Pierre Sage has called on Crystal Palace to react immediately after his side suffered a 3-2 Europa League defeat against his former club Lyon at the Groupama Stadium.
Palace endured a difficult opening 45 minutes, falling two goals behind through Corentin Tolisso and Ernest Nuamah. Tolisso's opener came after the Eagles failed to deal with a corner, continuing a worrying trend from set pieces.
Yeremy Pino reduced the deficit after the interval, but Pavel Sulc restored Lyon's two-goal advantage with an instinctive finish. Daichi Kamada scored in the 81st minute, although his effort was ultimately only a consolation as Palace were unable to complete the comeback.
The result means Palace have conceded 35 goals from set pieces in all competitions since the beginning of last season. Only Chelsea, with 37, and Newcastle United, with 36, have allowed more among Premier League sides during that period.
Sage acknowledged that Palace's second-half display was closer to the standard expected from his team, but said the poor first-half performance had left them with too much ground to recover. He felt the players were not aggressive enough, did not handle Lyon's tactical problems effectively and lacked sufficient initiative in possession.
Palace must now shift their attention to Sunday's meeting with rivals Brighton. Brighton also played in Europe on Thursday, beginning their Conference League campaign with a 4-0 victory over Kauno Zalgiris.
