Neil Warnock admitted that his side were disappointing in the first half of Tuesday night's 1-0 defeat to Swansea City at Selhurst Park, but was pleased with how they responded in the second.
The Eagles went down to a 14th minute Shefki Kuqi strike, and although they pushed hard in the second half for the equaliser, the Swansea defence stood firm to close Palace out at home for the first time since the 3-0 defeat to Doncaster in December.
"I was disappointed by the goal because that gave them the confidence. They are already one of the best sides in the division, definitely the best footballing side. So that gave them a lift and I was glad to get to half time.
"Then in the second half I thought we were super against them because they are difficult. They only play football, they don't create an awful lot, they rely on the back lads and midfield so I thought we did a lot better second half.
"I thought we could have punished them with a little bit of crossing, one or two opportunities - you don't get many - and a bit more professionalism from one or two of the younger lads. I thought we could have got free kicks because the referee was obviously not giving them tonight."
In true football irony the game was won by former Palace front man Shefki Kuqi, and when asked whether that added further disappointment to the defeat the Palace boss couldn't help himself:
"I have never had a problem with Shefki. It is not his fault somebody paid stupid money for you. And he always starts well at a club so I am sure he will do well for a few months."
Ahead of the fixture Swansea manager Paulo Sousa spiced things up with his comments that Palace should have been relegated when the administrators came in.
The comments were not received well by Neil who believed that the former Juventus star should be in possession of all the facts before making such thoughts public:
"There were a lot of things said before the game weren't there. Paulo has a lot to learn as well. He is a good manager but he should keep his mouth shut really, he doesn't understand the circumstances.
"He should keep his mouth shut unless he finds out. If he wants to find out what has happened then he can ring me up before he comments. Anyone can spout off when you are fourth in the league. I didn't hear him spouting off too much when he was at QPR, so there is a time and a place for a manager to say something and that is not in the press so he should keep things like that to himself".
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