Lacroix: We have warriors in this team
Crystal Palace’s collective desire to battle for every ball was on show in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Brentford, according to Maxence Lacroix.
The defender and his side came out on top of a combative contest at Selhurst Park, combining robustness with confidence on the ball to secure victory through headers by Jean-Philippe Mateta and Brentford defender Nathan Collins (an own-goal).
Some 41 aerial duels, and 95 duels in total, were contested by the two teams – and Lacroix labelled the game, after Palace secured a third Premier League clean sheet of the season, a “top win. We are really happy, because we knew that it was going to be a hard game.
“I think we showed that we are also good in set-pieces. We spoke about that before the game.
“We knew that they love to play like this. We are also warriors, so we fight for every single ball and I think we won this battle.
“It was a really good three points.”
I wouldn't speak about luck. I think everyone did his job
—Maxence Lacroix
Lacroix said of the own-goal, which stemmed from Jefferson Lerma’s powerful long throw: “I wouldn't speak about luck. I think everyone did his job.
“Sometimes this is what happens in the box. It's something that is difficult to defend. For us today, it was an own goal, but we are happy about that.”
And on Mateta’s header: “I was impressed with this header! I'm really happy for him because he deserved it. He worked a lot for that.”
Palace next up face AZ Alkmaar, one of the competition’s favourites, in the UEFA Conference League at Selhurst Park on Thursday night, with tickets available to book.
Lacroix added: “We are really happy to play in Europe. I think we want to win again, because the last game was a little bit difficult with the loss – so we are happy to go back to Europe.”