Crystal Palace were extremely fortunate to walk away from their Europa League tie against Hoffenheim with a point after a late Daichi Kamada equaliser.

The celebrations at the end may have distracted some fans but the reality is that Palace were poor for the entire game, and were let off the hook by a moment of awful goalkeeping from Oliver Baumann, matching Dean Henderson’s mistake earlier in the game. 

In a game where Palace could have stepped up and found a strong reaction to the recent results, they didn’t, and maintained the same standard of performance for almost the entire game. 

But what were the key takeaways from this game, and where do Palace need to improve ahead of Liverpool at the weekend?

For years, Palace have always had a pretty clear cut starting eleven, injury dependent. There’s a handful of names which you can now confidently say will start, but aside from that, it can change every week. 

That certainly hasn’t helped in terms of the players’ ability to settle into the system and understand what is demanded of them, and it doesn’t appear that Pierre Sage has decided who his favoured players are either. 

Axel Disasi’s late omission was not pre-planned, which meant Palace would have likely trained with him in the side all week. Lateness to a team meeting is of course unacceptable, but the reaction will need to be appropriate in order to avoid further issues. 

There’s remaining uncertainty on how the side will shape up when those injured return, and in some aspects it feels unfair to judge Sage based on performances with a significantly weakened side, whether that be Henderson being injured, or Sarr being out too. However, to contradict that slightly, it is the job of a manager to do the best they can in the given circumstances, and it doesn’t seem as if that level is being achieved at the moment. 

Another striking issue is the lack of identity when watching Palace play. It’s borderline impossible to define exactly what the sides are trying to do. 

Whilst there have been consistent fast-passing attacking movements throughout, the overall transition of play is not consistent enough. There also seems to be a clear understanding of the defensive positioning, especially when defending transitions. 

For Hoffenheim’s goal, the issue is clear. Not only do they break with pace, but within the three central defenders, one stepped up whilst the other two ball watched and covered the same space, leaving Alexander Prass open on the edge of the box. Yes, Henderson should have done better to prevent the shot finding the net, but there shouldn’t have been a chance for the visitors to strike in that manner. 

The same scenario happened countless times throughout the night, and Henderson made up for his earlier error with a handful of strong stops to keep the score at 0-1. 

Too many times were the defenders ball watching or chasing the same space. This is an issue which needs to be addressed because when Palace play hosts to Liverpool on Sunday, they will not be afforded the same leeway. 

The same issue is occurring at the top end of the pitch too, which is directly impacting the side’s ability to play out as well. On multiple occasions, both Daichi Kamada and Yéremy Pino were on the same side, more consistently on the left of Palace’s attack. 

This meant that initially Anan Khalaili, and then Óscar Mingueza had no options going forward. The pair gave up possession a combined 27 times, and whilst in some moments it was due to their own lack of execution, there were many occasions when there simply was not an option ahead of them. 

Jaydee Canvot also had the same issue, and there was an audible frustration at the amount of time it was taking the young central defender to release the ball at times. Again, in moments this was his fault, but there were times when the crowd were getting irate but there was simply no one showing for the ball. 

The issues didn’t stop when the substitutes were made, and there was a period of play towards the final stages when Palace quite literally did not have anyone playing up front. Eddie Nketiah was drifting wide and again, this was leaving a lack of options in the centre as Palace looked to play forwards. 

This won’t be a long section, but the ultimate positive was that when Palace went down to ten men, they began to play with much greater intent. The equaliser, whilst fortunate based on the course of the entire game, was well deserved after a big push from the home side. 

It felt like the sort of game where if Palace were to score, it would be in the exact manner they did - A slightly mishit strike which squeezed through the ‘keeper's legs. Perhaps, that could be a turning point for Palace, a hard-fought point in Europe, a positive moment for the side to savour in what has been a run of truly uninspiring performances. 

The glaring issues must be addressed ahead of the weekend though, and that has to be the priority, because if not, as Daichi Kamada alluded to in his post match interview, Palace will concede a lot of goals. 

It’s an easy thing to point to, and therefore it’s important to clarify that this is not the only reason Palace have struggled, especially in the game against Hoffenheim. However, the standard of officiating in these games, notably last night, is a disgrace. 

The referee called 28 fouls, and handed out nine cards for those. There was a stark lack of consistency within his officiating, the decision to not penalise Hoffenheim whatsoever when striker Andrej Kramaric clearly handled the ball whilst on a booking stands out. 

As does his decision to send Adam Wharton off for effectively winning an aerial duel. There was no foul committed, there was no excessive force or aggression. The Palace midfielder simply rose higher and won the ball. What is even more mindblowing is that Wharton in fact only made two fouls on the night, one if we’re being blunt. 

Yet he received two yellow cards and will now miss Palace’s next European game. 

Yéremy Pino was punished for a challenge shortly after, and was perhaps, based on the standards set, fortunate to not see red too. The irony of that challenge was that one, Pino got the ball, and two, he only had to lunge for it after being dragged back by the shoulder, which of course wasn’t punished. 

In his career, Horatiu Fesnic has officiated 230 SuperLiga României games, and has issued a staggering 67 red cards, which is an average of one every 3.4 games, alongside his career average of 5.1 yellows per game. Those numbers strike you as someone who wants to be at the centre of the game, and the overall quality of his decision making was not of the level you would expect in European competition. 

The final point on the officiating, is that the VAR had the ability to overturn the second yellow for Wharton, but failed to intervene.