Following the defeat to Arsenal on Sunday, Crystal Palace midfielder James McArthur has encouraged his side to start games much more positively, as that’s where the Eagles were rusty.
Early on, the Gunners wasted several good chances that, on another day, potentially find their way into the net. Alan Pardew’s side started the game off the pace, giving the ball away on many occasions that nearly led to putting themselves behind if it wasn’t for the heroic defending and smart saves.
Olivier Giroud opened the scoring, and it wasn’t any fault of Palace. The Frenchman smartly finished, but the Eagles were back on level terms 12 minutes later thanks to a driven strike by Joel Ward.
Eventually, Arsenal got their winner through an unfortunate Damien Delany own goal, and Wenger’s men came out victorious.
Following the game, McArthur admitted that Pardew’s side started the game slower than they should have, and if they didn’t, the result may have been different.
Speaking to News Shopper , the midfielder said:
The second half was better than the first. The manager demanded more of us at half-time and we demanded more of ourselves. We knew that the first half wasn’t good enough and we upped it in the second.
But we need to make sure we start better in matches and there will be a lot of emphasis on that in the next match. We need to get better at home, especially as our form last year was not good enough. The pitch is a lot different this year and it’s a nice surface to play football.
We need to win games here at Selhurst.
