Strasbourg 2-1 Crystal Palace: Glasner's side made to rue missed opportunities

Crystal Palace suffered a disappointing 2-1 defeat by Strasbourg as their Conference League campaign hit a stumbling block.

After Tyrick Mitchell put Palace ahead in the first half, future Chelsea man Emanuel Emegha equalised in the second period before Samir El Mourabet netted a late winner.

The result left the Eagles in 18th place in the Conference League table, while Strasbourg rose to second after their third win in four games.

Daily Mail Sport's WILL PICKWORTH has picked out some key talking points from the clash.

Palace rue missed opportunities again

Palace were forced to ride an early storm as Strasbourg started brightly and seemed to be able to cut them open with relative ease.

But when they needed their main men to step up, Jean-Philippe Mateta did so as he changed the course of the first half with some brilliant hold up play for Mitchell’s goal.

Palace began to enjoy their best period of the game, but Ismaila Sarr then hit the post from an open goal after Strasbourg's risky build-up play was caught out.

In the second half, Adam Wharton struck the bar when presented with another open goal, before Yeremy Pino squandered a one-on-one, just minutes before El Mourabet scored the winner.

On the European stage Oliver Glasner's side cannot be this wasteful – and they were punished.

'We have this too often this season that we didn't decide the game when we could,' Glasner bemoaned post-match. 'You can concede the equaliser but we are missing an open goal and big chances against the keeper.

'We need more players to show up and score goals but nobody does it on purpose. At the moment it just happens too often and we can’t always rely on keeping a clean sheet.'

How did 'Chelsea B’ fare?

Strasbourg boss Liam Rosenior refuted suggestions pre-match that his side were ‘Chelsea’s B team’ despite their links with the Blues.

Since BlueCo took control of the Ligue 1 outfit in 2023, 14 transfers have taken place between the sister clubs and there were seven current, former, or future Chelsea players in their squad on Thursday night.

It was Strasbourg captain Emanuel Emegha, set to join Enzo Maresca's next summer, who grabbed the headlines though with his second half goal, and he unsettled the ever-reliable Maxence Lacroix.

Diego Moreira, who played just 45 minutes in just over a year at Chelsea, looked bright too as he caused Daniel Munoz problems, while Ben Chilwell, Mike Penders, Mamadou Sarr and Kendry Paez also featured.

Is it time for Tuchel to call Mitchell?

Despite defeat, Tyrick Mitchell did no harm to his claim for an England spot ahead of next summer's World Cup.

Djed Spence, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Nico O’Reilly and Tino Livramento have all been handed opportunities at left back this season under Thomas Tuchel.

The quartet have their strengths, but as Tuchel tries to solve the conundrum in one of the few positions in his side still up for grabs, he should look no further than Selhurst Park.

Since breaking into the Palace team five years ago, Mitchell has developed into one of the most consistent left sided defenders in the Premier League, and while his defensive qualities have never been in question, he continues to improve in an attacking sense - and his goal here was a superb finish.

It was his second strike of the season, and after proving himself in the Premier League, Mitchell is now showing his quality on the European stage.

'I’ve been working on it (my attacking) and got better at it this season,' Mitchell said. 'I’m happy I contributed but unfortunately we didn’t take away three points. It's disappointing and we have to be more clinical.'