Daniel Munoz suffered a groin injury during the defeat against Liverpool on the weekend which could have major implications on how Oliver Glasner sets up his team from now.
It was a disastrous first 20 minutes for Crystal Palace in their game against Liverpool on Saturday, they had a goal ruled out for offside within the first minute, then shortly after Diogo Jota slotted past Dean Henderson to give the visitors the lead.
Eight minutes after the goal Palace’s right wing-back Daniel Munoz signalled to the bench that he needed to be subbed off. The defender sat down on the Selhurst Park turf before receiving treatment and was taken off the pitch, being replaced by Nathaniel Clyne.
The Columbians absence wasn’t too evident during this game specifically but could have bigger implications in the games to follow for Oliver Glasner and his team.
It was another disappointing result for Glasner and Palace but there were again positives to take from the game, one which saw Palace go toe to toe with the league leaders. The first half was largely dominated by Arne Slots men but the second 45 and largely the last half hour, Palace were the team in the ascendancy looking for that equaliser.
They had chances to level the match as well, forcing Alisson Becker into a couple a saves before he was forced off with a hamstring injury. It was Ebere Eze however who had a golden opportunity to score but his effort was straight at academy graduate Vitezslav Jaros.
While the result is frustrating for Palace, the larger concern coming out of this game is the injury to Munoz. Now with two weeks away due to international football there is time to rethink things, so what does Glasner now have up his sleeve to turn things around?
A change to four at the back?
We are yet to know the severity of Munoz’s injury but should he be out for the medium to long term future then Glasner may look to switch to a back four rather than his traditional back three.
Palace have three right backs, Munoz, Clyne and the other being Joel Ward. Clyne and Ward are 33 and soon to be 35 respectively, they have also been traditional right backs for large parts of their career. The pair aren’t suited to the wing-back role where they need to get up and down the pitch to support both the attack and maintain a defensive structure.
The England pair also struggle when in attacking areas, combined with their age, it is hard to see Glasner using one as a wing-back for the long term. Meaning a switch to four at the back is highly likely, but neither Clyne nor Ward may get the nod.
Instead Glasner may look towards Trevor Chalobah. The centre back by trade can play a number of positions including right-back and holding midfield. The Chelsea loanee is a comfortable one v one defender and would fit well in at right back, meaning the rest of the back line would remain Marc Guehi, Maxence Lacroix and Tyrick Mitchell.
This change would also benefit Mitchell on the left hand side. The England international is one of the best defensive full-backs in the league, he displayed this on the weekend when up against Mohamed Salah, one of the league’s best players. Mitchell restricted the Egyptian to just two shots (one being on target) and no key passes before being subbed off in the 73rd minute with the game still in the balance. Mitchell’s downfall however, his ability to attack. He struggles to take players on and his final ball is inconsistent to say the least. Switching to a back four will mean his role on the left, supporting the attack is not as important, but still needed of course.
Glasner and Palace’s board will look at this situation now with a degree of frustration that they didn’t decide to bring cover on either side for their wing-backs. These positions hold such importance when playing a system like the Austrian does, so the decision to not bring in cover during the summer transfer window remains a question amongst many inside and out of SE25.
What does this switch mean for the rest of the team?
While this is all hypothetical right now with Munoz’s injury not given a timeframe of how long he will be out for, switching formation could be a welcomed problem for the rest of the team.
Palace this season have failed to get their attack working, at the end of last season they were free flowing, combinations were there for all to see and the attacking players flourished. It has been quite the opposite this campaign for a number of reasons.
The departure of Michael Olise, Jean-Phillipe Mateta’s summer at the Olympics, Adam Wharton’s ongoing injury concern, shoehorning Eddie Nketiah into the team and Eze’s drop in form and unluckiness at times. Everything mentioned plays a part in Palace’s poor start to the season. Should they change to a back four that would see a reshuffle higher up the pitch. The most likely out come would be Palace go to a 4-3-3, with a midfield consisting of Wharton paired with Jefferson Lerma, Daichi Kamada, Will Hughes or Cheick Doucoure when he returns from injury after the break. Just ahead of the two in the number ‘ten’ position would most likely be Eze or maybe Kamada who can play there as well. Moving to a three man midfield could see Palace gain more control in games, far too often this season Glasner’s team have been overrun in the middle of the park and look stretched. With three players in there it would mean the workload is shared more evenly and allow players to have a more defined role rather than playing with two.
The final change would be to the front three. The weekends game against Liverpool saw Nketiah given his first start as the main striker as Mateta was dropped to the bench. What Palace lack in this area of the pitch however is natural wingers, with Ismaila Sarr being the only fit first team winger after Matheus Franca picked up a groin injury in training.
This is another area Palace will look at and think they could have done more to bolster in the summer, having already been light in this area since the departure of Wilfried Zaha in 2023. There is no guarantee that Glasner will look to use natural wingers and could look to have Eze play in a front three as more of a left forward where his is tucked in and closer to the striker, but that is to be seen. What is for certain is that Palace need to get out of this rut, they now have two weeks to figure out where they go in terms of formation, shape and tactics before they face Nottingham Forrest on October 21st.
Glasner has options but not many, he will be looking at how he can get the best out of his individual stars as well as the team, the quicker he finds a solution the better and fingers crossed this could be what Palace need to kick start their season.
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