We Deserved Something – Allardyce

Manager Sam Allardyce feels Crystal Palace deserved at least a point from the weekend’s encounter with Stoke City.

Making the trip to the Bet365 Stadium to face off against Mark Hughes’ side, Palace came out with another defeat and we are now only above Sunderland in bottom place in the relegation zone owing to a better goal difference.

Losing the match nil and only having one effort on target as Stoke bossed the important statistics in the game, Allardyce still felt that we should’ve taken a point from the game, especially given second half improvements in our play and game management.

Speaking to Crystal Palace FC in his post game press conference, a disappointed former England man explained.

‘I wasn`t too disappointed with the performance, but at the end of the day we still haven`t got any points. It`s very apparent that if we don`t start getting points it`s going to get harder and harder as time ticks by. Restricting the opposition was very good today and how we controlled the second half. It`s very disappointing the time when we lost the goal – we were in control.’

He went on to say.

‘Looking at the stats after the game, you see that it is the only shot on target that Stoke had in the second half and that seems to make it more disappointing that we`ve lost. We need that bit of break, a bit of good fortune. I think that we deserved a point today with the way we played and we have to be reasonably satisfied that we contained the opposition when they`re playing at home.’

It was a defeat though and there was no getting away from that.

‘The bottom line is that there is no result again. It`s another defeat, it`s been going on far too long – not just with me, but before I came. I`ve got to stop it and stop it quick. In the final third there was plenty of entry but not enough quality. We just got to keep working on the training ground; the more work you do, the more belief you gain. We`ve got to find some clean sheets from somewhere first – that will help us get results.’

As for the four new signings.

‘The new players have got a big part to play; they are coming into a struggling club, but they`ve come from elsewhere so they can be a big influence on the players who are already here. They can get amongst our players and hopefully they will make us better. We`ve signed four players and we`ll introduce them as often as we can. Luka on his debut was looking very comfortable for me because he`s exactly what we need; a holding midfield player who can pass the ball and read the game so well, we`ve also got Patrick Van Aanholt too as a left-back where we haven`t had a left-back all season and I think he`s good. Jeffrey Schlupp can play there or a bit further on and if we need it a bit more defensively then hopefully Mamadou Sakho, when he gets match fit, comes in and makes us a little bit more solid so we don`t concede goals on a regular basis.’

Asked on when Sakho would debut, Allardyce explained.

‘Now we`ve got a couple of weeks, hopefully he will be there. He`ll be training with the squad of players for two weeks now with no FA Cup match, and we can do some behind-closed-doors practice games and bring him up to speed. Hopefully he can help in the process where we`re trying to scrape our way out of trouble but he hasn`t played one single first team game for the entire season up to now. He`s only trained with the U23s and didn`t even get a squad number so I don`t want to put him in until he`s ready.’

Ending his interview, Big Sam spoke about the feeling in the dressing room post game.

‘The players are down and we`re all very disappointed. The fans were behind the team again; they`ve all travelled up and they go home disappointed like we do. But we`ve got to break the mould, I`ve got to break the mould and try and guide the players to results. The pressure is evident that we all live with and we have to use it in a positive way to continue to go out and believe that we`re going to give a performance and get a result.’

Adding.

‘It has to happen pretty quickly, it is a long time that the club has been in this position. Obviously I was aware of that. I was hoping I was going to turn it around much quicker than I have but I haven`t been able to do that yet so I will continue to work hard and try and do that as quickly as possible. Hopefully that will be our next game, in two weeks` time.’