Crystal Palace star lifts lid on Dominic Calvert-Lewin tactical plan with Leeds United 'battering' in mind
Neither Leeds United nor Dominic Calvert-Lewin were able to replicate last season’s dominance over Crystal Palace.
Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton was happy to take a point from Leeds United less than a year after their Elland Road ‘battering’.
The Whites were unable to impose their physicality on Palace during Sunday’s 0-0 draw and were made to settle for a point in the end. The away side actually came closest to nicking it through Tyrick Mitchell, but for a VAR review which found an offside in the build-up.
The result represents an improvement for Palace, who last season were physically dominated by Leeds on their way to a 4-1 defeat at Elland Road. Wharton believes his side coped much better this time round and was happy to take a point back down to London.
“I think we know how difficult it is to come here, away from home,” he told PalaceTV. “With the crowd, the atmosphere, it’s difficult to come away with anything really.
“Last year we felt that, and we had a battering really. We wanted to make it difficult for them to play against us, be hard to break through, limit their chances, and also try and create ours.
“I think it was a tight game. I think it could’ve gone either way at the end. It was quite end-to-end, but it’s a strong point and we’ll take it back with us.”
Leeds’ biggest threat in that 4-1 win and again this season has been Calvert-Lewin. The striker grabbed a brace against Newcastle United on Monday and has been close to unplayable at times, bullying opposition defenders.
How Palace managed Calvert-Lewin threat
The 29-year-old did have Sunday’s biggest chance for Leeds by some distance, his second-half effort from a James Justin cross fired straight at goalkeeper Walter Benitez. But Palace generally did a much better job of keeping him quiet.
Asked how they went about coping with Calvert-Lewin, Wharton said: “Just a mentality: our centre-backs being aggressive, not letting him get a run, because when he gets a run he’ll beat anyone in the air.
“Just trying to be aggressive. When we are attacking, trying to be on the front foot, and also defensively so when it does come out, he can’t hold it up and get them the ball, then obviously we’ve got to do more running to get back.
“I thought we did that excellently. The defenders were very aggressive getting in front of him and trying to stop him from being effective.”