A thread on Crystal Palace, their tactical setup and what their weakness could be. Concluded with my preferred XI to beat them.

Palace have started this season with a traditional 4-4-2 formation with Zaha and Ayew up top. A proper old school tactic from Roy Hodgson (1)

They are setup to defend with two banks of four which stay very compact and restrict space in the middle, forcing the play out wide.

This forces the opposition to rely on crosses which their CBs are comfortable in dealing with or take long shots which are less of a threat. (2)

To counter, their STs occupy spaces left open by the opposition fullbacks pushing high. They then intend to make diagonal runs towards the middle and latch on to any long balls out of defence.

Zaha can also pick up clearances on the flanks and drive at the opposition CBs (3)

In possession, their strategy is either to get the ball out wide and put in crosses for their two STs or get the ball to their talisman Zaha and give him the freedom to create havoc.

Their fullbacks don& #39;t push too high and mostly cross from deep or just pass the ball on (4)

Their weakness is their fullbacks (specially the RB Ward) who many times find themselves 1v1 against the opposition wingers cos their own wingers sit narrow to deny space in the middle.

To take advantage of this, we need two excellent dribblers on flanks who are great 1v1 (5)

Defensively, since our pivot isn& #39;t disciplined, it& #39;ll be ideal to keep one of our full backs deeper to maintain a 3v2 superiority against the Palace strikers.

Specially considering Zaha is an excellent 1v1 attacker and our CBs will need help in dealing with him and Ayew (6)

My preferred XI vs Crystal Palace

•Azpi is still one of the best 1v1 defenders and will be helpful vs Zaha

•CHO & Pulisic/Timo best options to beat Palace fullbacks

•Mount rested as Palace& #39;s only intention will be to play long

Thanks for reading and lmk your thoughts! https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💙" title="Blaues Herz" aria-label="Emoji: Blaues Herz">