Crystal Palace have appointed former England head coach Roy Hodgson as their new manager.
The 70-year-old has signed a two-year deal at Selhurst Park with immediate effect. His first game in the dugout will be Saturday’s Premier League clash against Southampton.
Hodgson replaces the sacked Frank de Boer who had overseen a record-breaking poor start to the season. The Eagles have lost all four of their opening top-flight fixtures without scoring a goal, a feat last achieved by Preston North End 93 years ago.
De Boer's Palace horror over
De Boer was appointed by chairman Steve Parish in the hope that the Eagles could transition into a new possession-based style of play. However, the opening few weeks of the season proved that the players were yet to adapt to de Boer’s ‘total football’ methods and the 3-4-3 formation.
Huddersfield Town eased past the Eagles in a 3-0 opening day victory, although Palace improved in a 1-0 defeat against Liverpool a week later. De Boer’s job seemed untenable after a 2-0 defeat to Swansea City but he was afforded the international break and an extra game to turn the predicament around.
The South Londoners were undoubtedly the better side in their game against Burnley yesterday but still managed to lose. De Boer will feel unfortunate that the only goal of the game came when Lee Chung-yong unforgivably turned around on the halfway line and attempted a back pass that inevitably found the feet of Clarets striker Chris Wood who scored.
Hodgson now has a difficult job on his hands with a squad that is low on confidence. Palace have not scored a league goal since the penultimate day of last season.
The former Liverpool boss, himself, has a lot to prove. He was in charge of the England side that lost to Iceland at Euro 2016 and has not had a job since, despite his public eagerness to get back into football management.
The Croydon-born coach gave England debuts to Palace wingers Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend, and defender Martin Kelly, the latter was even included in the Euro 2012 squad as a late replacement for Rio Ferdinand.