Palace well beaten by slick Swansea

September 22 2013

Delaney: Suffered an ankle injury in the first half

Crystal Palace suffer a disappointing 2-0 defeat at home to Swansea City.

With Kagisho Dikgacoi suspended after his red card against Manchester United, Ian Holloway opted to give a debut to Barry Bannan in midfield, and opted for a front pairing of Marouane Chamakh and Cameron Jerome.

The Eagles suffered a disastrous start to the game, going behind after only 2 minutes. Jonjo Shelvey's pass found it's way, via a deflection, to Michu who made no mistake from inside the box to put the Swans 1-0 up.

Palace struggled with the slick passing movement from the Welsh side, and could have gone further behind with close efforts from Chico Flores, Michu and Angel Rangel.

Damien Delaney suffered an injury shortly before half time, and with no defenders on the bench, Holloway brought on Jose Campana at the break, and switched Mile Jedinak to centre back.

In similar fashion to the first half, Palace found themselves conceeding early on, after Alvaro Vazquez's pullback found Nathan Dyer who rifled home past Julian Speroni to make it 2-0 to the visitors.

The result leaves Palace second to bottom in the Premier League, with a trip to Southampton on Saturday 28th September next.

Holloway said he had himself to blame for the result afterwards:

"I am absolutely gutted – all the hard work we put in over the week faded away inside 90 seconds.

"The new players I brought in, they all looked like strangers but I am to blame for that display.

"They needed me on the touchline and I was not there, it's my fault for losing my temper in the Tottenham match. They need to feel the manager is with them and I wasn't.

"I don’t ever want to sit here in front of you again feeling as bad as I do now. The players have had a volley from me because we are all Palace."

He added: "Positively speaking, I know what I have to work with. I have to encourage them and make them believe in themselves, and that is what I will be doing."

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