Crystal Palace defender Joachim Andersen rues ‘fine margins’ against Chelsea and targets top-10 Premier League finish

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

Joachim Andersen felt it was only “fine margins” that saw Crystal Palace’s FA Cup semi-final clash against Chelsea end in defeat.

South Londoner and former Eagles loanee Ruben Loftus-Cheek opened the scoring at Wembley yesterday with Mason Mount adding a second midway through the second half to put paid to any dreams of another Wembley date for the team from SE25 next month.

“It’s a huge disappointment,” Palace defender Andersen told the South London Press. “I actually thought we did well in the first half. We fought well. We nicked the ball off them a couple of times.

“In the second half I felt like they got too much time on the ball. They found the midfield really well and found some good passes to break the lines. The [first] goal is a little bit lucky, a nice finish, but it was avoidable and then you know it’s going to be hard after that.

“We did what we could. It’s the fine margins in these games against a world-class opponent, so we have to learn from that.”

Palace boss Patrick Vieira used the 1-0 defeat against the west Londoners at Selhurst Park in February as reference for his tactics at Wembley, resorting to a central back three of Marc Guehi, Cheikhou Kouyate and Andersen with Joel Ward on the right and Tyrick Mitchell on the left pushing up from their usual full-back positions.

In the first half it worked, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel admitting they were surprised by the formation as they failed to create much and Andersen revealing that it was not too much of a difference to how the Eagles usually play.

“When we have the ball it’s similar to what we always do,” explained the Denmark international. “We looked at our recent game against Chelsea and what could suit us to perform better against them and we did well defensively, they didn’t have many chances until their [first] goal.

“They changed their system,” he added, when asked about the difference after the half-time break. “Normally, they play with two pivots, but then it was only one. We had a little bit of difficulties to know who’s going to mark and to who’s going to push on.

“After that they still had to break our back five and we did well with that. But it’s small margins in these games, they nicked the ball off of us at the goal, it was a nice finish.”

For that opening goal, Palace academy product Tyrick Mitchell, now a senior England international, was dispossessed as he attempted to dribble the ball up the pitch.

Chelsea won it off him and following a deflection from Guehi in the box as he attempted to cut out a cross, Loftus-Cheek drilled home to open the scoring.

Despite that disappointment, Andersen is sure that Mitchell – and the rest of the team – will take it as a learning opportunity as they look to end the season with a top 10 league finish.

“Tyrick is a top player,” said Andersen. “Sometimes you lose the ball, sometimes you make a good pass. You need to try. If you don’t try you don’t achieve anything in this life. For me, it’s good [that] we have to play good football, we have to play forward and sometimes this happens.

“I know everyone will learn from this experience. To play here at Wembley, to play in front of I don’t know how many people. The atmosphere was amazing. It’s just disappointment that we didn’t win

“From now on we just keep on building, like we did the whole season.”

Andersen has called upon his squad to dust themselves off and end the season strongly with a top-half league finish.

“It’s massively important,” said Andersen to the South London Press about forgetting the cup loss and pushing on in the Premier League.

“We need to be switched on, we need to keep this top-10 position, it’s a really close race, but I feel like we can do it. We have some good games left. We’ve been building – just keep on building the last months, playing better and better. We need to get these results.”

Andersen has formed an impressive central defensive partnership with Marc Guehi at the heart of the Palace defence this season and, in the process, the former Fulham loanee feels he has improved his game and learnt a lot.

“We’ve been doing really well with the whole back four line,” said Andersen, who is set to surpass his 31 Premier League appearances for the Whites last season with the Eagles this season.

“From every game you play against the best players in the world, every weekend, you learn that you need to be switched on all the time.

“As a defender, a lot of what’s going on is in your head – you need to be switched on all the time. Don’t relax at any point.

“I feel like I improved in that point. Every time you play and every time your team does well, you become more calm, you get more confidence.”

PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD