Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson reacts to their 2-1 Premier League defeat to Tottenham
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00:00 Are you doing okay on the silver half?
00:05 Yep, but it obviously gave them a chance to relax a little bit more and to deal a bit better with the pressure that I thought we were able to exert on them in the first half.
00:19 I thought it was an aggressive and quite controlled first half on our side.
00:26 But of course, the first goal, which then produces a second, then it was very difficult.
00:31 And that's when we start putting players on the field, you know, people who have not really played in the first team.
00:36 Gies, Amr, Franca.
00:40 We lost that sort of intensity that we were able to do in the first half.
00:46 And in the end, it became easy for them to see the game through.
00:49 Hi, Rob.
01:01 You've seen it all, so what's it like playing a team who seem to have so much momentum and something special going on about them, even when they don't play that well?
01:13 Well, I thought that at half time we realised that we'd done well against them in the first half.
01:22 I think they found it very, very difficult to find a way through us.
01:26 And in actual fact, we were harassing them and making life uncomfortable for them.
01:32 And we knew that our job was to do exactly the same in the second half, because if we weren't able to do exactly the same in the second half, they might, with the quality they have,
01:41 and as you say, the momentum and confidence they have, start to relax a little bit more and pass the ball around a bit more freely than we'd allowed them to do in the first half.
01:53 And so, goal was unfortunately do that in matches.
01:58 And we mounted a little flurry at the end and showed that we hadn't given up and that we still wanted it.
02:06 But unfortunately, the goal, even the first goal, meant that what had given me so much encouragement to believe we're going to get a result from this game, it dissipated after that goal.
02:29 You spoke about the disappointment you felt after Newcastle and not wanting to feel that again.
02:34 Was that a different feeling after that game? It wasn't the same sort of feeling?
02:39 Oh yeah. No, no. I mean, really, if the game had ended with us continuing as we'd done in the first half and giving exactly the same performance and coming away with a result in the game,
02:53 even a draw, I'd be sitting here really, really pleased with what I've seen.
02:57 So, no, there was no disappointment today.
03:00 Maybe that the young substitutes that we'd like to think we can believe in and will help us to a different level didn't show that.
03:11 They didn't do anything for us at all, really. We became much weaker when I made the substitutions.
03:17 But unfortunately, sometimes when the game is drifting away from you at two goals to nil, one is tempted to do that, partly because we need to see these players as well.
03:28 We need to really see if they are going to be able to help us out.
03:32 We certainly didn't get any help today, but we got a lot of help from the first group of players in the first half. I thought they were very good.
03:40 Alex? Tyrone Mitchell came off with an injury. Do you know what that is?
03:46 No, I don't at the moment. No, I'm afraid I don't at the moment. It's a bit chaotic after games. People disappear. I have to disappear.
03:53 I get pulled here and there to try and explain away defeats to people like yourselves.
03:58 As a result, I don't get as much time with the players as I would like.
04:02 Ed?
04:04 Oh, yeah.
04:06 Dom?
04:08 You mentioned just now the young substitutes. What are the tasks, what are the challenges for your team? You've got 11 and 12 experienced players.
04:17 You start most of the week, but actually the players are pretty much on the bench or are tested.
04:23 Well, that would be a bit different when, you know, if I was to bring on defenders, it wouldn't be the case because we have defenders who try and test it.
04:33 We have two players who at the end of last season I thought were really two of our star players.
04:38 In fact, so much so that one got himself in the England squad and the other one is knocking on the door of the French squad.
04:44 We still haven't got those back yet. When they come back, they'll improve us and give us not only more experience,
04:50 they'll give us the quality that those two will bring to the team.
04:54 But at the moment, we don't have them and so we are therefore a little bit reliant on the bench in terms of our attacking play.
05:02 On the players that have been brought into the club who as yet are tried and untested and this was a tough game for them to come into.
05:09 Just with Jess and Franco, is it a balance now between letting them know what their level is and their potential?
05:20 But it's also good to know that they do what they're doing.
05:23 Well, they need more time. I mean, the fact is, Franco, I feel sorry for Franco because I mean, the fact is, for some reason,
05:30 people have tried to imbue him with qualities that we can't expect to see from him.
05:36 He's 19 years of age, he's got a handful of games in Brazil behind him and now we're asking him to go out and play against Tottenham Hotspur,
05:43 the team that's running away at the top of the Premier League at the moment.
05:47 The intensity, the strength, the power, everything, that's something we're going to have to work on and build up.
05:54 There's no doubt that like so many young players, and Jess is another very good example,
05:58 there's plenty of talent there and Jess, fortunately, I think he's a little bit further forward than some of the other ones you might mention
06:07 because he has got a couple of games behind his belt and he is learning and he's learning on the job.
06:14 But the major job for us is to keep working with these players in training and keep making certain they understand
06:20 what they need to understand in terms of our attacking and our defending.
06:25 But most importantly, they need to understand how intensive and physical this league is.
06:31 You've really got to do a lot of running and you've got to be quite strong.
06:35 You've got to be prepared to withstand challenges and make challenges because it's not going to be a game where you can drift around
06:42 and enjoy a spell on the ball. People don't give you time to have a spell on the ball, you've got to earn it somehow.
06:49 And certainly I thought we did that very well in the first half. We earned our spells on the ball very well
06:56 and we earned it by hard work, I would say good organisation and good team structure
07:03 and certainly players who had the discipline and desire and aggression even to show Tottenham,
07:09 'Yeah, we know you're a good team and we know you've got very good players but we're not going to just allow you to come here
07:14 and do what you like with us.'
07:17 OK, thanks very much everyone. Cheers.
07:20 [END OF TRANSCRIPT]