Manager Alan Pardew has said he was gutted to lose the game earlier today against Tottenham Hotspur as he believes we were good value for a point in the game.
Audio – Pardew On Spurs Defeat
Speaking to Sky Sports following the game, Pardew also said that he believed goalkeeper Alex McCarthy should’ve kept out what became their winning goal.
‘The game hinged on those three minutes. Lloris’ save was unbelievable, and then three minutes later the goal at the other end which we should stop, and our goalkeeper should stop it. He’s unlucky because he hits it hard, but I think he would still want to save that and I’d want him to save it.’
Having hit the post twice during the game as well, Pardew admitted it was a tough and choppy game, but he knows that if Palace harbour hopes of a better than midtable finish these are games where we have to ensure we get something from them, even when the performance can clearly be better.
‘We came to Spurs, a difficult place, they play well and we still should have got something. If we’re going to become a mid-table team, that isn’t acceptable to me and it isn’t acceptable to my players. The margins were not in our favour for the whole of the game. We should have done a lot better today.’
In other quotes carried by the press, he also said.
‘I don’t want to be in the mid-table, I told the players after the game it’s not for me. I’m an experienced manager, I know a good side when I see one and this is a good side. Therefore we need to tighten up in certain areas, be stronger in the mind and we can achieve a great season. That, for us, would be a top-10 finish, maybe higher than that, and a cup competition. They should be our goals, particularly after these first six games and the way we’ve gone about the opposition in the victories and defeats.’
And speaking more generally about the performance itself, he went on to explain.
‘Going forward I thought we weren’t as good as we usually are. Having said that, the goalkeeper is probably their man of the match with two unbelievable saves to deny us the first goal which would’ve changed everything. I could argue that we should have done better in certain things but they are the margins that you win and lose by in this division. We’ve got to make sure those margins come in our favour. We’ve won three, we’ve lost three in our first six. If you look at the fixtures I don`t think that`s a bad return, really. Having said that it could have been so much better. Therefore, we must lean on that part of it and with a little bit of improvement we could find ourselves competing at the top of the division.’
With the half time substitution of Wilfried Zaha, Pardew was also quoted by the South London Press as saying that the player hadn’t been doing what he’d asked of him, so he made the change to try and get what he wanted.
‘The issue with Wilf is that he`s a fabulous footballer. I`m trying to get him to understand that every moment in every game is very important. It`s about concentration, about having that same desire to defend and attack, movement and everything that top player produces. Unfortunately today I didn`t think he did that. He had 45 minutes to show me he was up to speed on those areas and he wasn`t. He needs to take away a lesson. He`s perhaps unlucky to be taken off because there were one or two others that we probably just below level – but he was probably worst of the pack.’
With Scott Dann missing from the game, the Croydon Advertiser also have him saying he would miss the Capital One Cup clash against Charlton Athletic as well with a calf injury he picked up in training.
‘I think we missed his experience today in places. The back four was thrown together because Scott did his calf yesterday. We hope it’s not too serious – but it’ll definitely keep him out of Wednesday’s game for sure.’
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