HLTCO presenter Dan Cook has noted that the Crystal Palace squad seemed happy under manager Roy Hodgson as "lengthy" videos of training sessions were shared online.
What's the latest on Roy Hodgson and Crystal Palace?
When the international break comes to an end, the Eagles will embark on the final 11 Premier League games of the season with a new man in charge having sacked Patrick Vieira.
Well, not quite so new. as Hodgson returns to the club for his second spell in charge as he aims to help Palace from being relegated – arriving with his side three points above the drop.
The 75-year-old has already taken a training session and footage of his first one was shared recently by the club's official social media pages – something Cook claimed didn't really happen under Vieira.
While talking about it on the HLTCO Palace Podcast, Cook explained: "There was quite a lengthy clip put up on the official app of the first day of full training under Roy Hodgson with Ray Lewington there in shorts, with Paddy McCarthy – who is now Roy's assistant, and technically, in the hierarchy of that trio, Paddy sits in the middle.
"It was actually something that struck me – whether you can read too much into it or not, I don't remember a great deal of training videos being put up during Patrick Vieira's time in charge. This was a very lengthy one.
"Of course, players aren't going to throw their toys out of the pram and tell the new manager – who happens to be an old manager, of course – they don't want him there. But they seem to be pretty happy to see him, there are a lot of hugs, a lot of handshakes and warm greetings between the players and Roy."
Will Hodgson keep Palace up?
Beyond just the fact that the video was shared online, Cook also notes that the players seem quite happy to be working with Hodgson once more.
Seeing as a number of fans didn't seem too pleased about the appointment, at least the squad seem to be okay with it. To be fair, under the Englishman, Palace never finished below 14th in the league, so they should have every bit of faith that he can keep them up.
Interestingly enough, Vieira and Hodgson both have the same points-per-game ratio with the club of 1.22. However, the Frenchman sustained this for just 74 matches, while the latter did so for 162.
It will certainly be interesting to see how the 75-year-old gets on over the coming weeks.
