Roy Hodgson insists poor form was not focus of talks with Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish

January transfer window was main topic of conversation, Eagles boss assures amid fan discontent and speculation over his future
Dom Smith29 January 2024

Roy Hodgson’s recent conversations with Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish were focused on transfer business - rather than the team’s poor form.

Palace are 15th in the Premier League and just five points above the drop zone ahead of hosting the league’s bottom side, Sheffield United, on Tuesday.

The game comes 10 days after the Eagles were thrashed 5-0 by Arsenal in a match which heaped more scrutiny on Hodgson and saw Palace fans unfurl a banner which criticised the club’s decision making.

When asked whether the Sheffield United game is 'must-win', Hodgson said: “I’ve never fully understood what the answer to people asking me, ‘Is this a must-win game?’ is. Most games you go into you desperately want to, and saying it’s a must-win game doesn’t win it for you.”

Of his recent discussions with Parish, he said: "Nothing specific. I speak to Steve Parish, I don’t speak to the other owners very often.

“Steve has been speaking to me this week, as he does every week before games. We have a consistent dialogue, and a lot of it has been around transfers. We haven’t discussed the Arsenal game at all.”

Hodgson said of the transfer window: “I’m not prepared to say our chances of staying in the league depend on getting more players in. It would be more a bonus than a complete necessity.”

Palace are working this week to finalise the signing of Genk right-back Daniel Munoz, who is a Colombian international. They have also been linked with Blackburn Rovers midfielder Adam Wharton.

“We think he’ll be good”, Hodgson said of Munoz.

“We are hopeful that we’ll be able to announce his arrival fairly soon. He’s over here. He’s been having medicals, but there are still one or two issues that have to be sorted out before we can actually say he will be a Crystal Palace player. We are certainly working on that and hopeful that will go through.

On Wharton, Hodgson said: “I don’t have any information to give you about him at all.”

Palace will receive a major boost on Tuesday, with Michael Olise returning after missing three matches with a muscle injury. He sustained the injury late on in a man-of-the-match display against Brentford in December.

“He’s available," said the manager. "He’s trained [for the past nine days]. We have to be careful if the sports science people are urging caution, but he himself feels he’s fine.”

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