Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew has said that his team were too negative for their own good in the FA Cup match against Liverpool.
The London team were hoping to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in a season where there has been numerous upsets. The likes of Chelsea and Manchester City have already dropped out of the running after defeats against Bradford City and Middlesbrough respectively.Palace were feeling extremely confident ahead of the match with Liverpool given that the tie was Selhurst Park where they have been very strong in recent months. The form has also improved substantially after the arrival of Alan Pardew.
For long periods of the match against Liverpool, it looked likePalace would create another upset and reach the quarter-finals. The team were leading 1-0 through an early goal from Fraizer Campbell. However, the early goal proved to be the undoing for the home team after they sat back in the second half because of the advantage. Daniel Sturridge had looked threatening in the first half and he madePalace pay with an equaliser in the 49th minute. Adam Lallana’s goal just 10 minutes after this equaliser put Liverpool in front and the game finished with this score to knockout Palace.
“We probably didn’t have enough moments. I felt we didn’t put enough pressure on Liverpool and we really had a great chance at half-time.We know inside that dressing room that we should have done a bit better. Liverpool’s system is a problem at times – they can keep the ball, they’ve got lots of options.Having said that, I was disappointed in the first half. The goal kind of made us a bit negative. We got it so early and we kind of sat back a little bit too much,” said Pardew.