Roy Hodgson has previously managed Blackburn, Fulham, Liverpool and West Brom in the English top flight
Roy Hodgson compared his Crystal Palace team to "a boxer fighting in a class he's not able to handle" in the wake of a 4-0 defeat by Manchester United.
"We took blows to the chin and got knocked down. But we didn't stay on the canvas. We tried to get up as best we could," added Hodgson.
Palace have lost their first seven games this season without scoring - the worst start in Football League history.
Their defeat by United followed a 5-0 reverse at Manchester City.
After being overturned at the Etihad Stadium last weekend, the former England boss used a different analogy to describe his side's predicament, suggesting they had "been given a headache and have to try to find the aspirin".
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Man Utd 4-0 Crystal Palace: Eagles wounded at the moment - Roy Hodgson
He also claimed that the "lights went out in the second half" after making it to the interval only 1-0 down.
The 70-year-old is known for his love of literature - citing John Updike, Philip Roth and Saul Bellow among his favourite authors.
In the aftermath of his resignation following England's defeat by Iceland at Euro 2016, he held a final media conference saying, "I suppose someone has to come and take the slings and arrows".
Striking deficiency Hodgson described Ladapo as "an unknown quantity, for me certainly" before the trip to Old Trafford
Hogdson, who took over at Palace on 12 September after Frank de Boer was fired five games into the campaign, has been hampered by injuries to his strikers.
With record signing Christian Benteke ruled out for six weeks with a knee injury, winger Bakary Sako started up front. He was replaced by 24-year-old debutant Freddie Ladapo, who has scored most of his goals for non-league Grays and Margate, in the second half.
"We are playing a left winger from Wolves at centre forward, which is a position he has never played before in his life," added Hodgson of Sako.
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"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.
"That's our choice at the moment or we go to the 4-6-0 system."
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Source: bbc.com