July 29 2017

Wilfried Zaha (Photo: Ramzi Musallam)

Crystal Palace's friendly away at FC Metz ended in a 1-1 draw. Mike Scott rates the Eagles players...

With Palace TV offering the game as a free stream – and then their servers soon crashing with the amount of people wanting to watch it – Palace fans around the world got to see the Eagles over in North East France.

The game didn’t quite live up to the anticipation, but Palace put in a decent performance. Here’s our ratings by player for the game:

Wayne Hennessey - 6

A quiet afternoon for the Welsh number 1 - barely called upon for most of the first half, but alert enough to make a save from Metz forward Nolan Roux towards the break. Could do nothing at all about the goal - and few mistakes. Which isn’t something you can always say...

Luka Milivojevic - 7

After his less than subtle remarks about playing at the back not being his favoured choice of position, Luka was totally dependable again in the alien spot on the right of a back three. Palace fans have come to expect nothing less of the man, wherever he plays. Unlucky not to have been on the score sheet again having hit the woodwork in the first half too.

Scott Dann - 6

An hour’s solid game time for Dann was shown to be all the more sharp after he was replaced by Martin Kelly (4), who was noticeably off the pace in comparison. Kelly’s positioning and lack of pace contributed a large part to the Metz equaliser.

Jairo Riedewald - 6

Very hard to judge Riedewald’s debut, with the Dutchman playing 45 minutes that saw few chances for the French hosts. He was given plenty of time to play some short, crisp passes and rarely looked pressured. Was substituted by James Tomkins (6) at half time, who looked assured too - and seemed to be comfortable enough in de Boer’s defensive formation.

Andros Townsend - 8

Tried as hard as anyone to pick up the pace and make things happen in a fairly sterile first half. He looked more at ease in his role as wing-back after his time trialling the position in Hong Kong. Sent a lovely ball over in the first half that Benteke unluckily struck the woodwork with - and sent the beauty over that Zaha scored from.

Jason Puncheon - 6

A battling performance from Punch as usual, with de Boer clearly making sure he tracks back as often as possible. Given plenty of time on the ball going forward, he didn’t necessarily produce enough given the space he was allowed, but his defensive shift gave the team balance.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek - 6

A slightly more anonymous than the West Brom game in Hong Kong last week, Loftus-Cheek will need to use his sizeable frame to impose himself a bit more. He was subbed for Michael Phillips (5) with 20 minutes to go, who de Boer clearly wants to see a bit more of.

Patrick van Aanholt - 7

Dependable in defence and getting forward plenty, van Aanholt put in a serious shift for 70 minutes, before being switched for Jeffrey Schlupp (6). The criticism would be that the end product was lacking a little after some of his lengthy runs.

Jason Lokilo - 7

Frank de Boer’s claims about wanting to check out his young talent before committing to purchases seem to be genuine, with Lokilo making a start, The Belgian looked like a creative outlet up front. Delivered a cross that Benteke failed to convert. Nya Kirby (5) replaced him on the hour, but was anonymous in comparison - not getting the touches he did last week against West Brom.

Wilfried Zaha - 7

Palace’s goalscorer - with a lovely volley from 6 yards out that left Metz keeper Didillon without a hope in the world - Zaha grew into the game after a fairly non-event of a start. Typical, dependable Wilf display.

Christian Benteke - 6

On another day, could have had three - but a frustrating day for the big man. Hit the woodwork twice - and at least one other clear cut chance went begging from a ball from Wilf. Held the ball up well when needed - looked like a decent mentor for Lokilo.