Pierre Sage has insisted Crystal Palace remain focused on finding solutions after Newcastle United inflicted a 2-0 defeat on the Eagles at Selhurst Park.
Newcastle took control shortly after half-time when William Osula converted Jacob Murphy’s cross from the right. Joe Willock appeared to add a second soon afterwards, but his effort was ruled out for offside following a VAR review. Harvey Barnes then made it 2-0 with a close-range finish that stood.
Palace pushed for a way back into the contest late on, but Newcastle goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek prevented Adam Wharton and Dario Osorio from finding the net. The result leaves Palace 17th in the Premier League, with five defeats from their opening eight matches.
The defensive record has also increased the scrutiny on Sage. Palace have conceded 19 goals in those eight games, their second-highest total at this stage of a top-flight season, behind the 22 allowed in 1980-81. Sage acknowledged that supporters’ boos were an understandable response to the result, but said the group remained concentrated on improving and creating the conditions needed to compete.
He added that the discussion surrounding the team and the club was simply “noise” from outside, rather than something affecting the work being done internally. Palace will now have to respond to a defeat that extended a difficult start to the campaign.
