Vicario: “We have to take this defeat very personally, it has to hurt a lot...”

Guglielmo Vicario spoke with typical honesty after our 1-0 loss against Palace at Selhurst Park in the Premier League on Sunday.

Jean-Philippe Mateta struck the only goal of the game in the 31^st minute as Palace made it a scrap, their high press affective as we tried to build from the back and their back five proving a tough nut to crack.

In a game of few clear-cut chances, Brennan Johnson hit the post and James Maddison forced a fine save from Dean Henderson towards the end of the first half. However, the home side had the better of it after the break as Vic was called into action to deny Adam Wharton and Eberechi Eze.

Here’s what Vic had to say to us afterwards at Selhurst Park...

That was a difficult afternoon for us, Vic...

Vic: “Yes, a disappointing defeat today. We didn't expect this outcome, but it is what it is. Every outcome has something to say, and this said to us that maybe we didn't fight as we could fight today, and it's disappointing. We have to take it very personally, it has to hurt a lot, but fortunately in football, we have another occasion in two days, a big game. Now, we have to take this personally, analyse this game and go forward, because in two days we will have another."

Palace wanted a scrap like that, and they managed to make the match go that way...

Vic: “Yes, of course, they really wanted it, but we have to know that when we come to play away from home in the Premier League, every team has a little more to show in front of their fans in terms of attitude, in terms of power, in terms of taking care of things, and today they showed that, and we showed less than them. So, for us as a team, we have to improve this aspect, because to win a game of football is not just about playing good football, it’s also about this kind of stuff, and we have to change this... how can I say? This mountain... of results, up and down, up and down. We have to be more stable in our results because we have the quality, but the quality sometimes is not enough.”

As we always say, in football, you will always have a chance to put things right, and we have that opportunity with a big week ahead against City in the Carabao Cup (home, Wednesday night, 8.15pm UK) and Villa in the Premier League on Sunday (also at home, 2pm UK)...

Vic: “Yes, of course, and now we will analyse this game. We have to take it personally, it has to hurt a lot, and then straight away we have another game. We want to win, it's important in the Carabao Cup, we want to go to go through. It's the toughest opponent in the UK, but we know this, and then after Wednesday, we’ll look forward to Villa.”