GARY O’Neil admitted Cherries produced a “really poor” display at Crystal Palace, adding: “We dropped below our level for the first time in a while.”

Cherries were beaten 2-0 at Selhurst Park thanks to two goals from Eberechi Eze.

Reflecting on the defeat, O’Neil told the Daily Echo: “We were really poor today. I think we dropped below our level for the first time in a while. From a human point of view, 39 points is a good tally.

“But a good lesson for everybody involved that if we’re not desperate and we’re not at 120 per cent like we have been recently and fighting for every single ball and every single point and you drop your levels slightly against a good Crystal Palace side, you get well beaten.”

He added: “We struggled with the ball, struggled physically any time there was any duels or the ball was loose. Crystal Palace were better at that.

“And then when the game goes that way and you give them enough situations that suit them, one-v-ones with (Wilfried) Zaha and Eze and (Michael) Olise, they’re a good side, they’ve got fantastic players.

“We didn’t manage to stamp our way and didn’t find a way to cause them any issues. So it was a disappointing afternoon.

“As I said to the players before these four games since we’ve been on 39 points, if you lose, they still feel terrible.

“It does, so we need to make sure that we use this today to ensure that the next two don’t look anything like that.”

Cherries round off their season with a home game against Manchester United next Saturday, before a trip to Goodison Park to face Everton.