‘Comprehensively outplayed’ – Roy Hodgson assesses Crystal Palace’s heavy defeat at Brighton

Roy Hodgson admitted that Brighton deserved their 4-1 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon at The Amex.

Lewis Dunk put the visitors ahead after two minutes when he escaped the marking of Joachim Andersen and headed Pascal Gross’ corner past Dean Henderson.

Brighton doubled their lead in the 33rd minute when Daniel Munoz – making his Crystal Palace debut after joining from Genk – failed to stop Tariq Lamptey’s cross. Youngster Jack Hinshelwood arrived at the back post to head across Henderson.

Roberto De Zerbi’s side went three up just a minute later when Adam Wharton – also making his Crystal Palace debut – was robbed from kick-off and Facundo Buonanotte arrived inside the area to finish off Pascal Gross’ pass.

Jean-Philippe Mateta pulled one back in the 71st minute when he met Joachim Andersen’s cross and headed past Bart Verbruggen.

Joao Pedro finished off the game in the 85th minute when he linked up with Danny Welbeck to fire past Palace keeper Henderson.

“It’s a very bad result,” 

“In the first half, we were comprehensively outplayed. 

“The goal after a minute didn’t help, but at half-time, their 3-0 scoreline victory was in order.

“During the second half, the players did the best they could to stay in the game to give us a bit of a chance at least.

“The character they showed and the effort they showed against a side with their tails up and were playing very confidently and moving the ball very well.

“But it’s a derby game and a game that is very important to Palace people, so when you’re losing to four goals to one, it’s a very bad day.

“You can always try to analyse the game and try to find a way of saying if only this and that hadn’t happened, but the bottom line was that Brighton were definitely better than us today and definitely deserved to win the game.”