Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce says he still has faith in players after West Ham loss
Saturday 14 January 2017 18:19, UK
Sam Allardyce says he still has faith in his Crystal Palace players after their 3-0 loss to West Ham on Saturday afternoon.
The Eagles are yet to turn the tide under their new manager after Alan Pardew's departure last month, and fell to another Premier League loss to Allardyce's former side.
But the boss says he still believes the team can pull clear of the relegation battle - currently outside the bottom three on goal difference - and use their experience of the league to collect points.
"I still have a lot of faith in the players in their experience and ability because I do see it in training and I did see it today in long spells," he told Sky Sports.
"But at the end of the day, another game has gone by with us throwing away a game and not getting any points at all. I keep telling them that a draw is enough, that if you can’t win then don’t lose.
"I’ve been here for four games in the league and we have only drawn one so I’ve got to try and get that message home.
"Until then, it becomes ever more a struggle as one more game ticks by so we’ve got to all get digging in. We’ve got to be that bit more resilient and use all the Premier League experience they have gained over many years to get us out of this position that we’re in."
Crystal Palace had their best chances in a cagey opening period, but it was West Ham who broke the deadlock in the 68th minute with Sofiane Feghouli netting his first Premier League goal.
Andy Carroll doubled the lead 11 minutes later with a stunning overhead strike before Manuel Lanzini rounded off the victory with four minutes of normal time to play.
Allardyce was quick to praise his players for their performance for periods in the game, but added that they need to make it last for a whole game as well as bemoaning their defensive errors.
"We were the best team in the first half. We had the best chances that were missed," he added.
"You can’t come away to a place like this and make basic errors and ours were simply not doing our job correctly. Our defence let the ball through with a simple ball over the top and the goalkeeper over-committing too early was a very simple goal for West Ham.
"My problem is the team then holding the fort and the nerve and waiting for an opportunity to get back in because we all know how nervous West Ham can be here but we opened up too much.
"What it looks like is that we haven’t played very well today and of course, we have for 70 minutes but that is not long enough because the game is 95 minutes.
"The first 70 minutes we were really good, particularly the first 45 minutes where I thought we controlled the game, had the best chances, but didn’t score. They changed the system a little bit in the second half so you would expect them to attack a bit more when all is said and done because they’re at home.
"We didn’t recover from throwing the first goal in so it’s a very disappointing end and it has made me think we have got to work hard to make sure we know what we’re doing for 90-95 minutes and not 70."
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