Former La Liga goalkeeper Vicente Guaita made just his third Crystal Palace appearance as the Eagles were beaten by Middlesbrough.
After the brief respite of an impressive draw at home to Unai Emery’s in-form Arsenal, Crystal Palace let their standards slip again in Wednesday’s EFL Cup fourth round clash away to Middlesbrough.
Teenager Lewis Wing scored the only goal of the game at the Riverside, curling home a stunning finish from long-range to ramp up the pressure on Roy Hodgson. And, in truth, Palace never looked likely to produce a fightback with Jordan Ayew and Alexander Sorloth ineffective in attack.
But how do we judge the display of Vicente Guaita?
The Spanish goalkeeper, who signed on a free from Valencia, made only his third appearance since moving to England. But did he prove himself in a rare start or instead show why Hodgson has kept faith with long-serving number one Wayne Hennessey?
It seems Guaita’s display left the fans divided. The 31-year-old made a couple of decent saves and surely cannot be blamed for letting in Wing’s long-range wonder goal.
But foreign shot-stoppers have frequently struggled to adapt to the physicality of English football, and Guiata looked far from impressive when dealing with those typically Boro-style balls into the box.
It seems he has a long way to go to win over some of his new supporters.
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