Fatigue Cost Us Against Swansea

Manager Sam Allardyce has said he believes that fatigue cost Crystal Palace at least a point in last night’s game against Swansea City.

Hosting Paul Clement’s new side at Selhurst Park just two days after facing Arsenal, Palace went down two one on the day with Wilfried Zaha’s late goal not being enough with the visitors scoring in the 88th minute to nick it.

Speaking to Crystal Palace FC in his post game press conference Allardyce said he knew the players had given their all but it was too much to ask for more given the lack of downtime with the games coming thick and fast at this time for us.

He did however admit he could’ve and probably should’ve made more changes on the day, but obviously with his recent appointment to the role he’s still trying to get used to the players and what they can do.

‘Fatigue is the main reason and not having enough recovery time compared to Swansea. It was blatantly obvious and our energy levels couldn`t get high enough to stop them passing the ball, and then after that we got very nervous when we were in possession and wasted far too much of it. The performance in the first half just wasn`t good enough, and despite the fatigue level that would have made them struggle, I still would have expected them to play much better than they did. It`s not all down to that though, when you have the ball at your feet you have to pass it to one of your players and whoever is in front of the ball have to give better movement and options. That frustration was apparent by the fans booing at half-time and I didn`t blame them as it wasn`t good enough.’

As for the starting eleven selection, he held his hands up for some responsibility there, explaining.

‘I have to take a bit of responsibility by picking almost the same side as we did against Arsenal which was the wrong thing for me to do. Having not been here long enough to make a better decision I chose to stay with most of the lads so maybe I could have put fresher legs on because I saw the influence of Fraizer Campbell and Sako and it lifted the rest of the lads.’

Questioned about set pieces in the game, again it was training pitch time with the players and then working out a plan from the side based on what’s available but he knows he’ll get there, as will the players with more time.

‘It`s difficult to do something when you`re on the bench then – do you try and change the shape or put a substitute on or try and get to half-time and put it right. We tried that but sadly we conceded another goal off a set play. It`s clearly been worked on before I was here and has been since so I`m disappointed conceding that goal that way and they have to stop that.’

As for the late winner, that was disappointing as he felt we were good at that stage to at least take a point.

‘We`re in a good position and Swansea have barely had an attack in the second half, and then when they did we froze and allowed Rangel to run right through the middle and score the winner, so it`s been a difficult night for us all, fans included. It`s a bigger challenge after three games than I expected.’

Having said the club was a ‘bigger challenge’ than he expected, he was pressed on that and added.

‘We rallied in the second half but when we did we should be here with a point now and a very previous one, but we`re not and so we`ve made life much more difficult to go and get safe. After 20 games and 16 points it`s a massive gap to try and catch up.’