Perfectly summed up! And we moved above Brighton!

This ^^^^^ Normal service resumed!!!

Don't waste your time with jealousy. Sometimes your ahead, sometimes your behind, the race is long. But in the end it's only with yourself!!

Fair result in the end.

We dominated the first 15/20 but was pretty even and scrappy after that. If the game had gone on another 10 mins we qould ahve won it.

The 10 mins before half time were a bit of a mess, Butland and Tomkins going long all the time, and losing it almost every time. Granted Gallagher lost the ball, but Broja's goal came from another long ball clearance.

It felt like Viera told them to stop punting at half time as it stopped.

I know people get nervy when we pass it out from the back, but its 100 times better than punting it upfield and losing it every time.

IMO Butland was the main reason for the game being so scrappy last night. His natural inclination was to go long, and even when he had time, instead of looking for a quick pass he'd hold it until Southampton blocked his out balls and then force him to go long.

I don't think Guita's distribution is amazing, but its clear watching last night that Butland isn't used to that type of build up, and/or confident enough to give it to players under pressure.

Hopefully with VG and Anderson back on Saturday we'll get some control back.

Seconded. Although Mitchell does need to up his distribution - too often it's given away or out of play. But I'm sure he will.

I see this all as a work in progress, and consistency is the hardest thing in football I'd say. The 'jigsaw' probably does not have the pieces in the right place yet, but there's a good chance we've seen more entertaining games so far this season that the whole of last year and probably more.

It may improve, it may not (this is Palace after all!) but full marks for trying to do what we all wanted, getting good players in and taking a (hopefully) calculated gamble on a coach with that attitude.

Enjoy it while it lasts I reckon.

You'll be forever in my family's memories and it was an honor and privilege to play and lead in the red and blue
Yours sincerely
Mile Jedinak

If it was that easy to bypass a press people wouldn't even press. It's absolutely fine to go backwards and sideways until the right pass opens up. Unfortunately last night Butland and Tomkins sh1t themselves whenever they got the ball and went long. We'd lose the ball and then it would come straight back at us.

So many of our fans have been watching poor 'defenders defend' for so long now that they expect defenders to clear it when under the slightest pressure.

How often goes MG just aimlessly punt it long? Literally never. Guy is a Rolls Royce.

A few things that I noticed over the past couple of games.

We play better with both Benteke and Edouard on the pitch. Edouard is very good at reading the flick ons, has great feet and presses better. Tekkers is a better outlet and better in the air.

If Ayew could finish, we'd be a much more threatening prospect. It sounds like an obvious comment to make but I've also been guilty of criticising him without appreciating what he actually does outside of putting the ball in the net (or not). He does bring a lot to the team defensively plus we seem to pick up a lot of free kicks to relieve pressure. I think having Olise off the bench works better. The games that Olise has started, he has not has the same impact as him coming into the game later on.

Hughes looks a great buy and definitely a future replacement for McArthur (if not now I'm afraid to say). He allows Gallagher to play a few yards higher up the pitch where he is more threatening.

Wilf is Wilf. Moments of brilliances along with moments of frustration. He doesn't seem to run at players as much this season and I can't work out if that's because he's lost a little pace or because he's been told to pass the ball more.

I can almost see us doing a West Ham. We'll be a work in progress this season, then once it completely clicks and with a few specialist players (free kick/corner takers), could kick on towards the end of the season and into next season. My only concern is that most of the goals we concede are due to our own faults rather than teams simply playing better (Maybe that's even more reason for optimism). We keep the ball very well but, as has been mentioned, pass the ball too much around the back sometimes and get caught out. Also, as much as there's been a drastic improvement, we still need to work on better service to the front players. We still don't play to Benteke or Edouard's strengths still IMO. Edouard is a natural finisher and we don't create space enough to allow him to shoot more. We also seem to lack the ability to get the ball into areas that Tekkers can attack the ball more in the air. When Tekkers gets good service, he scores. Simple as. How we don't score more from set pieces with the players we have is beyond me.

I also can't decide what players we need in Jan, if any. If I had the choice of signing Gallagher and no one else, I'd take that, but I still can't help feeling like we're a few players short of where we want to be.

I'm still very optimistic at the moment and the team are a millions miles better to watch compared to previous seasons. I'm really enjoying watching us at the moment and actually look forward to coming to Selhurst. I can't wait to see how Vieira tries to slot Eze into the team once he's fully fit/on form as he's a talent we need to use. Also, to see is Ferguson will play any role at all now that he's playing in the u23s.

It's Red and Blue that unites us