Roy Hodgson, 71, reflects on what keeps him going through the wind and rain as Crystal Palace weather the relegation storm

The veteran boss lives for the frosty mornings on the training ground, he revealed, as Palace find a much-needed result against Leicester City

Roy Hodgson's not lost the desire to coach in the Premier League (Getty)

After a week in which some of the Crystal Palace faithful began to turn on Roy Hodgson, the 71-year-old veteran coach was in reflective mood after a victory that should allay some fears and quell the doubters.

Hodgson had a tough week and he's not afraid to admit it, but even the driving rain, freezing cold and the absence of Wilfried Zaha didn't have him question why, at age 71, he was still stood on the touchline at Selhurst Park.

Far from it. Hodgson fumed and bubbled at Crystal Palace's training ground all week, trying to work out how to end a losing skid that had seen them fall dangerously close to the relegation zone, all the while formulating a tactical plan that didn't count on their best and most dangerous player.

The result was a 1-0 win as narrow as it was messy , but a win that helped release the pressure of an intense week since a chastening defeat at West Ham and which reaffirmed why Hodgson subjects himself to all those early winter mornings.

"The days that really bring it home as to why I don’t give it up are at Beckenham on the training ground," said Hodgson, still sopping wet from the conditions but revelling in a victory earned by Luka Milivojevic's first-half stunner.

Hodgson cut a happier figure after beating Leicester (Action Images via Reuters)

"Working with a group of players that I have an awful lot of respect and admiration for - they’re such a good group of professionals, such an honest group of professionals who really want to do so well for the club - they are the days, perhaps even more so than the matches, that really bring it home to me.

"If you’re going to miss anything, what would you really miss? It would be those days, in all weathers, when you see the players really working and doing their best to try to get the club where we would like it to be.

"They are the days when I’m driving home thinking, 'Well if I have to leave it all behind, that’s what I’m going to miss'. Matches? That’s when the pressure, the anxiety happens.

"I was asked the other day, 'Does it get easier as you get older? Do you take defeats easier in your stride? Do you not get quite so excited about victories?” The tragedy is you don’t. You think you should, you’ve had so many great times, your share of bad times, you’ve had lots of wins in your career.

"You’d think you wouldn’t take matters as hard as I do. For example, during the week, after the two defeats. That’s the thing I suppose that, if the day comes when I do leave it for some reason, they’re the bits I won’t miss quite so much. I’ll miss the training. That’s why you do it.

"The games, unfortunately when you reach the level I’m working at, they will only ever be enjoyable if you get the result. That’s the problem.

Luka Milivojevic scored the winner for Palace (PA)

"There could be a lot of good things you could admire during the performance, things you’ve worked on, players doing better and improving, so you could from a purely educational point of view take some pleasure, but the bottom line is if the result’s bad, that decides everything. That’s what you’ve got to learn to live with. We’ve had many evenings here where everybody has said, 'Unlucky today, your team played well, you’re too good to be where you are', et cetera, et cetera. Unfortunately that’s such cold comfort. When you get home, you turn the TV on, you look at the result and you’ve got beat."

Despite Palace's recent dip in form, the septuagenarian's job was never in jeopardy after keeping the club up last season and signing a contract extension at the start of the season to take his deal until 2020.

And Hodgson made it abundantly clear as the Eagles pulled away from the relegation zone again this weekend that he hasn't lost the hunger nor fight for the job - rain or shine.