I Don't want to be in Mid- table - Pardew

Crystal Palace coach Alan Pardew feels his team have
the ability to challenge the top Premier League sides
despite defeat at Tottenham.

Alan Pardew is calling on Crystal Palace to keep looking up,
stating that a mid-table finish in the Premier League is not good
enough for his team.

Palace picked up a surprise win away at reigning champions
Chelsea last month, but a 1-0 defeat at Tottenham on Sunday
brought about their second consecutive top-flight loss.

However, the Palace coach feels his team have proved they
have the quality to mix it with the elite if they make some minor
improvements.

"I don't want to be in the mid-table, I told the players after the
game it's not for me," Pardew said in a news conference.

"I'm an experienced manager, I know a good side when I see
one and this is a good side. Therefore we need to tighten up in
certain areas, be stronger in the mind and we can achieve a
great season.

"That, for us, would be a top-10 finish, maybe higher than that,
and a cup competition. They should be our goals, particularly
after these first six games and the way we've gone about the
opposition in the victories and defeats."

Palace came close to opening the scoring in the London derby -
eventually settled by a Son Heung-min strike - with Yohan
Cabaye and Bakary Sako hitting the woodwork either side of
half-time.

Subsequently, Pardew laid some of the blame at the feet of his
forwards, though he was quick to credit Hugo Lloris with a top
performance for the hosts.

"Going forward I thought we weren't as good as we usually are,"
he added. "Having said that, the goalkeeper is probably their
man of the match with two unbelievable saves to deny us the
first goal which would've changed everything.

"I could argue that we should have done better in certain things
but they are the margins that you win and lose by in this
division. We've got to make sure those margins come in our
favour.

"We've won three, we've lost three in our first six. If you look at
the fixtures I don’t think that’s a bad return, really.

"Having said that it could have been so much better. Therefore,
we must lean on that part of it and with a little bit of
improvement we could find ourselves competing at the top of
the division."