OUR columnist ALEX WHITE sees plenty of positives in Crystal Palace's display at Everton - but wants the fans to lay off one summer signing in particular...
INTERESTINGLY enough, Palace find themselves with eight different goal scorers for each one of their goals this season.
This is fantastic compared to last term where goals were incredibly hard to come by and we became heavily reliant on the likes of Jason Puncheon and, later on in the season, Dwight Gayle.
What I also found interesting in comparison to last season is the strength in depth we now have. To leave the likes of Zaha and Gayle on the bench and leave Williams and Bannan out of the squad but still come away with three points is amazing. I think most fans would've laughed if you told them before kick-off we'd get a result with leaving those players out.
When the starting 11 was announced, most fans seemed surprised by the absence of Zaha and especially Dwight Gayle. To start Fraizer Campbell was a risk but ultimately one that paid off. The likes of Campbell are paid to be in the right place at the right time and that he did in scoring at Goodison.
We were far too deep in the opening 20 minutes which Warnock was understandably frustrated about. He addressed that at half-time. We played 10 yards higher up the pitch which resulted in a much-improved second half performance and Warnock's first win.
The players initially tried too hard to stick to a Pulis plan and they seemed confused. We defended deep but it differed from the old style as we didn't maintain the discipline and structure we did under our previous boss.
The Palace faithful haven't taken too fondly to Campbell which I think is harsh as I struggle to criticise a player when he has done nothing wrong. What saddened me was to see him go down injured and some of our own fans cheered at the possibility of him not being able to carry on. That isn't what we are about and hope that this sort of attitude doesn't continue.
I don't like to moan after what was a fantastic result and second half performance but I'm still really baffled as to why we spent good money on Zeki Fryers and persist in playing Joel Ward at left back. Nothing against Martin Kelly - I think he has been good and in fact Sunday was his best game - but Joel's best position is right back and that's where he should be playing.
One thing we did retain from the old regime was our spirit and belief. Roberto Martinez said his side lost the psychological battle when we came back to 1-1 showing that the mental toughness, determination and self-belief that kept us in the Premier League for the first time didn't depart along with Tony Pulis.
