Oliver Glasner risks clashing with Jean-Philippe Mateta as Crystal Palace boss publicly defends decision to hook his star striker at half-time of Man City loss & says it WASN'T a mistake

Palace's star striker was taken off at the break, despite playing a key role in Chris Richards' goal, an effort gave Palace a 2-0 advantage over the champions. Goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Omar Marmoush squared the game up at half-time, when the Frenchman was pulled from the action.

Glasner confirmed Mateta wasn't injured, and he was subbed to facilitate a change in formation. The Austrian manager admitted the tactical rejig to 3-5-2 was an error on his part, but said he was disappointed in his star striker's performance in the first 45 minutes. City ran rampant in the second half, and eventually ran out 5-2 winners after goals from Mateo Kovacic, James McAtee and Nico O'Reilly.

Asked why he replaced Mateta with Will Hughes, Glasner said: said: "It was a tactical decision. Now, I have to say it was the wrong decision. Not taking him off, but changing the formation to a 3-5-2. We wanted to control the midfield more, but it didn’t work.

"Subbing him wasn’t a mistake, he can do better than he did in the first half. He lost too many duels and balls. That’s why we decided to change something. The mistake I made was to change the system, not subbing JP."

Mateta has been in fine form for the Eagles over the past couple of seasons. Before Saturday, the 25-year-old had scored nine goals in his past 10 Premier League games.

Mateta will have to dust himself off ahead of a midweek journey to Newcastle. With little to play for in the Premier League, Palace will want to keep their spirits high ahead of their FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa on April 26.