The forward played the full 90 minutes and won the penalty which led to Palace’s goal. He said he feels more relieved that Palace started slowly at the King Power rather than at Wembley stadium.
Speaking with the press post-match, he reflected on the game, saying: “I feel like we didn’t start the game well. It was all about the start… We paid the price and conceded two goals.
“In the second-half we were the much better team. We didn’t give up, we pushed, but we didn’t manage to come back which is the most important thing. It’s a wake-up call for us to know the importance for us to have a really good start of the game and to build on that. The most important thing is it happened now and not against Chelsea. Now we have one week to prepare for Chelsea and we’ll do the best we can.
“That’s the message from the manager and it was quite simple and short: it’s a good wake-up call and we prepare ourselves for the next game the best we can.”
Asked to elaborate on the performance and specifically whether he found it tough to handle Leicester’s consistent pressing, Ayew reiterated his belief that it was a warning to Palace.
“Sometimes it’s hard to explain the style of the game,” he said. “It’s a wake-up call, so we need to be consistent and need to work on that. That’s what we’re trying to do; we’ve come out of a very good run and this is a wake-up call. The most important thing is it happened today, not next week, so we can build on this and know it’s important to have a good start to the game.”
Finally, he examined the penalty, saying he feels it was completely deserved and that Zaha did well to score despite a retake. “I think I just did a stepover and he [Youri Tielemans] went and put his leg and caught me. It’s as simple as that.
“The most important thing is he scored – that’s the most important thing and there’s nothing to complain about. He did the most important thing: put it in the back of the net.”
