The banners at the match against Arsenal said it all. Blaming Roy let's the real culprits off the hook and you will get more of the same next season. Much as I agree with many of the criticisms of Roy's methods, he's actually a very good manager compared to a lot of the other twits out there. Crystal Palace managers have been used as smoke screens by CPFC owners for the last ten years. I've said this before a thousand times based solely on what has happened season after season for those ten years. The owners have no ambition other than to stay in the PL and reap the money. I even suspect that they don't want Palace to do TOO well and make the top six, as that would put pressure on them to buy a squad for European football. So, stop being hoodwinked by focusing on Roy, ultimately it's the owners, and if you fall for blaming Roy alone you will get what you deserve: MORE OF THE SAME. Last few games last season we were looking at a top six side EASY, and only needed to tweak a few positions well within our budget. What did the OWNERS do? 26m on an untried forward mid, and 20m on a GK. 46m! So don't fall for it. There is a plan in place. A business plan. And it ain't the BS the supporters are being duped into believing. That's my issue. Not the owner's arguably rightful ambition to just stay in the league at the least expense, but their LIES to the fanbase. Am I right? Or, am I right?

Put simply, if any other manager had been appointed at the beginning of the season we'd be in a better place right now.
So yes, Roy is fully responsible for his part in the current malaise.

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Which is why they have a better team and squad than us.

I don’t think it’s binary. Both are at fault here. We have leadership unwilling or unable to invest in the team. A manager past his sell by date. Not a great combination. We are rock bottom in terms of investment in the team in the league. The is a direct correlation to a teams performance in many cases. But Roy should be doing better with what he has.

The OP has entitled the thread "Don't Blame Roy!). Well I do blame him for what is in his area of control, namely, how he coaches the squad and how he sets us up to play.

He wonders how we always seem to start slowly (and concede the first goal - as I've said elsewhere, something we did more than any other PL team in 2023). Well if your first aim is always to try and stop the other team from scoring instead of trying to score the first goal yourself, what do you expect will happen?

As has been said by many, we are useless in both penalty areas when there are corners. Setting up defensively will (and usually does) result in conceding more corners than under a more progressive system. The game against Arsenal encapsulated this perfectly.

Our full backs seem to have little idea what to do with throw-ins other than (usually) give the ball to the opposition. Rarely do we see quick throw-ins from our players or players moving quickly to find space to receive the ball.

We have one of the worst shot-to-goal conversion rates in the PL.

And what is Hodgson's answer?

"Keep working on what we do in practice lads".

Sorry, his methods are well past their sell-by date IMHO. Football has moved on and it's time he did - into retirement.

Finally, YES, the board has much to answer for but that doesn't let Hodgson off the hook.