The words "Deja Vu" are fast becoming the story of this season as once again Saints put in a decent performance but ruined it with two lapses that cost them the game and a decent FA Cup run.
Virtually every game in this appalling run has followed the same pattern, Saints have dominated the game for long periods and have had their chances, but then all the good work has been undone by lapses in concentration and individual error.
After half and hour of this game Saints looked comfortable and had a few promising efforts and then from nowhere Yoshida passed to Steven Davis who under pressure played it back only for Yoshida to mis read the direction and within seconds Palace had broke and Saints were a goal down.
Yoshida should perhaps bear the brunt of this, but in fairness to him the return from Davis was a foot or so to his right, but the fact is he was playing a ball into a player with no other option than a return ball and under pressure, it was not the right ball to be playing.
In the second half Saints got back on terms within 6 minutes of the break through the excellent Oriol Romeu and from then on it looked like there would be only one winner, that is until Saints shot themselves in the foot again.
Firstly a Palace player chased down a ball that the Saints defence thought was going for a goal kick, by the time they realised it wasn't the ball was with Jason Puncheon, he dropped his shoulder and went past Tadic too easily, his shot was good, but not that good and Stekelenburg did not deal with it, rather than tipping it over the bar or round the post, he tried to punch it clear but succeeded in only diverting it into the path of Wilfrid Zaha who fired home with the keeper stood watching when a despairing dive might have kept it out.
Saints got up a head of steam especially in the final stages when the Palace goal led a charmed life, but once again Saints had snatched a defeat from the jaws of victory.
Something has to change, the old saying in football is that if you do the same things you get the same results and to be blunt it is the same suspects making the same mistakes, football is a team game and I have often said we need to win and lose as a team rather than pointing the finger at individuals, but reasonable performances are being undone by individual error and lapses in concentration and Im sorry but it seems to be certain individuals who are continually making the same mistakes.
With regard to the first goal, it is good to see that Saints are not afraid to play the ball around under pressure and are not panicking, but once again Yoshida attempted to be too clever with pressure mounting and played the wrong ball in the circumstances.
Something has to change our luck and for that matter our concentration, the return of Fraser Forster could be part of that and so could the return of Jay Rodriguez, but what it really needs is perhaps a new signing, even on loan to freshen up the squad.
The plus point of the day was the form of Jordy Clasie and Oriol Romeu in the centre of midfield who showed their could be life after Wanyama, also Matt Targett put in a great display and not only made several crucial tackles but showed that he can play a through ball and put in dangerous crosses.
Targett's performance showed that he has learned from his games in the early part of the season and used that experience to make him a better player, it also shows that the academy is still producing youngsters who can play in the Premier League