Crystal Palace were beaten 4-1 by Brighton on Saturday as both Daniel Munoz and Adam Wharton made their debuts.
It wasn’t the introduction either of Crystal Palace‘s new signings would have been wanting on Saturday during a painful thrashing at the hands of a rival.
Adam Wharton replaced an injured Marc Guehi in the 28th minute as a substitute and soon saw himself partly responsible as Palace went 3-0 down.
Roy Hodgson referenced this in his post-match press conference as he described Wharton’s debut as a ‘baptism of fire’.
Daniel Munoz was also making his debut and while he’ll have hated conceding four goals, he was one of the better performers and even broke an 11-year record.
Daniel Munoz breaks 11-year record in Crystal Palace debut
Despite a bad result, Munoz can take one positive as he did something no Palace right-back has done since 2013.
It was his passing that impressed, with an accuracy of 97% which is the highest the club have seen from a right back since promotion to the Premier League in 2013.
For a debut particularly as everything else fell apart, Munoz’s consistent security in possession will have caught the eye and certainly bodes well for his future.
Palace need to take all the positives they can, Munoz was one
For the game at the Amex, Munoz was given a 6.9 match rating by SofaScore which is an impressive one considering the circumstances.
He made 53 touches in the game with 33 passes completed out of 34, among these passes was one key pass.
Defensively he won six duels and made nine defensive actions including one last-man tackle. The performance is one that he can use as a platform to improve upon.
With a reeling Chelsea at Selhurst Park on Monday night, it’s a real opportunity to continue this solid display and push on – with hopefully some points to celebrate afterwards.
