Wharton on Palace’s ‘good improvisation’ in win at Molineux
Adam Wharton hailed Crystal Palace’s in-game management in defeating a highly-motivated Wolverhampton Wanderers side at Molineux.
With Wolves boasting a new manager in the home dugout and both teams settling back into their rhythm after the November international break, Palace came racing out the traps to dominate a competitive encounter and – through goals from Dani Muñoz and Yéremy Pino, with Wharton playing a key part in both – secure an impressive 2-0 win.
“We’re delighted,” Wharton told Palace TV. “I think it's a well-deserved three points.
“I thought we started strong, which is good after the international break. Usually we're a bit slow to get going, but it was a good start.
“The first-half was difficult. They sort of limited our chances and tried to play in a compact shape, sit back behind the ball. We got in a few good areas, but didn't quite get the final end product. The message at half-time was to just keep going. We did that and got there in the end. It's a good result.
“The gaffer mentioned it [Wolves’ new manager] before the game: they had that extra bit of motivation. Their fans wanted to get behind the manager and the team, so we just had to match that and play our football.
“I think we did that. We were up for it, you could see. Even when we were 2-0 up, we were defending the box to get that clean sheet. It was a great team performance.”
Like his manager, Wharton highlighted a key tweak to Palace’s set-piece routines – made at half-time in response to Wolves’ own change in defensive shape – which led to Muñoz’s opener.
He explained: “The first goal, credit to the staff. At half-time, they looked at our set-pieces and looked at how we could get a chance. We've done that in the first set-piece after the break.
“Obviously, I've had the shot. It's deflected off Max [Lacroix] and then come to Dani. It's good improvisation from them, thinking about how we can get those chances, because we struggled in the first-half with them.
“The second goal, Yéremy’s done a brilliant strike. All I had to do was give him the ball and he did the rest. It was a top finish – I thought he played really well today.”
The match was Palace’s 20th already in a busy season – and plenty more are to come with the Eagles competing in four competitions: “I think it’s 15 games in a couple of months, as the gaffer mentioned,” Wharton noted.
“This is what we want. We want to play football. We've got games every three days. There's not really too much to think about. It's more just play, recover, look at the next opponent and how we're going to beat them, and then go and produce it on the pitch.
“I think we're just going to have to take it game by game. That's what we did today and we've done well. Now we look forward to the next game and don't get ahead of ourselves. It's going to be a long period, but I think we're really up for it.”
The win was Wharton’s second in the space of seven days, having made his first start for England in a 2-0 win away in Albania last Sunday.
The midfielder said: “A great moment for me. I didn't really think too much of it. I was just playing another football game.
“That's how I try to look at every single game. I don't want to get too into emotions or anything like that – just play my football and that's what I try to do.
“It's a great moment for me and my family, obviously. Now I'm back with Palace and full focus is on that, helping us get as many wins as possible.”