Alan Pardew has admitted his mistakes were partially responsible for Crystal Palace's alarming post-Christmas slump – but says allowing his players to point them out has helped the club fight its way back out of trouble.

Palace will reach 40 points with a draw at Manchester United on Wednesday night and could yet win the FA Cup.

But their season has still largely been defined by the astonishing loss of form that has seen them record only one win in 17 league fixtures.

Alan Pardew has said his mistakes were partially responsible for Crystal Palace's post-Christmas slump

Pardew criticised his own substitutions in Palace's 2-1 defeat against Liverpool at Selhurst Park on March 6

A series of clear-the-air meetings has led to an unbeaten run of four games and effectively eliminated the risk of relegation, with Pardew revealing he has not spared himself from harsh words in the process.

'According to the media, I don't take any criticism, because it's all about me,' Pardew said. 'But you can't manage at this level if you're not going to sometimes say to the players, 'I got it wrong', on occasion. I have done that many times in my career, and I have this year.

'Sometimes you have to. You can't just criticise the players who couldn't deliver the gameplan because sometimes they deliver the gameplan and the gameplan didn't work. Well then, who is the finger pointing at then?'

Highlighting Palace's 2-1 defeat against Liverpool on March 6, a game in which Palace led, Pardew said: 'The Liverpool game I put on three substitutes and we looked worse, so I have to look at myself, 'Hold on a minute, what happened there?'

'I have to take some blame for that for sure. We played terrific that game and the three points would have taken us mid table by now.

Pardew (right) congratulates Yannick Bolasie on his 81st-minute equalising goal for Palace against Arsenal

'Hey, I am not going to sit here after the run we have had and say that there were not faults on my part as of course there was.'

Pardew added: 'We've changed a little, some of the working practices we do with Jeremy Snape, who does the psychology of the team, and we've tried to improve ourselves, as much as improving the players.

'I think players are reluctant to criticise the manager so you have to give them a kind of opportunity to do it in a way that isn't going to be making them feel threatened, otherwise they might feel they're not going to get picked.'