Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
GROAN? NO, ZAHA IS ALL GROWN UP CRYSTAL PALACE BRIGHTON
Hodgson: Wilf wants to play at a higher level but he’s knuckled down since failing to get a move
Selhurst Park: Tomorrow, 2pm ROY HODGSON says Wilfried Zaha has been “very mature” about missing out on yet another Crystal Palace exit.
The Ivorian forward, 27, has made no secret of his desire to move to a bigger club – or his frustration that this has yet to happen.
And with another transfer window having closed behind him, Zaha
(right) will carry on for the
Eagles at home to Brighton tomorrow provided he recovers from a groin problem picked up on international duty.
Pa l a c e b o s s Ho d g s o n w a s confident his star performer would continue to shine.
He said: “He and I are on the same page and were two years ago, that’s not changed.
“Wilf knows that I would like him to play for me at this club but I am aware that hi s ambitions are stretching higher than that.
“We are where we are and he has been very mature about it all. There
is only so much you can do to get into people’s heads but I must say that so far I can’t say one critical thing about him – he has been very good both in training and matches.”
Palace v Brighton is one of English football’s more eccentric rivalries given that the two clubs paid scant regard to each other until the 1970s.
Personal enmity between Palace man a ge r Te r r y Ve n a b l e s a n d Brighton’s Alan Mullery that had festered when t they were t team-mates at T Tottenham f fuelled a c conf lict that H Hodgson adm mitted passed h him by when h he was b beginning his o own managerial career. He said: “It is a niche derby and one that means a lot to our fans.
“But I have been a Crystal Palace supporter a very long time and spent a lot of time on the terraces as a boy in the 1950s and 60s.
“The derby game then was Millwall – that was the fierce derby.
“I was in Sweden during the Alan Mullery-terry Venables confrontations so I didn’t follow that closely.
“How e v er I know it i s my responsibility to make certain we are 100 per cent fired up because that’s what our supporters expect from us.”