A single strike from Heung-min Son snatched an undeserved victory for Spurs, who saw the majority of the game’s best chances fall to the Eagles but a combination of missed opportunities and smart goalkeeping by Paulo Gazzaniga leaves them rooted to the bottom of the league.
Speaking in his post-match press conference at Wembley, Hodgson discussed a number of issues, including:
Not getting what Palace deserved: “I’ve seen my team give the maximum. We created chances and had moments in the game where we got on top of our more-illustrious opponents, but we got nothing from it.
“We need points and I’d have settled for playing much worse than we did and having a bit of good fortune, such as the ball deflecting past a goalkeeper or the referee awarding a penalty which isn’t. I’d have settled for that more than people trying to be kind to me and the team by suggesting we deserved a bit more than we actually got. In football, you get what you get, you don’t get what you deserve.”
Positives/negatives: “When we go back into training tomorrow there will be things that I’ll say to the players to cheer them up and keep them feeling a little bit better about themselves, but when we look at the table we’re still on four points and we’re getting further away from the teams that are just outside of the relegation zone, and our task gets harder with every defeat.”
Missed chances: “Wilf had a chance he created himself with a fantastic run and rounded the goalkeeper with a fantastic piece of work, but Mamadou’s [Sakho] was possibly an even clearer chance. There were other occasions in the game where I felt we might score, but in Wilf and Andros we do have weapons – they aren’t out-and-out centre forwards so we have to use them in the way we do.
“It would be nice by the end of the season to have one person who is a centre forward and goalscorer. They have Kane, Son and Llorente, and all we have if we want to change something is Bakary Sako, who is a left winger trying his best as a centre forward.”
Confidence: “Of course it’s fragile but I thought that they did extremely well in that respect. When the first goal went in and we were 1-0 down that could be a time that if the players didn’t have the desire that they have been showing, then you could collapse and end up losing by three or four because they have the players that can punish you if you lose your shape or discipline. I was pleased we were able to do that.”
International break: “We have a couple of weeks now and have a few players away, but not as many as some teams so we can still do quite a lot of work on our shape and keep going and trying to ensure that the players keep believing.”