Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson told reporters of his pride at the way his side approached the second-half in their win over Stoke City on Saturday.
As quoted by Sky Sports, the Eagles boss reflected on the win that guaranteed his team their Premier League status ahead of next season, as they compounded Stoke to relegation in the process.
My players deserve all of the credit, particularly after Stoke’s strong first half. They came out of the blocks and played exactly how we thought they would, lobbing the ball up to Peter Crouch and asking questions of our back four. They stopped us playing the kind of football we would like to play.
The Potters took the lead near the end of the first-half as Xherdan Shaqiri’s deflected effort from a free-kick handed Paul Lambert’s side a glimmer of hope.
However, Palace came out fighting after the interval and played well to cut open Stoke. James McArthur scored the equaliser for the visitors before Patrick van Aanholt slotted home late on.
But I’m proud of the team in the second half, we got the ball down better and played the ball better through the midfield. We were probably aided by the fact they had something to hold onto, that helped us, but it was a very good second-half performance.
I’m really proud of my team’s performance, not just today but over the season.
Hodgson has performed well at Palace since replacing Frank de Boer four games into the season, consolidating the club’s position in the Premier League after a treacherous start to the 2017/18 campaign.
