‘It was the plan’ – Jean-Philippe Mateta talks through Crystal Palace’s opener vs Man City
BY ANDREW MCSTEEN
Jean-Philippe Mateta netted his seventh Premier League goal on Saturday in Crystal Palace’s 4-2 defeat at home to Manchester City on Saturday.
His fourth-minute strike to open the scoring was his 10th in all competitions this season, coming from a sublime through-ball by Adam Wharton, catching the visitors out as they pushed forward in search of the opening goal.
“We watched them, City, how they pressed high,” said the French forward to TNT Sport about getting in behind the champions as they looked to attack.
“It was the plan. I scored early against a good, big team in the world [but] in the second half they come back strong. We tried. We scored once, and after [that], we had many chances, but we didn’t score. They scored all the chances they had. City is a good team.”
After Kevin De Bruyne had equalised in the 13th minute, the teams went into the break even. However, an early second-half strike from Rico Lewis in the 47th minute was added to by Erling Haaland 20 minutes later, and De Bruyne again to wrap it up in the 70th minute before a consolation goal from Odsonne Edouard for Palace in the 86th minute.
“It’s tough, but we’re going to keep working,” said Mateta about the loss, before looking ahead to the visit to Liverpool next week. “We have another tough game and we just focus on the next game now.”
The game was just the sixth for Eagles’ manager Oliver Glasner, who has now recorded just one victory, with two draws and three defeats.
Glasner has won just one of his six games in charge after taking over from Roy Hodgson at Selhurst Park.
“It’s good, it’s another [type of] football compared to Roy (Hodgson). The formation is not the same, a lot of things are not the same,” explained the 26-year-old about what Glasner has been able to bring to the team already.
“He gives some details for us. We just try to put in, and it’s going to work. We are in a good way. I focus game after game, and after, we will see.”
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