No Palace do not have the defenders who can control the ball and either pass it easily to an area on least contention or run forward with the ball and play defence splitting passes often enough. FeB is worriedabout his and has asked Milyovich to drop into defence, as he could do the job required. That is receive the simple pass from another defender and distribute it. Alternatively, run forward with the ball catching all those advanced opposing forwards out of position.
How FdB gets around this dilemma is anybody's guess, but he may try it initially as Huddersfield doesnt seem a stretch and against Liverpool away Palace have nothing to lose.

As FdB would say..."for sure"

This 100%
Slightly concerning we currently don't have the players for this. Reassuring that FdB at least seems aware of this and is trying to address it. I thought the same last year when AP started trying to change us to a possession based team... But thought he could do it with an entire defence who were completely uncomfortable with the ball at their feet.

FdB made a recent comment that his true favoured formation was 4-3-3 but that he didn't think we have the players to play that formation at the present time so he was going to go with 3-4-3 which I just find baffling.

The Palace squad has been built around the 4-3-3 formation for the past few years, so I can only assume he means we don't have the right players to play his iteration of 4-3-3.

I don't think we have the players for 3-4-3, much less than we do for 4-3-3. Like I said it is all a bit confusing but at the end of the day FdB will know far more than I could ever hope to when it comes to player types and how they do or don't fit a system.

Right now I would say forget which centre backs we do or don't have. We don't have a right sided wing back at all. Joel Ward is not a wing back and neither is Townsend.

Agree with this. It also requires a CM who can keep possession when receiving from the defense in tight areas and turn. So far, whilst puncheon keeps possession he just passes backwards. Loftus Cheek seemed to be the player who had confidence (in the WBA game at least) to take on the on the opposition when he was closed down.

Ideally a pairing of Luka and Loftus Cheek in CM would leave me happy but as Punch is captain, I can't see it.

I also agree with this. The way to counteract a 4-3-3 system is to press high when not in possession and move the ball into the space behind the wing backs as soon as you win possession. Dann, Tomkins and Delaney do not have the ball playing skill or the pass accuracy needed to cope with that pressure and that's why Luca has been drafted in as CB. Unfortunately whilst he has the skill he does not have the experience of playing as a CB which showed when he played in the Metz striker for the equaliser. Plus I think we need him as a defensive midfield player. I expect that the club are doing all they can to bring in a suitable CB to partner Riedewald. I also hope that we buy a proper right wing back as I am not convinced that Townsend can do the defensive part of that job.

Edited by The_postman (02 Aug 2017 1.09pm)