Pierre Sage Says He Is Not at an Attraction Park After Painful First Defeat at Crystal Palace

Pierre Sage was asked, in his first week as a Premier League head coach, whether he had enjoyed his introduction to English football’s top flight. His answer said everything about how he sees the job. “We lost,” he said, before adding: “I’m not here in an attraction park, you can say that. I’m here to win games, the job is like this and I’m not happy to lose this game.”

Crystal Palace’s opening weekend defeat at Everton left Sage frustrated rather than reflective, and speaking to Sky Sports ahead of Friday’s visit of Manchester City, he made clear that results, not the novelty of the league he now works in, will define how he judges his own start.

A Frustrating First Half Undone

Sage’s frustration stemmed from how the Everton defeat unfolded rather than the fact of losing itself. “I understood with this game that we are able to do things and it’s difficult when you know you are able to do it and you don’t do it for the duration of the game,” he said. “That’s why I was a little bit frustrated because we played well during the first half and it’s not normal that we played as we did in the second half.”

He was direct about what needs to change. “That’s why we need to be more consistent. We need to work a lot, we need to understand together better. We need to be fluent, to be smooth in our play and the only thing to do is to work.”

Following Glasner Without Copying Him

Sage’s appointment at Selhurst Park followed a season in which he guided Lens to second place in Ligue 1, finishing above Marseille and Lyon and behind only PSG, while also winning the club’s first Coupe de France. The parallels with Oliver Glasner’s rise before he left Palace were not lost on those who hired him, and Sage signed a three-year contract this summer.

“I think that’s why the club chose me because we are in line in a lot of principles, but we are different for the moment,” Sage said of the comparison. He was careful, though, to draw a line between following in Glasner’s footsteps and simply repeating what came before him. “He won and I didn’t win here yet, but the most important thing for me is not to be in line with that. It’s to be consistent with the previous manager, but in my way.”

Sage also pushed back on the idea that leaving Lens for Palace was a step down in competition, pointing to the club’s Europa League place this season. “When I left France, people said when I left that I was leaving Champions League football to only play in the Europa League and I told them I’d be playing in the Champions League every weekend,” he said, a reference to facing City, Arsenal and the rest of the division week after week.

An Assistant’s Education

Sage’s route to management ran through spells as a technical director and academy coach before he became an assistant, and it is that assistant role he credits most for preparing him to lead a Premier League club. “When I was an assistant, I understood the training process, but I also understood how to manage the guys,” he explained.

He described a deliberate approach to learning the division from the outside before taking the job. “It’s not only with the Premier League, it’s like this in every country, but to understand the Premier League, the most important thing I did was to watch a lot of games.” He also pointed to relationships built across a football club as central to his method: “I like to be in contact with all the departments because I consider everybody important in a club and if we have success, it’s all together and when we lose, it’s the same. That’s why it’s important to be connected to all these people and to understand their job.”

‘I Wish Him the Best, but Not for This Game’

Friday’s match against Manchester City carries a personal subplot for Sage. He managed Rayan Cherki at Lyon before the forward’s move to City, and the two will now meet from opposite technical areas. “I wish him the best, but not really for this game,” Sage said.

He spoke fondly of Cherki’s style even while preparing to face him. “It’s a different player. He’s able to do things that people cannot understand and that’s why I like him because he plays like a kid. He enjoys the pitch, he brings good vibes to the players.” Sage added: “I like this kind of thing because sometimes football is too serious and I like to show especially this kind of player, but when they play against me, I ask them to stay quiet.”

A First Night Under the Lights at Selhurst Park

Friday’s fixture will be Sage’s first Premier League match in charge at Selhurst Park, and he has already been told what to expect from the crowd. “Everybody has told me it is incredible, it’s really different to the other clubs and I’m happy to discover that,” he said.

He kept his focus on the result rather than the occasion itself. “But the most important thing is the play and the result and if we can make them happy at the end of the game, it will be a good satisfaction.” On the size of the task facing his side, Sage was realistic about City’s quality while stressing the value of catching a team still finding its feet under a new manager. “It will be a difficult game because there’s a lot of talent in their squad. When you have a new manager, there’s a lot of energy at the beginning because you don’t really know who will be the starter. That’s why it’s important to be at our best level for this game.”

Two Contract Situations Sage Wants Resolved

Sage’s opening weeks in charge have coincided with two unresolved contract situations that have followed Crystal Palace through the transfer window. Jean-Philippe Mateta previously took the club to a legal challenge over the validity of a one-year contract extension activated in 2024, and a Premier League tribunal ruled that he remains bound to honour the deal. A move to AC Milan collapsed in January when he failed a medical over a pre-existing knee injury, and Aston Villa have had a bid for the striker turned down this week.

Sarr’s absence from the defeat at Everton was linked by some reports to the uncertainty over his own future, but Sage has been clear that the winger is currently working through individual training over a groin problem rather than pushing for a move away from Selhurst Park. Sage said he expects both Mateta and Sarr to remain at the club beyond the transfer deadline, giving him two experienced attacking options to call upon once fitness allows.

Neither situation appears close to resolution in the way a straight transfer would settle things, and Sage will have to manage both players’ fitness and form without the certainty of knowing how the transfer window’s final days play out. For a head coach still finding his feet in a new country, it is one more variable to account for heading into a run of fixtures that will shape how Palace’s season is judged.

Learning a New League on the Job

Sage’s route into English football is unusual even among the growing number of foreign coaches now working in the Premier League. He spent time as a technical director before moving into academy coaching, then worked as an assistant at multiple clubs before finally landing his own head coaching role at Lens. That grounding in developmental and support positions, rather than a playing career at the top level, shaped the way he prepared for the step up to Selhurst Park.

His comments about watching matches obsessively before taking the Palace job reflect a coach who treats preparation as something to be worked at repeatedly, rather than something that comes naturally from having played the game at the highest level himself. That same mentality showed in his answer about Rayan Cherki, where Sage balanced clear affection for a player he once managed with an equally clear focus on stopping him from doing damage on Friday night.

Palace’s supporters will judge Sage on results rather than philosophy, and he knows it. His response to defeat at Everton, blunt and free of excuses, suggests a coach who understands exactly what standard he is being held to in his first Premier League job, and who has no interest in lowering it simply for arriving in a new country.

Friday night will not settle whether Sage is the right appointment for Crystal Palace. One result rarely does. But a competitive showing against a Manchester City side still finding its own shape under a new manager would go a long way toward answering the only question Sage himself seems interested in: not whether the Premier League lives up to its reputation, but whether his team can win in it.