Will Crystal Palace boss do anything special to mark last training session before stepping down

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

Tomorrow morning Roy Hodgson will take charge of his final training session as Crystal Palace manager down in Beckenham and quite possibly as a manager.

The Eagles announced on Tuesday that the 73-year-old was stepping down.

Despite the occasion, Hodgson admitted he would not be doing anything particularly special to mark the event with such a tight turnaround between the final two games of his managerial career in SE25 – the 3-1 loss against Arsenal on Wednesday and Sunday’s trip to Liverpool.

“Unfortunately, these days every training session is either recovering players from the last game or preparing them for the next game,” he said.

“The type of sessions that we’ve done throughout the four years [here at Palace] have been far, far less frequent over the last month quite simply because of the amount and proximity of games.”

Against Aston Villa last Sunday, Hodgson took the unprecedented step of naming three goalkeepers in his matchday squad of 20, after a spare spot was made available due to both Patrick van Aanholt and Luka Milivojevic missing due to family issues and the Croydon-born manager chose not to bring academy prospects into the squad due to a U23 play-off semi-final the following day.

That scenario has been repeated again this week with the U23s due to play their Premier League 2 Division 2 play-off final against Sunderland on Monday. And with Milivojevic missing again on Wednesday, Scott Dann and James McArthur injured and possible doubts about Tyrick Mitchell, plus a big question mark over Christian Benteke being available following Wednesday night’s loss, Hodgson may have less than 20 to choose from again.

U18 prospect Jesurun Rak-Sakyi was named as a substitute on the bench against Arsenal on Wednesday as a “reward” for his performances in the academy.

And the U23 coach Shaun Derry always gives any player from the academy a clear message when they do make the short journey across the road from the academy site to the first team training round.

“It’s about having experiences; playing with the first team players, having conversations with first team players, having lunch with first team players and sharing a training pitch. It’s so much part of the game,” said Derry on PalaceTV.

“We’ve had many occasions where some of our players have gone over to the first team’s training ground. [I tell them] to go and make an impression – go and speak to the manager. Go over and say hello to him, Ray Lewington and Dave Reddington and make sure he recognises who you are so when you come away from that experience, Roy Hodgson knows who you are and asks for you again.”

Derry was also keen to highlight exactly what his players should do once they set foot on the training ground pitches with the first team.

“In terms of training impact, don’t just stand on the outside,” he said. “If you’re an individual, go and show your individuality. If you’re a goalscorer go and score your goals. If you’re a midfielder, go and put some heavy tackles in on James McCarthy or James McArthur. Just be yourself and experience something you want more of and that’s the kind of message we give to the players.
“You don’t want to go over there and be dangerous in terms of the way you play, but you don’t want to go over there if you’re a midfielder and that’s part of your game, that you don’t show what your vital component is.

“This is your career; you’ve got to show a level of selfishness in a selfless environment and that’s what’s being a footballer is all about. You can’t go into that environment and come away and have any regrets because you might only get asked once.”