Tuesday 22 November 2016 08:12, UK
Crystal Palace suffered their fifth straight Premier League defeat on Saturday after they were done by a set-piece that allowed Yaya Toure to score Manchester City’s winner in a 2-1 victory at Selhurst Park.
It is not the first time Alan Pardew's side have been punished from a set-piece this season. Palace have conceded more goals from set-pieces than any other Premier League team.
On Monday Night Football, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher analysed where it went wrong for Palace and explained Toure's goal stemmed from Pardew's decision to substitute striker Christian Benteke.
The Belgium international was tasked with marking Toure at set-pieces until he was replaced by Chung-Yong Lee in the 81st minute, and that is were the confusion started for Palace.
Lee can be seen telling Connor Wickham he has to pick up the City midfielder, while Pardew and his assistant Keith Millen can be seen gesticulating towards their players in an attempt to get the message across.
However, it was too late and the Ivory Coast international ghosted in on goal to convert Kevin De Bruyne's corner to hand City all three points and leave Palace hovering dangerously above the relegation zone.
Wales manager Chris Coleman, who was a guest on Monday Night Football, gave his take on City's winning goal and he thinks the Palace players need to take more responsibility at set-pieces.
"There's one word we always use with set plays and it's accountability," Coleman told MNF. "That's what it's about.
"The amount of games won or lost from set plays, the percentage is much higher than people think and this is a classic example. There has been a substitution, there's a little change in who's doing what and they don't organise it.
"They don't take responsibility. That's the biggest thing for Crystal palace and the frustrating thing for Alan Pardew. They don't deal with it early enough and they should.
"The senior players need to take responsibility," he added. "In the second-half, Palace did more than enough to get a point out of the game but when you defend like that from set plays at this level, you will be punished."
It has been a miserable year for Palace so far and no team in English football has picked up fewer points per game than the Eagles, who are 16th in the table just one point above the drop zone.
Since Pardew's appointment in January 2015, they have also had the fewest clean sheets in the English game with just 10 and Carragher thinks the Palace boss may have to be more conservative in his approach.
"I've always admired Alan Pardew," Carragher told Sky Sports. "He's always been a front foot manager, playing two strikers and playing wingers.
"He's always gone for the game and maybe that cost him at Burnley a few weeks ago, but this week taking one of the strikers off and bringing on an extra midfielder has cost him with the set-piece goal.
"If the set-pieces don't change, they will have a massive problem so maybe he does have to be a bit more conservative."
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