Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce has admitted that his side deserved their 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Manchester City during this afternoon's match at the Etihad Stadium.
Palace were second best throughout as City cruised to the victory, with David Silva, Vincent Kompany, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Otamendi all on the scoresheet.
The result leaves Palace still six points clear of the relegation zone - a gap which could be cut to three later this afternoon - and Allardyce challenged his side to bounce back from the defeat when they face Hull City next week.
"The recovery from the goal was good indeed. It could have been 1-1. All five goals were avoidable. We didn't make them produce their brilliant talent, we gifted them five goals. They punished us heavily. I didn't feel the lads were comfortable in the back five as they would have done with a back four," he told reporters.
"When we switched, we got better going forward. But our final third play let us down as well as our defensive display. We deserved to get punished. If I'd have had the centre-halves fit I would have played them. Our usually strong defensive unit was in tatters. We've got to do it ourselves. We've got to be man enough and brave enough.
"Safety could have been achieved against Spurs, and then we gifted Burnley the points, and today we didn't deserve anything. Gifting Manchester City a goal at the Etihad is not what you want to do. Defending in the right areas correctly is what you have to do. We gifted Vincent Kompany a goal of all people.
"The lads didn't apply themselves correctly and Manchester City thoroughly punished us. We can't complain about the scoreline. It lies in our hands by trying to beat Hull week next Sunday. We have to put it right by returning to winning ways."
Palace have now lost three league games on the bounce for the first time since January.
