Roy Hodgson only has one person to blame for Liverpool defeat after brutal admission

Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson bemoaned the referee and VAR following his side's defeat to Liverpool, admitting he is disillusioned with the game.

11/12/2023, 04:27 PM +00:00

Roy Hodgson, the former Liverpool boss, has expressed his dissatisfaction with football following a defeat of his current team, Crystal Palace, by his previous club. Liverpool managed to turn the tables and secure a 2-1 Premier League victory at Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon, despite trailing initially. The Reds' comeback was fueled by Mohamed Salah's 200th goal for the club and an injury-time score from substitute Harvey Elliott.

Crystal Palace had taken the lead in the second half via a penalty scored by Jean-Philippe Mateta. However, the tables turned when Jordan Ayew received a red card for a second yellow card offense just moments before Salah's equalizing strike. Hodgson expressed his frustration with how the game unfolded, particularly regarding the decision to reduce Crystal Palace to 10 men for the last 15 minutes. He argued that this was an excessively harsh outcome that did not reflect his team's performance.

Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool’s manager, admitted that his team had been somewhat lucky to snatch a win. Hodgson responded to this by saying It’s nice to know there are still enough serious football people out there to judge games on the merit it has to be judged on.

The penalty awarded to Palace came after Liverpool's Jarell Quansah fouled Mateta. The incident was reviewed by VAR almost two minutes after it happened. In another controversial moment, referee Andy Madley initially awarded Palace a penalty in the first half but then overturned it based on VAR guidance about a foul by Will Hughes on Wataru Endō during the build-up. A puzzled Hodgson questioned which referee's decision should be trusted.

Analyzing team performance

Ayew's dismissal followed a foul on Elliott, after he had already been cautioned for preventing Virgil van Dijk from quickly taking a free-kick. Hodgson commented on Ayew's disappointment and the team's overall frustration at having played well but lost due to circumstances beyond their control.