Wilfried Zaha faces awkward reunion with Roy Hodgson after thinly-veiled dig
Crystal Palace's star player Wilfried Zaha is facing an awkward reunion with Roy Hodgson after he appeared to criticise the Englishman soon after his exit in 2021.
Hodgson was in charge of the Eagles for four years until the summer of 2021 , but frequently came under criticism for his team's defensive tactics. Palace opted against extending his contract two years ago, bringing in Patrick Vieira to modernise the team.
But Vieira has now been sacked, having failed to win a Premier League game in 2023, with Hodgson brought back to steady the ship. Zaha's happiness appeared to improve after the Frenchman was appointed, enjoying his best ever goals return last season.
He dropped a hint about his feelings towards Hodgson's tactics early into Vieira's reign. After a 3-0 win over Tottenham in September 2021, in which he scored and provided an assist, Zaha insisted the team's full attacking potential was now on show.
“Obviously we’ve worked hard and I’m just glad everyone can see what we’ve been working on from today’s display. The way we’re playing, we’re bound to get a chance," Zaha said.
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"I feel like it’s not just counter-attacks and hoofing the ball around, when it’s properly planned the way we’re playing the goals are going to come eventually. I’m always happy scoring goals for the club so hearing it’s the 500th for the club is massive.
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Zaha enjoyed Patrick Vieira's attacking tactics (ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)“I’m glad my goal today could help towards a comfortable 3-0 win. It just shows we’re not just a counter-attacking team, we can actually play out the back and play through teams. Obviously today we showed we’re definitely improving.”
He now faces an awkward reunion with Hodgson though, with the Englishman likely to return to his tactics from his first spell in charge. He came under fierce criticism towards the end of his first reign, with Palace fans unveiling banners making their frustration clear.
After back-to-back defeats in February 2021, supporters hung a banner outside the club's training ground which read: "Palace pandemic of apathy. Change this mentality. Restore the pride, ambition and vision". Hodgson hit back at those frustrations, insisting he was not worried.
"I didn't see it, I don't think it was up for very long. I heard about it. It's not something that you can encourage. Our fans have been very good through the years so for them to do something like this is not something that one can be happy about," he said.
"When you give a couple of performances like the last two, which have been way below what we expect of ourselves, you expect the fans to react and be critical of the performances.
"I would deny, of course, that it's a lack of interest or desire on the part of the players. We can't deny that we haven't played well enough to get the results in the game but that's a fact of life.
"I see every day here on the training field how hard people work and how much they do want to do well. Of course, when it doesn't go well I'm afraid you open yourselves up to all sorts of criticism of that nature."
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