Thursday 4 April 2019 12:42, UK
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson was critical of the pitch at the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium following his side's 2-0 defeat to Spurs on Wednesday, claiming it "was a bit slippery".
There was heavy hail fall before kick-off in north London, which may have affected the players' balance during the game.
"I don't know if the stadium was a factor. It was always going to be a tough game," he said.
"The pitch was outstanding but maybe a bit slippery, and I think one or two of our players, once or twice, found that a bit harder to deal with than maybe they expected."
Hodgson, meanwhile, felt Palace "played their part" in Tottenham's homecoming, as they didn't "lay down and surrender."
Palace were in town to try and spoil the Tottenham party in their new stadium, but were swatted aside by two second half goals in a 2-0 defeat.
Hodgson's side kept things relatively tight for 55 minutes but Spurs were always knocking on the door.
Hodgson admitted things may have been different if Spurs hadn't got the all-important opening goal when Heung-min Son struck.
"I thought that if we'd just kept it 0-0 a bit longer and if 1-0 had come a bit later, then in the last 20 minutes they might have had some concerns from our attacking chances.
"Hugo Lloris made two good saves and Christian [Benteke] had a chance. It was a fantastic evening and we played our part. We certainly didn't lay down and surrender. But we have to say that the way they played, they deserved to start off on the right foot in their new stadium."
It has been a long wait to get back home for Spurs, who left the old White Hart Lane 689 days ago, but the club put on a memorable evening in front of just over 59,000 fans.
Hodgson was very impressed with the new £1billion stadium.
"It is outstanding," he said.
"I can understand why there has been so much hype around it - they must be extremely proud to have created a stadium like this for their team to perform in."
