Tony Evans: Sam Allardyce has got his appetite back as Crystal Palace secure vital win in relegation dogfight

Sam Allardyce was happy. His Crystal Palace side had just beaten Middlesbrough 1-0 on Saturday and the 62-year-old had just finished the first part of his post-match media duties.

As he left the room, the Palace manager spotted a plate of pies laid on for journalists. He stopped, looked at the food for a moment before picking up a pie and munching away unselfconsciously.

One thing was clear: Sam has got his appetite back. The sense of relief at Selhurst was palpable.

In his first month as Eagles manager Allardyce’s demeanour was different. He looked like he had not recovered from losing the England job after one match in September.

After the 3-0 defeat by West Ham last month he appeared overwhelmed by the size of the job ahead of him. Palace had been shambolic, a disorganised and demoralised rabble. Relegation seemed inevitable.

Allardyce is beginning to put his stamp on the team. Luka Milivojevic’s signing in January for £10.9million from Olympiacos could be the key to safety. The Serbia midfielder was disciplined and clever against Middlesbrough, protecting the centre of defence and allowing Palace’s flair players to get forward without worrying too much about what was going on behind them. The 14-month freefall at Selhurst may have bottomed out.

The Palace squad stopped performing for Alan Pardew. The vast majority of players in the Premier League fit into a very narrow band of talent. The difference between success and failure are rooted in organisation and inspiration. That is down to the manager. Allardyce has always been able to create enough belief and structure to keep his teams out of the relegation zone. It may be a modest achievement but the chances are he will repeat the trick in south London.

Saturday’s three points took Palace out of the bottom three, leapfrogging Leicester City. Tonight the reigning Premier League champions have a chance to climb back up the table when they play Liverpool at home. Allardyce and Palace fans are not the only ones hoping Leicester lose. Most of the football world has been appalled by the midlands club’s treatment of Claudio Ranieri.

There has been genuine anger and bewilderment that the title-winning manager could be sacked as a result of “player power”.

The outpour of crocodile tears for Ranieri are rooted in sentiment rather than sense. If a manager loses the dressing room it is because the players stop believing in him. It is nothing new. The Arsene Wenger era at Arsenal was ushered in by a players’ uprising against Bruce Rioch. A manager’s primary responsibility is to keep a squad together and imbue a winning mentality. Doing it for one campaign is relatively easy. Repeating the trick is more difficult. The very best managers do it season after season. They are a rarity.

This season Ranieri had a dressing room of first-time title winners and success brings pitfalls, especially a fairytale story like Leicester’s. Journeymen become celebrities, egos become inflated and a sense of entitlement creeps in.

It’s the manager’s job to stop this. Instead, Ranieri was affected by the triumph as badly as any of his players. It was not losing the dressing room that did for the Italian. Losing his focus cost Ranieri his job.

Allardyce took his eye off the ball when he was England manager. He got involved in situations he should have avoided. Like Ranieri he achieved a dream and was sidetracked from what was really important. The true greats understand that the work gets even harder after reaching the summit.

In the early weeks of his tenure at Palace it looked like the England experience had broken Allardyce’s spirit. It has not. The hangover might have taken a while to clear but the combative, bombastic Big Sam is back. Just in time for Palace.

It will still be difficult. Palace’s run-in is harsh, with away fixtures against Chelsea, Liverpool, both Manchester clubs and Tottenham to come. Tonight will tell us much about Leicester’s ability to bounce back. Yet Allardyce is looking up the table not downwards.

On Saturday he talked about targeting Bournemouth in 14th place as a viable ambition. It’s a good sign for Palace. Big Sam’s hunger has returned and he’s greedy for points as well as pies.