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Alan Pardew says players must get over "shock" of Swansea result, addresses "mini-crisis"

Alan Pardew believes his players need to be able to see a game out and forgot the "shock" of last...



Alan Pardew says players must...
Soccer

Alan Pardew says players must get over "shock" of Swansea result, addresses "mini-crisis"

Alan Pardew believes his players need to be able to see a game out and forgot the "shock" of last week's 5-4 defeat to Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium.

In what was a pulsating game, partly due to the dearth in quality of two struggling teams, Crystal Palace threw away a 4-3 lead and lost the game in added time to a Fernando Llorente tap-in.

Speaking ahead of this weekend's trip to Southampton, Pardew insisted that his team must regroup and 'repay' the fans.

"After the shock over the Swansea, in terms of the manner of it, the task now is to get the players on an even keel," he told reporters on Friday morning. "To have the balance right between defending situations that we should do, focusing on them and not getting overly tense on them.

"There's a lot of frustration in the group because they want to put it right. Our fans travel to Burnley and Swansea, games that we should have won and had opportunities to win, and we have to pay them back."

Palace are searching for their first win since September and look to arrest a run of six defeats in the league. Of those defeats, the Eagles have failed to score just once (a 1-0 defeat to West Ham in October), but Pardew says the improvements need to be made defensively.

"There's a responsibility on everybody in the squad to defend certain situations. We were quite unfortunately with Swansea that we put an entirely offensive team on to get back from a situation and ended up having a lead.

"Perhaps there's a bit of naivety in the group that we couldn't handle the situation. We've worked a little bit in training this week for the whole group, understanding how to see a game out.

"My experience is our form and the way we've played, doesn't really reflect where we are. But unfortunately, results are everything. We must get a result by hook or by crook. That's the sense I get from the training ground as well."

Alan Pardew watches on as Crystal Palace are beaten by Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium. Image: Nick Potts PA Wire/PA Images

Pardew confirmed that he did meet with the chairman, but insisted it was nothing out of the ordinary and that the pair 'meet and speak every day'.

"This is kind of a crisis at the moment, a mini-crisis' that we have to get through. The work [the board] have done, the work we've done and the work we want to do going forward all bodes well. But we just have to get past this period.

"I think [the chairman] wants to see that we're putting in the effort on the pitch, which I think we did in every game so far this year. We just need to do it at a level where we can get a result."

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Steve Mandanda is to have surgery on a knee injury - which will keep him out for around six weeks.

The France international - who joined in the summer - has missed their Premier League defeats to Manchester City and Swansea. Wayne Hennessey will continue to deputise.

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