Pierre Sage faced his toughest moment in his time at Crystal Palace so far on Sunday. A humiliating 5-0 defeat at the hands of high-flying, bitter rivals Brighton is pretty much as bad as it gets. 

In situations like this, there is little to be done other than hold your hands up and accept that you weren’t good enough, and to his credit, that’s exactly what Sage did. 

The players faced a game where they probably wished the ground could just swallow them up, but they didn’t react appropriately. For every ounce of embarrassment the players might have felt, each fan felt a cup full more. 

Yet at full time, the players could barely face the travelling support which had remained in place despite the desperate desire to leave early. 

Understandably, it was an extremely deflated press conference for Sage, who tends to be more upbeat. 

“It’s difficult to summarise because there’s a lot of negative points in that, it’s difficult to call it a performance, but in that game. We started really bad, it’s completely not normal to take three goals in this kind of game after nine minutes.”

It was a truly dismal start, even before Jaydee Canvot headed into his own net. Palace lost possession constantly in the opening moments, gifting possession away with almost every touch. 

Whilst Sage is responsible for the setup, the tactical approach and the starting lineup is, and he didn’t shy away from that responsibility. 

“I prepare the team, that’s why I’m responsible for what’s happened on the pitch and I have a lot of work to do because I have to change this kind of thing, I don’t create the conditions for the players to start well and to come back into this game and the first work to do is on me.”

There have been rumours that the overall confidence of the squad is very low, and it looks like the players are playing with fear from kick off. Each game should be a new opportunity for them to impress and to make their mark, but the way Palace are starting games suggests that there is clear fear amongst the squad going into each game. 

Again, Sage didn’t pretend this wasn’t the case. 

“It’s maybe the preparation in the way we give them the motivation to start the game, just before in the locker room, in the warm up, we have to analyse it because it’s not normal. Today was a level we cannot expect, when that kind of thing happens one time you say ‘it’s like this today, we will see the next game’, but it’s not the first time so we have to exchange with the players and I have to make some decisions about that.”

He was also keen to push that each game should be a new chapter, and that even when Palace have come out victorious in recent weeks the performances still haven’t been good enough. 

The question was posed to him as to whether or not the failure to replace the likes of Maxence Lacroix has had a detrimental impact on the side’s ability to play. 

“It’s the same when we win too, that’s why we cannot use that as an excuse today because we lost. It’s always difficult to lose good players but the club needs to sell these players too, because the model is built like this. We have to understand that, I agree with that and I agreed with it before I came here because I understand football business.”

The biggest frustration is that Brighton completely outclassed Palace all over the pitch. They’re a truly brilliant football team at the moment, and it looks like men against boys for the entire game. 

Brighton have blown away sides all season, and hardly broke a sweat as they beat Arsenal 3-0 at home a few weeks back. 

“I don’t know what happened today, I just want to apologise to the fans because it’s not normal to show this face when we are this club against this other club [Brighton]. We are not at the level we expected and I’m really sorry for that because I know how important it is for [the fans], but today we didn't show that it’s important for us too.”

That was one of the biggest frustrations for the traveling support. There just wasn’t anywhere near an appropriate level of fight. 

“We didn’t understand the context this game needs to be played in, it’s not my decision you know. I will always give my best, when we lose I’m really frustrated but I will always take the lesson and try to change things. It’s the same when we win because I know we can improve and I don’t want to accept the level of the moment because we are able to do better , and today the work is really important to do and I will do it, it’s my job and I like to change this kind of thing.”

That improvement better happen fast, because Sage is now under real pressure, and with games against Besiktas and Newcastle in the next week, improvement is not an option, it has to happen. 

“We have to show them [the fans] the face of a team who want to win, give their best on the pitch and play with quality, able to fight. Today I understand them, I cannot blame anybody because we didn’t do the job, I’m responsible for this team and when the team plays as they did today, it’s not normal, it’s my fault.”

Conceding early and starting poorly has been a theme far too common for this side this season, and the player’s heads dropped drastically after the early goal. 

“It’s really difficult to be on the pitch after ten minutes, losing 3-0 and doing what we did, or didn’t do on the pitch. Another feeling is shame, because that’s my feeling after the game and from the beginning because it’s not normal to not respect the necessity of this kind of game.”

The beauty of football, and playing in European competition is that the games come thick and fast, so there’s a great chance for Palace to turn this around. It’s on Sage and the players to do exactly that over the next week.