Roberts reveals how Plange has approached Palace pre-season

The young attacker started against the Blues and guided Palace to a 2-0 lead inside 12 minutes, before claiming the match ball in the second-half with a well-taken finish.

He played 70 minutes to add to his time against Millwall and Accrington Stanley, with Roberts confirming the coaching staff are happy with his start to life in south London.

“Luke is settling in really well,” the assistant manager said. “He got a few goals today and is a real threat. His movement is really good and from his first day here we’ve been really pleased with how he adapted, but at the same time [we're happy with how he] is progressing and taking information on board while working really hard.

“As a group we’re working really hard, so we weren’t at our freshest today. There was fatigue going into the game because training has been relatively hard during the week. Therefore they’re playing with a bit of fatigue. You could see that with Luke as the first-half went on, those runs were difficult for him, but this is where he has to do it – and he’ll reap the benefits of that.”

Turning his attention to the rest of the team, Roberts explained what enabled Palace to win in a confident manner despite fielding multiple Academy players and making changes across the team.

He said: “We’ve got a way of playing that allows us to create overloads and make sure we’re comfortable in possession. We try to disrupt the organisation or opposition and at times we did that quite well. At other times we looked quite fragmented, and that’s expected.

“Certainly out of possession it’s that intensity that Palace fans saw last season really embraced: we want to make sure we’re on the front foot come the beginning of the season.

“To do that we have to put the hard yards in now. It was hot today, a little bit sticky, and that doesn’t help, but it challenges the players even further and I was really pleased with their application.”