Pierre Sage believes he still has the support of Crystal Palace’s board despite another damaging defeat leaving him under pressure at Selhurst Park.
The Eagles lost 2-0 at home to Newcastle United on Sunday, just a week after suffering a 5-0 thrashing against Brighton.
Crystal Palace have collected only seven points from their opening eight Premier League matches, leaving Sage with plenty of work to do to turn things around.
Reports in the media after the defeat surfaced about Palace making a decision on him but Pierre Sage insists he has the support of the board.
Pierre Sage responds to questions over his future
Asked whether he felt the club’s hierarchy were still behind him, the Palace boss gave a confident response.
“I think, yeah.
“The question is, do you think? And my reply is, yes, I think.”
Sage insisted he remains focused on the players and the team rather than the speculation surrounding his position.
“It’s normal that a person loses patience when you lose, because everybody wants to win, and us first,” Sage said after the Newcastle defeat.
“We want to win, we do the job to win, but today it was not the case, in this period it was not the case.
“I don’t have to convince the people around the club, I just have to convince the players to do their best and to compete and to continue their improvement.
“After that, this kind of decision of what we are talking about is to the chairman, to the owners, this kind of person.
“For me, the noise around the team, the noise around the club, it’s only noise.”
Palace boss points to costly 15 minutes
Crystal Palace have won just two games in the league. Both wins despite the three points lacked control. The problem continues for Pierre Sage and Crystal Palace against Newcastle where they failed to control the game.
Sage felt the defeat against Newcastle came down to a little spell that changed the game for them.
“In our period, we have to be perfect to win, and today we missed 15 minutes.”
He added: “But today we missed only 15 minutes, but it’s sufficient for our opponent to win.”
Sage took charge in the summer after Oliver Glasner left for Nottingham Forest, but his first spell in south London has been difficult. Two wins from Palace’s opening league fixtures have done little to ease the pressure.
Despite the position and results, Sage insists the focus must remain on improving the team, but after back to back defeats to Brighton and Newcastle, he needs that progress to show on the pitch.
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