Speaking on a recent episode of the HLTCO podcast, Dan Cook discussed whether Roy Hodgson’s style of football is good in the long term for Crystal Palace.
Following an impressive start to their 2020/21 Premier League campaign, in which Palace defeated Southampton and Manchester United in their opening two fixtures of the season, Hodgson’s side then succumbed to consecutive defeats against Everton and Chelsea.
There appeared to be a chance to return to winning ways on Sunday, however, as the club faced Brighton & Hove Albion, a side who had lost three of their four opening fixtures and occupied 15th place in the league prior to their clash with Palace.
And, for a long while, it seemed as if the Eagles would indeed go on to secure the three points, as, after taking the lead through Wilfried Zaha’s penalty in the 19th minute, the south London side led until the 90th minute, only for Brighton to equalise through Alexis Mac Allister, with the game finishing 1-1.
However, despite the Eagles being in front for the vast majority of the match, other than Zaha’s penalty, Palace did not manage an attempt at goal, either on or off target, over the course of the 90 minutes, which led Cook, speaking on a recent episode of the HLTCO podcast, to question whether the style of football Hodgson has the side playing is beneficial for the club in the long term.
He said: “From Roy Hodgson’s perspective, he will say that his remit and his job description, as given to him by Steve Parish and the other directors, is to keep Crystal Palace in the Premier League, and that’s exactly what he’s doing.
“Admittedly, that does hold some weight with me, but, at the same time, there have been conversations taking place over the last 12 to 24 hours to suggest that it’s not a long term sustainable project, and [that] we need to have some sort of style of play at Crystal Palace that enables us to move on in the long term.”
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TIF Thoughts on Dan Cook’s questioning of Roy Hodgson’s style…
From Cook’s comments, it is clear that the podcaster is of the belief that, despite Hodgson’s style of football seemingly being adequate enough to keep the club safety in the Premier League, if the side wish to progress further than just simply avoiding relegation every season, then Cook seems unsure as to whether Hodgson is the right manager to oversee this progression.
And, with the former England manager’s contract set to expire at the end of the season, it would seem as if there could be an opportunity for the club to move in a different direction from the 73-year-old’s style of play in the not so distant future, should they wish to do so.