Because to all intents and purposes we have had our summer break so form-wise we are effectively in next season. After beating Bournemouth who are useless, we have lost the next three games 8-0 on aggregrate and been outplayed in all of them to the extent where, against Liverpool, we were the first team to fail to have a touch in the opposition box during a Premier League game in 15 years or something ridiculous like that. It is concerning.

As for the conspiracy theory about fans secretly wanting Palace to be relegated so they can say they were right and because they enjoy moaning, complete nonsense in my opinion. I come on here to moan because A) it's a football forum and thus designed for moaning about football and B) My wife supports Millwall and when I complain to her about Palace she thinks it's funny.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

The wage bill comparative to other clubs is a key indicator. When compared to Wolves and Sheffield United we compare poorly, similarly Leicester if those numbers are correct.

For me this shows poor decision making and negotiating transfers.

We seem to knee jerk in getting players in as short term fixes, Sakho being a prime example.

Meyer's salary is high but depends how much we paid as extras when we signed him on a " free " etc.

Responsibility Deficit Disorder is a medical condition. Symptoms include inability to be corrected when wrong, false sense of superiority, desire to share personal info no else cares about, general hubris. It's a medical issue rather than pure arrogance.

No, I don't think we are "better". Every season the same relegation worries before we accumulate enough points to be safe, all with a higher wage bill. Amazingly in this space of time we've gone through six managers, which suggests there is not a solid foundation upon which to build, and frustratingly only one player of note has made it through the youth team and he was sold! We have, however managed to buy a number of middle of the road mercenaries, some on exorbitant wage levels. Add in the dire turgid unentertaining football espoused by the current manager which makes wandering round IKEA for 90 minutes seem preferable, and I think it is reasonable to say we are actually "worse".

Edited by southnorwoodhill (06 Jul 2020 7.06am)

Edited by southnorwoodhill (06 Jul 2020 8.02am)

The real nub of the problem is the style of football and dearth of goals.

If we were more entertaining, scored quite a few more goals, and the scenario was that we won some games quite comfortably but conversely were defeated by 3 or more goals on occasions, I would suggest that supporters would readily accept an 11th or 12th place finish which we have achieved under Hodgson.

Edited by Willo (06 Jul 2020 9.41am)

I'm not sure like for like wages or vaule of the squad is a easy comparison as wages and transfer fee inflation is always huge.

Comparing the team we went up with to the current side:

Speroni, Ward, Moxey, Gabbidon, Delaney, Jedinak, KG, Garvin, Williams, Zaha, Wilbriham

to;

Guaita, Ward, PVA, Sakho, Cahill, Riedewald, Milivojevic, McArthur, Ayew, Zaha, Benteke.

I'd say we've got better quality in most positions and better strenght in depth.

If the starting 11 in the side we were promited with were fit all season (swapping Bolasie, Moritz, and Murray). We might have got automatic promotion. We just had no strenght in depth at all. It was a fairly high risk stratergy which worked over the season.

Guaita is better than an ageing Speroni.

PVA, Sakho and Cahill are better than Moxey, Gabbidon and Delaney. Dann, Tompkins, Kelly, and Schlupp are far better the Ramags, Parr, and Jaz Richards.

We only really had O'Keefe as a back up holding midfielder, now we have Kayoute and McCarthy.

Mayer, is possibly an upgrade on Jonny Williams, Garvin and Moritz. Who can really tell though we never use them.

Would have Bolasie back (in his prime) compaired to Townsend/Ayew/Schlup.

Murray is better than Benteke, with Phillips as a back up and Willibraham as a last resort.

It looks as though we've invested too much in centre backs and holding midfielders and not given ourselves many attacking options. Was adding Cahill, Kayoute, McCarthy to the squad a good idea when we were desperately weak in other areas?

We're in agreement that the playing squad are significantly better now, player for player, reflecting the higher wages being paid. But with that in mind do you not think that progress should be reflected in some way, whether in our league position or how competitive we are on a match to match basis?

CPFC2010 and Steve Parish are the best things to have happened to this club, it's beyond dispute. This is the most successful period in the history of the club and I'm hugely grateful to them for saving us.

However, saying that shouldn't come with the caveat of abandoning all ambition for future progress. The bottom line is that we are spending more and achieving the same as we were 8 years ago whereas clubs like Burnley, Newcastle, Wolves and Sheffield United are all achieving more than us despite having been in the Championship more recently and on more modest budgets.

In the Championship there was always the chance that we might win promotion. With the Premier League sneaking into the Europa League or winning a cup probably represents the ceiling of what we can achieve. We had a genuine chance to achieve the former this season and I suppose I'm just disappointed that, barring a miracle, we've blown it and the the opportunity will probably go to one of a number of clubs that I don't view as being particularly bigger than us.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...