Yeremy Pino was the decisive figure at Selhurst Park as Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest met in Premier League football on Sunday at 14:00 BST. The Palace forward scored twice, and his impact came in a match that also featured a glaring missed chance from Thierno Barry.
That was the clear story of the game: Palace took their moments, while Forest left themselves exposed. As Pat Nevin put it, Forest were “all over the shop here and Palace are looking to capitalise.”
Pino makes Palace pay
Daniel Gabbidon highlighted how Crystal Palace were able to hurt Nottingham Forest by winning the ball back and breaking quickly. “Crystal Palace do a really good job of winning the ball back and springing forward. It’s intricate play and Nottingham Forest are all over the place defensively,” he said.
Pino then delivered the finish Palace needed, with Gabbidon describing how he “toe pokes it into the back of the net.” It was a simple but important moment, the kind that can settle a Premier League game when one side is organised and the other is not.
There was also a further consequence for Pino after the goal. He lifted his shirt to reveal a T-shirt with writing on it and was booked for excessive celebration.
Barry’s missed chance stands out
If Pino was clinical, Thierno Barry was the opposite. Nevin did not hide his frustration, saying: “That’s not one Thierno Barry will want to see again but he will. What a dreadful mess.”
Gabbidon was even more direct. “Thierno Barry is having one. That’s the only way to describe it,” he said before pointing to the chance itself: “The ball is played across the box and all he has to do is side-foot into the open goal but he misses it completely.”
Needing big moments in a tight contest, Forest did not get them. “It’s ones that are really easy, minimum he should have scored two,” Nevin added, underlining how costly the miss could prove.
For Palace, though, the takeaway was much simpler. They had a player in Yeremy Pino who seized the game, scored twice, and gave them the edge in a match where Nottingham Forest could not keep their structure together for long enough.
