has hit back at ‘spoiled’ supporters after tensions boiled over following their defeat to , with the veteran manager nearly hit by a bottle at full-time.
The south Londoners were beaten 2-0 on Wednesday night at Selhurst Park, with Marcos Senesi opening the scoring with a close-range header mid-way through the first half before Kieffer Moore wrapped up the three points in stoppage time.
Boos and whistles rang out around the stadium, while there were loud chants of ‘f***ing useless’ from some sections of supporters.
Things escalated at full-time as Hodgson walked off the pitch down the tunnel, with the 76-year-old almost hit by a plastic bottle that was thrown from the main stand.
Palace have now failed to win their last four matches – with three of those defeats against sides ranked below them in the Premier League table – and are in danger of getting sucked into the relegation battle if their form does not improve.
Hodgson, though, has hit back at the boos and believes supporters underestimated the quality of Bournemouth going into the match.
Speaking to Amazon Prime Video, he said: ‘It wasn’t good enough. The expectations are high, hence the boos. People came here to see us win and we weren’t capable of winning.
‘To be fair we did play against a good side and Bournemouth did well, they made life very difficult for us.
‘We tried hard, but we weren’t able to cause them enough problems.
‘I think the scoreline is a little bit harsh, but this is what happens when it’s 1-0 and you’re throwing everything forward and making lots of changes in the team in the hope somewhere we will find a goal out of nowhere and then you concede the second one.
‘But the fact is the fans have been spoiled here in recent times. They are used to seeing us do very well at home and get good results and this year we have not been able to do that.
‘They came here today thinking after our good point against West Ham that we would run all over and blow Bournemouth away.
‘But unfortunately they are false expectations because Bournemouth are not an easy team to blow away, they are in very good form, confident, winning matches.’
He added: ‘What you say to them is that if they are really true supporters, they will help us through this difficult period.
‘If they seriously believe we aren’t trying hard enough then I don’t think they’re analysing the game the way they should.’
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