We won't do a Leicester and we will not qualify for Europe.

But if we let Steve and Sam carry on with improving everything slowly we should be fine.

Take each game as it comes and keep clean sheets.

Wasn't that Pardew's strategy at the beginning of this season, to mature the way we play? Didn't exactly work out, though had he not been such a bellend and sold Jedinak without replacement, then who knows.

He wanted us to become a more possession based side, then he didn't buy any midfielders... Genius.

I guess what I'm saying then is whilst I agree, at the moment those clean-sheets are coming when every player is putting in 100% effort for 90 minutes.

Should that always be the case? Yes. Is it usually? No. At certain points in a season, some players will be at 70% and some will be higher but maybe not many at 100% consistently.

For most teams, this seems to be okay, they still pick up the odd point here and there in games they probably don't deserve to.

For us, if 10 of our 11 break their backs for 90 minutes but our right back for example decides to have an average game, we tend to ship 3 goals.

There must be a tactic, formation or subtle tweak that allows for a below-par performance and still potentially get something from a game.

Every man last night was man of the match, as they were against Chelsea. That's unlikely to happen usually.

Edited by leejaneagles (11 Apr 2017 3.21pm)

I've just seen a post in a different topic about Palace finishing in the top 10, where someone has said it probably won't happen because we can't play the way we did against Arsenal every time as the players will tire.

This is something I have often thought over the last few years and does measure up well with all our seasons in the top flight so far.

We don't seem capable of playing a successful style of football without near killing ourselves for any win.

Watching Townsend run up one wing, across the box and then down the other to win a ball back is inspiring and incredible to watch and it exactly what we need in a relegation fight. But we couldn't do that for a whole season.

The flip side, if Townsend sticks to his winger position and doesn't get back, we lose every game.

Is there a way we can 'do a Leicester' next season by changing the way we play? I'm not saying win the league but there's no doubt if we could keep the same determination and results going we could finish in Europe. Trouble is, it does seem impossible to maintain the current intensity.

I'm trying to work out the differences between Leicester and Palace that allowed them to sustain it. I think the key was Vardy having freak stamina. The second would be having midfielders that can hold onto the ball for a long while and give Mahrez a bit of a breather on the wing.

I think Palace are set to be able to repliate this with the likes of Luka and Cabaye but unfortunately it would have to mean the end of Puncheon if our midfield had to take the pressure off Wilf.

It's not really anything to worry about, it's certainly not a complaint and I'm loving how we are playing at the moment, I just wish the players were robots so they could maintain this intensity and win the league next season!