McCarthy: “We want to win every game as they come”
Crystal Palace Under-21s manager Paddy McCarthy gave an assessment of his side’s individual ability and approach to matches this season.
His side played out a 0-0 stalemate with Manchester United, though, in spite of the result, McCarthy sees a lot of positive to take from the game.
“We go into every game looking to win it.” He explained. “That’s how we set our game plan, regardless of the opposition, so in terms of the result: we’re disappointed not to win the game, but there are a lot of positives there and a lot of moments that we would’ve finished off on another day.
“There were some good attacking situations in the first-half and the same in the second-half. I thought the goalkeeper made a great save to deny Mola [Ademola Ola-Adebomi], there was some last-ditch defending to deny Jack [Wells-Morrison] and I thought we had some real good opportunities to go and win the game, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.
“We defended manfully when we needed to, it’s a point, but we’re always disappointed when we don’t win.”
On his players, the Irishman provided an update on Kofi Balmer and Nathan Ferguson, who were both subbed off at half-time and afforded praise to Kaden Rodney and David Ozoh who have been staples in his side this season.
“[Kofi Balmer] has a bit of a hamstring issue. He’s been carrying that recently and it flared up again in the first-half, [but he’s okay.] Nathan Ferguson was only planned to play 45 minutes, so we made a couple of changes at half-time, but I think the lads who came in stood up to the test and got into the flow of the game really quickly which is a credit to them.
“He’s a Rolls-Royce, Kaden [Rodney], obviously he enjoys playing in midfield, but he’s played at right-back; centre-half and he’s debuted for the first-team as left-back. He’s comfortable in many positions and good players are, they’re always comfortable in any position.
"Hats off to Kaden, I thought he defended well, he helped in the build-up and we got out a few times down the right-hand side. He’s a fantastic young man and it shows his versatility and ability to slot in there straight away.
“It’s also been great for [David Ozoh], who had a taste of things over there [with the first-team], which is great for him as a second-year scholar to make his debut and become the youngest ever Premier League player for Crystal Palace. It shows the ability of the young man and he’s ahead of schedule - he’s playing in every game in the team, he’s performing in every game that he’s been available for and we’ll continue to develop him in our team and get him across the road.”
“Again, we want to win every game as they come and we’ve got an exciting game against Liverpool in the Premier League International Cup and that will be a competition we want to progress in. In the league we want to win every game and see where that takes us.”