SAFETY MELT
After looking secure, Palace players took staying up for granted.. but Big Sam says he now faces his ‘biggest challenge’
SAM ALLARDYCE believes his Palace players fell into the trap of thinking they had already guaranteed Premier League survival.
A run of stunning wins that included the scalps of Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool had hauled Palace away from the danger zone and to the brink of safety.
But a third straight defeat, coupled with Swansea’s win over Everton, has drawn them back towards the mire.
They host fellow relegation candidates Hull on Saturday when a defeat could leave the Eagles side needing a result at Manchester United on the final day to stay up.
But Allardyce is desperate to avoid that scenario and secure survival before then, rather than relying on other results to go their way.
Asked if he felt his players were guilty of thinking they were already safe, Allardyce said: “It’s a possibility that we’ve been talking about and certainly warning them about.
“That 38-point mark seems to have had a negative effect on our results, certainly with
the Burnley and Manchester City games.
“It can happen. You can tell the players as much as you want and warn them as often as you can, but when they walk over that white line, they’ve got to have the spot-on desire, determination and ability to achieve.
“We’ve got to win every game, and every player has to be 100 per cent. We’re not fortunate enough to have the talent, the skill and the ability that Manchester City have. They can ease away and still use and manipulate and wait and be patient with the ball.
“We’re not like that. And you can say we weren’t 100 per cent.
“Everybody’s been writing that 38-point mark [as being safe]. You can see teams dip away and I think we have.
“It may be a bit harsh from me, but it’s certainly something I’ve thought about.
“The performance was full of so many errors, which surprised me.
“I knew it was going to be tough against these guys, but there are always opportunities within that game. If you do things right, you can get opportunities to score, as long as you frustrate them. At no stage did we frustrate Manchester City.
“I don’t want to even think about going to Old Trafford and needing points to stay in the Premier League. I want to go and get it against Hull.”
In a club managerial career that has taken in Bolton, Newcastle, Blackburn, West Ham and Sunderland, Allardyce has never been relegated, but that record is now on the line.
Given top-flight status was far from assured, Palace were strangely subdued and gave a performance littered with errors which were seized on by Pep Guardiola’s ruthless side. David Silva, who ran the midfield, opened the scoring with his 50th goal for City, and Vincent Kompany, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Otamendi got the others. Allardyce admitted confidence evaporated when City went 2-0 up. “Once those key errors happen and the opposition score, then you lose heart,” he said. Asked if it was going to be his toughest task yet in terms o f avoiding relegation, he added: “On the task of the run-in, yes. “On the number of top teams we were having to play, running in to the last eight games of the season, yes.”