Roy Hodgson says Crystal Palace will look to strengthen when the transfer window opens
Thursday 7 December 2017 16:55, UK
Manager Roy Hodgson says he is hoping to strengthen his Crystal Palace squad when the transfer window opens next month.
The Eagles remain in a battle against the drop but have climbed to 18th in the table, having followed a win over Stoke with 0-0 draws against Brighton and West Brom.
While Hodgson thinks he has a squad who have the ability to secure safety, he would like a few more options for the second half of the campaign.
"I am quite confident that the personnel here is good," Hodgson said ahead of Saturday's home match against Bournemouth.
"We do have the wherewithal to certainly give ourselves a good chance of getting out of the situation we find ourselves in.
"But it would also be nice if we could strengthen the squad in one or two areas.
"The competition for places is actually very strong in some areas, but there are other areas of the field where the competition is quite weak.
"So we have got to think about those matters and, hopefully, in the coming transfer window, put that right."
Asked what areas he would be looking at, Hodgson said: "It is obviously something I discuss with the scouting department in terms of building profiles and discussing the areas where someone coming in could maybe help us.
"Not necessarily to take someone's place in the team, it could also be the fact that, as the season wears on, you can't play with the same eleven week after week.
"You need good quality players to replace them."
Palace do have some quality in the goalkeeping department, Julian Speroni having come in to keep a clean sheet at West Brom last weekend after Wayne Hennessey was injured during the warm-up.
Hodgson said on Thursday: "Wayne trained for the first time today.
"His back went into spasm during the time he was warming up. It has happened to him three times before and it was just very unfortunate that it happened on the day of a game.
"He missed the first three days of training this week but was out there training today in a modified form, and will train fully tomorrow.
"There is a stiff competition between the two of them, which is always something for me to resolve before a game, because they are both very competent.
"Wayne Hennessey kept a clean sheet (against Brighton) before Julian, and now Julian has kept one. So they are keeping me on my toes."
