Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has explained why he asked Wilfried Zaha to retake Jordan Ayew’s missed penalty in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford.
With less than 20 minutes to play, the visitors were awarded a spot kick after Ayew's flick towards goal struck Victor Lindelof's hand. United keeper David De Gea saved the initial penalty from Ayew, but a retake was ordered by VAR as the Spaniard stepped just off his line. Zaha made no mistake with the second attempt.
In his post-match interview, the Palace boss revealed that he believes the miss affected Ayew's confidence: "I don’t think it’s good for a player to miss a penalty and then to immediately take another one. I think your confidence is affected by the miss”, he told the club's website.
“It wasn’t a good penalty, it was quite a comfortable save by De Gea and I’m pretty sure if I had allowed him to take the penalty, he might well have scored it. But I didn’t think it was a good idea to take that chance"
The former England manager added that a past experience - where one of his player's missed two penalties in the same game - impacted his decision: "I had an experience long in the past where our penalty taker - who never missed penalties - missed two in the same game in a European tie and ever since that moment I’ve thought it’s not a great idea to have the guy who’s missed take the second one."
?️ A ????????? team performance. #CPFC | #MUNCRY
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) September 19, 2020
Hodgson's bold decision paid off and Palace have got off to a fantastic start in the Premier League, winning both their opening games. They host fellow fast-starters Everton on Saturday, with the Toffees looking a rejuvenated outfit with new signings James Rodríguez and Allan hitting the ground running at Goodison.
Source: 90min
