Speaking to London 24 following the home defeat to Manchester City, Eagles boss Alan Pardew admits that the absence of striker Conor Wickham hurt.
The summer signing, who made the switch from Sunderland, was ruled out of this clash because of an injury picked up in training. From there, Pardew opted to not choosing a recognised striker in the Starting XI, leaving Bamford out of the squad altogether and not bringing Gayle on until the 2nd half.
Pardew believed that if he had Wickham available at his disposal, the game would have been different. The ex-Newcastle boss believes that having Wickham’s physical stature would also have helped against Manuel Pellegrini’s side.
I think we missed Connor Wickham.
He has a bit of presence through the middle and that injury hurt us. But I can’t be anything but proud of this club, I thought the fans were magnificent.
It was a cracking game. If you were an ex-professional footballer at the game you’d know what a tough game that was. “When it went into the midfield and forward it was high-level stuff.
For the South London side, their next game in the Premier League sees them travel up to White Hart Lane to come up against a Spurs side who are yet to register a win this season. Pardew’s men will be hoping that they’ll quickly be able to return to winning ways and leave this low-blow of a defeat behind them.
