I like the way the back line are more settled in possession. Ironically I think this may be because we don’t have Cabaye to collect it 70% of the time so they’ve had to develop and I think this part of their game has generally improved.

But it’s also the case we are taking minimal risks to protect the clean sheet for as long as possible to nick a goal and 3 points, or even 1, seeing as I’ve seen our tactics a goal down remain unchanged from when it was 0-0. Thankfully it works because we have 4 quality players there plus a couple of backups with just about enough goals to scrape the points. It’s just frustrating when you watch us accept plan A won’t work this week but may work the next week or the week after if you’re there or up north somewhere when a sometimes obvious slight tweak may earn us more.

I’m interested to see how this evolves next season if Roy retires because with a good back 4 and central midfield you’ve got a solid basis for a new manager to begin with. There may well however be the challenge of Zaha leaving, maybe Bissaka as well although if we had some knowledge of players outside of the Prem we could deal with Bissaka leaving more than adequately without having to buy 2 in January and overpaying on limited players like Schlupp.

And after Guaita’s near mishap vs Vardy I’m more relaxed and I reckon so are our defenders.

COYP

Also, OP, we are 4th in the list of most Premier League clean sheets for 2018/19.

Palace since 19 August 1972. Palace 1 (Tony Taylor) Liverpool 1 (Emlyn Hughes)

Agreed, loads of clean sheets aswell.

Conceding goals is also linked to style of play of course, but all in all we have a very good back line.

AWB is truly a fantastic player, he can stop the cross and makes an insane number of tackles and ball wins.

PVA is pretty good defensively lately, he needs to be better going forward though but is turning a corner there.

Tomkins was exposed badly vs Brighton but since coming back in has done well, and lets face it he was a great purchase at the price.

As for "I wanna be champions league" / mad as a bag of snakes Sakho, he has seemingly ironed out some of the hair raising moments, and is as physically dominating as he is in the air.

Defo our best defence in the new premier league are and its not close.

Trump lost. Badly. Hahahahahahaha.

I think this has the makings of one of the best all time
in terms of central back pairings and goalkeeper. Not sure if it betters Martyn/Young/Thorn in 1992/93 as far as Premier League years - although Young was past his best by then

Earlier competition would be the Burridge/Cannon/Gilbert and Jackson/McGoldrick/Blyth

Of course, they have Kouyate and Luka as predominantly defensive midfielders in front of them which helps at one end and hinders at the other

Makes up for not being able to score!

The right place at the right time

Jackson, McCormick, Blyth..

Fast Eddie was a few years later