Roy tells fans not to get on Zaha’s back
ROY HODGSON has warned Wilfried Zaha he faces a backlash from angry Crystal Palace fans.
Fallen hero Zaha, below, failed to force a deadline-day move to today’s opponents Everton, despite handing in a transfer request.
And Eagles boss Hodgson admits he cannot be sure how much longer the winger will remain at the club.
Hodgson said: “You can’t control fans’ reactions. Of course, I hope they won’t get on Wilf’s back. I hope they’ll be sympathetic to him.
“But whatever happens,Wilf will have to deal with that, as he has had to deal with his disappointment over the last few days of the window.”
Hodgson insists Zaha is in the right frame of mind to play today. He said: “I trust him totally. I’m expecting Wilf to go out and do what he has done during the two years I have been here.”
Speculation about Zaha’s future continues, though, with Chelsea weighing up a move in the New Year if their transfer ban is lifted.
“January?Who knows?,” said Hodgson. “That’s a long way off. If it starts again in January, we’ll get ready and deal with it again.”
Marco Silva says Everton’s summer business was hampered by a market spiralling out of control.
“It is really tough now to buy a player – everyone is asking millions and millions and millions,” said the Toffees boss.
“It is always difficult to sign players, even if you are a big club. Everyone is looking at the final picture and asking, ‘Why so late in signing players?’”
Manchester United legend Giggs recalled how Paul Scholes would give Cristiano Ronaldo the treatment in training sessions on occasion – and how it helped the Portugal superstar rid himself of the ‘show pony’ tag attached to him early in his career.
Pogba’s future at Old Trafford has been in question all summer after he admitted “it could be the time for a new challenge” and his agent, Mino Raiola, announced that “everyone at the club knows he wants to leave”.
But Pogba remained and is set to feature for United when they open their season at home to Chelsea tomorrow.
And asked how he would bring out the best in the hugely talented but occasionally ill-disciplined Pogba, Giggs said: “Kick him in training. That was how Ronaldo got better.
“Scholsey would kick him if he took too many touches. And, suddenly, it clicked with Ronaldo that he couldn’t keep dribbling or else he was going to be kicked.”
United sold Romelu Lukaku to Inter Milan on deadline day and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer