Crystal Palace must put their damaging defeat to Brighton behind them and deliver a stronger performance against Besiktas, according to Pierre Sage. The Eagles were beaten 5-0 by their rivals on Sunday after conceding three times inside the opening 10 minutes, including Diego Gomez’s long-range strike.
The result leaves Palace with 17 goals conceded in their first seven Premier League matches. They have not shipped more at this stage of a season in the top four divisions since 1980-81, when the figure stood at 21. The heavy loss has also increased scrutiny on Sage ahead of Thursday’s Europa League fixture in Istanbul.
Palace are looking to respond after losing 3-2 to Lyon in their previous European match. Sage said his players must quickly reset and produce a performance that reflects their ability in what is expected to be a difficult atmosphere at the Tupras Stadyumu.
The fixture will be Palace’s first against Besiktas, while their most recent meeting with a Turkish club came against Samsunspor in the 1998 Intertoto Cup. Palace lost both matches in that tie by a 2-0 scoreline. However, the Eagles have not suffered successive defeats in European competition, including qualifying rounds, since those two games.
Besiktas have won all four of their European home matches this season, including three Europa League qualifiers and a 4-1 victory over Marseille on matchday one. They have never previously recorded five consecutive home wins in European competition.
Palace will travel without Takehiro Tomiyasu, Quinten Timber and Dean Henderson. Sage confirmed that Tomiyasu is expected to be unavailable until the next international break, while Henderson has returned to team training but will not feature against Besiktas. Ben Chilwell, who has missed the last three games, is back in contention.
