Roy Hodgson called Crystal Palace’s fans ‘spoiled’ and said they need to show more ’empathy’ after he narrowly avoided being struck by a missile thrown at him near the tunnel.
While the irate supporter missed Hodgson with the thrown object it was a sign of how the mood has soured at Selhurst Park this season.
A 2-0 home defeat by Bournemouth means Palace have won just four of their first 15 games in this campaign, leaving them slumped in 14th place in the table.
‘The fans have been spoiled here in recent times,’ Hodgson, who faced taunts of being ‘f***ing useless’ at the end from fans, told Amazon Prime Video.
Roy Hodgson accused Crystal Palace’s fans of being ‘spoiled’ after he was nearly struck by an object thrown in his direction by a fan following Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat by Bournemouth
A mass exodus of home fans took place when Wales striker Kieffer Moore made it 2-0, and Hodgson is well aware of the growing discontent in south London, which won’t have been helped by his remarks on TV.
‘It was a very sad evening for us. Tonight was not the performance that the Crystal Palace fans, or that we, wanted to see,’ Hodgson added.
‘The fans are who we play for. At the moment we are producing some lean fare for them. We are trying to change it around.
‘The fans have been spoiled here in recent times. The fact is that the expectations are high hence the boos.
‘But the fact is the fans have been spoilt here in recent times, they’re used to seeing us do very well at home and get good results and this year we’ve not been able to do that.’
Marcos Senesi headed past Palace keeper Sam Johnstone at the back post after 25 minutes
Palace’s players and management were booed at half-time and full-time following the defeat
Palace fell behind to a Marcos Senesi goal, nodding in from Luis Sinisterra’s flick on.
Boos were aimed at players and Hodgson at half-time and things deteriorated further when Moore scored a second to ice the game.
‘I’ll be honest, I wish I had answers, but I know we’ve got a game [here] very soon so it’s really important we try and rectify this performance and make sure the next one’s a better one,’ crestfallen defender Marc Guehi said.
‘That first-half wasn’t good enough and we definitely needed a reaction.
‘The fans let us know that and there were definitely some positives, but overall, [it was] not the best. We have to move on from this quickly.’
Crystal Palace have a chance to make amends and land a statement win when they host title-chasing Liverpool at Selhurst Park on Saturday lunchtime.
