Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson believes there are positives to take from Saturday’s defeat to Liverpool.
Hodgson’s side were involved in a seven-goal thriller at Anfield, eventually falling to a 4-3 defeat against the league leaders.
Andros Townsend had given Palace a surprise lead in the 34th minute before Mohamed Salah equalised one minute into the second half.
James Tomkins cancelled out Roberto Firmino’s effort to level the score at 2-2 with 25 minutes left to play, before Salah and Sadio Mane put the game beyond doubt.
Max Meyer grabbed a last-minute consolation against the 10-men of Liverpool; James Milner seeing red for two bookable offences on Wilfred Zaha, and Hodgson said he was proud of how his players performed.
Hodgson said in his post-match press conference that:
Sure [there were positives], I am proud of the players’ performance. We were playing against a team that don’t lose at home. For large periods of the game we held our own.
Julian Speroni was at fault for Liverpool’s third and Salah’s second goal of the afternoon, handing the momentum back to the home side following Tomkins’ equaliser.
The Palace boss, however, was not critical of the Argentine following the game.
The cruelty of football shows for itself. For Speroni to make the mistake was unfortunate.
Hodgson now turns his attention to next weekend’s FA Cup fourth-round tie with Tottenham.
