£87,000-a-week Crystal Palace man now admits regret at what he did last….

£87,000-a-week Crystal Palace man now admits regret at what he did last week

Roy Hodgson has now admitted that he was wrong to criticise Matheus Franca, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Naouirou Ahamada after Crystal Palace lost to Tottenham last week.

The 76-year-old made the apology in his press conference earlier on Thursday.

So, what did Roy Hodgson say to the Crystal Palace trio? Let’s take a look…

What’s the story?

Well, the £86,538-a-week man told Franca, Ahamada and Rak-Sakyi that they all made Crystal Palace “weaker” after coming on in Friday’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham.

The Evening Standard quoted Hodgson as saying: “There was no disappointment today. Although, maybe the young substitutes — who we like to think we can believe in and help us to a different level — didn’t show that. They didn’t do anything for us at all, really. We became much weaker when I made the substitutions.”

That remark received widespread criticism from the football community, with Gabriel Agbonlahor even criticising the Croydon-born tactician for his actions on talkSPORT.

Now – however – Hodgson has apologised.

As quoted by Dom Smith of the Evening Standard, he said: “It was wrong of me to do so in the disappointment of the game. I think it’s very unfair and wrong of me to expect more from them from that game. I’ve spoken to them about that.”

Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images

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Hodgson often comes across as a stubborn figure – mainly in a tactical sense – so it was pleasing to see him hold his hands up and admit wrongdoing in this instance.

Hopefully, Franca, Ahamada and Rak-Sakyi were not too disheartened by the attack, and are in the right frame of mind to make an impact against Burnley on Saturday.

Time for Crystal Palace trio to react after Roy Hodgson apology

While the young trio in question were not terrible against Tottenham and certainly didn’t make us weaker, there is still plenty of room for all three to improve.

Regardless of Hodgson’s apology, it is now time for one of them – ideally all three – to step up and show people that they can, in fact, make an impact at this level.

Words can be heavy, but actions speak the loudest, and there is no better place for a footballer to do their talking than on the pitch.