Contrasting emotions for Wagner and De Boer
Football Soccer - Premier League - Crystal Palace vs Huddersfield Town - London, Britain - August 12, 2017 Huddersfield Town manager David Wagner shakes hands with Crystal Palace manager Frank De Boer after the game Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra
LONDON (Reuters) - Two managers new to the Premier League left Selhurst Park in very different moods after promoted Huddersfield Town shocked Crystal Palace with a 3-0 away win.
Town's German manager David Wagner was less surprised than those observers who have tipped his team to go straight back down to the Championship.
"The performance was good today and the result excellent," he said.
"We should not look too far ahead but focus on what we have seen today, and that made me very happy even if we know the result was a bit high.
"We were lucky Palace missed some of their opportunities -- and you need luck, too.
"We won’t change. We must stick to our identity and idea, show togetherness and fighting and working attitude. We will not change that because we are in the Premier League."
Having strengthened his squad with a dozen new players in the close-season, Wagner saw the most expensive of them, Benin international Steve Mounie, score twice.
"Mounie is a good striker who likes to work in defence, too. He’s a proper terrier, even if he is tall," the coach added.
Palace's Frank de Boer, formerly in charge of Ajax and Inter Milan, was hugely disappointed with his first Premier League game.
"This was a very poor start for everyone (at Palace)," he said.
"It’s difficult to start off like this. No one expected it, of course, so it was a very hard lesson.
"When we did what we were supposed to do we created our chances. We had lots of chances to go 2-1, then I was confident we could get a point out of it.
DESERVED WIN
"If you get a quick goal the crowd gets behind you.
"(Huddersfield) played as we expected, exactly what they showed last season, so it was no surprise.
"Three-nil means they deserved to win: compliments to Huddersfield." If Palace's performance left De Boer with plenty to think about ahead of a difficult trip to Liverpool next weekend, Wagner is already looking forward to his team's next assignment.
"I can’t wait to play the first Premier League game in our history at home against Newcastle," he said.