March 2 2003

Trevor Francis

Trevor Francis was angry at the way his players capitulated after going behind to Wolves to eventually lose 4-0 at Molineux.

Palace were only a goal down for most of the game but three late goals sent them to their heaviest defeat of the season.

Francis said: "I'm disappointed with our lack of reaction after the second goal went in. We have moulded a squad high on energy and with a lot of togetherness but we have lost our way.

"We accepted the inevitable and a number of players didn't show any willingness to respond and that's quite disturbing.

"We are suffering a reaction to going out of the FA Cup and we were a rag-bag outfit at the end. That's out worst defeat of the season and our worst performance."

"Andy Johnson is essential to the way we want to play, he was sadly missed when he had to leave the field but that shouldn't be used as an excuse.

"We did have certain periods where we held posession for good periods but we showed ineffectiveness in front of goal.

"Some players started looking fit but finished looking unable to put one foot in front of another.

"There were a couple of players who returned today and were clearly not 100 per cent fit but they had to soilder on in the closing stages of the game against a very good side."