Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson says that his young players “didn’t do anything for us” after his side lost 2-1 to Tottenham Hotspur at Selhurst Park on Friday night.
An own goal from Joel Ward and a Son Heung-min strike maintained the visitor’s unbeaten record in the Premier League this season. Jordan Ayew scored in injury time, but it was a mere consolation on a night when the Eagles offered scant opposition to the table toppers.
The former England boss made five changes in the second half in an attempt to get back into the game, among them academy graduate Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, 21-year-old Naouirou Ahamada and Matheus França, who is 19 years of age. However, the substitutions only made Palace “much weaker” in his opinion.
“But unfortunately sometimes when the game is drifting away from you at 2-0 one is tempted to do that. Partly because we need to see these players as well, we need to see if they are going to be able to help us out, but we certainly didn’t get any help today. But we got help from our first group of players in the first half, I thought they were very good.”
The result means Palace have won just one of their last seven games in all competitions, a 1-0 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford last month. They sit 11th in the standings with 12 points after 10 games played.
The south London outfit travel to Turf Moor next Saturday to face Burnley in the Premier League, with kickoff set for 3pm.
Postecoglou – Spurs not better without Harry Kane