Crystal Palace striker loan recall considered as Hodgson hopes for Benteke return to form
BY ANDREW MCSTEEN
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson told the South London Press that he enquired about recalling on-loan striker Connor Wickham after an injury to Christian Benteke saw his squad left with just one fit senior striker in Jordan Ayew.
With Benteke unable to make the squad for Liverpool last week and Burnley on Monday – and January loan signing Cenk Tosun returning early to parent club Everton due to injury – many fans were left wondering if a possible recall of Alexander Sorloth, out on loan for two years in Turkey, or Wickham, on loan at Sheffield Wednesday until the end of this extended season, were considered.
“No, it wasn’t possible to do either,” said Hodgson. “Sorloth’s got another year on his one, because the club sent him out on a two-year loan, so that was definitely not in discussion.
“But with Connor Wickham we didn’t know. I did raise the question about Connor – if there was a chance he would be able to come back – but, again, I think the contract was signed that he would stay with them for the season’s loan when the season started up again, so that meant he stayed with them.
“Furthermore, I’m not 100 per cent certain that even if Sheffield Wednesday said: ‘Well, we don’t want to continue with the loan, we want to send him back’, that it would have been allowed for us to use him by the Premier League rules.”
The lack of options up front for Hodgson has been well-documented over the past three seasons, with the Eagles on 28 strikes in 32 games this season, just above Norwich (25 goals) in the Premier League and fourth overall in the top four divisions, behind Bolton Wanderers (27, League One) and Stevenage (24, League Two).
“We haven’t got a good goalscoring record, we haven’t had a good goalscoring record in the three seasons I’ve been here. It is a problem for us and one we are constantly aware of,” he said.
“When you create chances, someone’s got to be good enough to put it in the back of the net and I don’t think anyone here would suggest we’ve been anywhere good enough. Luckily, we have worked well as a team and haven’t let many goals in and that’s meant we could survive in the league. But if we’re going to go forward and do better, we’ve got to come to terms with the fact that we’ve got to score some goals.”
Despite the lack of cutting edge up front, Hodgson was handed a welcome boost that Belgian centre-forward Benteke is ready for selection away at Leicester tomorrow and the Palace boss hopes his hard work put in this year will pay off.
“He worked very, very hard in the break and then in the very long preparation period we had with non-contact and then with contact, to really get back to the form and the type of player he wants to be,” said Hodgson about Benteke during the pause of the Premier League.
“All of us here at the club, all the players and staff, everyone is very much behind him, they’re all wishing him well.
“All we can do is give him the opportunities to get on the field and play and then we’ve got to hope that some good fortune comes his way. I don’t think he’s been that fortunate over the last three seasons that I’ve been at the club so I hope that is going to be able to change and that he can show what a good player he is and why Crystal Palace bought him in the first place.
“Keeping those players up front fit, the four players (Zaha, Townsend, Ayew, Benteke) we have in three places is going to be vital for us in the last six games if we’re going to be able to get the points we like to make certain we can finish as high up the table as we would like to finish.”