That definition has changed though hasn't it ?

At the beginning of the season , '' good '' would be upper mid table or mid table.

Now it would probably be to stay in the Premier League. Which, to be fair, would satisfy the majority I suspect - me included.

I admire Parish's loyalty to his man, and Parish is no fool so he won't be taken in by the Saints result.

A defeat at Hull would spell real trouble given the next run of fixtures.

Without listing my perception of Pardew's strengths and weaknesses, I would simply say that as a Palace manager I think he has peaked and is past his best.

Old, Ungifted and White

I remain unconvinced about Pardew but he's clearly going nowhere at the moment and I wouldn't be unhappy if by some miracle I was proved wrong.

Edited by Henry of Peckham (09 Dec 2016 8.00am)

Denial is not just a river in Egypt

If I'd been told, when we were promoted that we'd now be in our forth season, I'd have hoped that, by now, we'd be competing for a mid-table finish and not struggling to stay up. The second half of last season was abysmal, as far as the league was concerned, and it was my view that Pardew should have been sacked after the FA Cup final so that we had plenty of time to make an appointment before the pre-season and the transfer window.

In light of how last season finished, I revised my expectations downwards and fully expected us to continue to struggle this season, which we have. In light of the continuation of our poor form, I would have got rid of Pardew after Swansea, to give us time to appoint before the January window. We didn't and now we're manacled together for the time being, for better or worse.

I'm not setting too much store, in terms of corner-turning, from the Southampton result as it appeared to be less about Pardew having a Damascus moment and more about player-pressure and his being in the last chance saloon. His comments after the game didn't convince me that he's actually learnt anything. He needs a result at Hull, and if he gets one, he'll have taken some of the pressure off himself.

However, what he actually needs to do is show, over the rest of this season, that he can set teams up well, with a proper plan, make sensible substitutions and close out games to get results. If he does that, I'll tentatively accept that he could be the long-term solution, but I'll be nervously awaiting the next bad run, which always seems to be just around the corner.

I really wanted him to succeed when we appointed him and he undoubtedly had a good start, but it seems that good runs go to his head and he starts to believe his own hype and lose the plot. If we do stay up, I'd suggest that, in our fifth season, we should be doing better than just trying to avoid relegation.

Bexley Dave

Can you hear the Brighton sing? I can't hear a ******* thing!

"The most arrogant, obnoxious bunch of deluded little sun tanned, loafer wearing mummy's boys I've ever had the misfortune of having to listen to" (Burnley forum)

Can a club of our stature really expect such progression ? Logically this would take us into the 'Champions League' and eventually to the top of the PL !!!!

We had made progress in the sense that nobody had predicted us to go down this season and if this is a regular occurrence and we end up like a Stoke etc then maybe this would be a 'Positive' for our club.Maybe this would represent our "Next level".

Edited by Willo (09 Dec 2016 9.12am)

I agree with you again. The thing is that even if he turns it around, there's always that concern the big bad winless run is not far away. It is risky, dangerous and unhealthy to a club's premier league status.

I think Parish is hoping he gets to the end of January in 14th+ position and then new signings mean bad results and winless runs stop. I think the problem there is that teams watch videos of our last few games plus the odd one v a similar club to them and in a relevant home or away fixture and have him completely sussed. So any form lasts a handful of games because once the formula he uses is worked out and a formula to beat him with is found, its used by all opponents thereafter. He can't stop the rot and they have the upper hand to stop him. Doesn't really fill you with confidence.

I came away from Southampton happy from a good result but some luck to get it from a poor Southampton and lucky goals. But the general experience hasn't been good for a long time. Turning up knowing it's going to be LLLLLLL.

COYP

This for me. He seemed like an ideal fit despite what the Geordies were warning us. In fact maybe a little bit because of it. Because everyone was saying what a basket case the Toon were and so it was going to make it even sweeter when we showed what could really be done when he was supported.

I wanted a former player, who held an important role in our history (even if he wasn't that good a player), to come in and turn us around.

The relationship with the chairman seemed a dream and he had positive long term ambitions.

But the problem is that even if he does well now (and even in this transition season, doing well should have been mid table with no real flirtation with relegation given the gross outlay on players) his arrogance, intransigence, and lack of humility make it almost impossible to really like him. I don't think there is much he can do to be fully redeemed in my eyes. I just feel like the relationship has run its course and everyone is just delaying the inevitable.

I don't think there is anything - short of a miraculous run that lifts us into upper mid table - that could turn around the negativity for me this season.

If he has a decent run, we end up 12th-15th, and then build on it next season, then that will start getting us back there.

Edited by OknotOK (09 Dec 2016 9.58am)

"It's almost like a moral decision. Except not really cos noone is going to find out," Jez, Peep Show