I don't want to be pessimistic, and of course it is very early days, but I didn't see any sort of quality in Franca whatsoever last night, or in his previous sub appearances.

He is obviously very keen, which might be affecting his decision-making, but he seemed to have almost no judgement or awareness at all.

In terms of distribution, he was trying passes which were never, ever there to be played, ignoring ones that were, but most of all making a below-average job of even those passes he did identify.

At one point just before he came off, he tried a left foot pass through to Eze in the box (when Eze had clearly been tracked by covering defenders) and sort of blundered it in there at knee height. It went flying out for a goal kick. Eze gave him an encouraging clap, but must have thought 'WTF?'.

A couple of minutes later Franca had the ball wide right during a period where we had Everton pinned back. Andersen stepped forward into the right-back position to offer Franca support. Our players could see what was happening and started getting ready for a cross into the box from Andersen, who was clearly setting himself to whip a first-time ball into the area.

Franca held it too long, giving Everton players a chance to get close and then, instead of setting the ball in front of Andersen's right foot to allow a first-time cross, he played it too heavily just outside Andersen's left foot. Andersen had to take three touches just to prevent the counter.

These are very small details, but they smack of poor quality, and Franca did it all night.

Finally, his judgement when running with the ball was poor. His best moment came in the first half when he got away from the left-back on the halfway line and ran at the centre of the Everton defence. He got a free kick in a good position, but it was a needless foul - Franca had already played his pass, to nobody, despite having two well-placed players to pick from.

The moment in front of the Holmesdale, when he got the ball in a 1v1 with Mykolenko out by the corner flag, summed up my concerns. Franca faced his defender, touched the ball to the right and advanced as if he expected the defender to just disappear into thin air. Mykolenko, who is a young and average player himself, just casually stepped in front of the ball, leaving Franca helpless as it rolled out of play for a goal kick. No forward beats his man every time, but it was a really weird attempt to begin with, as if Franca had never played against an adult before.

It would be unlike Palace to spend north of £15m on a player without careful research, so I presume he looked the part before arriving here. Based on what I have seen though, I am not sure what type of player he is supposed to be. He is not slow, but certainly not rapid. He seems to do everything too frantically to be a passer. I wonder what position and style he thinks he plays best in?

The lad is very young, a long way from home, and trying to play in a very different and much higher standard of football. He will need many more games to have any chance, but so does every young player. Most don't get them, because you have to be useful (to some extent) pretty quickly just to get those first 20-30 games. Based on last night, I'm not sure why Franca is going to get them apart from the price tag.

I would, or course, love him to do well.

I don't want to be pessimistic, and of course it is very early days, but I didn't see any sort of quality in Franca whatsoever last night, or in his previous sub appearances.

He is obviously very keen, which might be affecting his decision-making, but he seemed to have almost no judgement or awareness at all.

In terms of distribution, he was trying passes which were never, ever there to be played, ignoring ones that were, but most of all making a below-average job of even those passes he did identify.

At one point just before he came off, he tried a left foot pass through to Eze in the box (when Eze had clearly been tracked by covering defenders) and sort of blundered it in there at knee height. It went flying out for a goal kick. Eze gave him an encouraging clap, but must have thought 'WTF?'.

A couple of minutes later Franca had the ball wide right during a period where we had Everton pinned back. Andersen stepped forward into the right-back position to offer Franca support. Our players could see what was happening and started getting ready for a cross into the box from Andersen, who was clearly setting himself to whip a first-time ball into the area.

Franca held it too long, giving Everton players a chance to get close and then, instead of setting the ball in front of Andersen's right foot to allow a first-time cross, he played it too heavily just outside Andersen's left foot. Andersen had to take three touches just to prevent the counter.

These are very small details, but they smack of poor quality, and Franca did it all night.

Finally, his judgement when running with the ball was poor. His best moment came in the first half when he got away from the left-back on the halfway line and ran at the centre of the Everton defence. He got a free kick in a good position, but it was a needless foul - Franca had already played his pass, to nobody, despite having two well-placed players to pick from.

The moment in front of the Holmesdale, when he got the ball in a 1v1 with Mykolenko out by the corner flag, summed up my concerns. Franca faced his defender, touched the ball to the right and advanced as if he expected the defender to just disappear into thin air. Mykolenko, who is a young and average player himself, just casually stepped in front of the ball, leaving Franca helpless as it rolled out of play for a goal kick. No forward beats his man every time, but it was a really weird attempt to begin with, as if Franca had never played against an adult before.

It would be unlike Palace to spend north of £15m on a player without careful research, so I presume he looked the part before arriving here. Based on what I have seen though, I am not sure what type of player he is supposed to be. He is not slow, but certainly not rapid. He seems to do everything too frantically to be a passer. I wonder what position and style he thinks he plays best in?

The lad is very young, a long way from home, and trying to play in a very different and much higher standard of football. He will need many more games to have any chance, but so does every young player. Most don't get them, because you have to be useful (to some extent) pretty quickly just to get those first 20-30 games. Based on last night, I'm not sure why Franca is going to get them apart from the price tag.

I would, or course, love him to do well.

I don't want to be pessimistic, and of course it is very early days, but I didn't see any sort of quality in Franca whatsoever last night, or in his previous sub appearances.

He is obviously very keen, which might be affecting his decision-making, but he seemed to have almost no judgement or awareness at all.

In terms of distribution, he was trying passes which were never, ever there to be played, ignoring ones that were, but most of all making a below-average job of even those passes he did identify.

At one point just before he came off, he tried a left foot pass through to Eze in the box (when Eze had clearly been tracked by covering defenders) and sort of blundered it in there at knee height. It went flying out for a goal kick. Eze gave him an encouraging clap, but must have thought 'WTF?'.

A couple of minutes later Franca had the ball wide right during a period where we had Everton pinned back. Andersen stepped forward into the right-back position to offer Franca support. Our players could see what was happening and started getting ready for a cross into the box from Andersen, who was clearly setting himself to whip a first-time ball into the area.

Franca held it too long, giving Everton players a chance to get close and then, instead of setting the ball in front of Andersen's right foot to allow a first-time cross, he played it too heavily just outside Andersen's left foot. Andersen had to take three touches just to prevent the counter.

These are very small details, but they smack of poor quality, and Franca did it all night.

Finally, his judgement when running with the ball was poor. His best moment came in the first half when he got away from the left-back on the halfway line and ran at the centre of the Everton defence. He got a free kick in a good position, but it was a needless foul - Franca had already played his pass, to nobody, despite having two well-placed players to pick from.

The moment in front of the Holmesdale, when he got the ball in a 1v1 with Mykolenko out by the corner flag, summed up my concerns. Franca faced his defender, touched the ball to the right and advanced as if he expected the defender to just disappear into thin air. Mykolenko, who is a young and average player himself, just casually stepped in front of the ball, leaving Franca helpless as it rolled out of play for a goal kick. No forward beats his man every time, but it was a really weird attempt to begin with, as if Franca had never played against an adult before.

It would be unlike Palace to spend north of £15m on a player without careful research, so I presume he looked the part before arriving here. Based on what I have seen though, I am not sure what type of player he is supposed to be. He is not slow, but certainly not rapid. He seems to do everything too frantically to be a passer. I wonder what position and style he thinks he plays best in?

The lad is very young, a long way from home, and trying to play in a very different and much higher standard of football. He will need many more games to have any chance, but so does every young player. Most don't get them, because you have to be useful (to some extent) pretty quickly just to get those first 20-30 games. Based on last night, I'm not sure why Franca is going to get them apart from the price tag.

I would, or course, love him to do well.

I would certainly agree that a player with a positive mindset (i.e. one who wants to attack the opposing defender) is a rare and valuable commodity. The younger Zaha was blessed with it - he never, ever passed the ball backwards when he got it.

Thing is, you have to produce something or you are just running up dead ends and blind alleys.

The ability has to match the mindset.

I don't want to be pessimistic, and of course it is very early days, but I didn't see any sort of quality in Franca whatsoever last night, or in his previous sub appearances.

He is obviously very keen, which might be affecting his decision-making, but he seemed to have almost no judgement or awareness at all.

In terms of distribution, he was trying passes which were never, ever there to be played, ignoring ones that were, but most of all making a below-average job of even those passes he did identify.

At one point just before he came off, he tried a left foot pass through to Eze in the box (when Eze had clearly been tracked by covering defenders) and sort of blundered it in there at knee height. It went flying out for a goal kick. Eze gave him an encouraging clap, but must have thought 'WTF?'.

A couple of minutes later Franca had the ball wide right during a period where we had Everton pinned back. Andersen stepped forward into the right-back position to offer Franca support. Our players could see what was happening and started getting ready for a cross into the box from Andersen, who was clearly setting himself to whip a first-time ball into the area.

Franca held it too long, giving Everton players a chance to get close and then, instead of setting the ball in front of Andersen's right foot to allow a first-time cross, he played it too heavily just outside Andersen's left foot. Andersen had to take three touches just to prevent the counter.

These are very small details, but they smack of poor quality, and Franca did it all night.

Finally, his judgement when running with the ball was poor. His best moment came in the first half when he got away from the left-back on the halfway line and ran at the centre of the Everton defence. He got a free kick in a good position, but it was a needless foul - Franca had already played his pass, to nobody, despite having two well-placed players to pick from.

The moment in front of the Holmesdale, when he got the ball in a 1v1 with Mykolenko out by the corner flag, summed up my concerns. Franca faced his defender, touched the ball to the right and advanced as if he expected the defender to just disappear into thin air. Mykolenko, who is a young and average player himself, just casually stepped in front of the ball, leaving Franca helpless as it rolled out of play for a goal kick. No forward beats his man every time, but it was a really weird attempt to begin with, as if Franca had never played against an adult before.

It would be unlike Palace to spend north of £15m on a player without careful research, so I presume he looked the part before arriving here. Based on what I have seen though, I am not sure what type of player he is supposed to be. He is not slow, but certainly not rapid. He seems to do everything too frantically to be a passer. I wonder what position and style he thinks he plays best in?

The lad is very young, a long way from home, and trying to play in a very different and much higher standard of football. He will need many more games to have any chance, but so does every young player. Most don't get them, because you have to be useful (to some extent) pretty quickly just to get those first 20-30 games. Based on last night, I'm not sure why Franca is going to get them apart from the price tag.

I would, or course, love him to do well.