Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew has urged his players to improve and learn from their opposition, after the Eagles slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Premier League leadersChelsea on Saturday afternoon.
Diego Costa's first-half header was enough to condemn Palace to their 10th defeat of the season and means that they now drop to 17th, just a point above the relegation zone.
"Today was always going to be very difficult."
Pardew reflects on today's result - https://t.co/Vn5ifHbRg9 pic.twitter.com/CmuP97ifHH
Speaking after the game, Pardew told the clubwebsitethat although he was disappointed at his side for conceding on the stroke of half-time, Chelsea were too good and deserved the three points.
The Eagles' boss said:The disappointing part of the goal was that we didn't get enough pressure on the centre-half [Azpilicueta], but then again you don't expect him to hit a ball of that quality. It's almost the perfect pass to undo us and Costa has the presence to deliver that finish.
It was a shame because we did enough in the first half to come in 0-0 and we had a big chance before that with Puncheon, but I'm not going to take anything away from Chelsea. I think my team tried everything today but they were just too good defensively.�
We need to keep with our principles and we handled the system well but they have great players playing well. They weren't as brilliant as they have been going forward than in other games, but defensively and the goalie put in some strong performances."
Pardew then went on to ask his players to learn from the defeat and was already focusing on their next match on Boxing day, where theytravel across London to face Watford.
He added:My message to the team is that we can improve and take some lessons from Chelsea's defensive display today, but we need to make sure we don't come away from commitment and the effort we put in, and no-one can doubt that today.
"On a different day we could snatch a goal and get draw out of it."
Hennessey felt it wasn't #CPFC's day - https://t.co/3k2TwnzBaC pic.twitter.com/2BSh1muebC
The next game is Watford and we have to start looking towards that, and that's how we've got to work - each game is an opportunity to get some points on the board.
"We've had some difficult fixtures in this first half of the season at home, and it's our home form that we need to improve in the second half of the season if we're going to climb up this league.�