‘More challenging’ – Roy Hodgson admission as he gears up for Crystal Palace survival fight

Roy Hodgson believes keeping Crystal Palace in the Premier League will be a more challenging task this time than during his first season in charge.

The now 75-year-old first took charge of the Eagles in September 2017 when he replaced Frank de Boer. 

Ex-Rangers defender De Boer, who replaced Sam Allardyce, was sacked after losing all four of his first Premier League outings.

Hodgson led Palace to comfortable Premier League safety that season, with the South Londoners finishing 11th in the table and 11 points clear of danger.

The former England boss kept Palace in the Premier League for four consecutive campaigns.

Palace, who have won just one of their last 17 games in all competitions and are the only side in the top four divisions without three points in 2023, have 10 games remaining of the season.

“Yes, because that was only four games without a win,” said Hodgson, when asked whether this challenge was a more difficult than the one he faced in his first season in charge.

“It was four straight defeats, which I then managed to make seven games without a win by losing the first three of my games as well.

“It was challenging after seven games with no goals, no wins and no points, but there were 31 games to go.

“If you talk about having a period of time to try and establish what you want from the team and how you want the team to play, that’s totally different when you only have 10 games.

“With this bad run behind [them], which for these players, becomes very hard to accept because they’re not used to having this type of run – it’s new territory for them.

“They have had a lot of praise over the last 18 months, now they’re getting a lot of criticism, and they’re young. That’s the task ahead.”

PICTURE: CPFC