Maxence Lacroix has said that Crystal Palace’s defeat to Liverpool ‘prepares us well’ for the Conference League semi-finals. The Eagles are in action with Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday.
Maxence Lacroix said that Crystal Palace’s defeat to Liverpool will prepare them well for the remainder of their Conference League campaign.
Palace travelled to Anfield on Saturday and were rocked by a 3-1 defeat to the Reds, which effectively put an end to their chances of finishing in the top eight places in the Premier League.
The Eagles sit five points adrift of Chelsea in eighth place and, although they have a game in hand, it comes against Manchester City, who are right in the thick of a title fight.
That being said, Palace were by no means poor against Liverpool and created more than enough chances to come away with at least a point, but found themselves taught a lesson in being clinical.
Goals from Alexander Isak and Andrew Robertson in the first half were gut punches, after Palace academy graduate Freddie Woodman put in an inspired display in the Liverpool goal.
The Eagles did eventually score through Daniel Munoz 20 minutes from time and threw the kitchen sink at Liverpool, with Jorgen Strand Larsen striking the post, but ultimately it was not to be their day and Florian Wirtz’s 96th-minute goal put an end to proceedings.
But Lacroix believes Palace can turn a negative into a positive and that they can use the match to prepare them for the Conference League.
The Frenchman said: “I think we deserved something better, we had the best chances, but we weren’t really efficient in front of goal.
“I think we played well. It's not easy to play like this in Anfield. We could score, I think, two goals.
“It’s the finish, the last step [we missed]. We have to say congratulations to the goalkeeper. He made some really good saves.
“Maybe we need more accuracy in front of the goal, but we are sure that next game we will score the goals.
“I think this match prepares us well for the Conference League. We showed a great performance - we’re ready for the next match in Europe.”
Palace are the favourites to win the Conference League and follow in the footsteps of West Ham and Chelsea.
Lacroix acknowledges that reaching this stage of the competiton is an achievement in itself but now he wants to make sure the club are ready to make the next step and reach the final.
He added: “Every match in the Premier League, if we go all out, will prepare us well for these kinds of matches. We take them really seriously.
“We’re ready – I think we showed it. The result was a bit tough, but we played good football. We were able to put Liverpool in trouble. That's what want to do in these matches in the Conference League.
“For Palace to play in the semi-finals of the Conference League, it's a beautiful achievement. But everyone knows that we want more, so we go there to win, of course.
“[Shakhtar] are a really good team, one of the best in this competition. But I think we showed that we have the quality to beat anyone, so we want to win
“We go there with the same mentality that we had to come here [Anfield]: to score and to make them run. I hope we have more accuracy.”