September 7 2018

Wayne Hennessey

Crystal Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey insists he does not pay any attention to criticism of his performances.

Palace's No.1 has been in and out of the side since joining from Wolves in January 2014 and has divided opinion among the Palace fans.

Hennessey appears to have upped his game since the summer arrival of Vicente Guaita and impressed with a number of good blocks and a clean sheet in the opening-day win over Fulham.

He saved a penalty at home to Southampton on Saturday but some message board pundits have questioned his positioning in the Saints' first goal.

The Wales international has come under fire for some of the goals he conceded last season but he says he doesn't let the online critics affect him.

He said: "Everybody is like, 'What's he done there, why didn't he do this?' No matter what anybody does on the pitch these days, you are going to have people that will disagree and agree. Part of being a goalkeeper is to store it and throw it.

"You get used to it and ignore it – even the best players in the world get criticised. The stronger you are as a guy, the more you can just collect it and just get rid of it."

Hennessey's most notable error was when he let the ball squirm through his legs in a league match at Aston Villa two years ago.

"That haunted me a little bit," the 31-year-old told Palace TV. "Being back in the Midlands where I played a lot of my football, to make that mistake.

"It's one of them you have got to put to bed early because if you worry about that all the time then there's no point in stepping out on to the pitch because it's always going to be in your head.

"My favourite moment this season, it's been keeping a clean sheet at Craven Cottage and my biggest challenge is to keep that shirt and keep playing well."