Crystal Palace vs Manchester City

Updated: Aug 4, 2023

Hi everyone,

Hope your all well.

On Saturday 19th October I attended the Crystal Palace vs Manchester City game at home and my carer Vicki took me. City were having a pretty poor start to the season, loosing to Norwich and Wolverhampton, so the Palace fans were hoping we were able to get a result out of this game. Just like last seasons 3-2 win over them. But I personally wasn't expecting anything from the game because City are the current Premier League Champions.

The game started at 5.30pm and it was pretty warm for an Autumn evening. The ball seemed to spend most of its time in the away end which was pretty expected but we were able to keep them under control and to let them score an early goal, thanks to Hennessey making some good saves. Before the game started and the teams were announced I was a bit wary of Hennessey being in goal after not many minutes this season but he proved himself in the game.

When Palace were able to attack in the first half they couldn't seem to follow through and kept loosing possession. We were able to collect a few free kicks just outside the box which Milivojevic took but wasn't able create any key chances for us. Just before half time was not a good period of the game for us as in the 39th minute Man City were able to get their first goal of the game via Gabriel Jesus. Shortly after in the 41st minute came Man City's second goal of the game. This time via David Silva. These two goals dropped the players heads slightly but half time came just in time to revive us.

I felt throughout the whole match whenever Zaha was on the ball he didn't appear to be giving it his all and kept loosing the ball. Also when he then lost the ball he didn't seem to have the energy to track back and help get possession back, I honestly don't think I saw him run during the whole game! This suggests to me that he doesn't want to be at Palace anymore? Surely he would still want to give 100% to his team, especially as Palace is the team that made him who is today.

Then in the second half Manchester City seemed to have the majority of possession once again. This was quite frustrating to watch as we kept giving the ball away too frequently. Roy then made his first substitution of the game in the 55th minute bringing on Andros Townsend in replace of Jefferey Schlupp, we were all hoping he would be able to make an impact. Throughout the game both teams gave away many fouls all over the pitch. The worst one was when Kevin De Bruyne kicked Kouyate in the face but luckily he was able to carry on through the match without any significant damage.

In 62nd minute VAR had its first introduction of the game after there was a penalty shout from Man City, but thankfully there was no penalty given.

Palaces second substitution came in the 76th minute with Christian Benteke coming on in replace of Luka Milivojevic. I assume this was to make the game more attack focussed as we had two strikers on the pitch. This meant Gary Cahill became captain for the reminder of the game. Benteke was able to instant impact after wining a leader from a corner, he was able direct it goal wards but their keeper was able to save it. during this time the whole of the Palace fans thought it was a goal from Benteke but sadly it wasn't. Now that Milivojevic wasn't on the pitch it was down to Patrick Van-Aanholt to deal with our set pieces.

Even though we were loosing 2-0 at this point the Palace fans still showed their support in large amounts with the whole stadium cheering them on. It was an amazing atmosphere considering the result. They had also displayed a picture of Joel Ward to celebrate his 200th appearance for Palace at the beginning of the game so they were on form as usual with their support.

In the closing stages of the game Raheem Sterling was able to have a few shots at the goal but thankfully none went in. That would've hurt even more as he is the only City player like due to him also playing for England. The game finished 2-0 to Manchester City. I wasn't annoyed at the result because I feel it was a deserved result and it was only 2-0, it could've been a lot worse.

After the game I was hoping to meet Sterling at the away bus entrance but because it was cold we didn't want to go and wait straight outside again so we went into the pub for about 5 minutes to warm up. When we got down to where the players came out it was already full of fans and me being in my wheelchair I couldn't see a thing or get anywhere near the barrier. We asked the fans politely if they wouldn't mind moving just so I could see and if they could stand behind me (still in their place) but sadly they weren't prepared to let me just even see. We were informed by other security members to speak to the security in charge of the away section but unfortunately they were nowhere be seen. I found this all very frustrating. At this point we had bumped into one of my family friends and he also pleaded with a few people to just step to the side to let me through but they just wouldn't. My carer, Vicki and him were at this point also very disappointed and so we decided to move on and go and visit the Palace boys.

When we got down to the Palace end we spoke to some other Place fans who were at the Man City end and they told us that most of their players had got straight on the bus without meeting and greeting any fans.

I met Milivojevic who gave me his match worn t-shirt signed by himself, I am very grateful for this and can't wait to get a frame to put it in to add to my collection. I also saw Joel Ward, Christian Benteke and Roy Hodgson. We didn't end up leaving till 9.30pm but it was a good evening out.

While I'm on the topic of meeting players on Saturday 31st of August 2019 I was lucky enough to meet one of the nicest footballers Jack Grealish at the Crystal Palace vs Aston Villa match. He wanted to give me his match-worn shirt but after looking for it the shirt was gone already, he asked my mum for my name and address and yesterday morning I received a parcel in the post which contained a personalised signed match-worn shirt 😁. I am so happy and grateful for this and can’t wait to be able to frame it and put it pride of place in my room (with my palace stuff).

After I calmed down from all of the excitement I posted on my instagram @Ellie_Killick and that evening Jack Grealish posted it on his story and as I am writing this I have nearly hit 1K likes on my post.