Manuel Pellegrini believes justice was done via a draw at Selhurst Park this afternoon although that’s not to say he was happy about it.
Speaking to reporters after the match he said “Each team had 45 minutes, so a draw is the logical result. I think we played the first 45 minutes better than Crystal Palace. We scored one goal and we had another two or three very clear chances.
“In the second half we made the mistake of dropping inside our own half and we allowed them to have the ball too much.
“They have very dangerous players – they created chances and were a little bit lucky with the goal, but they had other chances and we didn’t create another one in their box.
“I’m very happy with the first 45 minutes but not so happy with the second. It’s a good point.”
“The first 45 minutes were very similar to the game against Liverpool. Palace have very dangerous players going forward but they didn’t make too much damage on our defending and we created a lot of chances.
“And in the second half, we didn’t want to do it, but we ended trying to keep the 1-0. It’s an unlucky ball for the goal, but the draw is fair.”
ClaretandHugh says: At first sight it looked like a clever Zaha goal but on a second it was very clear he was a a very lucky boy as the ball took a huge deflection. And that was the difference between a point and three -such are the frustrations of football! It’s easy to go along with the manager’s seemingly simplified analysis of the game and accept that we dropped too deep but that also admits a return to the dark days when this was the way we played almost as a matter of course.It needs to stop. It’s precisely what he has been talking against since his arrival but old habits it seems are die hard. That we should have been on the back foot for the entire 45 minutes was startling to be honest and the sooner we get players back the quicker that’s going to end. In the meantime 10th place isn’t a bad result from the point and we move onto the Fulham game with great hope of scoring our first ‘double’ of the season.