Crystal Palace manager Frank de Boer criticised his sides' lack of courage in the first half of their 2-0 loss to Swansea City yesterday.
Slow Start
“It wasn’t until after we were 2-0 down that we showed we really can play,” he said after the game.
Balls must be shown
“We have to show some balls from the first second of the game. If you do not show courage then you get punished.
"In the second half you saw a different Palace - one who creates chances - and with a bit of luck you make one of those. It just wasn't the day for us.”
The Palace boss was also asked whether a lack of confidence was key to his players' poor start.
“It could be down to confidence – when there is no pressure on the ball you have to pass to someone in the same colour and a lot of the times we turned and didn’t acknowledge where the opponent was.
“If you are afraid or don’t show courage, you never get what you want. If you show it, you get much more, so we’ll analyse that with the players so hopefully they’ll see we have to show it every game – whatever system we play."
Welcome break
This result means the Eagles remain winless going into the first international break of the season, a break that de Boer has said will be a good thing.
“Right now it is the best thing to have two weeks to train and get everyone fresh in the head again and go again for Burnley.
“I’m very happy the international break is there, but I can imagine for Huddersfield Town sitting top of the league right now that they’ll want to play on Wednesday again. That’s normal, and hopefully we can turn things around in the next two weeks and get on the board.”
After the two week back, de Boer will be hoping to reintroduce key players to his match day squad - Ruben Loftus-cheek and Wilfried Zaha.
“Ruben was one of our best players in the last two games and Wilf was the most impressive player in pre-season, so if you miss those players you really miss something. Hopefully they can be back for Burnley but I have no clue right now how long it really takes.”