cJust got home from the game.

To get some perspective, we have been beaten away from home by a top 6 team. And not thrashed either.

But it was the manner of the defeat that was disappointing. I thought we did well to still be level at half time because Spurs were playing some decent stuff. Survive for the 10-15 mins of the 2nd half and they could become frustrated. But having conceded on 55 mins, that was the time for Roy to gamble and try something different and he didn't do it.

I've staunchly defended Roy on here against some ( in my opinion ) unwarranted criticism, but the timing of the substitutions was wrong tonight.

This post has been merged from a topic called 'Depressing - Poor - Ambitionless Football' by Midlands Eagle

I'm not going to defend tonight's performance, it wasn't good by our standards.

Would have liked to have seen us go for it a bit more, especially at 1 nil. Puzzled as to why Roy didn't make the changes then, giving the likes of Tekkers and Andros a bit more time to get into the game.

Perhaps if Roy had gone for it a bit more, we would have got something from the game, but we could just as easily have been picked off and lost by more. Is it better to lose 3 nil while "going for it" versus being cautious and losing 2 nil? I don't know.

There have been a few flat performances this season. A few very good ones too. But is this really enough of a reason to call time on Roy, because we haven't been 'that great' this season?

Would Palace fans really be that much happier with a younger, more attacking "forward-thinking" manager? Let's say, for arguments sake, we got someone in like Eddie Howe...

I mean look at Bournemouth's away results at the top 6:

Chelsea 2 Bournemouth 0
Man City 3 Bournemouth 1
Spurs 5 Bournemouth 0
Man Utd 4 Bournemouth 1
Liverpool 3 Bournemouth 0
Arsenal 5 Bournemouth 1

Pretty bad results for a more "adventurous" style of football. Would we be happy with these kinds of score lines?

I think it just underlines how tough it is for us smaller premier league clubs. Do you stick or twist? Roy tends to be more cautious at times, but we rarely get spanked. Our goal difference isn't bad at -5, considering where we are in the table. But at the same time, you could argue that Bournemouth's play is generally a bit more entertaining, even if they get spanked a few times. End result is we'll probably finish on a similar points total to Bournemouth like last season (even though we played for half a season without a recognised striker). In my view that's not too bad for a club like palace. Relative safety.

Parish and board will probably stick, rather than twist, and keep Roy. I personally don't think it's that bad, he's a safe pair of hands, we're unlikely to get relegated with him as boss. Might even improve a bit next season, given a bit of backing to improve the overall squad.

But if we twisted and did change the manager, who would we get? Eddie Howe probably wouldn't come to us. Others like Lampard and Wagner have been mentioned as being possible options, in a similar vein to Howe. Are they safe pairs of hands or quite a big gamble?

What about others? Southampton managed to get Ralph Hasenhüttl. He's being praised for turning them around this season. Yet their form in 2019 is really no different to Palace under Roy (although Ralph does thump his chest like Klopp, perhaps that's all fans want these days). Could we attract someone similar, with a growing reputation? E.g. Mark Van Bommel is doing a good job at PSV, would he be a good option? Would he give up champions league to come to Palace? Even if he did, look what happened when we got FDB, another manager who had done well in the dutch league.

There's really no magic wand for this.