‘Brilliant’ – Crystal Palace goalkeeper backs under-fire Roy Hodgson after making Premier League debut

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

It has been a roller-coaster few days for Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson.

Last Wednesday and Saturday he saw his side lose their Premier League games against Bournemouth and Liverpool respectively and come under fire from his own fans for calling them “spoilt”.

He then apologised for his comments, came under further pressure for a run of just one win in nine games and ended with bringing together the footballing world it seemed for his comments about the current state of refereeing and VAR decisions in England.

Despite all the drama in the Croydon-born manager’s life recently in SE25 he can rely on the support of his players.

“It just shows everyone’s with the manager and the manager’s been brilliant,” said Eagles goalkeeper Remi Matthews after a strong performance from the home side in their controversial 2-1 loss to Liverpool at Selhurst Park on Saturday.

“Last year I was on loan, [so] this is the first season I’ve been in with him and he’s been excellent – nobody will say any different.”

Matthews came on to make his Crystal Palace debut in the 87th minute of an eventful game which saw numerous VAR decisions, yellow cards and drama.

After taking a 1-0 lead thanks to a Jean-Philippe Mateta VAR-decided penalty, Jordan Ayew was then sent off in the 75th minute for his second, bookable offence. Shortly after, Liverpool equalised through Mo Salah after a miskick clearance from Michael Olise.

And then first-choice goalkeeper Sam Johnstone went off injured with just three minutes of normal time remaining, handing Matthews his full debut after joining in July 2021, but the former Bolton player was beaten by a Harvey Elliot strike in additional time to hand the visitors a win.

“No one wants to see anyone come off injured and Sam’s one of my good mates, so it’s never nice,” said Matthews.

 “But that’s what I’m here to do. I’ve obviously made my Premier League debut and I’m delighted on that side of things but obviously overall disappointed with the result.

“We’ve got a tight (goalkeeper) group,” he added. “There’s me, Sam, Hendo (Dean Henderson), Dean Kiely (goalkeeping coach), Joe (Whitworth) and Owen (Goodman), who’s on loan. The group’s been great. I wish him (Johnstone) all the best and we’ll hope hopefully his injury is not too bad.

“But I’m 29 years old now. I’ve been in the game long enough and I’ve waited for my chance. I’ve worked hard on the training pitch. I got an opportunity and we’ll see what happens next Saturday.”

Next Saturday sees the Eagles travel to Manchester City to face the champions and their talismanic striker Erling Haaland.

But with the Eagles injury list growing on Saturday to now include Johnstone and Jefferson Lerma who are added to Ebere Eze, Tyrick Mitchell and Cheick Doucoure, plus the suspended Ayew, it will be a tough ask.

“This is what you live for you know? The dream’s come true,” said Matthews about the prospect of facing Manchester City and Haaland on Saturday.

“I don’t want to wish anything on Sam. I hope he recovers well, and we’ll see what happens on Saturday, but everyone’s got a tough run, so we’ve obviously got to prepare.

“We’ve got recap the game (Liverpool) and then look forward to Saturday and hopefully put on another performance like we did today.”