Palace need to think hard about best way forward, warns Hodgson

Roy Hodgson has admitted that Crystal Palace fell short in the transfer window – and he wants the club’s hierarchy to think about “what the best way forward is”.

Hodgson, the 72-year-old Palace manager, is out of contract in the summer with an extension to his deal yet to be finalised.

The club made just one January signing, striker Cenk Tosun on loan from Everton – but he was unavailable for Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat by Sheffield United – while Palace forward Connor Wickham went on loan to Sheffield Wednesday.

Hodgson said: “I think we know, as a football club, that we need to make more inroads into improving our squad and rejuvenating our squad and bringing in some fresh faces, because an awful lot of faces that I still work with every day were here when I came to the club. So everyone is on the same page as far as that’s concerned.

“I think now [chairman] Steve Parish, [sporting director] Doug Freedman, the American owners, they are going to have to do a lot of thinking, alongside myself and the coaching staff, as to what the best way forward is. And, in the next transfer window, what we are going to be able to do to try to ensure that this team can get stronger and to try to ensure that, if we stay up this year – and we’ve still got a lot to do – then we go into the next year with a bit more power, if you like, and a bit more grease to our elbow.”

A deal for West Bromwich Albion full-back Nathan Ferguson fell through after a medical – and Hodgson revealed that the club were interested in bringing in forward Jarrod Bowen from Hull City on loan rather than buying him, which West Ham United eventually did.

Hodgson said: “Losing Nathan to the complication through his medical means we have got Tosun, which is less than what we would have liked.”

Of Bowen, the former England manager said: “There was a discussion at least 10 days before the transfer window that Hull might be considering loaning him for a period of time with an option to buy and that interested us. But there was never any question that we would go in and buy him outright.”

Palace managed to keep talisman Wilfried Zaha, but Hodgson argued that he did not fear the player was about to go anyway. “It would be very easy to say that’s a positive,” he said. “But I’ve not been that worried in this window that we’ve been beleaguered by people wanting to take him.”

Hodgson was frustrated watching his Palace team lose to Sheffield United, with goalkeeper Vicente Guaita dropping the ball in from an Oliver Norwood corner. Palace captain Luka Milivojevic said “it was a tough one to take”, and complained that Sheffield United’s George Baldock should have received a second yellow card for a foul on Zaha, adding he was finding it “boring” to wait on the pitch for video assistant referee decisions.

Chris Wilder, the United manager, was happier with his club’s business – as he gave a debut to club-record signing Sander Berge in midfield. Wilder is enjoying the battle for places, with John Lundstram champing at the bit to play having come off the bench to replace Berge in the 68th minute.

The manager said: “John showed, ‘You’re going to have a problem now because I’m here’ – and I expect that from everybody.”

Berge, who joined from Genk, admitted: “I think I worked harder in 60 minutes here than I ever did in 90 minutes in Belgium.”