But already the task that stretches ahead of the oldest manager to take over a club in the Premier League looks an almighty one.
Hodgson, 70, opened his Palace account on Saturday – 466 days after that humiliation against Iceland with England at Euro 2016 – with a defeat.
Palace became the first top flight club in history to lose their first five games without scoring a goal but already, even after just one game, the clock is ticking.
After this winnable game slipped away thanks to Steven Davis’s early goal, Palace travel to bang in form Manchester City this Saturday, visit Manchester United the following weekend – and then host Chelsea.
Tomorrow they meet Huddersfield in the EFL Cup but conceivably, the new Palace manager could be looking at eight straight Premier League defeats before October 21, when his side travel to Newcastle, before a vaguely winnable game emerges and even Rafa Benitez’ team are rapidly finding their feet.
But a defiant Hodgson – on a £1 million bonus if he keeps the club up – said: “Do I think we can survive? The simple answer is yes. I have been told from the club’s point of view that survival is everything. It is unthinkable for them to go down.
I have to find out from this squad, A: Who is good enough?; and B: Who will roll their sleeves up and die for us?
Roy Hodgson is sizing up his squad
“We have to make sure it doesn’t happen. The gap financially gets wider, it gets harder when teams go down to get back up. Every day we are in the relegation zone we are going to be concerned about the future but once again.
“Me saying ‘Don’t worry we will be ok’ is fine. But it might not be by the end of October.”
When he took over at Fulham in December 2007, Hodgson won only one of his first 11 games but still kept them up. At West Bromwich Albion, he won only one of his first four but again saved them.
Portsmouth opened their campaign with seven straight defeats in 2009/10, and went down while Southampton won just two points from their first nine games in 1998/99 – and survived.
Hodgson, who warned that there could be more pain before things turn around, said: “With Fulham we were in a relegation battle for all but one of the last seven games. We won at Portsmouth in the last game.
“You can say we risk playing these teams (United, City, Chelsea) to suffer more defeats and push us further down – or it could be the pressure to win helps.
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Saints captain Steven Davis scored the winner
“I have to find out from this squad, A: Who is good enough?; and B: Who will roll their sleeves up and die for us?
“You can’t go around to them saying ‘you’ll be fine, bad luck, you’ll be ok’. We need more and it is not good enough. They are professional footballers. There is no magic wand. We are old enough, wise enough to know when to kick them or put an arm around them.”
Palace started horribly on Saturday, as all the old defensive failings showed themselves within minutes of Hodgson taking his seat in the dugout.
Davis found Dusan Tadic, who went round his man to cross, goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey pushed the ball out, but straight to Davis, who slotted it past the man on the line.
The vastly experienced coach knows there is a mighty load of work to be done.
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Southampton new boy Mario Lemina's impressive offensive skills
It was a good day for Saints, who could have added to their score, Oriol Romeu missing a good late chance and they looked comfortably the better side, led by the excellent Mario Lemina in midfield. A bonus was seeing wantaway defender Virgil Van Dijk, who handed in a transfer request in the summer in a bid to force a move to Liverpool, back in the fold as a late substitute.
Fellow defender Maya Yoshida said: “We all know he is one of the best players in the Premier League but he has not played for eight months. He will need a little bit of time. He has been exactly the same on and off the pitch.”
