CRYSTAL Palace boss Alan Pardew defended new signing Pape Souare, after his clumsy mistake inside the opening eight minutes gifted Arsenal a penalty.
The Senegal international, making his first Premier League appearance for the Eagles, was caught in possession by Danny Welbeck and in an attempt to win the ball back conceded a spot kick - although replays showed the contact was made outside the box.
Pardew said: "It's an individual error from Pape.
"He's coming out of Ligue One [in France] and it's a difficult adjustment for defenders. He just got caught out, just dwelled on it a little bit and he needs to learn from that.
"I was pleased with his reaction though because if you make a mistake that creates a goal, you have to show good character from what he did from after that period."
Yannick Bolasie came on as a substitute in the 57th minute and put in a superb performance to almost provide Glenn Murray with a last minute equaliser.
His impact on the game drew praise from Pardew.
"It was such a fast cross I actually thought the spin on the ball was going to take the ball into the net but it comes straight into the keeper's hands," said Pardew.
"What can I say, it's difficult for me. I'm asking this team to play a bit more than they're used to but within that team play we had some great individual performances.
"I mean Yannick Bolasie when he came on, he couldn't have done any more than he did in the 30 minute period. He was fantastic.
"If there's one criticism of us today we should have taken the shot earlier, particularly in the first half. It was our final moment in that box that needs to improve.
"We're not far away from being a decent team."
