Freedman: "I made mistakes last season" (From Croydon Guardian)

Palace boss vows to learn from last season's torrid finale

10:00am Thursday 27th September 2012 in Eagles News By Tim Ashton

Crystal Palace boss Dougie Freedman has admitted his mistakes last year sent the Eagles spiralling down the Championship table, but he says he will not make the same mistakes again.

Palace enjoyed a fine start to last season's campaign losing just four games in three months.

However, from the beginning of November results began to slide, although a League Cup win over Manchester United at the end of the month hid the truth of the league form from onlookers.

From the beginning of December, Palace would win just five out of 29 league games and Freedman knows why.

He said: "Where I got it wrong last year, I believe, is that I consistently played the same sort of team for 30-odd league games and the cup runs, as well as people seem to forget.

"In the last quarter of the season we had a lot of injuries and we slipped right down the table.

"I need to be a little wiser in my selection. I made three or four changes to the team that beat Charlton for the match against Nottingham Forest, so don’t be surprised if I change it again for Bolton.

"I just feel that will give us the best opportunity over 46 games."

He added: "One or two will always pick themselves because they are in form, but changing the team will keep players on their toes and the opposition guessing."

Freedman takes his team on a tour of the north next week with Championship games at Bolton on Saturday and Wolves on Tuesday.