‘Outclassed’ - Crystal Palace star’s honest Newcastle United verdict & message to Tottenham

Crystal Palace captain Joel Ward admits he and his teammates were “outclassed” by Newcastle United at St James’ Park on Saturday afternoon.

The Eagles were beaten 4-0 by Eddie Howe’s side following goals from Jacob Murphy, Anthony Gordon, Sean Longstaff and Callum Wilson.

Prior to the game, Palace had only conceded seven goals in eight games and sat just one point behind United in the league table but on the day were no match for their hosts.

“I think we all know we can do better and we need to do better,” said Ward.

“We were outclassed today, but it’s about how we bounce back from that. In tough times, it’s how you respond, and we’ve got to put that right on Friday night against Tottenham.”

Palace fell behind just four minutes in when Murphy’s cross looped over Sam Johnstone.

Murphy then provided the assist for Gordon to make it 2-0 before a mistake from Marc Guehi put the Magpies 3-0 up. Callum Wilson then added a fourth midway through the second-half after being slipped in Murphy.

“I mean obviously it wasn’t the ideal start in a place like this [St James’ Park]. It’s always going to be tough,” Ward added.

“The fans are going to get behind them, and they’re a strong outfit who are going to cause you problems, but I don’t think we dealt with that like we know we can do.

“We’ve got to reflect on that and make sure we put things right. We’ll hit the training ground on Monday, get back to it and make sure we dust ourselves down.

“We know as individuals and as a team that we’ll look ourselves in the mirror, hold our hands up and know that collectively and individually we can do better.

“I think you can look at exterior factors and this and that and everything, but we’ve got some very strong individuals. We’re collectively together as a group, and we’ve proven that we can go toe-to-toe with whoever we face.

“Today that wasn’t the case, so we will learn from that and make sure that we perform better against Tottenham.”