‘Excellent’ – Roy Hodgson hails attacking play from Eze and Olise after Crystal Palace beat Sheffield United

Following Crystal Palace’s 3-2 victory over Sheffield United on Tuesday, Roy Hodgson praised the aggressive play of Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze.

 

Ben Brereton Diaz attacked Chris Richards, cutting onto his right foot to curl a shot around the USA international and beyond Dean Henderson to open the goal after 21 seconds—the worst possible start for the Eagles.

 

In the seventeenth minute, Eberechi Eze gave Palace the equalizer when he volleyed past Ivo Grbic after meeting Michael Olise’s cross inside the box.

 

However, three minutes later, James McAtee was heading toward goal when Ollie McBurnie substituted Will Hughes and Joachim Andersen out of the game, giving Sheffield United the lead again. The teenage player from Manchester City took aim and His effort looped over Henderson after deflecting off Marc Guehi.

 

When Eberechi Eze received the ball on the edge of the box with only Vini Souza

surrounding him, Palace leveled the score once more in the 27th minute. The

playmaker, who was born in Greenwich, moved the ball to his left foot and curled

a spectacular attempt beyond the Blades goalkeeper from outside the box.

In the 67th minute, Michael Olise gave Palace their first-ever lead of the match

when he connected with Jean-Philippe Mateta’s deflected shot on the edge of the

box and beat Wes Foderigham with his first-ever strike.

 

Despite the forcing of Olise and Eze in the second half, the Eagles managed to hold on and win all three points.

 

Eze and Olise had only started a Premier League game together four times this season.

 

According to Hodgson, all other football teams—including the top teams in the league—also rely heavily on one or two of their great players to succeed.

 

“It’s common for a team to require that kind of of artistic ability and capacity to sustain everyone.

 

Our play was of excellent quality while the two of them were on the field.

 

You saw that when they both left, it was a little more difficult for the guys who

had to carry the load since their abilities are probably on par with or slightly over

average for teams in our division of the league.

 

“I was rather happy with two aspects.

 

“I thought we looked good in the first sixty or so minutes that they were

together; our attacking play was of very high quality, and we created a lot of opportunities.”

 

“We played the game mostly in Sheffield half and asked a ton of questions.”

However, they scored two goals and, to their credit, kept making life difficult for everyone.

 

“I’m also happy with the players’ perseverance,”