transfer business means they have taken “a step backwards”.
The failure to turn one point into three, despite playing the entire second half with a man advantage in their 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest, means they have now not won in nine Premier League games, a run dating back to early December.
“We have an agreement, a commitment, that it’s either Mateta or somebody else,” Oliver Glasner, the Palace manager, said after the draw at the City Ground.
“I would prefer to not be talking a day before the deadline about transfers. My wish would be that everything was sorted two weeks ago, so we could focus on training and developing.
“With two, maybe three more players [returning from injuries] then we have five or six new players [including new signings Brennan Johnson and Evann Guessand] all of a sudden. It feels like two years ago, having to teach them how we want to play and attack. You can see too many misunderstandings.
“This is taking a step backwards.”
At least Palace didn’t leave the City Ground with nothing. Morgan Gibbs-White scored the opening goal but Ismaila Sarr drew Palace level with a spot kick after Neco Williams was shown a red card for handling the ball on the line and denying a certain Palace goal at the end of the first half.
Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager.
Enable cookiesAllow cookies once
Forest, who qualified for the Conference League last season, were subsequently promoted into the Europa League at Palace’s expense — a fact that the travelling supporters, who sang about both Uefa and Forest’s owner Evangelos Marinakis, communicated clearly.
This season, Palace’s first in Europe, was supposed to be a step forward, but it has developed into a soap opera, precipitated by their opponents here taking their spot in the Europa League by dint of the involvement of John Textor, Palace’s former part-owner, in Lyon, another team involved in this year’s competition.
In turn, the home supporters taunted them about squandering qualification for the Europa League, while “Champions League and you f*****d it up” came the riposte, in reference to Forest’s drop-off when in top-four contention late last season. Touché.
Gibbs-White — tireless all afternoon — struck the opener for Forest after only five minutes
RITCHIE SUMPTER/GETTY IMAGES
This context and the animosity between the supporters produced a tense but enjoyably boisterous atmosphere, although the game was not befitting two teams playing European football.
There was fair mitigation. Forest were reduced to ten men after Williams’s red card, while Palace are reeling from injuries, departing players and a suspension for Adam Wharton.
Sean Dyche made a few tactical tweaks — moving Gibbs-White up front, to lead the press, and tasking Nicolás Domínguez with pulling to the left when his team held the ball. That adjustment, and Forest’s tendency to cluster players to the left-hand touchline, gave the home team a route through Palace’s press — a trick they repeated throughout the first half to good effect, exploiting the space around and behind Palace’s wingbacks.
Sarr slots his penalty past the Forest goalkeeper Sels, who is an injury concern after being substituted at half-time
CHRIS RADBURN/REUTERS
The initial openness of the game gave Palace more opportunities than they may have expected, but they were tentative: Sarr wasted one opportunity by passing instead of shooting, and a shot from long range by Will Hughes came after Palace should have worked a better chance.
The visiting team lacked their usual midfield punch, an issue made all the more obvious by the absence of Wharton, Guehi and Mateta — the spine upon which Palace’s FA Cup success was built last season. Yeremy Pino tried adding impetus by dropping deep in a false No9 role, but the visiting side’s play was around Forest, rather than through them.
Gibbs-White’s opener was yet another reminder of the value of set pieces, specifically long throws, and their ability to unsettle defences. After the first flick on into a throng of tightly packed players, Daniel Muñoz struggled to break through and clear decisively, allowing Gibbs-White to capitalise, as he rammed the loose ball in at the near post.
Another set piece — this time a corner — provided Palace with their equaliser. Jefferson Lerma headed towards goal, and Williams blocked the shot with his arm, flying to his right goalkeeper-style, and was sent off. Sarr converted the subsequent penalty, as Dyche quickly reorganised his team.
The Forest head coach made further tactical and personnel changes at half-time, swapping the injured Matz Sels (groin) and Callum Hudson-Odoi (shoulder) for Angus Gunn and Ryan Yates respectively, as Forest looked to slow the game down.
Forest threatened on the break through Igor Jesus and the tireless Gibbs-White, but could not create quality chances, and while Palace had plenty of possession, they had little invention to unpick Forest’s resilient defensive block, even with an extra man.
Forest are expecting to make additions on deadline day; Dyche has identified left back and midfield as target areas. Palace will hope Strand Larsen, joining for £43million plus £5million in add-ons, can revive their season.
Nottingham Forest (4-2-3-1): M Sels (A Gunn 46min) — O Aina, N Milenkovic, Murillo, N Williams — I Sangaré, E Anderson — C Hudson-Odoi (R Yates 46), M Gibbs-White, N Domínguez (Morato 48) — Igor Jesus (D Ndoye 70). Booked Milenkovic. Sent off Williams.
Crystak Palace (3-4-2-1): D Henderson — C Richards, M Lacroix, C Riad (C Uche 61) — D Muñoz, W Hughes, J Lerma, T Mitchell — I Sarr, B Johnson — Y Pino. Booked Riad, Richards, Pino.
Referee T Harrington. Attendance 30,334.