NEIL Warnock described Palace's 1-1 draw with Stoke City on Saturday as a "war of attrition".
Two goals in three minutes was the stand out highlight in a relatively dull afternoon at Selhurst Park.
Warnock said: "It was like a war of attrition. If I was a journalist I'd probably lead with that, use that as a first paragraph.
"It's difficult when from the first minute you get teams that have got a set way; time wasting from the start and you've got to cope with that.
"The problem we had is we didn't keep the lead for long enough. You've seen how many efforts on goal and how many shots and really I think that we had to keep the lead longer than what we did.
"That was our biggest problem today."
Warnock was left frustrated again with Palace failing to create the opportunities they created in the game that resulted in nothing - as has been the situation in recent games.
"We are creating opportunities," said Warnock.
"I think we know the squad is a little bit thin; physical presence wise. When [Marouane] Chamakh came off we didn't really threaten them enough.
"We just need that extra; from the bench as well."
Palace travel to the Etihad to take on Manchester City next week yet Warnock remained positive about his side's chances.
He said: "We're at the Etihad next week not that they'll give us much chance there but you never know, we might come up with something against them and surprise everybody, that's how we are.
"I don't think you can write us off against anybody but we have got to create chances and we have got to get two or three players in the transfer window as quickly as possible and take it forward."
By Dan Gibbs
