Roy Hodgson forced to apologise to Crystal Palace stars over furious outburst after Tottenham defeat
CRYSTAL PALACE manager Roy Hodgson has revealed he apologised to some of the club’s young players for comments he made after their defeat to Tottenham.
The Eagles suffered a 2-1 loss to Ange Postecoglou’s side last Friday.
Hodgson called upon youngsters Matheus Franca, 19, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, 21, and Naouirou Ahamada, 21, during the second half but went on to accuse them of not contributing enough.
After the match he said: “There was no disappointment today. Maybe the young substitutes, who we like to think we can believe in and would help us to a different level, didn’t show that.
“They didn’t do anything for us at all, really. We became much weaker when I made the substitutions.
“But unfortunately, sometimes when the game is drifting away from you one is tempted to do that because we need to see these players. We certainly didn’t get any help today but we got a lot of help from the first group of players, I thought they were very good.”
Hodgson has since apologised for his comments and assured fans that he has “great faith” in all of the club’s young players.
During his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday’s Premier League clash with Burnley, the 76-year-old said: “It was wrong of me to do so in the disappointment of the game.
“Sometimes (in) the press conference directly after the game one is tempted to say things you certainly shouldn’t say and really I don’t mean.
“We have great faith in all of our young players. They’re making progress.
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“It’s unfair to expect more of them as I’m suggesting I did expect. That’s very unfair of me. I’ve spoken to the three, explained that and apologised.”
He went on to add: “We are reliant on asking 19-year-olds, on Franca and David Ozoh in particular, they’ve hardly played any football.
“He (Franca) only played half a game against Monaco (for the Under-21s). To suggest he’s going to go on against Tottenham and change the game, I didn’t expect that.
“We are happy with them and their development. Maybe the next time they get their chance it might be a stronger (Palace) team and not against Tottenham who are two goals up.”
Crystal Palace currently sit 13th in the Premier League table with 12 points from 10 games.