Good pressure by Richards allows Palace to keep the ball deep in the Liverpool half, then they win a corner that Richards gets the first header on. Nicely flicked to a teammate, shot not as good.
Solid play. They get a point against Liverpool and hopefully Richards has made a case for more time next game.
Yeah... he almost didn't line up in the box for that corner... then comes in and gets a great flick-on header to one of the CBs... just wasn't put on frame. I think I counted 5 aerial dual wins in roughly 20 minutes at RB. Not bad. Also had a couple duels won on the ground. Hope we see him at CB where he belongs in the near future. Very solid debut.
Good positioning and very alert. I like it, although I had no doubts he was going to look good in CP.
He looked solid! Won 4-5 balls in the air, made some clearances, won a corner, and then headed said corner goalward (there was a big discussion on the field about whether he should stay up for it). ALMOST a clutch assist.
Richards will get plenty of time to shine I think. He'll get some spot starts, and even more if another CB gets hurt as the season goes on. Richards commanding in the air, but I figured he would be as a RB against players like Carvalho and Tsimikas.
Looked good, I thought - no apparent Premiership/Liverpool jitters. Surprisingly dominant in the air - won way more than his share. Maybe he could have closed people out a little bit more aggressively - but I'm looking for something to criticize.
Gonna go out on a limb and say Palace finish top 8. They're a really good squad and Viera seems to know what he's doing. Granted, they were on the back foot even against a 10 man Liverpool, but it's Liverpool...
He’s a big guy. I figured he was being cautious about closing out too quickly so that a nimble striker couldn’t use his momentum against him. Seemed a bit cautious there but you could definitely tell he was confident of getting to any ball in the air near him.
RB/RWB is not even Richards' position. So if he can hold his own out of position we can only hope that he further excels when given his opportunities at CB.
Yeah, I noticed they played him as a wingback. I don't know what Vieira had in mind. Maybe he wanted to get Richards some playing time, but the centerbacks Guehi and Andersen were doing so well that he didn't want to substitute them. "So if he can hold his own" sounds like fanboy stuff. Richards is a fine CB, and I'd like to see him get minutes there.
Mitchell was laboring a bit, might have tweaked something a little. Martin Tyler drew attention to it in commentary a couple of minutes before Richards came on. Richards was, as best as I can tell, Palace's only defensive player on the bench, so he was set to come in anywhere on the backline if necessary.
Not necessary to belittle. It takes away from your post. Besides, I am not sure it makes sense based on my post and your response. I agree that he is a fine CB and we all want to see him play there soon/often for Palace... but you pointed out the two highest paid CBs in the Palace lineup yesterday (their normal starters) but they played with 3 CBs in this one. The fact that the 3rd CB Ward played so well might hurt Richards' chances to start/play at CB in the EPL soon... but Richards did well in his cameo and they spent a lot of money to get him... so who knows? Richards' versatility should help. He is a true two-footed CB so he can play on the left or right in a 3CB backline... I am hoping this quality showing makes Vieira want to go with a 3-man back line going forward as that would make a Richards play far more likely.
Richards was asked to play 11 minutes at wingback in a back 5. He did so and didn't poop the bed. Good. That doesn't have much bearing in how he would play as a CB. As everyone in defense did pretty well, I'm not sure he's any closer to starting at CB, whether in a 3, 4, or 5 man backline.
He's just arrived to the club too. CBs need chemistry together. I wouldn't take it as a statement of intent that he didn't start as one.
I saw him as the RCB, not a wingback. He dominated in the air when rebuffing the Pool attacks, and he got on a ball in a set piece, as CBs sometimes do.
They were five at the back and he was the farthest right. They were a bit in tie-preservation and try to counter mode once he came on, despite being up a man, so he did more CB-ish things than he might have otherwise.
It sounds as though it was a useful introductory experience, in a tense and challenging match. His solid performance should lead to additional opportunities/minutes.
I was thinking of him as a CB by default, even though that wasn’t the position he was playing. So rather surprising to see him pressuring players all the way down in the opposition’s corner
Chris Richards EPL debut vs Liverpool (8/15/22)#CPFC #USMNT pic.twitter.com/IVqndvclCb— Justin Moran (@kickswish) August 17, 2022