The bottom line is that we didn't have to beat anyone decent to get to the Semi final. If you chose a joint Chelsea/Palace XI, it would feature eleven Chelsea players. A player who Chelsea sent out on loan has made an appearance for England which is credit to Palace but puts the thing in perspective.
We play better football than last season and we have become harder to beat. It is a fact, however, that we have won seven league games in thirty one outings.

Just to reiterate the point I made earlier: without Gallagher's industry we just cannot compete at the level required to win this type of game. I wouldn't cite Eze as Gallagher's replacement, a completely different type of player; that said I think Eze is the most overated player currently on the books.
Without Gallagher Vieira gambled, mixed it up, and ultimately came up short. Quite evident that we need a right back, a decent box to box midfielder, and another striker at the very least.
Next season should be interesting.

To beat the top teams the game plan has to be right or lucky and your best players have to perform

Didnt happen , it was a fun ride though . COYP

And we still need a striker

Shows Palace need to invest again this summer. Gallagher will probably back he can get ahead of Werner for Chelsea's first team.

Finding a replacement for him is very difficult. Striking wise there are options: Mateda and hopefully Edouard plays more next season and does well. Midfield is where the main investment is needed.

I thought we did well actually, and I'll defend PV's game plan.

1) We were never going to dominate play. We needed to take our chances, and we missed 3 good ones: Andersen's header, Kouyate's header, and Kouyate's drive off the post.

2) Defensively, our formation and team play was fine. Only two individual errors led to the goals. Chelsea seldom threatened.

3) Up front, I suspect PV hoped Wilf would have a greater chance of earning a penalty if he played nearer the center.

4) Our lack of pressure seemed more of a tactical choice than a matter of Gallagher's absence. I think PV feared that Chelsea would burn us if we tried to apply pressure high.

5) As for man selection, I believe PV wanted to spread the wealth, share the load, reward the veterans. I can't argue.

It took a superb shot in the 66th minute for the game to turn against us and even then, we had a chance if Andersen had executed a routine header from point-blank range. For a side with exactly 0 players who would see much, if any, playing time for Chelsea, we played well enough to pull off a massive upset.

Oh well. We didn’t deserve that. If Anderson had buried the sitter header we may have been lifted and gone on to win but you reap what you sow. Very poor last 25 mins.

The beatings will stop when morale improves.