Ronald Koeman made several changes, some enforced other not, but still Saints could not quite find their form and zest.

Saints didn't play badly in this game, they had 56% possession and with 15 shots that was 3 more than the home side, but the fact that Palace had 5 on target whilst Saints only had 3 perhaps gives an indication of why Saints lost this game, Palace played with confidence and Saints did not.

Ronald Koeman made several changes, Paulo Gazzaniga in goal was the most surprising in that in the absence of Stekelenburg you would have thought that Kelvin Davis would have got the nod, but this was not the case and Gazzaniga perhaps answered his critics by making several good saves and keeping Saints in the game in a short burst in the first half when the home side had three good chances in literally a minute, meaning the keeper was arguably Saints man of the match.

Saints stil looked out of sorts and lacking confidence though, it would be easy to blame the loss of two key players in the summer, but it is more than that, it is not that we are a bad team, we are just playing badly.

Palace are in their best spell in the Premier League, yet we were still quite comfortable, a brief period in the first half apart and really should have got something out of this game. Indeed it took a great save to keep out a Steven Davis header with the scores level.

Just as we seemed to have weathered the storm they scored and once again in we seemed to lose concentration in the minutes leading up to the break, Jose Fonte really should not have been outmuscled by Bolasie who breezed past him and pulled the ball back from the byline for Cabaye to put in from close range.

In the second half Saints were comfortable but so were Palace, we almost equalised in injury time and it took a smart save from Hennessey in the Palace goal to deny Shane Long, but that was too little too late and we did not trouble Palace enough in the final third.

Saints need a break at the moment, I though that maybe that came in the Villa game, but obviously not, all teams have a turning point in a season and we now need to find ours.

The season is still wide open in that with Spurs losing on Sunday we did not lose ground on them in 5th place, we now have the chance to close that next Saturday and we can do that, if the St Mary's home crowd stay with the team as the travelling support did at Palace on Saturday.

Photo: Action Images

SaintPaulVW added 09:45 - Dec 14 It's the poor shots on target/shots ratio in recent games that suggests to me that they are playing well enough to still be in it but are gripped by fear. Liverpool was obviously a freak result 6 goals from 7 shots! Hopefully they can snap out of it soon. Koeman needs to earn his money and settle them down at the moment. Looking at how Newcastle have turned a corner shows that it can easily be done from a far worse position. COYR now more than ever.

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Ali_Diarea added 10:29 - Dec 14 I think that, following the loss of key players in the summer, he have a duty as supporters to lower our expectations and write this season off and look ahead to next season when hopefully the exodus of decent players won't be so drastic as it has been the last two years. Talking about 5th place does a disservice to the rebuilding job that RK has done and will only set us up to fail. As supporters we need to accept that, whilst our squad is stronger, our starting 11 has taken a battering whilst teams around us have strengthened. A top half finish should be considered success this season, anything better and we should be dancing in the streets!

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TreeHugger added 10:30 - Dec 14 we are going through a bad spell at the moment, simple as that. We have quality in the side but have lost the rhythm to our game. I think losing morgan has had more affect on the team than we thought. He was integral to everything from defensive strength, attack and general balance. We are not scoring enough which is also a big problem. Before, if pelle was off form, mane would score, if he was off, then long would chip in, or tadic, davis also would get some crucial goals. At the moment, it seems everyone is off form. I thought Romeu looked strong yesterday and hopefully will continue to improve. Soares will come good but we need to give him time. Same as clyne did. Classie will be for next season which gives me hope that Ronald is sticking around. This season is not going to be as exciting as we hoped but lets still get behind the team. One big positive was Gazzinga. He was immense yesterday and showed flashes of De Gae. Best game i have seen from him and i think he should be given another chance while Forster makes his recovery

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SonicBoom added 10:47 - Dec 14 Ron is still by far the best man for the job obviously but he's lost his way recently and seems to be searching around for answers. Team selection was odd. Playing Davis, Romeu and Wanyama meant there was very little goal threat or creativity from the centre of the park. That means we have to go wider where Mane is in no form and neither is Tadic who was dropped. If you are going to go wide and cross the ball then it was odd to drop Pelle from the centre so I wasn't surprised we didn't score. For some reason we have lost confidence entirely and that includes the manager.

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helpineedsomebody added 10:53 - Dec 14 i have to disagree with some of your comments nick i watched the game & to me the team tried to play passing football all of the time we had 2 great chances in the game & both times there goalkeeper did his job from my point of view it was vvw who was out of position for there goal iwould love to see him play in the central midfield position along side victor & play yosi along side jose or florin when fit this team has plenty of confidence & is not gripped with fear its only people giving up all the time

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SaintNick added 10:57 - Dec 14 Things can change quickly as Newcastle showed, so there is no reason why we shouldnt turn things round, we are still only five points off of Spurs in 5th, I said success will be top 10 finish this season, take away last seasons top six and few clubs have managed a top 10 finish 3 seasons running . Yes some peoples expectations are too high, we have to keep building and consolidating and we will slowly get stronger, we have to forget the past, it is gone, all that matters is the future. This time last year we had just lost five games and everyone was moaning, saying Mane & Pelle were s*** and werent as good as those they had replaced etc, deja vu i think.

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saintmark1976 added 10:57 - Dec 14 Sorry Nick but I simply do not understand where you are coming from with this report. I was not at the game and can only go on what I saw on M O T D and heard on the radio.If it had not been for Gazza we would have lost by a hat full.Fonte was well and truly "done" for their goal just as he was all at sea for the Stoke goal at St Mary's. If it was Yoshida making these errors then he would have been vilified.Because it is Jose nobody appears to be bothered. In the last 16 games of last season and the first 16 of this we have accumulated 39 points which whilst not relegation form is pretty close to it.To me it is obvious that we are in decline and the question now is what is the owner prepared to do about it? Regretfully I suspect the answer will be nothing. As an aside can somebody please tell me what is the point of taking nearly 3000 fans to Palace the majority of which are dressed in red and white only to then play in green? We played in red and white in this fixture last season. I appreciate it is only a small point to raise but to me it just shows a disconnect between those running the club and its supporters.

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SaintNick added 10:59 - Dec 14 helpineed. sorry but it was Fonte that Bolassie left for dead for their goal and that created the opening,
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helpineedsomebody added 11:08 - Dec 14 hi nick so where was are other centre half then
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SaintNick added 11:11 - Dec 14 saintmark did i not say Fonte was completely out muscled and should not really have been. Saying that we have 21 points from the first 16 games of this season and only 18 from the last 16 last season, shows that we are not missing the players who have gone that we are improving and on target for 49 points this season What it does show is stats mean nothing and can be manipulated

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SaintNick added 11:13 - Dec 14 helpineed. once bolassie had done Fonte and got to the byline it was almost impossible to defend, who was meant to be tracking him though ? Van Dijk's job would have been Wickham,
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helpineedsomebody added 11:21 - Dec 14 hi nick so if wickham was on the halfway line thats where vvw should have been then
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SaintNick added 11:33 - Dec 14 Dont be facetiousI havent seen the goal on TV but Bolasie should have been tracked by one of our midfielders, but agan I reiterate once you let a player get into that position to lay a cross across goa then it is difficult to defend that cross
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helpineedsomebody added 11:43 - Dec 14 hi nick it was a pass not across & yet again your loosing your confidence man up not give up
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harrydunn999 added 11:47 - Dec 14 With the league being so tight this year lowering ambitions is a dangerous game, lose multiple games in a row and a slide down the table takes you past mid table. Swansea are falling thru the league,and who thought Norwich would suddenly find themselves in the bottom 3. I think we will turn the corner,but as fans I think we are correct to have lofty ambitions and desire the top 8- just as the players should not be content for mid table. I still maintain RK has been unlucky in the timing of classie injury,built his whole pre-season on him being a central cog and we have been chasing our tail in midfield ever since. It's abundantly clear how well spider made Vic look playing alongside him every week-his game hasn't improved and he hasn't stepped up. Top midfielders have great games when their team mates are not,they drive the team and can sometimes win games- Vic only shines when the team is winning. I'm also starting to fear for the identity, spider leaving has left just fonte and kelvin behind from the players who made the journey from the depths. We no longer seem to have that spirit and togetherness,and the lack of academy members in the first team squad only makes that worse. Funnier things have happened in football though and he way this league has gone, who fancies back to back wins at home for Saints ? Toby own goal b nice aswell !!

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saintmark1976 added 11:54 - Dec 14 Nick,yes you did.However my point was more to do with certain players receiving more criticism than others who make equality poor mistakes. In regard to stats I accept that they will always be open to interpretation. You appear to suggest 49 points would be an improvement at season end . I would suggest that figure would be exactly the opposite given that we obtained 60 points last season.Having said that what we can agree is that as things have been over the last few games I would take your 49 points with open arms!

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TimSaint added 13:15 - Dec 14 Palace's Goal Bert and Yoshi too close and both were going for the same header Yoshi won it but didn't get any power in it and gave possession away As Bert was out of position, Fonte covered Ball came to Bolasie (who was offside - but not flagged) He p1ssed past Fonte, then cut it back to an untracked Cabaye Cabaye should have been tracked back by Romeu ....or picked up by VVD ....or as a last resort, Cedric should have got back in to cover Result - a combination of errors, perhaps due to the formation we were playing and probable lack of communication between everyone. Too often we were torn apart by their wing play and sometimes Zaha and Bolasie were beating 3 of us at a time, which was utterly embarrassing. they deserved to win it, despite chances and possession. They created the clearer chances and it would have been more if Gazza had not pulled off 4 good saves. We had 2 Long chances and a Davis header worthy of a mention, but again our shots to goals conversion ratio took another hammering. Something is missing, so hopefully Koeman can earn his salt and install a bit of belief in time for Spurs this weekend. We are not a bad side, but I think if we don't get the first goal, we panic a little and if something goes against us, it affects us and drains our confidence. With a little luck or a decision going our way(for once), we can grow in belief, get on a run and get something from our next few games.

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IWOZTHERE added 14:13 - Dec 14 Bolasie was on fire! Made the difference, although I disagree with those saying we deserved to win, stats or no stats. That said, I thought some good came out of this. We worked hard, the defensive midfield set-up was pretty solid centrally, Gazz was outstanding and Romeu looked as though he 'wanted it!' Mistakes at the back again though, including Jose. Overall, it wasn't too bad considering it was an unusual mix, but Palace had a couple of players with more quality and apparent desire than us.

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davepid added 14:13 - Dec 14 Good point
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davepid added 14:17 - Dec 14 As I was saying! Good point made about last 32 games: simply we don't convert nearly enough of our chances , including a number of easy looking ones. Don't know the answer but it's a real problem. I don't want to see us playing well, I want us to win.
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IWOZTHERE added 15:03 - Dec 14 Palace set up aside, It's been slow build-up = defenders re-grouping in numbers= snatched at half chances. Clasie was supposed to provide faster transition but he's not turned up yet.
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saintsnutcase added 15:47 - Dec 14 There is no manipulation of statistics - since January ended we have been a lower half team, and recent results are no real surprise. We won't improve till we find a finisher. Mane should be the man but is not consistent enough.
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DPeps added 16:25 - Dec 14 When does a blip become a bad run? How long does a bad run have to last before it indicates a side with problems? How many times have we played well this season? (That doesn't include games where we've played well for 45mins and then looked nervy). I'd say: Chelsea, Liverpool away, Norwich (although they had 10 men for 70mins. I didn't see Swansea game so can't comment. I'm not trying to be provocative here, these are genuine questions. I'd suggest that we're an OK team playing badly. The main problem is that there's not enough creativity in midfield. Too many of the players we bought over the summer are not Premier League-ready. They're not bad players but they need a season to settle and adapt. Of all the players we were linked with over the summer I was most excited about the prospect of Cabaye. He's so important creatively and defensively for Palace. As Pardew says, 'he's worth all the pennies!' I wish we'd signed him as he seems to be exactly what we're lacking

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Whatsforpud added 17:54 - Dec 14 The goal we conceded was not the sort of goal that 3 central defenders should be conceding. Jose was beaten, then no one was anywhere near the scorer.
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IWOZTHERE added 18:18 - Dec 14 Agree with DPeps, some of us 'wets' have thought we've been convincing in very few games since day one this season (and have said so). Generally been low key because we had such a messy and unlucky start injury-wise.
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