The 17-year-old full-back did well in his first competitive minutes, helping Palace keep a clean sheet and progress to the League Cup third round.
He said he only had a few hours’ notice pre-match, and that Patrick Vieira told him to “influence the game”.
“[I found out] only a couple of hours before the game, actually,” Rodney told Palace TV. “So it was a shock. I didn’t want to do that [text people] – I messaged the ones closest to me and got my head down and tried to do my best out there.
“He [Vieira] just told me he knows he has faith in me, so go out there and do what I can do and influence the game.”