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Wilfried Zaha lacked desire against Spurs, needs to focus more: Alan Pardew

Wilfried Zaha lacked desire against Spurs, needs to focus more: Alan Pardew

Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha showed a lack of desire in Sunday`s 1-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur and needs to improve his concentration, manager Alan Pardew has said.

Zaha has started all six Premier League games for Palace but the 22-year-old Ivory Coast-born player has only once completed the full 90 minutes.

He has been withdrawn before the 60-minute mark three times, including on Sunday, and Pardew did not hide his disappointment.

"The issue with Wilf is that he`s a fabulous footballer. I`m trying to get him to understand that every moment in every game is very important," the manager told reporters after the game.

"It`s about concentration, about having that same desire to defend and attack, movement and everything that a top player produces. Unfortunately I didn`t think he did that.

"He had 45 minutes to show me he was up to speed on those areas and he wasn`t. He needs to take away a lesson.

"He`s perhaps unlucky to be taken off because there were one or two others that were probably just below the level, but he was probably worst of the pack," he added.

The Eagles were downed by a 68th minute strike from Spurs` new arrival Son Heung-min and Pardew said he expected his goalkeeper Alex McCarthy to save the shot.

"Our goalkeeper should stop it. He`s unlucky because he hits it hard, but I think he would still want to save that and I`d want him to save it," Pardew said.

Crystal Palace, eighth in the Premier League table with nine points from six games, take on Charlton in a League Cup match on Wednesday.

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