Roy Hodgson insists he will not be preoccupied by short-term targets at Crystal Palace

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Roy Hodgson insists that he will not be preoccupied by short-term targets at Crystal Palace – despite the fate of his predecessor.

Just 81 days and four league games after Frank de Boer had been unveiled to some fanfare, Steve Parish happily purring about a new Palace "DNA", Hodgson struck an altogether more pragmatic tone as he sketched out his vision for the rest of the season.

There were vague allusions to the problems of the Dutchman's reign here ("All styles of play depend upon the players...") but the 70-year-old – looking far more sprightly than he did in his last public appearance at Euro 2016 – was at pains to accentuate the positives as he seeks to lead a recovery at Selhurst Park.

That despite a treacherous run of fixtures that sees Palace play Manchester City, Man United and Chelsea in the month ahead. "That's a very difficult start: we are playing three of the very top teams in the league," admitted Hodgson. "But I don't look at four matches. I'm looking at 34 matches.

"We've had a bad start. We've handicapped ourselves by not taking any points in the first four games, but there are still 34 games to go. I haven't given many team talks, but the one point I did make to the players is that our focus is on May.

"Leagues aren't won at the end of September and teams aren't relegated at the end of September."

Hodgson hinted that he will be going back to basics in the weeks ahead as he looks to restore belief to a squad that looked dazed and confused under De Boer.

"There's a lot of players here who have been at the club a long time and had a lot of success, both helping the club up from the Championship and keeping them in the Premier League," he continued.

"So there's no reason why something that's been very successful in the past cant be continued and developed further. I was heartened by what I saw in the Burnley game last week. I saw a team that dominated the game and defended well."

The endgame, of course, is securing Palace's future in the top flight, and Hodgson is confident that he is up to the task. "I believe the team will stay up, absolutely. I wouldn't have dreamt of taking the job if I didn't believe that," he insisted.

"Once the chairman made it clear that he thought we were the right people, there was never a doubt in my mind. This could be a very good year, if it ends up with us still in the Premier League and the Crystal Palace fans happy. That would make me very happy."