December 15 2004

Sandor Torghelle

Bolton, Charlton, Liverpool, Everton, Portsmouth, Norwich, and to a lesser degree, Arsenal. They all play with the lone striker up front.

The 4-5-1 and its various incarnations is the formation of choice for many Premiership managers desperate for points.

Palace are no different, Dowie choosing the formation to suit the players at his disposal.

Yet a number of Palace fans are restless, yearning for a return to 4-4-2, sensing it as a cure to our current goal drought.

On Saturday against Blackburn we saw how it might look, as Dowie shuffled his pack in search of three points.

Wayne Andrews looks a decent prospect but will need time after all this was not only his Palace debut, but his top-flight bow as well.

Vassilis Lakis once again did his best to get into great positions and then contrived to miss gilt-edged opportunities.

But the major disappointment was Sandor Torghelle. His second act of play-acting in the red and blue means he is walking on thin ice with Dowie.

Come January and the acquisition of the right centre-forward to play off AJ, and Palace will have a truly viable option of playing two up-front.

Live Croydon Guardian text commentary