Before a ball had even been kicked in the encounter between Crystal Palace and Sheffield United last time out, we detailed why Jairo Riedewald deserved to keep his place in the starting XI despite Patrick van Aanholt's return to training.

The former Chelsea and Sunderland left-back had been out with a hamstring injury for several weeks, enabling Riedewald to step in over the festive period and beyond, with good effect.

His first outing following injury to Van Aanholt came when he replaced the Dutchman against West Ham on Boxing Day, where the former Ajax man leapt in front of a Robert Snodgrass snot which looked destined for the net in the 87th minute - it appeared to prevent a goal, and then Jordan Ayew went on to net a winner in the 90th minute.

Excellent displays against Norwich and Arsenal ensued - both of which were met with praise by Crystal Palace supporters on Twitter - while the 23-year-old even won the club's Player of the Month award for January.

So, after Roy Hodgson dropped the No.44 to the bench as soon as Van Aanholt returned ahead of the Sheffield United game, it left a sour feeling.

After all, Riedewald had been forced to wait for his chance. With no reported injury problems, he failed to make a single Premier League appearance last term, and almost joined SC Paderborn last summer.

So, when a chance arose, he did nothing but grab it with both hands - it was unjust of Hodgson to immediately remove him from the lineup upon Van Aanholt's return.

What sort of message does that send out? One which says: "Thanks for your extreme patience and efforts, but you will never have a chance of becoming a first-team regular no matter how well you perform"?

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It was cruel of the former England manager, and may well have sent out a negative vibe to the rest of Crystal Palace's fringe players as well.

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