Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew says his side need to learn to play against teams who come to Selhurst Park and defend.
This comes after Sunderland travelled to South London and left with all three points, thanks to a defensive error which allowed Jermain Defoe to tap the ball into an empty net.
Sunderland’s gameplan was obvious. They, to use a phrase coined by Jose Mourinho, ‘parked the bus’ for an hour or so, then brought on fresh legs to try and get a goal on the break.
It worked too. Sam Allardyce’s men got a much-needed win, and in doing so, may have provided Palace’s future opponents with a blueprint of how to play against the Eagles.
Sunderland sat deep and nullified the pace of the likes of Wilfried Zaha and Yannick Bolasie, and managed to keep Connor Wickham in front of them.
Speaking after the game, Pardew said:
Sunderland set their stall out and asked us questions that we need to answer if we are going to go forward and evolve into a different type of team. In a way it is a compliment that teams put five at the back and say ‘break us down’ — but we could not manage to do that. It was a painful defeat.
Comments.
Loading comments…