Hodgson on Ozoh, Eze, Ahamada, and January plans…

First-team

20 Dec 2023

Roy Hodgson spoke to the media before Palace took on Brighton & Hove Albion on Thursday, 21st December (20:00 GMT) – check out his key words from the embargoed section of his press conference below…

On Ebere Eze and keeping players fit…

“I think this season has been fractured for him because he's had two quite lengthy injuries. After the first injury we got him back and it looked good and then he picked up that injury against Luton, which was especially unfortunate because it became a much worse injury than we feared it might be to start off with. But he's worked hard and the medical people have worked hard to get him back into the position he's in now.

"But as far as we are concerned as a football club, we really believe that if we're going to get close to where we thought we were at the end of last season, it's going to be because [Michael] Olise who missed six months of football, [Ebere] Eze who has probably missed about three months of football recently, they're the guys you need playing on a regular basis because they are the real quality attacking players that we have.

“Then of course we need to get Odsonne Edouard back competing with Jean-Philippe Mateta for a forward place, and we need to keep people like Matheus França and [Naouirou] Ahamada going strongly to compete for the positions in wide areas.

“If we can do that, if those players can continue to do as well as we think they've done as they've now poked their head above the parapet, I think that bodes quite well.

“Our squad isn't as lengthy as some teams’ squads and that goes for all the teams in our position in the league. The really big squads are at the top end of the league. If you're going to have a really good season, you really do need to keep some of those important players in your team fit to play on a regular basis.

“If we're going to consistently miss very important players for two or three months at a time like now with [Cheick] Doucouré, that's going to be tough because it is hard to get hold of those players in the first place. It's hard for a club like Crystal Palace to get a Doucouré, to get an Olise, to get an Eze, to get a [Joachim] Andersen, to get a [Marc] Guéhi.

“It's very hard for us to get those players that other clubs look at and envy that we want to keep. So if we can keep them on the field, it gives everyone else a better chance and it also provides a better platform for some of these younger players.

“So we think we've got a future. I haven't mentioned [David] Ozoh: he was very, very good the other day coming on. We were very, very happy with him.

“It gives them a better chance as well because in the last few weeks some of them have been thrown into a team missing these pillars in our structure and in our team and it makes it harder.

“[Eze] has been very sensible. Who is to say he's not going to start? But he has worked hard with the medical staff to get himself fit as early as he possibly can. We would probably have liked him to have had a few more training sessions than the two he's had this week where he has been sort of fully incorporated.

“We wouldn't have minded a few more before taking the decision if he's going to start the game but we might have to make that decision dependent upon what he's done so far.

“The good thing is we do know that he is ready. So if I say to him, I want you to play either from the start or at some stage during the game like I did Man City, I know he's ready, he'll go on the field and do his job.”

On the January window…

“In the situation we find ourselves in, in the wrong end of the table – we're not in the top-half, we are that in that bottom-half of the table – I don't think there'd be many teams who are not looking at the January transfer window and saying it would be good if we could bring in a couple of players who will strengthen us, either as a player to go directly in the team or as a player to help us in the squad.

“We're in that group, but it is easier said than done. I think when you are assessing it, one does have to always bear in mind what bringing in a senior player in a certain position will do to one or two of the younger ones that you are actually now quite keen to see given a chance, and weigh up how much these people are going to play a part and help you.

“Bringing in a senior player is going to maybe push one or two of the junior players a little bit further down the pecking order. That's a constant... dilemma's the wrong word, but it's a constant equation that you've got to bear in mind and talk about.

“To be fair, that's always happened at the club with Doug Friedman and the chairman Steve Parish. That's the type of discussion we have between the three of us and hopefully we'll come up with some answers which are answers whichever one would like to hear.

“Of course the more they get onto the field, the more they play, the more their confidence grows and the more everyone's belief in them grows. So of course it does bolster your belief in them, but it would be wrong to suggest that the talk about possibly bringing one or two players in the January transfer were dependent upon us not fancying them.

“That is not true at all because even with these younger players, we're quite a small squad. I mean our squad's been reduced at least by one player, a very important one, Doucouré, because he might not play again until the end of the season.

“So you could argue that to get the squad back where we started from, we've got to find somebody to go in his place.”

On competition for places…

“It’s what every manager describes as a good headache; it's the sort of headache that the clubs at the top of the table have all the time. They put a player in place of one who's got injured, then that player gets back and the other guy has been playing well.

“I think we should rejoice in the fact that maybe we are going to find ourselves in that position with the goalkeeper. Of course that's one situation.

“If it happens again with the centre-forwards... it could well happen with people like Jordan Ayew missing a game, and then is he going to come back in again, or do I stick with other people?

“It's really the sort of decisions that need to be taken. If you're going to have a good season in the Premier League and keep your head above water and compete with the other teams – all of whom are unbelievably competitive and all of whom have good squads and all of whom have spent quite a lot of money strengthening those squads – if we are going to be with them and compete with them and hopefully find a way above them, we are going to have to make sure we've got a good squad as well.

“So that type of headache is going to be very necessary."

On Sam Johnstone’s injury…

“He's got a calf strain, which came about during the course of the Liverpool game. It wasn't one of those really bad ones where the tendon is involved and they talk about months rather than weeks.

“But any strain of that nature is going to take between 10 days and two weeks, and that's if you're lucky, if the player recovers quickly, the medical staff do a good job and the player himself does a good job.

“So that's where we are with him. This game certainly is too early, but I'm certain he'll be working between this game and the Chelsea game to try to get back on the field and compete and try and get his place back in the team.”

On Naouirou Ahamada’s progress…

“Well I think he's earning more [minutes]. I mean I think those 16 games [he has played so far], quite a few of them would've come in this particular part of the season.

“There wasn't so many in the last 10 games of last season. He seemed to be always with us and not even always on the bench. That's changed since the start of this season.

“He certainly has got a lot more chances in various positions as well. And we just think that he is one those players who's constantly evolved, constantly picked up more and more on how we are trying to play when we've got the ball, we don't have the ball and what's required.

“For all players coming in, you're still young coming in from another part of the world. You have to come to terms with this Premier League. It's not just the intensity, it's the jeopardy as well. It is the enormous pressure that you're under because everything you do is looked at with a magnifying glass.

“Every mistake that you might have got away with in another league, or which people wouldn't have even noticed, you don't get away with that. Here you are in the goldfish bowl with a capital G, and I think people need a bit of time to adjust to that.

“But I must say he's always worked well. I've never had one cause to say anything about him. We've always liked him, we've always thought this lad's got ability, he's got physical ability, he's got technical ability. So in my opinion, he's one of that group of players I think going to serve this club very, very well as we go forward.”

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