Holloway bemoans lack of killer instinct at Palace

Crystal Palace manager Ian Holloway has urged his side to be more ruthless in front of goal in an “unforgiving” Premier League.

The charismatic Bristolian saw his team defeated 3-1 at Anfield on Saturday, with Palace three goals adrift at half-time.

Luis Suarez opened the scoring after good interplay with Jose Enrique and Daniel Sturridge doubled the advantage with a superb individual effort.

Steven Gerrard essentially put the game beyond doubt from the penalty spot, before Dwight Gayle notched a consolation in the second half.

Holloway felt Palace were unlucky to be 3-0 down at half-time, but conceded his side must learn to take their opportunities.

“I think missing the odd opportunity we had on the break is more important (than our defending),” he said.

“We need to get some confidence. But unfortunately we are being punished for any single mistake that we make at the moment.

“Shape-wise for the first goal, we got it slightly wrong. I wanted to be braver, I wanted to leave more people up but I didn’t want to leave three up, I always want to leave two up and I wanted one of my front three to actually work back.

“The second goal was self-inflicted. I don’t think my centre-half should have tried to win that, I thought we could have calmed down but that was probably our best spell when we had a couple of chances then.

“Unfortunately if you don’t take them at this level it can be pretty unforgiving.”

Holloway praised his side’s response in the second half, but admitted the three-goal deficit may have had an impact on their improved performance.

He added: “I thought the character in the second half was terrific but when you are three down, you can relax a little bit and you can pass and you can play a little bit.

“Maybe Liverpool took their foot off the gas but we actually won the second half 1-0 and you’ve got to move on.

“It’s not good enough but I don’t think we deserved to be three down at half-time on the balance of overall play.

“A lot of teams would have completely capitulated but we didn’t.”