It's just dawned on me that we've only won one point this season (Bournemouth) when Joe Ledley and James McArthur haven't been played together this season. I was quite surprised with this. Whilst McArthur gets lots of plaudits, and rightly so, Ledley always seems to slip under the radar. Does this make them our two most important players?

It also made me wonder if this team is still only able to play with two defensive minded centre midfielders playing in front of the back four? Holloway tried to change this in the promotion season and the defence looked shaky to say the least. Pardew seems to be trying to change that style as well, and results have had a similar turn.

N.B This isn't a slant on Yohan Cabaye by the way. I think he's a great player, we just haven't quite got the system to work for him.

And in the last Wales game (vs Serbia) Joe Ledley took corners and some free kicks with his deadly left foot. Says a lot about his quality - just play him!!!!

Have to say I think the critism of cabaye is a bit harsh. First half of last season he and macarthur were great playing as a defensive midfield pair. It wasn't until macarthur got injured that cabayes form dropped, plus I think he was carrying an injury 2nd half of season. This season I don't think APs new tactics have suited him as he doesn't seem to know when he should be going forward or defending and has often been caught out of position. I think if he and macarthur were to go back to being a defensive partnership (much as they did against man city) he'd come into his own again.

Edited by spartakev2 (07 Dec 2016 1.28pm)

Ledley can become very exposed against teams that press high and play quickly. Against Liverpool he was awful. Southampton suited him because they didn't press and played the ball around quite slowly. I think against a 4-5-1 we can play Ledley, against 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 he can struggle as those formations are generally geared towards a higher press. Moving McArthur back to CM/CDM has improved us defensively, Swansea game aside, but we still do need a proper CDM in my opinion. Right now I'd accept selling Cabaye to bring in Dembele or Schneiderlin.

I find it interesting how often Ledley looks around him, checking for the opposition and space. It's become sort of a catch 22 as it makes him more aware of his surroundings but at the same time it means he takes his eye off the ball, leading to players pressuring him, stealing the ball and forcing him to panic. I think that is part of why he struggles against the high press added to his sometimes laughable lack of athletism.

Edited by Mad4palace (07 Dec 2016 2.18pm)

Cabaye looked quite a bit improved against Swansea, and it's undeniable that he has greater technical ability than Ledley - but we really can't justify changing the team at the moment. In the long run, it'll be a real shame if we're so incapable of getting the best out of Cabaye that Ledley is preferable (no offence to Ledley) - but for most of his time here, Cabaye has looked like he lacks the class we know he has.

As posted previously about Cabaye not being on pitch at end of a Palace win :-

We beat Stoke last December when he was suspended.
I think the last game we won when he was on the pitch at the end was the 1-0 Home win against Norwich.
Then we beat Stoke at home coming from behind when he went off at half time. That was all last season.

He did not feature against 'Boro or Stoke , and went off before we staged the comeback against Sunderland.
This is correct.
Nearly a year since last December and he has only been on the pitch at the end of a Palace league win
twice.

Now we can add the Southampton to the list.