Coady: We can’t Con our way out
ROY HODGSON has ordered Crystal Palace to pile the misery on struggling Wolves this afternoon.
The trip to Selhurst Park is the 13th game of the season for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, whose campaign kicked off way back in July with the Europa League qualifiers.
That whopping workload already appears to be seriously damaging their domestic form.
Wolves are in the Premier League drop zone after failing to win any of their opening five matches and they lost 1-0 at home to Braga on Thursday night.
Hodgson, having led Fulham to the Europa League Final in 2010, knows all about the complications of participating in UEFA’s second club competition – and playing Thursday and Sunday most weeks.
But while full of sympathy for the visitors’ plight, the Palace boss plans to show them no mercy today.
Hodgson said: “Unfortunately, that is part of the business of football – kicking teams when they are down.
“People talk about second-season syndrome but that’s just a cliche.
“I can’t believe for one minute Wolves thought the Premier League was easy.
“I’m sure their attitude is the same as last season. They’ve not had the start they wanted.
“And they have had some disappointing results – particularly against Chelsea last weekend and in the Europa League on Thursday.
“To come away with a defeat from that last game will be a bitter blow for them.
“I watched it and felt they were the better team.
“But there’s no doubt it doesn’t help when you start the season so much earlier than everyone else and you have to play all
these qualification games – even when you win them.”
Recalling his Fulham side’s stunning Europa League run a decade ago – when they lost in the final to Atletico Madrid – Hodgson reckons it definitely messed up their Premier League ambitions.
“We played 19 games to get to the final and also came into the qualification period very early – like Wolves,” added the former England boss.
“We dropped from seventh to 12th that year.
“It was down to the extra games.
“You need a big squad to deal with that but it’s not easy for the likes of Fulham and Wolves to have that sort of squad.
“You end up playing your best 11 for a lot of the games and, with the best will in the world, that takes a toll.”
Despite their considerably lighter schedule this season, Palace have not exactly been the model of consistency.
After back-to back victories over Manchester United and Aston Villa before the international break, the South Londoners were thumped 4-0 at Tottenham eight days ago. Yet Hodgson said: “We’ve a good opportunity now with two home games in a row. The mood is
good.” CONOR COADY has issued a rallying cry for Wolves to pull together and end their poor run of form.
The club’s skipper fronted up after their Europa League tie against Braga ended in defeat at home.
It was the latest knock in a campaign that has failed to spark into life and Nuno Espirito Santo’s side head for Selhurst Park this lunchtime still in search of their first Premier League win of the season.
Coming off the back of such an encouraging first campaign back in the top flight, Wolves are hitting the buffers for the first time under their Portuguese boss.
And Coady admitted they need to go back to basics to get the fans back on their feet.
He said: “We’re on a bad run at the minute. We need to snap out of it.
“We’re making one mistake and we’re getting punished for it.
“We need to make sure we come together. We know what we need to do. We’ve got to learn.
“Braga sat in and countered us. The longer the game went on without us scoring, it gave them more belief.
“We’ll analyse it and go again.”
Coady shrugged off suggestions that Wolves were struggling from second-season syndrome. He added: “I’ve never really believed in it. You’ve got to remember that we did something extraordinary last season.
“We’ve had a lot of games, we’re still learning. But we’d rather be learning while we’re winning matches.
“When you have a season like we had, expectations are higher.
“They are always high but at the moment we are not picking up wins and we need to stop getting beaten.
“There’s no better time to get it sorted than at Palace.”