The manager also highlighted young midfielders David Ozoh and Malcolm Ebiowei, saying in his pre-Newcastle United press conference: "When they [Rak-Sakyi, Ozoh, França and Ebiowei] get the chance to go on, and we say ‘right, in this situation we think you’re the man who’s going to go on in a Crystal Palace shirt and help us get a result in the game’, that’s the litmus test in a way.
"If they come out from that and have gone on and done what we hoped and expected from them, they build confidence, and we get a bit of confidence from them as well because we’ve seen a picture of them doing it, not just out there [in training] or on a video – we’ve seen them in a game which has mattered both to him and the rest of the team.
"Jes got that chance [against Forest]. He took it pretty well. That should improve his confidence.
"It certainly means that we know, if we do need someone in that position, we can put Jes on, and it also means that the other players in that position – the França's, the Ebiowei's – their chance will also come, and I hope they’ll be able to take it in the same way Jes did."
On França – whose return to fitness Hodgson had earlier confirmed – the manager added that he and Sporting Director Dougie Freedman are confident that, given time to adapt to the rigours of the Premier League, the young Brazilian will go on to become an important player for the club.
Hodgson explained: "When we signed him, Doug Freedman had spent quite a lot of time in Brazil watching França play for Flamengo. That’s the only opinion I’m really interested in.
"Footballers are names and players, and sometimes you have to make certain the names don’t get in the way of the player. We are more than happy with Matheus França.
"We think he’s going to be a big player for Crystal Palace Football Club, but it doesn’t have to be when he’s just stepped through the door and only recovered from injury 10 days ago.
"He [Freedman] thought he had all the skillsets necessary to become a good player in the English Premier League, but he’s realistic – he understands we’re transporting someone. It’s a very different game of football.
"I don’t know how many matches you’ve seen between two Brazilian teams, but it’s a very different league and different style of football. Sometimes Brazilian players come here and find it easy to adapt straight away, some less so.
"I think he’s the type of guy who won't take a lot of adaptation, and we’re excited to see the level of skill he'll bring to the team, but we’re not basing our expectation on what’s being said or written, we’re doing it on what we actually see on the training field – and what we intend to see when he gets on the field of play."