Pierre Sage satisfied with Palace’s performance against Lech Poznań

The hosts were 3-0 up at half-time with goals from Yéremy Pino, Chris Richards and Jørgen Strand Larsen, before Eddie Nketiah added a fourth with a couple of minutes remaining.

Reflecting on the performance, Sage said he was pleased that his side had not only managed four different goalscorers, but also kept a clean sheet.

Though the Frenchman still believed that Palace still had things to improve on.

“A lot of satisfaction because we scored four goals differently, with four different players, and with a clean sheet too.

“That's really important for us because we worked a lot on these things after the game against Ipswich.

I remember during the first half and in the second half, we had two periods when we struggled a little bit in our play. We have to be more consistent, especially with the ball, because when we recover the ball in these two moments, we give it back too quickly.

“I think we want to play too quickly, too forward, and we need to have more control.”

Ismaïla Sarr returned to the Crystal Palace matchday squad for the first time under Sage following a groin injury as well as strong transfer speculation over the summer.

The Eagles 25/26 player of the season received a positive reception when he came on in the second half, something which Sage praised, as well as stating how much his return would mean for the team as a whole.

“I know the fans love him, and I think he deserves to be loved like this. It's always difficult when you come back after a long injury like this.

“The most important thing for us is to put him on the pitch for his first steps, and with time and minutes it will get better and better.

“This afternoon I saw clips of his goals last year in the Conference League, and I think if he's able to do that, and he will be able to do that with us again, it will be very, very positive for the team.”