Hodgson ‘amazed’ at how Wan-Bissaka is playing
Wilfried Zaha’s return to the Crystal Palace starting line-up coincided with a first win since mid-January at Huddersfield, but it was another club academy product that had Roy Hodgson talking at the final whistle.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka only got his chance at right-back thanks to several defensive injuries but has played so well he has forced Hodgson to keep him there. His first three games were a baptism of fire against Tottenham, Manchester United and Chelsea but the 20-year-old looked like he’d been playing in the top flight for years, performing so well against Alexis Sanchez at Selhurst Park that Jose Mourinho was forced to move the Chilean more centrally.
At the John Smiths Stadium on Saturday Wan-Bissaka was excellent again and helped his side earn their first clean sheet for eight games; a win that lifts Palace out of the bottom three. After the game Hodgson was keen to point out the young full-back’s impressive start to life in the first team.
“To come in like he did against Tottenham and then Manchester United and Chelsea and now Huddersfield, that’s four really, really tough games,” Hodgson said. “I’m amazed really at how well he’s handled it because for long periods he was down with the
Under-23s and just made sporadic appearances with the first-team squad. It was about two months ago now where I said ‘I’d like you training with us more regularly’.
“We’ve had Joel Ward now injured for three or four months – he at the start of the season was the rightback – and then of course Timothy Fosu-Mensah who couldn’t play against Manchester United anyway [due to loan deal terms] so it’s these type of things that made me lift Aaron up a bit earlier than I would otherwise normally have done, but I’m glad I have done because he’s handled it.”
Palace got revenge for an shock opening day of the season defeat to the newly promoted Terriers back in August and Zaha got revenge for being kicked all over the park so badly that day he missed the next six games with a leg injury. The Ivory Coast international was making his first start since a knee injury picked up against Newcastle at the start of February and his return was a big boost for Hodgson, seeing as the Eagles have lost all 10 games in which Zaha hasn’t featured this season.
Although he didn’t shine like he usually does the winger was still involved, starting the move that led to Martin Jorgensen bringing Andros Townsend in the box for Palace’s second with 22 minutes to go, which Luka Milivojevic converted for his sixth of the season. The first goal of the game was scored by another player quietly becoming one of the Eagles’ best performers this season as James Tomkins prodded in from a Milivojevic corner in the first half and Hodgson was keen to acknowledge the former West Ham centreback’s contributions this season also.
“He’s been fantastic, he’s been really good,” Hodgson said. “I thought he was excellent today. Really, really good. Not thinking about the goal but his defensive performance was outstanding. And Bissaka, I thought the two of them were really, really good. Well, the whole back four was good of course.”
Tomkins played alongside Mamadou Sakho who also returned after limping off in that Newcastle game last month while Hodgson being able to welcome back a number of his first-team squad, including Yohan Cabaye and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, as the mountain of injuries that have plagued Palace this season finally seem to be alleviating.
“Mama Sakho had been missing, he’s a quality player,” Hodgson added. “And he brings that quality and that composure which is very useful. Martin Kelly, when he has had to play there, means one of he or Tomkins has to play on the left side so we don’t have a natural left foot which is so very, very useful for the balance.
“And of course having the chance when [Jeffrey] Schlupp does get injured to bring a guy like Cabaye on and then when we want to make a change at the end to bring Ruben Loftus-Cheek on; these are the type of things which I hope in the future are going to help us survive in the league because we are talking about quality players and I’ve got a bench now where I look around and I could think right if he comes on it might change things.”