Pierre Sage has urged Crystal Palace to produce a response in Europe after their damaging 5-0 loss to Brighton, with Besiktas awaiting them in the third matchday of their Europa League campaign.
Palace were three goals behind inside the opening 10 minutes at the weekend, before Brighton completed a heavy victory that included a long-range strike from Diego Gomez. The result leaves Sage’s team with 17 goals conceded in their first seven Premier League matches, their highest total at that stage of a season in the top four tiers since 1980-81, when they had allowed 21.
The defeat has also increased scrutiny on Sage, but the Palace boss is focused on an immediate reaction in Istanbul. The Eagles are looking to recover from their 3-2 European defeat by Lyon, while Sage said they must “show our real face” in the demanding atmosphere at the Tupras Stadyumu.
Palace have not lost consecutive matches in European competition, including qualifiers, since their two defeats by Samsunspor in the 1998 Intertoto Cup. They have not faced Besiktas before, while their most recent meetings with Turkish opposition remain those two 2-0 losses against Samsunspor.
Besiktas have won all four of their European home matches this season, including three qualifying victories and a 4-1 success over Marseille on matchday one. They have never previously won five consecutive home games in European competition, giving Palace a difficult challenge as they attempt to halt that run.
Sage confirmed that Palace will travel without Takehiro Tomiyasu, Quinten Timber and Dean Henderson. Tomiyasu is expected to remain unavailable until after the next international break, while Henderson only began team training on Monday and will not be involved against Besiktas. Ben Chilwell, however, is back after missing the club’s last three matches.
