To me last night's result and performance stemmed from very low confidence rather than tactics. We caught Brighton off guard by playing the high press and really should have taken the lead, but as soon as we went 1-0 down the players visibly seemed to sink deeper. Andersen made fewer long passes and the ones he did didn't find their man, Eze was awful and showed no belief in himself, Olise was too slow to make decisions, Mitchell's crosses were poor and Edouard looked lost.

Doucoure for all his hard work (and a couple of goal-saving challenges) needs to learn when to hold back from a challenge. I think he was saved by the fact Caicedo had just made a similar challenge without getting booked. Eze was the wrong player to replace him with as it gave Brighton more freedom in midfield and I have to say Mac Allister was head and shoulders the best player on the pitch. At least he won't be with Brighton next season (unless they break his legs). The one change I'll never understand is replacing Olise with Ayew when we're losing (unless he was injured). Ayew is a player who is much better defensively and at holding onto the ball, but that's it.

The only way confidence improves is with a win. Brighton were so bad at passing out from the back it was like they felt sorry for us. Arsenal will not be so generous and it is hard to see anything but a resounding defeat. While I've been more patient with Vieira than most in the end it is all about results and he must know his time is running out.

It goes without saying that Whitworth should be our MOTM for stepping up and being brave.

Challenges:

1) We don't have a single attacker who is fast.

2) Only Wilf is a skilled enough dribbler to beat defenders 1 v 1. Ayew can draw fouls, but he seldom creates a shot. Eze can slip past defenders only in midfield and while on the run. Olise can step behind a defender, but he must then deliver the ball immediately or he'll be caught.

3) No member of the squad is above average at heading of the ball. Most are below the Prem standard.

Unless Vieira & staff can drill some wonderfully creative or intricate patterns of movement into the squad, goals will mostly derive from mistakes and second chances afforded us by the opposition.

Talk Sport pundit Alvin Martin, said “Palace have become easy for opposition to work out” and “if they had ‘a Harland’ up front, they’d have been two up after 20 mins”. Well which team wouldn’t! The obvious lack of quality in our supposed strikers must surely feed down to the rest of the team. The first 15 mins v Brighton showed that with the right approach and mindset, we can cause a real threat to the best teams but without a ‘proper’ striker, little will change. There just seems to be a general malady throughout the team, which, combined with PV’s apparent reluctance to try something different, is dragging us down. Why not play Hughes or Mac in midfield or even Schlupp up front...can he be any worse?

Where Danny Butterfield when we need him?

As to relegation, it looks a distinct possibility right now, but thankfully there are at least 3 candidates who should ‘save’ us