Hodgson has job to rebuild Benteke’s confidence

Roy Hodgson fears that Christian Benteke’s confidence will be damaged by the two clear chances he wasted in Saturday’s agonising defeat by Liverpool.

Benteke twice skewed shots off target with the score tied at 1-1, and Hodgson, the Palace manager, said the misses visibly affected the striker, who has scored just two goals all season.

“I have been very pleased with his performances lately,” Hodgson said.

“Unfortunately, after today people will just focus totally on the fact that two chances came his way that he didn’t take, and it’s going to be a job for us now to make sure we don’t lose so much of what we have got from him in the last two or three games, where his all-round performances have been very good.

“We are going to tell him all the right things. It did affect his confidence, there’s no doubt about that. You can see after the second miss for a period of time he was not as involved in the game as he had been before.”

Palace were eventually beaten by a Mohamed Salah winner after Sadio Mane had equalised for the visitors. They continue to hover just above the relegation zone but have a favourable run-in to the season.

“Our focus has to remain on the performances and to not get too hung up on the fact that we have had a little bit of bad luck, so we start feeling sorry for ourselves,” Hodgson added.

“If you start thinking it’s going to be easier because it’s no longer Liverpool or Tottenham or Manchester United or Chelsea, then you’re making a massive mistake.”