Oliver Glasner struggled to explain how Crystal Palace had thrown away a two-goal lead in their home loss to Burnley, but believes a lack of leadership within his squad played a part.
Burnley, who had not won in 16 Premier League games coming into Wednesday's clash at Selhurst Park, claimed a remarkable 3-2 victory.
That outcome did not look likely when new signing Jorgen Strand Larsen scored a double inside the first 33 minutes to put Palace in complete control of the contest.
But goals from Hannibal Mejbri and Jaidon Anthony, before a Jefferson Lerma own goal, all in a breathless seven-minute spell at the end of the first half, earned the Clarets victory.
Indeed, Burnley are only the second team to go two goals down in the first half of a top-flight away game but still go in ahead at the break, after Tottenham at Newcastle United in 1995.
5 - Burnley are the first team to go 2-0 behind in the first half a Premier League game but still lead by half-time since Hull City against West Ham in November 2009. Traffic. pic.twitter.com/VhjS5WZb6p
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 11, 2026
Defeat meant Palace, who sold captain Marc Guehi to Manchester City last month, failed to build on their crucial away win over Brighton and have now gone eight home league games without a victory.
"I can't explain it, we gave the game away too easy," Palace boss Glasner said to TNT Sports after his 100th game in charge of the club ended in disappointment.
"Maybe it was too easy. There was a lack of intensity and we didn't defend well.
"We are not showing a consistent performance over 95 minutes very often. Once it's this [reason], once it's that – and you get punished.
"The start was good, scoring very nice goals. We controlled everything.
"But I've watched all the goals back, and it's just not acceptable how we defended as a team – just jogging around, not in the duels, not in the second balls.
"In the second half we tried everything, but we don't deserve to win. When you throw the game away like we did, you don't deserve to win.
"I praise the boys very often for their effort. We had a great effort three days ago at Brighton, so it's not about the character [of the players], I just don't know the reason [for the performance], the players usually work hard.
"It is not acceptable. Right now, we don't have someone on the pitch who leads the team in these moments, who makes the players calm and decides about the meaning of the game – that's why we lost."
Burnley came into the game in poor form after some dreadful recent performances, but they have now moved to within nine points of safety.
Palace may feel hard done by to have lost having racked up 21 attempts at goal compared to eight for Burnley, though just three of the hosts’ attempts ended up on target.
One of those was when Martin Dubravka pulled off an outstanding save to deny Ismaila Sarr in the last of five additional minutes to protect a memorable three points for Scott Parker's side.
"I'm happy with the team and, of course, with the result," said Parker.
"In the situation we are in, coming off the back of an incredibly tough game for us [against West Ham] at the weekend – for many reasons – that performance showed a group that’s full of resilience, full of commitment. All the staff, the players, deserve that.
"You don't get that result without proper resilience, standing up to certain battles and certain situations.
"I said before the game let's not worry about where we've been in the past – let's look at the present. Can a group of men come to Selhurst Park and win a game of football against Crystal Palace? Every single player believed, and I think that was evident.
"There aren't many teams who would come back after going 2-0 down. It speaks absolute volumes for this group. If there was ever a question of how together this group is – it said it all really."