Roy: Die for the cause to get us out of this mess
AFTER the chorus of boos that met the final whistle came what appeared a prescient warning over the public address system. ‘I see trouble up the road,’ cried Ocean Colour Scene, which in the circumstances might not have been the best choice of post-match music.
Roy Hodgson was not denying it though. The road ahead for Crystal Palace does threaten to be a difficult one and he was left recalling the words of his new employers when they turned to him in desperation last week and asked him to succeed Frank de Boer.
‘I’ve been told from the club’s point of view that survival’s everything, that it would be unthinkable that we go down,’ he said.
‘But I still think we will be OK, and we’ll work to be OK, and this group of players will follow me and follow the others to make sure we’re OK. But it won’t be by the end of October. Possibly it might be quite a long way forward.’
It took just 24 hours for Hodgson to return to someone resembling the chastened figure we encountered in France 14 months earlier. On Friday the 70-year-old was brimming with excitement and optimism. By Saturday afternoon, however, his side’s failure to respond to an early Steven Davis goal for Southampton left him looking like a man who had just traded the worst England team in history for the worst top-flight English team in history.
In the 129 years since the foundation of the Football League, no top division team had emerged from their opening five games of a season without securing a point or scoring a goal. The quality of this performance, not to mention a glance at the fixture list, would suggest Hodgson has taken on a daunting challenge.
With games against Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea to follow, further records could tumble for a club who have lost nine of their last 10 Premier League games without scoring. The fact that three managers have overseen that run would suggest that these players don’t respond to the arrival of a new boss. Hodgson was refreshingly honest in his assessment of his team on Saturday, noting their anxiety as well as a lack of tactical nous.
If he was heartened by the ambition and tenacity of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who, having returned from injury, ran until his body shut down with cramp, he must have been alarmed by the timidity of more senior professionals. The frequency with which the impressive Mario Lemina won the ball off Palace players was embarrassing.
Hodgson will have to draw on all his experience, not least at Fulham and West Brom, to get Palace out of this mess.
‘It’s got a lot to do with the judgements you make,’ said Hodgson. ‘Going forward, I’ll have a much better idea of the playing personnel, and that’s a very important factor — working out who’s going to be good enough on the field and who’s going to be ready to roll their sleeves up and die for us in this cause because we’re not doing too well.’
When the best Palace player on the pitch was on loan from Chelsea and one of the substitutes drove a Rolls-Royce to training on Friday, it might take more than that. SUPER STAT: Palace have failed to find the back of the net in six consecutive league games for the first since January 1995. CRYSTAL PALACE (4-4-1-1): Hennessey 5; Ward 4, Fosu-Mensah 6, Dann 6, Schlupp 4; Cabaye 4, McArthur 5 (Milivojevic 69, 5), Puncheon 4, Loftus-Cheek 7 (Sako 78); Townsend 6; Benteke 4. Subs not used: Speroni, Van Aanholt, Tomkins, Lee, Kelly. Booked: Ward, Dann, McArthur, Cabaye, Puncheon. Manager: Roy Hodgson 6. SOUTHAMPTON (4-2-3-1): Forster 8; Soares 6, Yoshida 6, Hoedt 6, Bertrand 7; Romeu 6, LEMINA 9; Tadic 7 (Van Dijk 87), Davis 8.5, Redmond 6 (Ward-Prowse 85); Long 6 (Gabbiadini 90). Subs not used: Stephens, McCarthy, Boufal, Targett. Booked: Long. Scorer: Davis 6. Manager: Mauricio Pellegrino 7. Referee: Bobby Madley 7. Attendance: 24,199.