Crystal Palace midfielder Cheikhou Kouyaté: It’s hard to take

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

After dominating the second half against a Wolves side who had Romain Saïss sent off in the 73rd minute, Crystal Palace had numerous chances to get their second Premier League win of the season at Selhurst Park.

But a goal from Diogo Jota in the fifth minute of second half stoppage time cancelled out a Leander Dendoncker own goal in the 46th minute to leave the Eagles with a point but feeling like they had lost.

“We are very disappointed because we worked hard, dominated the second half and should have won two, three nil,” said Palace midfielder Cheikhou Kouyaté to Palace TV after the match. “But in the end we conceded one goal and it is very hard for us. But now what can we do? The game is finished, and we have to focus on the next one.

“We had the opportunity to score [more] but we could not make it two or three nil,” he added. “Their goal came out of nowhere; they crossed the ball and we don’t understand nothing – it was very, very hard for us.”

After a sluggish first half, the Eagles came out fighting in the second, with a Joel Ward long-range strike deflecting off of Dendoncker’s hand into the net to make it 1-0 and then creating numerous chances following throughout the second 45 minutes to extend their lead, but it was not to be.

“We said that we didn’t want them to play the football they wanted to,” revealed Kouyaté about what was discussed at the half-time break. “This changed the game and we did very, very good in the second half, but we made some mistakes and if you make one mistake in the Premier League you pay.”

Photo by Keith Gillard