‘They wanted it more’ – Crystal Palace midfielder makes admission after Everton defeat

Adam Wharton addmited Crystal Palace’s recent performances have not been good enough after their 2-1 defeat at Everton on Saturday.

Despite taking the lead through Marc Guehi’s first goal of the season in the opening stages of the first half, two goals from Dwight McNeil quickly after half-time condemned the Eagles to their fifth Premier League defeat of the season.

Everton were on their worst start to a season in 66 years but managed to secure their first three points of the 2024-25 campaign.

“It’s not good enough from us,” the England midfielder told PalaceTV.

“We were a much better team in the first half. They were quite open – they were giving us the ball, especially towards the end of the first half.

“We should have capitalised on how they were playing in the first half – we should have been two or three up.

“We know they’re going to come out strong because they’ve had a poor first half.  They’ve taken advantage of us not putting away [chances] or getting out of sight.

“They wanted it more. They were winning the headers and stuff like that. We’ve got to be better.”

The Eagles are winless in their first six Premier League games this season and face Liverpool next Saturday at Selhurst Park.

Wharton added: “During the game, you’ve got to stay positive, keep trying to create chances and hope we get another goal to give us that little bit of a gap so their confidence goes a little bit where they’re a bit more out of the game.

“But we didn’t do that. We need to go back to training and work harder because we’re not getting the results at the moment. The performances aren’t good enough.”

PICTURE: ROB AVIS