The mind might be playing tricks-I've followed Palace since 1965 so it probably is, but I seem to remember a Roy Hodgson Blackburn side once beat Sheff Wed 7-2. It seems almost unimaginable that he could now even think of being that ambitious and give his players free rein. Of course, keeping Palace up in the season he arrived was a massive achievement, but my question is rather whether anyone at Selhurst has any handle on what progress represents? Do we just aim to survive relegation every season? Is that enough? Although Palace has had impressive results against some of the top six teams in recent seasons, I always feel that when we play Chelsea in particular, there is no real belief that this is a game that can be won. It's more a case of 'how do we limit the defeat to the odd goal?'Of course, Roy Hodgson has also managed Inter Milan,and I always get the impression that defending brilliantly and then nicking a 1-0 win is really what he thinks football is all about.
Picking up on previous threads, I wonder if there is agreement at Selhurst about what progress means? £20m doesn't buy much now, as Chris Wilder pointed out, just having spent it on Ryan Brewster and Palace's experiences of dishing out this kind of money on the likes of Benteke and Sakho (Liverpool must indeed regard us as a soft touch in the market)have not been unqualified successes. If you pay what we did for, say, Jordan Ajew, then you get someone as good as...Jordan Ayew. What is it, other than to give away fouls in dangerous areas, that McArthur contributes besides a lot of huff and puff these days? Is he really better than, say, Max Meyer? A big hurdle in the way of becoming a top ten club- which is presumably the 'next step'- is that only Cahill has won anything. It's true that Eze represents an exciting talent- before, no doubt being 'sold-on' to a 'bigger club'- (for such is the food chain),but does it have to be the case that with the squad we have now we must show as little attacking intent as in the games at home (!) to Brighton and in the first half at Burnley last night?

Agreed, if you're playing 4-4-2.
That said, I shouldn't think Sean Dyche was shaking in his boots when he saw McArthur and Riedewald lining up in central midfield last night. The latter's technically gifted, but one-paced, the former limited at this level.
Max Meyer looked an outstanding prospect at Schalke three years ago. He's never been given much of a chance at Palace and it's clear the manager's preference is for James McArthur. This preference for earnestness over flair is the problem I'm talking about. You need a midfield that creates.

it is not the fault of our manager or any other manager when his defence play like they've never seen a football before.

Some fresher legs at centre half are a must. We have a massive lack of pace in that area. Wan bissaka was so quick and covered up the problem it created when he was with us.
As soon as he was sold we had to drop deeper, then gaps between the lines were too big. Because of this we are very easy for teams to pass through.

Hopefully Ferguson when he flipping gets fit will push Clyne to play even better and I prefer Mitchel over PVA as a defender, Kouyate had his worst game this season last night and looked a disaster waiting to happen every time the ball went near him which sadly undermined our whole approach defensively going back and even more sadly moving the ball forward, such a shame because he has played so brilliantly in this position, he is definitely in the right place and should be kept there which is well away from anywhere else on the pitch, just hope he prepares and composes himself before the Newcastle game.

My impression is that we are not blessed with pace in nearly all areas of the pitch.

A number of players in the twilight of their careers and in this rather unusual season we could really pay the price due to the short pre-season and the physical demands of the PL.