Roy Hodgson has been impressed with the quality throughout his squad upon his return as Crystal Palace manager.
Having overseen three wins out of three Premier League games since his return to the Palace dugout, the manager has praised both the players he knew from his previous tenure, and those he has since come to know.
The manager told talkSPORT earlier this week: “I’ve found it very, very good indeed. It’s an incredibly good group of players that the club have put together.
“I knew, of course, many of them – a very solid base of players that I worked with when I was there, who I had great respect and admiration for.
“But, of course, the new and younger players that have been brought in since I left the club have been very impressive, so it’s of course a very strong group.
“The competition for places is strong, and of course it’s players that win football matches, and that’s been my good fortune: to find out there is a good group players here, who are capable of winning football matches.”
Hodgson has overseen a turnaround in results since his return, after a lengthy winless run led to his return to the club.
The manager, however, feels that the last three games – wins over Leicester City, Leeds United and Southampton – have proven a more accurate depiction of his players’ abilities.
Hodgson added: “To be fair, they had an unfortunate spell. But there is a solid core of players in that team, and I think the new ones that I have been able to watch for a year-and-a-half… getting to know them, I could see that they were really talented players.
“I did know that the quality to play in the Premier League was there at the club, and it was just a hope, I suppose, that we could bring out their best qualities that I knew that they had, and have them believe that they were good enough to win matches.”
With regards to his approach to the role, Hodgson noted: “I do believe very much in the environment [within the squad].
“I think that you do need to try and work hard [on it] as a coach. And this isn’t something which is particularly specific to me and Crystal Palace now, it’s something that I’ve really believed in all of my coaching life.
“Your job, if you like, is to sell your ideas to players, to convince them that if you work this way, and do these things in training, and conduct yourself in this way and all do it together, we’re going to have success.
“But to do that, you’ve got to create your own environment. I’ve always believed that the environment is very important, but of course to get a really good environment, what you need to do is win matches.”
