Roy Hodgson makes admission as Crystal Palace secure first win of 2023

Roy Hodgson admitted he always thought that his Crystal Palace side could grab the second goal in their 2-1 win over Leicester City.

Brendan Rodgers’ side took the lead in the 55th minute when substitute Riccardo Pereira collected the ball on the edge of the box and unleashed a powerful shot beyond Vicente Guaita.

Palace equalised three minutes later when Eberechi Eze’s free-kick hit the crossbar and bounced off Leicester keeper Daniel Iversen to roll into the back of the net.

The Eagles secured their first three points of 2023 with the last kick of the game when Jordan Ayew found Jean-Phillipe Mateta inside the area. The French forward took one touch to set himself towards goal and placed a shot beyond Iversen to give Palace the win.

Palace – who recorded 31 shots against the Foxes – moved on to 30 points and five points clear of the bottom three.

“In the four years I was lucky enough to work here before, I don’t think I ever saw that quality of performance that the team gave in the first half,” said Hodgson. 

“That’s a credit to the previous manager and the work that has been done with the players.

“I was always thinking: ‘We could create something here. It wouldn’t surprise me if we got the second goal’.

“It was a very dominant first-half performance. 

“It was one that encompassed all the things that we have been trying to put into their heads: ‘You’re actually a good team and good players. If you can have a little bit of faith in yourself, get on the front foot, believe in yourselves a bit more and take shots on, we think, with your talent, we have enough there to score goals.’

“I was wrong in the first half because the goalkeeper and the Leicester defence played so well.

“Today, we only scored two goals. But with the 31 shots – nine of which were on target – we could have had a few more easily.”