Dann has already netted five goals in 2016, three of which have come since the start of this season, and added to his tally on Sunday as Palace romped to a 4-1 home victory over Stoke.
Advertisement
Although, simply a minor blip in a resurgent Palace performance that saw them rise up the Premier League table to eighth, with a respectable seven points after five games.
Little wonder the critics were out in force.
Meanwhile, the club has publicly backed Hughes after Stoke’s poor start to the season in which they have lost three out of four games. Sunderland will need to use their home crowd to get inspiration but it will not be easy as the team is still rebuilding as they have only recently changed manager. It’s very hard – it affects your life at home. If we don’t improve that, we don’t have a chance of winning games. We have to work hard get a bit of luck and keep some clean sheets. “Then [against Stoke] we took it on again and got the result”.
“We are not too despondent”.
“This time past year, we had the same sort of negative comments from outside the club that there’s a real worry – and the people who were saying that were asking in March ‘can you get Champions League football?’ We know what we’re about”.
Largely, this side is the same one that finished ninth last season so what exactly is going wrong at Stoke City?
“We are obviously disappointed with the start we’ve made but Mark and the management team have our full support”, he explained to the Daily Telegraph.
“He’s been a manager for some time and he’s got two experienced coaches [Mark Bowen and Eddie Niedzwiecki] alongside him”.
Advertisement
“Some of the things we have put right but the most important thing is making it hard for the opposition to get a result and at times we have made it a little bit too easy”.
