Hodgson on Olise, Ayew, Holding and Sheff Utd strategy…

First-team

29 Jan 2024

Roy Hodgson addressed the media before Crystal Palace welcome Sheffield United to Selhurst Park – check out the key quotes from his embargoed pre-match press conference below…

On Michael Olise…

“He's available to me, but he had a very, very long spell out. He came back and then he's been out for a further three to four weeks with an injury in a similar part of the body, so you can understand that the doctors and the sports scientists are very concerned [as to whether] it is going to be enough this week.

“I understand them too but I also trust Michael and I also trust how he thinks and feels. So I'll speak to him again tomorrow before the game and if he was to assure me: ‘’Don't worry, I can play, I want to play, I want to start’, I would start him.

“But I would also, if he alongside the medical people suggested: ‘Well look it might be a bit soon, I'm not certain that I feel ready for it’, I would respect that too.”

On Jordan Ayew…

“He's back. The thing about Jordan is he's not been away injured, he's been away playing for his national team.

“The three games he's missed has been while he's been away with the national team [are] the two games against Everton and now the game against Arsenal.

“He's come back in good shape and ready to play so he's available from the start.”

On Rob Holding…

“It’s the injury that he’s been suffering from which everyone was hoping would respond to concerted treatment – he was in a boot for several weeks, and then the hope was that when he took the boot off and we looked at it again he would have healed sufficiently and he wouldn't need any further action.

“But when he took the boot off, the injury was still there I'm afraid. It was still not responding as everyone wanted, so he had to go and see the surgeon again, the consultant, and on this occasion they decided it would only be an operation to put that right.

“So he was operated on…I think it was last Tuesday I think he was operated [on]. I hope not [that it will rule hium out for the season].

“It's going to be a good while but I'm always wary of writing people off for a whole season. There's still quite a lot of the season left to play. There's plenty of games and there's plenty of weeks and months ahead of us.

“I would like to say and think that he could get back before the end of the season. But if he is going to get back it won't be in the near future, it will be in the distant future.”

On the need for a fast start…

“I think we always put pressure on ourselves to be fair but you could argue there's even a bit of an extra pressure. But again, starting games is always important and it's one of those things that for the last 1,400 or 1,500 games – I don't know how many I've had these days – but I've been saying virtually in every team meeting before we go on the field how important it is to get off to a good start, how important it is to start on the front foot, how important it is to get our tactics right from the beginning.

“Of course, we have to understand there's a nervousness. There's a tension about the place and the fans will be nervous and the fans will be tense and the fans want to get behind us.

“They want to help us on the way to victory, which they've done so many times in the past. If that's not happening and we're not getting close to the victory, or God forbid even losing, they're going to feel that pressure and that tension.

That's a fact of life. So really, however much we speak about it, it's not going to change that fact of life. If we're going to avoid a situation that we don't want, we've got to start well, get in the lead, keep the lead and settle everybody down.

But are we going to do it? Well, we'll see tomorrow night. I don't have a crystal ball but I can't tell you if we're going to do it. I think we are and I certainly believe we are, but let's see what the game brings.”

On performances this season…

“I think we've been hit by the loss of some important players which will help us very much in the way that we want to play and try to play. If we were to analyse each game we could look back on one or two that we've lost and say we actually didn't do badly in that game. In fact we were in good moments in the game.

“But the bottom line is this: we are where we are. We are nearer the bottom of the table: 21 points from 21 games isn't the sort of total that we had in our minds and our thoughts at the start of the season, albeit there's been plenty of times where 21 from 21 would have been OK because it keeps you level with the 38 points that keep you in the league.

“But we were hoping to do more than that and as a result we feel that we've slipped below the level we'd like to be at and we've got to get back up to that level. We're not going to do it by trying to feel sorry for ourselves because of injuries we've had to deal with or going back and saying with a bit of luck we've done better there.

“We have got the points we've got. We've got the team we've got which we believe in, myself and the coaching staff. I think they believe in themselves too.

“They and we have now got to get together and make certain, starting from tomorrow night, that we produce the football on the field of play and that we start winning games and we start moving up the table.

“That's the only thing that's going to make us personally – and when I say personally I mean myself and the players and the staff – it's going to make us satisfied if we do that. So we put pressure on ourselves. We don't need extra pressure from outside because the pressure we put on ourselves.

“We think and know we can do better. We can take more points. We can finish higher up this league but we'd better do it and the only way we're going to do that is if we get out on the field and start winning matches.”

Match details

Tuesday, 30th January
20:00 GMT
Selhurst Park
Live audio commentary on Palace TV+

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