Marc Guehi has provided a brutally honest assessment of Crystal Palace ’s performance in their 1-0 loss to Newcastle at St James’ Park on Wednesday evening.
The 21-year-old centre-back played 90 minutes against the Magpies as Miguel Almiron’s curling first-half finish was the difference on Tyneside. Palace were lacklustre and wasteful in the first half, dropping below the usually high-energy standards Patrick Vieira has set for his side throughout the season.
That sluggishness - which saw Vieira lose his temper several times on the touchline with his players - ultimately cost Palace the match. They improved in the second half, dominating possession and mustering ten shots at goal compared to the one they had managed in the first 45 minutes. But by both Vieira’s admission and Guehi’ s, the damage had already been done.
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"When you start a game like that in their place, you get what you deserve,” said the defender at full-time. "We were second best to everything. They beat us to every duel, every challenge, and when you try to rally in the second half sometimes it can be too late. We had spells in the second half where we looked dangerous, but they were really aggressive and they looked like they wanted it more today. They thoroughly deserved the win.”
Speaking on how he and his teammates would have to react to the defeat, he added: “We have to learn from this, and quickly. It’s vital – we tell ourselves that we’ve had a good season, but it’s not finished yet. It’s vital that it doesn’t peter out. It’s important that we get back to winning ways.”
Palace are currently chasing what would be just their second-ever top half finish in the Premier League era, with Alan Pardew’s 2014/15 side the only ones to accomplish that so far. With six matches remaining, the Eagles are currently three points behind tenth-placed Brighton with a game in hand and a superior goal difference over their rivals.
They are next in action against Leeds on Monday night when they return to Selhurst Park for the first time since beating Arsenal 3-0. Since then they have suffered defeats at Leicester and Newcastle plus a loss at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea. Vieira's side haven't lost four games in a row so far this season but did lose to the Whites during their previous worst patch of poor form back in November when Raphinha snatched the points with an injury-time penalty at Elland Road.
Eagles boss Vieira was also upset with how his side started the game at St James’ Park but wanted focus to move quickly on to where Palace can put things right next Monday night. “We have to look ahead to Leeds on Monday,” he said. “It’s been a challenging week. But this is a young team who will grow with experience.” He added: “The result wasn’t what we wanted, but I believe as a team we will learn from those situations and that is good for the future.”
