Roy Hodgson warns of more pain ahead for Crystal Palace - 'There's no way you can talk yourself out of that'

Roy Hodgson warned his new club Crystal Palace that there could be more pain ahead after his side went down 1-0 to Southampton, their record-breaking fifth straight defeat from the start of the season.

Palace are bottom of the league with no points and no goals from their first five games, an opening run unprecedented in 129 years of top-flight league football in England. Steven Davis scored in the sixth minute and Hodgson warned that with two away games against Manchester City and Manchester United, before Chelsea come to Selhurst Park on October 14, it could get worse.

The Palace manager, whose team face Huddersfield Town in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday, said: “So, now, it's five defeats, it's zero points, it is a really tough programme ahead if you look at the quality of the opponents.

"It is painful and I fear it is going to be painful in some of the moments going forward, but there's no way you can talk yourself out of that and there's no point in making bold statement that might not be ratified in some way.”

He said that the only prospect of change, with Frank de Boer gone after four league games in charge and the transfer window shut, was to work on the training ground. “It's a continuous assessment of the players, continuing to work on the basic elements of football, which is being better defensively, being better on the ball and working on our attacking movements.

"And the other one of course is going to be the psychological aspect where we've got to try very hard to make certain that people don't dig themselves into a grave. The statistics dig us into a grave, but only what we do on the football field can get us out of it or make the situation worse."

He added: “I’m not suggesting that the work we do on the training field will produce three or four Messis and Ronaldos in the next two or three months. We have the squad of players we have and they have their strengths and weaknesses, we need to be aware of them and to try to improve the strengths in training and maybe cover up the weaknesses.”

Hodgson said that he was glad to be back and that he had the full backing of Steve Parish, the chairman, and his board. Hodgson said: “We all realise that we have to do an awful lot to get that thing that we want. So, of course it is a challenge and it is tough, but what isn’t? There are no dream jobs where you walk in, put your tracksuit on, and suddenly it materialises and goes well.

“You have to work for these things. I’m happy that I’ve got the chance to work for these things. I accept it will be tough from time to time or more. And I look forward to the day we see signs of improvement and start to pick up points as I believe that is what we are going to do. I have faith.”

Mauricio Pellegrino brought on captain Virgil van Dijk for the first time since his bad-tempered transfer request on August 7 and the Dutchman was well-received by the away support. Pellegrino said: “We have got people who are working to improve our squad all the time, and for the other teams it is the same. They will push to bring the best players.

“Virgil is one case because he is one of the best players in the Premier League and it is normal that the biggest teams in the Premier League want to sign him.”