It’s back to school for Dutch master De Boer

CRYSTAL PALACE boss Frank de Boer conceded he was taught a ‘very hard lesson’ about the Premier League after the Dutchman was well and truly defeated on his home debut.

Palace’s players were jeered as an own goal from Joel Ward and two goals from Huddersfield’s £11.5million record-signing Steve Mounie confirmed the 3-0 loss.

De Boer won four titles with Ajax in Holland and was manager of Italian giants Inter Milan before taking over from Sam Allardyce at Selhurst Park in the summer.

This was not how the 47-year-old wanted to introduce himself to England’s top flight.

Asked if it was a harsh lesson for him, De Boer said: ‘You can call it that. Nobody expected it. It is a very hard lesson for everybody, for me, the staff, the players. Especially at the highest level, football will always be decided with details.

‘We lost the game in 50 minutes. We started well and after 10 minutes we made the wrong choices and we were pulled back. At the end, 3-0, they deserved to win.’

Former Holland international De Boer handed debuts to summer signing Jairo Riedewald and Chelsea and Manchester United loanees Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Timothy Fosu-Mensah.

‘Tactically, we did not do what we spoke about and paid an expensive price,’ De Boer said. ‘We did not make the right choices and got punished.’