Roy Hodgson's first match in charge to be remembered for the wrong reasons as Crystal Palace lose to Southampton

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Lost in translation under Frank de Boer’s fanciful, but ultimately dismal, efforts to bring Total Football to Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace have found themselves caught in yet another free fall.

In turning to Roy Hodgson - a man whose career has been marked by success but similarly blemished by abject failure - the hope is that the Eagles will return to the long straight and narrow.

But after another loss here in south London, losing 1-0 to Southampton following Steven Davis’ early winner, it remains to be seen whether the 70-year-old can rescue a side that now becomes the first club in top-flight history to lose their opening five league games without scoring a single goal.

Hopes of a fresh start, with the Croydon man returning to his Croydon roots, failed to materialise. The reality is that Hodgson doesn't do crackle-and-pop football. Against De Boer’s Grand Designs - he promised his team would “dominate with and without the ball”- the Englishman has always been much more, well, Cash in the Attic.

Simplicity, pragmatism and good old-fashioned football has always been his raison d’etre - but the message clearly wasn’t received today.

It took all of six minutes for Hodgson’s homecoming to be brought to an abrupt end. After setting up Dusan Tadic for a shot inside the Palace box, Davis was on hand to deal with the saved effort, stroking the ball into the bottom left-hand corner from seven yards out. Reality had hit, and it had hit hard.

The following 10 minutes were a reminder that the man on the sideline can only do so much as a disjointed Palace side tried and failed to assert themselves against a purposeful Southampton.

The visitors were faster, more organised, more physical and, perhaps most importantly, more up for the game. It was only after 15 minutes of chasing shadows that the home side were finally handed their chance.

After quick link-up play with Andros Townsend inside the Southampton box, Ruben Loftus-Cheek pulled back the ball from the right-hand side touchline to the waiting Christian Benteke.

The forward had the simple task of finishing from five yards out but his weak prod was blocked by an instinctive Fraser Forster hand.

It was a moment that summed up the forward’s game who lacked any real fight and was guilty of conceding possession inside Southampton’s final third time after time.

Looking to extend their lead, the visitors pushed on with Tadic, who seemed to be at the heart of Southampton’s forward play, enjoying repeated success down the flank. On three separate occasions the Serbian was played in behind the Palace backline with the same predictable cross-field switch. Had Southampton been better at taking their chances, the game would have been over long before half-time.

Still, Palace clawed their way back into the game, with Loftus-Cheek enjoying the side’s best chances of the first half. Pouncing on a loose ball outside the Southampton box on 28 minutes, he surged into space before rifling a low-driven shot that fizzed centimetres wide of the left post.

It seemed to shake up the home side, and the youngster was at it again moments later. Having picked up play from 30 yards out, he stormed into the box, taking it past two players in the process, and let loose with another powerful effort that, this time, was deflected for a corner.

Loftus-Cheek continued in a similar vain after the break as Palace attempted to hit the ground running. After another successful charge into the Southampton penalty area, his tantalising delivery across the goal mouth looked sure to finish in an equaliser but remained untouched by his teammates as it popped out the other side of the penalty area.

Jason Puncheon followed up this promising passage of play with his sliding effort from seven yards out but still Palace couldn’t find their goal.

It was at this point that the heavens opened, bringing a deluge down onto all those unprotected by Palace’s creaking stadium. Unsurprisingly, the game became saturated and stodgy as the sides went through the motions. Half-chances came and went for the home side, but there was to be no salvation for Roy and his men.

Bakary Sako was thrown on with little under 15 minutes to go, replacing Loftus-Cheek - who may well be coming to regret the decision to leave the plush comforts of Chelsea’s bench - in a substitution that drew derision from the home crowd. It later transpired that the player was pulled off due to cramp.

But his introduction was unable to change Palace’s fate. A late header from Oriol Romeu, rising above the substitute to meet a corner ball, should have doubled Southampton's score but his effort was off target as the home fans started to pour out of Selhurst Park in their masses.

Faltering to yet another defeat, it looks as if the side have more disappointment to come in the months ahead.