Alan Pardew is a man short of problems after his first Premier League game as boss of Crystal Palace ended in a 2-1 win – however, there is one issue he reckons needs addressing.
Goals from Dwight Gayle and Jason Puncheon overturned Harry Kane’s opener, and lifted the Eagles out of the relegation zone.
And following the FA Cup win at Dover the weekend before, Pardew can boast a 100 per cent record going into this weekend’s crunch battle at fellow strugglers Burnley.
However, despite being delighted with his side’s work ethic and the ultimate result over Spurs, Pardew has an issue to raise.
He said: “I have only one criticism of the players, and it’s a strange one, they are too honest and too straight.
“You cannot win Premier League games if you’re going to be super-disciplined and super-straight, you have to take chances and risks, you have to have a couple of maverick players.”
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He added: “They are fantastic professionals here. I’ve not had one fine this week, which I find very unusual having been manager at Newcastle because we used to fine players every 42 minutes.
“That’s not being disrespectful to the Newcastle players, but it’s a different kind of set-up at Palace and I just want to free it up a little bit.”
Pardew also hailed the work of Tony Pulis, who left Selhurst Park in the summer, after a scintillating display towards the end of the Spurs game turned the result on its head.
He said: “When we can play like we did for the last 20 minutes, I have to pay credit to Tony Pulis.
“I hardly know the players, but they played like Tony Pulis’ side of last year, and that’s exactly what we want to see at Crystal Palace.”
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