Palace feeling the pressure as Selhurst Park goal drought piles on pressure

BY MATT WOOSNAM

Roy Hodgson conceded that Crystal Palace’s inability to find the back of the net at home is piling significant pressure on his players.

The Eagles are still yet to score at Selhurst Park following their 1-0 defeat by Wolves thanks to Matt Doherty’s 56th minute winner, and it has become a monkey on their back.

“If you go several games without scoring, you feel that pressure,” Hodgson admitted.

“Your own fans come to watch matches and they had seen their team play for three games at home without scoring, so then in the fourth they might be frustrated and disappointed by it. There’s only one way out of the situation, and that’s to make sure we score goals in the next game.”

The Palace boss also bemoaned a lapse in concentration which allowed Doherty to play a one-two with Raul Jimenez before firing past Wayne Hennessey, and also his side’s inability to be clinical in the final third.

“We didn’t defend the one-two very well and as a result the guy got into a shooting position and was able to take the chance. I’d have been expecting us to take that chance if one of our players had got in that position, so I can only say it was good work from them and a good goal.  But like all good goals you concede, they’re bad goals because somewhere along the way, someone could have done a bit better.”

“They took a goal chance at a time in the game where they hadn’t really created anything and we dominated the play, and then after that they were able to defend very well. Our game became more desperate as we chased that goal and gave them the chance to look more solid than they did at the start of the game.

“I think if we really put our hands up and look for why we lost, it was because in our very good first half performance where we had not only the best of the possession but the best of the game, we weren’t able to create those clear-cut goal chances that would have put us 1-0 in front. Had we got the goal that I thought our play certainly deserved in the first half, then it would have been harder for Wolves. As it was, they got it and it made it harder for us.”

Neither side created many chances, with the hosts having four shots on target, and Wolves just two, which Hodgson believed was as a result of the visitors sitting back after they took the lead.

“They played very deep so we knew it was going to be difficult but we still created chances and had some good ones. In the first half there were a couple of balls that flew across the six-yard box that could so easily have been goals, and there was a big scramble in the six-yard box and there were several of those in the second half, so it wasn’t as if we played for 90 minutes without creating opportunities.

“It was difficult for us to get those clear-cut chances because there was no reason for them to push out or flood people forward. They could quite happily sit behind the ball and rest on their laurels after taking the lead and then look for the obvious counter-attacking opportunities that would present themselves later on in our desperation to get an equaliser.”