Saints got caught out too many times that ultimately cost them a place in the last 16 of an FA Cup competition that is now wide open.

The big question is how did Saints lose this game ? the tightest defence is the Premier League was suddenly ripped part by a Palace side that attacked us and caused us all sorts of problems on the break.

It all started so well when Graziano Pelle opened the scoring in the 9th minute, but within 2 minutes Palace were level, Forster did well to stop the initial shot, but failed to get it out of the danger area and it was prodded home by Chumash who was the quickest to react.

Saints were soon ahead again though this time an OG but again the lead didn't last long as Sanogo scored with the aid of a wicked deflection to make it all square again, Saints defence was so at sea it was no surprise to see it carved apart again in the 38th minute with Chamakh scoring what would turn out to be the winner.

Saints had plenty of possession in the second half and the introduction of Long looked likely to add something to the attacking aspect of our game, however his afternoon was to last barely ten minutes before he became yet another victim of Saints injury hoodoo which has seen almost an entire team sidelined at some point since he start of December.

It was one of those days for Saints and given that this was our first defeat since the exit from the league cup at Sheffield United we can't have too much cause for complaint, indeed in some ways it could be good to get a defeat out of our system, this game had an air of complacency about it, too often our players expected things to happen easily instead of working at it, by the time they had realised that it was too late for this game.#

Perhaps the biggest disappointment for Saints fans trudging out at full time was the news that Chelsea and Manchester City had gone out of the competition, there was a real feeling that we had missed a glorious opportunity against Palace to put ourselves into a last 16 that we had every chance of winning on a day that the top three in the Premier League went out.

But on thing this season that Saints have done and that is learn and hopefully they will do that from this defeat.

Photo: Action Images

saintmark1976 added 10:54 - Jan 25 Usually I find your comments balanced and mainly agree Nick.Not today. I thought the Saints were woeful yesterday and was left feeling sorry for all of our fans who had stood in the cold on Monday to make sure of a ticket. Starting with the team selection and substitutions,why play an obviously half fit Cork when Reed was arguably the man of the match at Newcastle?. Particularly against a Palace team every player of which wanted to make a good impression for their new manager.Tadic is a better player on the left but once again we played him mainly on the right.He should have been replaced by Long at half time with Reed coming on for Cork. Turning to individual players.What on earth was going on with Gardos? He simply was not at the races from the very first kick of the game.Forster once again flatters to deceive being unable to hold on to a routine save for their first goal.The dead ball kicking of Ward Prowse was well below his usual standard and despite scoring Pelle looked disinterested for long parts of the game. Having said the above, good luck to Palace who deserved the result.I thought they simply wanted it more than we did and deserved the win. Looking forward the manager and players owe the fans a big result next Sunday with or without our injured players

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LostBoys added 12:32 - Jan 25 Most have my comments have already been said by saintmark. There were some awful performances by Forster Gardos Cork and Tadic. The shooting on the edge of the box by Ward Prowse and Davis is Sunday League standard.
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simmo400 added 13:30 - Jan 25 Saints were very poor. If cork was playing to put himself in the shop window he can go on a free after his performance. Tadic also poor again. Can't remember their keeper doing much in the second half when we were chasing the game. Just not good enough on the day and the better team won on the day.
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halftimeorange added 13:50 - Jan 25 Was it just me but I didn't think the atmosphere was quite right. The Northam was unusually quiet which was unhelpful in view of Palace having arguably the noisiest fans in the PL. What you might call a subdued performance from us in a subdued stadium. I guess many of the regular patrons took the day off but, at the prices charged, I can't think why. When Swansea come next week I hope RK won't have given the players a few days off as he did before this game. Swansea have their own problems and we, players and fans, need to be ready to blow them away.

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darthvader added 15:52 - Jan 25 We wern't at our best but palace wanted it more . maybe a bit complacent ?. I thought forster had an off day and maybe injured himself early doors . Can't understand why reed wasn't used or isgrove , our attack was screaming out for pace . I enjoyed the atmosphere where I was stood but unfortunately the noise (and coins ,drink bottles) was mainly from palace fans but I hope they go on and win it now . Despite some of their play acting and conning of the ref at times . We did have a decent shot to make it 3-3 by I think the new boy but their keeper made a f@cking blinding save to nip it over the bar .

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SonicBoom added 16:43 - Jan 25 Sounds like quite a few disagree Nick. I feel for the fans who really got behind the push for cups this year. Home and away attendances have been great. You also said that what we have done is learn. Well we went out the capitol one cup to a team we had a good chance of beating and Er.........
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BarnetSaint added 17:21 - Jan 25 An off day for team and fans alike. They had power and pace up front, I fancy them for a top 8 finish next season.
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gpsgm added 21:00 - Jan 25 I think you must be the voice of reason amongst a lot of emotional basket cases Nick. We weren't 'woeful', the team don't owe the fans anything they tried their best and failed. You gotta lose sometimes. Palace were good and Pardew has got a great spirit in the team. We made mistakes. We're all disappointed and now we have to move on. 3rd in the Prem remember, same players and still missing a few. I do agree it was a shame we didn't start with Harry though, thing is Corky always needs a few games to get back up to speed and you have to play him to get him there. Maybe would have been better to do that against Swansea.

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IanRC added 21:57 - Jan 25 Unfortunate coming together of a number of things making me uncomfortable at the moment. The injuries to Morgan, Victor and now Shane, the absence of signed contracts for Nathaniel and Jack, the absence of Yoshida and the continued interest in the papers around Nathaniel and Jay. Hope it's just me and that we can pick up again next week. Incidentally due to the abysmal coverage on MOTD there was only the briefest chances of look at their third goal which looked suspiciously like it was offside. Can anyone clarify ?

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stmichael added 09:24 - Jan 26 Fraser Forster has been less than secure in a lot of games this season and Saturday was no surprise to anyone who has a balanced opinion of him and Saints in general. Nick is not balanced with FF and unlike previous keepers cuts him a lot of slack. I would also say that MOPO would be getting pelters today if he were still in charge. This season Saints had a glorious chance in both competitions and we have BLOWN it. That starts at the top with RK and the staff. In all honesty we had better qualify for Europe now because we have literally let the cups slip through our fingers with 2 dismal performances. Saints fantastic league performances and current position has allowed all concerned to gloss over these performances. Lets see what happens from here on in.

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TimSaint added 10:14 - Jan 26 Ian RC - I too had my suspicions that the 3rd may have been off side, but having checked it a few times, unfortunately it was a well timed run and although he rounded FF well, I thought FF could have got down quicker - but hats off to a good goal. FF should also have held the first shot for their first goal, but it was Palace's 2nd goal that really got to me. We closed them down well and the resulting hoofed clearance turned into a 'worldy' pass - picking out Zaha. Bertrand was in no-mans land and Gardos watched the ball go over his head. This drew Fonte over and left Sanogo free in the middle. His shot was going wide until Bertrand slid back to intervene / assist. Hopefully these errors can be addressed this week and we can keep the ball away from our defenders against the swans. I had a suspicion that there could even have been a recall for Jos as he is back from Norwich, but according to some reports, it looks like he is going to Millwall on loan.

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Zambucco added 10:48 - Jan 26 Palace came at us from the whistle it unsettled us too much. Let's not kid ourselves Palace are a very good team and are playing with the "we'll show them" spirit that we played with for a while. To me it seems as if the team is tired, even my favourite Steve Davis made far too many uncharacteristic mistakes. I'm starting to loose my patience with Tadic, who I think shoudl be running the show. Any player with any bottle would go against the Coaches plans, if he thinks he can make a better contribution. I'd like to see him have the freedom of the park, plus a bit more bottle in the tackle, okay I don't expect him to be a Morgan or Victor. Lallana wasn't the hardest tackler but he made an effort. Tadic has also started that most awful of mainly foreign players tactics, whingeging at everything that happens, meanwhile the game has passed him by. Pelle was also guilty of this a few times too. I was watching Fonte and he didn't seem to be commanding his defence, there was no leadership out there. We were still a good team and capable of wining, but take nothing from Palace they weren't frightened and they attacked well. If we lose Clyne let's sign ward, yes an ex=skate but a brilliant right back, and he handled the Northam brilliantly!

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IanRC added 10:55 - Jan 26 Thanks TimSaint
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trotsky added 16:59 - Jan 26 A poor performance, but nevertheless one that would have ended in a draw but for an extraordinary save from a superb shot. Shame - especially for Hennessy - that the BBC couldn't find 15 seconds to show it on Saturday night.
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TimSaint added 18:56 - Jan 26 Trotsky - what with it being an end to end game with not only lots of goals, but many other chances, I was sure that this would be one of the featured games on MOTD. Oh how wrong I was lol. Sure Bradford deserve all the plaudits and deservedly got top spot and I do understand that the beeb focus on potential giant killings, but certainly an entertaining game such as ours, deserved more than the just under 2 mins we were given - which included 30 secs of Post match manager interviews. Saying that though, I'm sure we don't want to show the nation had badly we defended on the day !! Onwards to Sunday and maybe we will have some positive news from the treatment room

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