Crystal Palace have lost on the road in the Europa League, falling to a 3-2 defeat in France to Lyon. The game was another chaotic one, as they have tended to be for Palace so far this season. 

Another poor first half left Palace with work to do, and despite scoring twice, they conceded a sloppy goal and failed to defend well enough to earn a point. 

It was a disappointing return to Lyon for Sage, but what did we learn, and what positives can we take from the defeat?

The Senegalese international returned to the starting XI, but put in a pretty toothless performance. There was very little in terms of movement in the forward line too, Sarr often standing in the space that Strand Larsen was looking to occupy. 

He was also completely ineffective in defensive transitions, and some may go as far to say that his contributions, or lack thereof demonstrated a sense of laziness.

Óscar Mingueza was left isolated against Nakamura, who was only aided by the amount of space left for him. Kamada’s absence meant that there was also less cover in midfield, giving Tyler Morton a huge amount of space in the deeper areas to collect the ball and dictate play. 

Those areas are exactly where Kamada has dropped into and pressed so well in recently, and he was desperately missed in the first half. 

Sarr cannot start if he’s not going to work hard defensively. He doesn’t offer enough going forward to justify the lack of defensive support, and therefore Kamada should return to the starting eleven. 

It was a deeply frustrating game. Palace just weren’t good enough in the first half once again, which is becoming a consistent worry. The defensive performances and overall application simply hasn’t been good enough in these spells. 

Palace weren’t punished at the weekend, but Lyon were not going to let them off the hook. The reason for these slow starts is difficult to pinpoint, but it’s an area of the game which needs to change, and fast. 

As does the defending from set pieces, which has been equally tragic. That’s how Lyon opened the scoring just seven minutes in. Palace failed to get first contact and were punished. 

The lack of authority and leadership in the backline certainly had an impact, and the pace of the build up from the backline was too slow. 

That dripped through to the midfield and front line, where the ball just wouldn’t stick at all. A complete lack of conviction and thrust in the front line made it all too easy for Lyon.

Where Forest didn’t take their chances last weekend, Lyon did, and punished Palace dearly when they doubled their lead just seconds before the halftime break. 

There was very little in terms of outlet for Palace, with Sarr and Strand Larsen doing very little before being replaced. Eddie Nketiah came on and did well, as did Dario Osorio later on, which shows there is talent in this squad. 

Crystal Palace played with a back five under Oliver Glasner because of the personnel. Glasner had naturally opted for a back four in previous roles, but decided it was best to utilise the trio of Marc Guéhi, Maxence Lacroix and Chris Richards by playing all three at the same time. 

When Guéhi left, Canvot stepped in for the second half of last season and did a great job as the long-term replacement already through the door. When Lacroix left, he wasn’t replaced. Now, the club simply don’t have enough quality in this department to justify playing with a back three. 

Whilst there are benefits to playing in this way, there are also huge limitations, notably the lack of control in midfield. In this game, it was Kamada’s absence that meant Palace lacked this control, but Ismaïla Sarr cannot sit on the bench forever. In this current system, Kamada has to play though, and therefore Sarr cannot. 

Switching to a back four would be a big change for Palace and for Sage, but it could be exactly what the side needs in order to establish control in games. The reality is that a back five, and playing with three central defenders should make Palace more stable defensively. 

It hasn’t. 

Palace are shipping chances by the minute, and conceding far too many goals, especially in the first half. Whether this is down to a lack of focus, or the energy of the opposition overwhelming the defensive structure, there is not any real benefit to playing with three centre backs. 

If Palace were to try a four back, it could make space for both Sarr and Kamada to start together, with the latter operating as a central number ten and given full creative license. Of course, the attacking output from the wingbacks may be limited, but Khalaili will still be able to get forwards. 

Having three in midfield will allow one to drop in to maintain the back four, and that could be a formation that is attempted.

Sage did use a back four at Lyon, and it may be time to dust off those tactics and change things up for Palace in order to truly utilise the talent in the squad.

In simple terms, this was potentially one of the worst refereeing performances that Palace have had to put up with in some time. Whilst there were cries for a penalty on Kamada that went unheard, the overall performance level was simply unacceptable. 

He consistently overlooked fouls in the first half, blowing his whistle for the first time almost half an hour into the game. The first eyebrow raising decision was to book Ismaïla Sarr for handball when the Senegalese forward blatantly headed the ball. 

He then contravened the laws of the game on multiple occasions, stopping the match on three occasions for injuries, not head injuries though, and all three times in Lyon’s favour. 

In the second half, he began to brandish his cards, but with inconsistency and little reasoning behind the decisions. 

His hypocrisy was summed up in the closing minutes, when he waved away Kamada being dragged down from behind only to give a freekick to Lyon for the exact same thing a mere three seconds later. 

Joao Pedro Pinheiro officiated the game, and was at the heart of the Champions League semi-final between PSG and Bayern Munich last year, which is remembered for a whole host of controversial decisions. 

His general standard, as Portuguese fans have attested to, is similarly poor, so why he is part of UEFA’s elite refereeing team is somewhat of a shock. Whilst Palace cannot point to his performance as the sole reason for their loss, it certainly contributed, and it felt he was overwhelmed by the Lyon fans and naturally leant in their favour.