Hodgson delighted as Palace fight back to draw with City
Crystal Palace's Roy Hodgson reacts to their brilliant fight back from two goals down to draw 2-2with Manchester City
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00:00 Okay, shall we start with Matt down there?
00:08 Hi Roy, you must be really pleased with the team from Sillians, particularly after going 2-0 down and winning a point late on?
00:16 Yes, I was really pleased with the team from the first minute to the last.
00:21 I thought the way the players stuck a game plan and tried to make it work and to cause at least Man City a few more problems in terms of creating goal chances than they are sometimes used to doing.
00:38 But it wasn't just a question of resilience, it was a question of spirit as well and determination because if we'd have wanted excuses for a defeat today we'd have had loads and loads of them.
00:48 It's all very well saying you've got seven players injured but when five of them are your regular players in the attacking positions you've got even more reason I think to say 'well done today boys'.
01:00 People playing in that game there, no Premier League experience at all, a bunch of academy players, no real seniors to put on to help us out apart from the eleven who started the game.
01:11 Excellent work from the players today, I can't praise them enough, I thought they were excellent.
01:19 And those young players that came on seemed to make a difference at the end as well, were you pleased with how they did?
01:26 Yep, very pleased with them. David Ozil came on reasonably early, I thought he was excellent. The ones that came on at the end, in particular Franca, he had a very good cameo, I've been expecting that.
01:39 I know that I've said to him on many occasions, when you get your chance I'm sure you'll be okay. But of course it's a little bit easier coming on sometimes in games.
01:48 We'd scored 2-1, there was a little bit of belief suddenly, it was a good moment for him to come on. I don't know that it would have been as easy for him if we'd have been given that job from the start.
02:00 There we were very reliant upon Shlup and Jairo Riedewald who did an excellent job for us.
02:06 You've had two good performances in a row against two very difficult sides, how much confidence can you then take into the game against Brighton as a result of this?
02:15 We can take one thing into it, we know that it doesn't matter if the team we're playing against is on paper, regarded as a stronger team, we know that we can get out there and make a really good show and make a good game of it.
02:30 I don't think we'll see the best of Crystal Palace until we get players back from injury and we start the field with what we think might be our best eleven, which we were able to do at the end of last season.
02:44 That's a way off, so the fight will have to continue until then. But it's good to know that you've got that fight in your team.
02:51 Of course the goals were good goals as far as we're concerned and for Mateta, who's been waiting patiently for his chance, he's grabbed it with both hands and deserves an awful lot of credit for the way he played today.
03:05 How's John Ward off today?
03:07 We don't know, it's a hamstring, so that's another one. That would just be another injury to compound things for us. We thought we were pretty well off for centre-backs, but when we lost Holding and Tompkins it suddenly became a bit less.
03:27 And then suddenly if we lose John Ward it will be less still. We need a central midfield player defensively and Richards has been doing that job well. If we have to move him to the back we'll have a gap there.
03:41 So these will be the problems we have to wrestle with. But the one thing I'm sure of is that the fans who are here today must be very proud of their team, proud of the way they supported us. They were vastly outnumbered by the opposition's fans.
03:58 It's going to be a good ride home for us, even though it's only one point. It doesn't move us into the top six as yet, but at least it moves us one point away from relegation.
04:08 You sounded a bit disillusioned with football last week, but when you get a performance like that from two players and you carry out a game like that, do you make a little bit of a difference?
04:18 You're right, Jonathan, but I was disillusioned last week by the way the game panned out and what we had to suffer during the course of the game. To play as well as we'd done with 11 men, despite losing our goalkeeper, our central midfield player and our centre forward, but still keeping them at bay and losing 1-0.
04:42 To lose it in the last 15 minutes to a player being sent off, I'm sorry to say that that would disillusion most people, and I'm included.
04:50 Do games like today show you exactly why you love this sport?
05:00 Sure. One of the guys on TV said, "You seem happy now." But I said, "The times are countless during a 46-year career where, after a game, things have really gone against you. You don't feel very good and you don't feel very cheerful."
05:21 I don't actually regret what I said last week. I regret, I suppose, to some extent, that people are making suggestions that I've had enough of football, because that isn't the case, of course. But I don't regret what I said last week. I weighed my words.
05:39 You have not suggested it.
05:41 No, no, no.
05:42 You have suggested it's not always like this.
05:45 I'd like to think that I can keep it in some sort of perspective. Last week, I was by no means suicidal. This week, I'm by no means raving about the team, football and how wonderful it is.
06:02 I think I've still got a relative perspective on it. But I suppose there are going to be moments when I will waver between the two emotions. The emotions today are a lot better.
06:17 Mike?
06:18 You said you had a game plan. You said you would have a loss of the ball. Was it a case of patience and waiting to get your attacking players on the ball?
06:29 Yes, of course. To be honest, we changed our system today, obviously with respect to Man City, because we know the spaces they're looking for and how good they are at getting in there.
06:42 But not purely that. We did it to get our 11 senior players on the field and find a way of getting them in there. So, if I'd have decided to go with a back four, I'd have had to leave Ward or Kline out of the team.
06:57 I didn't want to do that. I wanted to find a way of getting those guys on there. I wanted Shlip to be on the field of play. And then we had to find a way of when Hughes went down overnight sick, he was due to play.
07:11 It was going to be Hughes and Viches, they were going to be the two central midfield players. He goes down sick overnight, Will Hughes, he was very good last week too. We had to find who was going to play there.
07:22 Our alternatives were Ozo, who's not played for a mission for, Ahamada, who's not really played for us more than a couple of times, or Gido Riedewald, who hasn't played a game since Manchester United.
07:35 The same as Dean Henderson, hasn't played a game since Manchester United in the League Cup. Not the league, in the League Cup. I can't even remember what that was.
07:45 So, we had to find a way, if we get the players that we think are the right guys, some experience, know what we're trying to do on the field, we might give ourselves a chance. And that's exactly what happened.
08:01 Okay, is that it? Thank you very much everyone.
08:04 Thank you.