Crystal Palace defender Scott Dann admits it is up to the players to make their new 3-4-3 formation work.

Eagles boss Frank de Boer is adamant on playing with three central defenders, and Dann welcomes the change.

The former Blackburn skipper featured in Palace's pre-season friendly defeat to Liverpool on Wednesday. It was his first appearance since injuring his knee last season.

He said: “We've worked on it [3-4-3 system] since the first day the manager came in.

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“It's obviously a lot of change with the personnel and the shape but it's been enjoyable in training - now it's about replicating that on the pitch.

“It is a lot different to what it was last year but we can learn from him. He's passionate about that way of playing and it's up to us to take it and do it out on the pitch and work on it each day to keep improving.

“We've worked really hard in the first couple of weeks, but when you get into the games, it's a bit more difficult to put it into practice but hopefully, we can do it and keep improving.”