Sunday 1 October 2017 13:16, UK
Roy Hodgson admits Crystal Palace do not have many options in the final third but refuses to "cry about it" following his side's 4-0 defeat to Manchester United.
Palace suffered their seventh consecutive Premier League defeat without scoring on Saturday, making it the worst start in league history for an English club.
The Eagles were without Christian Benteke, Wilfried Zaha, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Connor Wickham for the trip to Old Trafford, forcing Hodgson to start attacking midfielder Bakary Sako in the striking role.
"We don't have many options - you saw the young boy Freddie Ladapo come on for his first Premier League game after being signed from non-league a couple of years ago, and he's never had a sniff of first-team football," Hodgson said.
Benteke is expected to remain sidelined for "at least six weeks" with knee ligament damage but, despite this, the former England boss is trying to remain upbeat.
"That's the situation we find ourselves in - I'm not crying or complaining about it," added Hodgson.
"I knew that the centre-forward job was going to be a problem because we had the misfortune of not getting the signing we wanted in the last minutes of the transfer window, so that's something we've got to learn to live with.
"Maybe Zaha, when he comes back, could give us a bit more potency up front alongside Andros Townsend."
