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Manchester City’s Win over Crystal Palace Was a Throwback to the Crossing Era
- Updated: November 19, 2016
SELHURST PARK, London — Manchester City’s 2-1 Premier League victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon was a game unremarkable for many, many reasons, but simultaneously notable for one: The quality of crossing on show was absolutely stellar.
It’s not something you’d expect to see when turning up to a game in which one of the sides is managed by Pep Guardiola—a man who values possession over everything but goals, and whose Juego de Posicion stratagems have inspired so many clubs, ranging from Borussia Dortmund to AFC Bournemouth.
With Palace you expect it; it’s their bread and butter after all. In Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend, you have two extremely quick wingers; in Christian Benteke, you have a dominant target man; and in Jason Puncheon and Yohan Cabaye, there exists two superb set-piece deliverers.
Indeed, Alan Pardew’s men played to their outright strengths against City, utilising Zaha on the right flank, forcing corners to allow Scott Dann to join the attacking cast and bringing Connor Wickham on to try to take advantage of the fact Bacary Sagna had to fill in at …
