Roy Hodgson admitted his job is under pressure after Crystal Palace suffered a 5-0 defeat at Arsenal amid fan protests against away ownership.
Hodgson, 76, has guided Palace to safety or better in five of their club-record 10 seasons in the Premier League, but the scale of this defeat and the current run have inevitably raised questions. Banners from disgruntled Palace fans about 'wasted potential' and 'weak decisions' raised the temperature among chairman Steve Parish and fellow owners, while Hodgson admitted a manager was always vulnerable.
Hodgson has said this will be his final season in a 48-year managerial career, having returned last March as Patrick Vieira's side found themselves in relegation trouble. Against that backdrop, Steve Cooper is now available, as are other contenders to replace Hodgson.
They include Julen Lopetegui, most recently of Wolverhampton Wanderers; Bo Svensson, a Danish coach who recently took charge of Bundesliga side Mainz; and Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna.
Former Chelsea and Brighton manager Graham Potter was in a hospitality suite at the stadium with his two children but is not considered an immediate contender for the Palace job. He is still of interest to Manchester United if they decide to make a change in the summer.
Asked about the fan protests, Hodgson said it was always the manager who was ultimately held responsible. He said: "It's an essential part of football and always has been. Nowadays it is so important to stay in the Premier League and relegation is such a fear. Those types of situations may arise a little more quickly than years ago. But nothing has changed since I returned to England in 2008. The fact is that if a team is not doing as well as it should, someone has to be held accountable and it is always the manager."
He was asked directly whether he felt he had the support of the palace's owners, mainly the parish; US investors Josh Harris and David Blitzer; and Eagle Football led by another US investor, John Textor, Hodgson said this was not a question he could answer.
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"Well, that's a question for them, isn't it?" he said. "If you ask me, 'Have I ever felt like there's a lack of support from them?' No, I didn't, they were good. In the scenario you have in mind, that should be a question for them."
Hodgson used to be the solution, now he's part of the problem
As he stood in the dugout after Crystal Palace's humiliating 5-0 defeat at Arsenal, waiting for his players to slowly leave the pitch, Roy Hodgson had the look of a man who knew it was over. A line of pain crossed his face, the realization that most careers, no matter how big they are, no matter how resilient they are, no matter how high their highs, end in failure.
It is certainly true that the great survivor has already been said goodbye several times. There have been departure press conferences at Watford and Crystal Palace, with the assumption being that he would spend more time on his memories, not to mention reading the great American novel canon. Each time before, after he said he was gone, the Frank Sinatra of management would return, surprising everyone with his refusal to budge on chronology. For Roy, 76 has long been the new 50.
This time, however, the omens are bleak. This time it seems that the end has finally been reached. At the end of this match, despite all his insistence at the press conference to keep fighting and working hard on the training pitch, he had the attitude of a man going through the motions.
For in a match where he needed his team to bend and respond, Hodgson was undermined from the kick-off. While Arsenal systematically bullied them and then bullied them into submission, Palace's players hardly represented a group of players playing for their manager. There was no fight, no fire, no resilience. Doesn't matter, apart from the excellent Eberechi Eze, absolutely no creativity.
Hodgson, a man who built a reputation on his organization and the stiffness of his defence, must have watched in pain as Arsenal - with George Graham on the rise - rolled back the years and went old school into corners to score twice in the first half. . On both occasions his team looked like a damp paper bag, his centre-backs over-muscled and his goalkeeper, Dean Henderson, making Andre Onana look a model of resilience. He might have complained afterwards that his players felt they were being hampered, but at that moment, as he stood in the technical room, static, silent and barely responsive, his body language conveyed defeat.
Watching from the director's box as Arsenal's goals kept coming, Palace chairman Steve Parish was seen quickly punching a message into his mobile phone. Moments later, elsewhere in the stadium, Graham Potter was filmed with his children consulting his own phone, as if the two were communicating directly. It was a fanciful thought: Potter has higher ambitions than those available at Selhurst. Furthermore, Parish knows that the best way to appease an increasingly despondent fanbase is hardly in the direction of a former Brighton manager.
Not that the Palace supporters' unrest was directed against Hodgson. Even though things are clearly getting awkward in terms of league standing, he has accomplished far too much in recent years to be blamed by followers who have a lot to be grateful for. The target of some direct and strong criticism from the Palace section was Parish and his fellow board members. "No shared vision. No structured plans," read a series of banners held aloft as the fourth Arsenal goal was registered. "Wasted potential, both on and off the field. Weak decisions take us backwards."
Freeform verses are not common in football stadiums. But the point was clear: change is needed at Selhurst. And for Parish, the easiest and simplest way to get some enthusiasm back into the operation is to ditch the man he has so often called upon in the past to combat crises.
Hodgson is not one to register complaints. If someone does that, he knows the score. And when the score is 5-0, he can no longer argue.
"I have worked in these modern times," he said. "The fact is that if a team isn't doing as well as it should, someone has to be held accountable. And that is usually the manager."
At Palace in the past, when things went wrong, when the team was struggling, they knew what to do. They've brought in Roy Hodgson. This time that solution is not available. What happens next is indeed intriguing.
