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Alan Pardew: Lee Chung-yong launches attack on Crystal Palace manager

The 27-year-old South Korea international is out-of-favour at Selhurst Park

Mark Critchley
Friday 29 April 2016 11:47 BST
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Lee joined Palace from Bolton Wanderers in February 2015
Lee joined Palace from Bolton Wanderers in February 2015

Alan Pardew has been accused of making “absurd” decisions and forgetting how many substitutes he can make by one of his own Crystal Palace players.

Lee Chung-yong, a fringe player at Selhurst Park who has only played once since 13 February, reportedly criticised his manager for becoming too “hot tempered” in matches while speaking to a publication in his native South Korea.

“Pardew is very smart in training but he’s too hot tempered in matches, so he even forgets how many substitutes are left,” Lee is said to have told Sports Seoul, with the quotes subsequently picked up by the South London Press.

“He told me to warm up, then we used all three substitutes, so I sat on the bench again. Five minutes later, he told me to warm up again so I told him there was no substitutes left. He just said: ‘Oh, sorry’.”

Lee, who joined the club from Bolton Wanderers for an undisclosed fee in February 2015, also claimed to have been unjustly overlooked by Pardew in favour of other players.

“Pardew also made me train as a starter for the whole week and decided to leave me out on matchday as an injured player who had not trained all week recovered and felt OK on the day. That was absurd.”

Pardew during the FA Cup semi-final against Watford

The 27-year-old winger, who has made 14 appearances and scored two goals since arriving at Selhurst Park, is unhappy with the lack of first-team opportunities he has been granted this season and is openly looking for a move.

“I have a contract with Crystal Palace until 2018 but I don’t have any reason to stay here next season. I think I should try to talk to other clubs,” Lee is quoted as saying. “If I had enough opportunities and had disappointed here, I would not make any excuses. But I never had opportunities.

“Pardew said he had wanted to sign me at Newcastle as well. It seemed that he really wanted to sign me so I decided to join Crystal Palace. But I got injured in January and returned in April. During that time, Crystal Palace did really well with [Jason] Puncheon, [Yannick] Bolasie and [Wilfried] Zaha. So my place was gone.

“Pardew runs the team with very short-term vision. We have a great squad but he plays the same players again and again until someone gets injured. Then his replacement cannot play well because he is playing for the first time in two months. I think that’s why we have not done well in the latter half of season.”

Palace, who progressed to the FA Cup final after beating Watford in last Sunday's semi-final at Wembley, travel to relegation-threatened Newcastle United on Saturday.

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