Sage: We played the way we wanted to play

First-team

31 Jul 2026

Manager Pierre Sage has challenged his Crystal Palace team to repeat their dominant opening spell against Al-Ula for 90 minutes after a 3-1 win on Friday.

The Eagles signed off from the Como Cup in style with a comfortable 3-1 win.

And they were 2-0 up inside ten minutes, thanks to two wonderfully taken goals from Justin Devenny and Eddie Nketiah after flowing team moves.

In truth, Palace could have scored four goals in the opening 15 minutes as they overwhelmed their opponents.

The Saudi side did pull a goal back to stay in the contest, but a Jaydee Canvot strike in the second-half sealed victory.

Now the Manager is looking for his side to show consistency across 90 minutes as they continue to build towards the opening Premier League fixture against Everton.

"Yes and maybe the first 15 minutes of the first-half were even better," Sage said when asked if Palace's opening 45 minutes were their strongest of pre-season so far.

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"This is because we played how we choose to play.

"It's a kind of 'success.' But now we have to do that for the whole game.

"For me it's important to see [the team taking chances].

"During the game the context can change. Sometimes you are faced with a low block against you and you have to create chances.

"For me that's the most difficult thing in football. So we have to work on this.

"When the opponents score first and it's one-zero to them, it is difficult, so we have to prepare for this and prepare them for the different context too."

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