Jason Puncheon makes admission over Alan Pardew's big decision for Man Utd FA Cup final

Jason Puncheon has admitted that it may have actually been a "good move" from former Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew to drop him for the FA Cup final in 2016.

The Croydon-born midfielder was omitted from Pardew's starting line-up for the final at Wembley, before coming off the bench to score the opening goal of the game.

Palace ended up losing the game 2-1, after Juan Mata equalised to send the game into extra time, with Jesse Lingard scoring the winner for ten-man United, who had defender Chris Smalling sent off.

And Puncheon has said that while he was disappointed with the decision made by his manager, he had seen it coming as he spoke of how he found out he was not in the team.

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“What made it worse is how I knew Pards as a person, I knew I wasn’t playing from the week before," Puncheon said, speaking to Alex Howell.

“He never told me until two days before, but I knew. I could just sense little things. I knew him as well as he knew me as a person, how he managed, how he was, I could see that I wasn’t going to play.

“You can never admit to yourself that it is going to happen, but I knew."

Puncheon admitted that he was driven to prove Pardew wrong as he came on to the pitch during the final, which he duly did by firing the Eagles in front.

And the midfielder, who left Palace in 2019 after five years with the club, said that in hindsight, his impact as a substitute had the desired impact for the manager.

“I was upset with Pards, he knows that, we spoke about it," he said, referring to his celebration after scoring, in which he appeared to be speaking directly to his manager.

“When I look back at it, it was a good move as a manager. He knows my character.

“Some players he might drop and they might sulk, and then they might bring that sulkiness onto the pitch. He knew I was a fighter, so he knew he could drop me and I would be like, ‘ok I will show you’.

“And he could take that burden of 'ok, Punch has proved me wrong'. That’s how my character is, I never give up, I fight.

“So it was a good move, it is just a shame we didn’t win.”