Paddy McCarthy believes the Crystal Palace players need to start believing in themselves as their search for a first win in 2023 continues.
It has been a tough start to the year for the Eagles, who have now gone 12 Premier League games without a win after a 4-1 defeat at leaders Arsenal on Sunday.
Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka gave the Gunners a two-goal lead heading into half-time before Granit Xhaka added a third early in the second-half. Jeffrey Schlupp ended Palace’s 444 minute wait for a goal by pulling a goal back, but Saka's second 13 minutes from the end ensured Arsenal extended their gap at the top of the table to eight points.
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As well as hunting for a first win of the year, Palace are also searching for a new manager after dismissing Patrick Vieira just days before the Arsenal fixture. They will be looking for someone who can steer the club away from the threat of relegation, with the Eagles just three points ahead of the bottom three, despite sitting in 12th.
Palace coach McCarthy, who took charge against Arsenal, saw positives from the 4-1 defeat at Arsenal and he has no doubts over what the squad needs to overcome their current struggles.
McCarthy told BBC Sport: “There’s lots of positives to take. Obviously the scoreline doesn’t say that but there was fight and creativity in the team. We had two early chances, [Aaron] Ramsdale makes a great save, we hit the post.
“Even when we went down we continued to create moments, but listen it’s high quality opposition, [Arsenal] are top of the table for a reason. I can’t fault the lads character and effort.
“They’re a good group. They’ve got to believe in themselves more because they’ve got more than enough to win games at this level. Even when we were 3-1 down we created a chance with Wilfried [Zaha] going up front, creating a chance and then they go and score an offside goal which was a little sucker punch really. At 3-1 I felt we were still in the game. At 4-1 it’s game over.”
McCarthy added: “They [Palace's players] have had a lot of stuff thrown at them, all week. There’s been an illness going around, obviously the situation with the manager on Thursday so it’s been a quick turnaround.
“They just need to believe in themselves. It’s probably a time where we just have to get together and regroup and see what happens going forward. But certainly, whatever does happen, this group will have more than enough.”
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