Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew has expressed his frustration after errors from his side “gifted” Manchester City goals in their 2-1 defeat at Selhurst Park.
Costly mistakes
The Eagles went a goal behind after Yaya Toure linked up with Nolito before finding the back of the net. They levelled the score thanks to striker Connor Wickham, however Toure struck again late on to secure all three points.
“We really gifted Manchester City two goals today, from the mistakes that led to the first goal, and the second goal where our setup at a corner should have been better,” Pardew said in his post-match press conference.
“We had some good periods in the game so we’re just disappointed that we didn’t take something.”
Positives despite form
Despite recent struggles, which have included five defeats in their last six games, Pardew felt no major changes were need.
“The little tiny margins – It’s not like teams are running away from us and we’re are looking uncomfortable or you could doubt our work rate – I thought today it was phenomenal.”
“The goals we’ve conceded from set-plays is not us – we should be a top three set-play team in both boxes, and we’re probably in the bottom three. That’s an area we must improve on.”
Centre-back James Tomkins said that he felt that there wasn’t much to separate the two sides on the day.
“They kept on going and they pushed us right to the end, but I thought we matched them for long periods today,” the Englishman said after the game.
“We had to be on our toes and we dealt with them well for long periods. They didn’t really have many efforts on goal.”
Although they are on a rotten run at the moment, Tomkins believes that they can still take positives from their poor results.
“That doesn’t look good on paper, but I feel like we’re getting our team back together and looking more solid.”
Next up for Palace is a trip to Swansea City next Saturday, with the swans sitting bottom of the Premier League.