Raising this old chestnut again but personally wondering if it's a big part of our problems.

Do we close down the opposition well enough?

Do we dictate the pace of a game?

Why do we seem to concede so many free kicks?

Do we get too many muscular injuries?

Why do we concede more late goals than we score?

Tactics, team selection, motivation, leadership: All valid areas to question, so why not fitness as well?

Spirit of 1974

For me we got by for the first few seasons in the Prem by being a below average team with a WAY above average work rate/spirit. Now we are closer to being an average team but the work rate/spirit seems to not be AS good (not saying it's not there at all).

I've always said I'd rather have an average player giving 110% (which I know by definition isn't possible!) than a good player giving 70% and that's what I think set us aside in the past.

The worrying thing is that it seems to be just one of the issues:
Fitness
Concentration
Organisation
Discipline
Game management
Lack of Leadership and communication
Lack of effort from one or two players

There is crossover between these categories but they seem to in part stem from the fitness problems. I would even go as far as saying that Pardew's substitutions are a symptom of our fitness issues; going back to last season, Cabayes inability to finish a game must have cost us a lot of points. This season he's continued to take of central midfielders when in a narrow winning or closely contested draw, the sub completely messes up the organization of the midfield.

I also question the club and Pardew's transfer policy. We were supposedly in a period of 'transition', I took that as meaning bringing in better passing and possession players. I'm not really sure we've brought those players in; highlighted by the fact we signed no new midfielders and actually sold a key one who was also our captain. We seem to have become a more pressing team but that pressing style involved moving McArthur to the AM position and he and Benteke pressing as the 2 up front, this meant we sacrificed McArthurs energy in the midfield and we've gone on to see some horror show performances by the midfield, particularly against Leicester and Liverpool. Pardew did at least recognize this and moved McArthur back for the last 2 games, it seemed to work for the most part against Man City.

A recent table put us in 19th pos for miles covered. Not a sirprise

Nailed it.

COYP

This is part of an interview with Scott Guyett the head fitness and conditioning coach at CPFC in Feb 2014.

Perhaps fitness is something which slid for Palace at the start of this season. I questioned the impact of Tony Pulis on this side of things.

“Under Tony, the lads do have to be very, very fit. We look at the Prozone stats now and the players are doing a lot more now than they were under the previous regime.”

I ask whether Guyett feels that is one of the reasons for the Eagles’ recent upturn in results.

“I think that’s probably showed. It was difficult because we’ve had four managers in the space of twelve months [Dougie Freedman, Ian Holloway, Keith Millen and Pulis] and they all have their different ways of working.”

Guyett is still at Palace but it seems that Pardew does not demand the same level of fitness that Pulis did. Pity!