Roy Hodgson and his players were nervous as Crystal Palace lost 2-0 to AFC Bournemouth at Selhurst Park.
Goals from Marcus Senesi and Keifer Moore put further pressure on Hodgson, who returned to the Palace hot seat in March. The Eagles have won just one of their eight games so far and remain 14th in the Premier League. The frustration of the home supporters was evident once the whistle blew, with reports suggesting an object had been thrown at Hodgson. When leaving the stage.
Liverpool are Palace’s next opponents when they travel to south London on Saturday (12.30 GMT). A 2-0 win for Liverpool against Sheffield United would take them two points clear of leaders Arsenal and take them top with a fourth straight win in all competitions. Hodgson, who had a torrid six months as Liverpool manager between July 2010 and January 2011, believes he has been “broken” by Palace fans recently.
He said via The Guardian: “Honestly, I have high expectations and a lot of tension. But lately, fans here have become spoiled. They are used to us playing really well at home and getting good results and we haven’t been able to do that this year. “I hope they have enough compassion to stay with us during this difficult time.”Hodgson lamented a “very sad” evening as Palace lost for the fourth time at home this season.
He told the club’s website: “It ends as a very sad night for us because we came here with high hopes.” I thought we had a corner after a 1-1 draw with West Ham.
We were happy with our performance in that match. And we were hoping to keep winning against Bournemouth tonight. And given their position in the league, it was perfect for us to win. But of course two things happened. Firstly, they did very well and made our lives difficult, and secondly, we didn’t do well enough.
It was too late to create enough scoring chances to win the game and everyone was disappointed. “But words like ‘frustration’ and ‘disappointment’ kept coming up.” I regret not taking the opportunity to change our home form, not because of lack of effort or motivation, but because we played a better team that night. I couldn’t find a way to beat them.Left back Tyreek Mitchell was sent off in the first half to upset Palace.
The Eagles have a key duo on the treatment table in Chiek Dukur and Eberechi Eze. “We don’t know yet,” Hodgson said of Mitchell’s injury. It was an unfortunate injury for a player who was in good shape and playing well. If I lose, I’ll be very upset, but it’s muscle tension.
