Crystal Palace captain Dean Henderson has made it clear that he is fully behind manager Pierre Sage as pressure grows on the French manager. A difficult run of results in October piled the pressure on Sage, who reportedly faced a ‘job-saving’ game against Tottenham Hotspur. 

The circumstances of that defeat, with Jean-Philippe Mateta dismissed after just 13 minutes, have given Sage extended time, and other interviews from the likes of Tyrick Mitchell and Quinten Timber in recent weeks have shown that the players are fully on board with the manager and are determined to turn results around.

In the pre-match presser ahead of Hoffenheim’s visit to Selhurst Park, Dean Henderson was asked about where he sees the club, and more specifically where he thinks things need to change under Sage in order for results to improve.

From the outside, it would be easy to assume that, considering how much the players are seeming to struggle to implement his tactics, that there may be some unrest amongst the squad in regards to their manager. 

However, Henderson, who has missed nine games through injury this season, made it clear his thoughts on the Frenchman. 

In the press conference, he called Sage a “brilliant manager”, and said he’s “behind him”, to which his manager replied ‘“thank you!” 

“It’s like anything with new teams, new coaching staff coming in, you don’t always see instant results. Things don’t just gel together straight away, it sometimes takes time. My thoughts are, we’re just going to keep getting better, stronger and stronger throughout the season.”

Palace have had a difficult start to the season, especially in the Premier League where they’ve won just two games, losing six as well, but Henderson made it clear that he still holds Sage in high regard, as do his teammates. 

“He’s a brilliant manager, so [things are] exciting going forward.”

There has been a fair amount of critique thrown towards the tactical approach from Palace under Sage, with many neutrals and pundits citing the vulnerability from set pieces, along with the number of chances Palace are conceding. 

While the issues with set pieces persist, Palace have become slightly better at reducing chances for their opponents, but there is still much needed improvement. 

“Sometimes you’ve got to have the confidence to play a certain way and we maybe haven’t had that in certain times this season, but we’re certainly getting there this week.”

Palace have finally had a chance to get on the training pitch and put in consistent sessions, which had previously been hampered by numerous away trips and trips to the continent. 

“It’s obviously been a good training week and we’re looking forward to putting those things into practice.” 

“Sometimes you’ve got to have the confidence to play a certain way and we maybe haven’t had that in certain times this season, but we’re certainly getting there this week.” 

A win on Thursday evening would be huge for Palace in terms of both their aims to progress in the Europa League, but also their ambitions to kick on and get strong results going forward. 

“Sometimes you’ve just got to win a big game to solve a lot of the issues  and to build confidence within the group and that’s what we’re working towards certainly. We’ve just got to keep going.”

Palace will be hoping for a good result, and Henderson will undoubtedly be looking to contribute significantly to that.