Milivojević admitted that the way Sean Dyche set-up his side, caught the Eagles off guard: “The first-half they surprised us with how they started the game,” he said. “We expected more direct football from them.
“The second-half was much better from us; we moved the ball much quicker than the first-half. We pushed a lot, we created some chances. In the end I think we didn’t deserve to lose the game.”
The club may well have managed to replace the sea of red and blue in the stands, but there was nothing that could be done to replicate the vocal support that reverberates around SE25, an absence that Milivojević felt.
“We missed the crowd a lot tonight,” he admitted. “We have the loudest fans in the league, I think. We miss them a lot; we need that energy from them.
“When you’re around their box, and when you’re moving the ball trying to create chances, and when you miss for example, they take a lot of time to put the ball in the game again.
“The atmosphere becomes so lethargic in my opinion. They take 20 seconds to get the ball back - everything is so quiet.
“For everyone it is the same, but for us it is very difficult to play without our fans.”
For highlights, press conferences and further post-match reaction, visit Palace TV.
