Roy Hodgson arrived at Selhurst Park in September 2017 to find a Palace side that lost their opening four matches without scoring a goal.
They went on to lose their next three league games under Hodgson, conceding 17 goals in their opening seven games.
The way Hodgson turned the Club’s fortunes around to not only become the first Premier League side to avoid relegation after losing their opening seven fixtures, but to nearly finish in the top half of the table was a huge achievement.
And he did this by sorting out his defence.
But, 12 months down the line, is Palace’s strength, and the reason Hodgson was lauded a saviour, becoming a weakness?
His reserved and unadventurous team selections have started getting the Eagles faithful irate.
Against Tottenham on Wednesday night, Hodgson chose a midfield of Luka Milivojevic, Jeffrey Schlupp, Cheikhou Kouyate and James McArthur.
All solid, reliable players, but most importantly – defensive.
We’ve seen managers utilize a three-man defensive midfield-wall before, but at the impressive new billion-pound arena in north London, the way Hodgson set his side up there was only going to be one winner.
READ: Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur 2 Crystal Palace 0 - five things
READ: Crystal Palace captain Milivojevic rues mistake against Tottenham
The 2-0 scoreline flattered Palace such was the lack of ambition, creativity, and most importantly lack of possession.
What would irk fans more than anything was that despite being eight points clear of the drop and realistically safe, Hodgson declined the chance to experiment with under-used players like Max Meyer, or try different formations with two-up top in Christian Benteke and Michy Batshuayi.
With a tricky trio of fixtures against Newcastle, Man City and Arsenal to come, one wouldn’t expect Hodgson to divert from type anytime soon.
But at what stage will fans start asking to see more adventure from their side?
READ: Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson on Tottenham Hotspur defeat
Some are already beating the drum.
Richard Broadley on facebook:
The lack of ambition and offensive play is frustrating the hell out of me.
I will still go - of course I will - but I’m just so bored watching us play right now ☹️
Bambos Michael:
He sets teams up not to lose, never to win.
Kevin Meacher:
Roy is in a rut of thinking we need three defensive midfielders every game
And there was more on Twitter.
Results and performances haven't been anyway near good enough. Most of the players look like they lack heart, fight, commitment.
— Famous CPFC (@FamousCPFC) April 4, 2019
Tactics are one dimensional.
Game management is almost non-existent.
I'm not even sure we have a coach.
Something needs to change. #cpfc
Too many Palace fans willing to accept the shitshow of tactics and intent we have seen this season. It's worrying. If we don't want better then why should they? #CPFC
— Rhys (@ItsRhysie) April 4, 2019
How Meyer didn’t come on yesterday I don’t know. We should be basing the team around the likes of Meyer and Reidewald they are creators but Roy has killed their confidence. @CEO4TAG #CPFC https://t.co/r2T8ZBaLtP
— Chrissy Palace (@ChrissyPalace) April 4, 2019
"It has obviously been a great evening for them but we certainly played our part; no surrender and didn't make life easy for them."
— Mike Timms (@MikeCPFCCan) April 3, 2019
Wow, Roy. That’s Teresa level delusion. #CPFC
As much as I love Roy and what he did last season, this season has been a total letdown. Last night was the worst game of Royball I've seen this season. Just hoping for a 1-0 going into the last 7/8 minutes then try and exploit their nerves in the closing stages.#cpfc
— rickerz (@rickerz61) April 4, 2019
I’m not even gutted about losing last night. I’m just gutted about the performance and the way we’ve played these last 4 games I actually feel embarrassed watching. I never in a million years thought I’d say that #CPFC
— Lianne Finnie (@MiissLiianne) April 4, 2019
Losing yes I can deal with if we put in a shift, battle, look like we are in the game but recently it’s so dull to watch his defensive tactics are completely nullifying the decent squad and attacking players we have, surely got to go in the summer #CPFC
— Mandy morgan (@mandyswagsta) April 4, 2019
Truth is we aren't going to keep our star players if we continue fighting relegation and boring the pants off the team and fans with these mind numbing tactics and dreadful in game management #CPFC
— Colcraster (@ColCraster) April 4, 2019
After another palace performance #cpfc pic.twitter.com/FsVSg1ZjJT
— 🧩Dan🧩 (@CpfcDan89) April 4, 2019
If only the team could match its fans #CPFC
— Keith Lindsay-Ayres (@keefywonder) April 4, 2019
So we’ve conceded the least with Meyer in the side and scored the most with Meyer in the side.... #cpfc https://t.co/DQc5pw99Ye
— Fin 🦅 (@CpfcFW) April 4, 2019
Benteke and Meyer need to start against Newcastle at the weekend. Knowing Hodgson, he will carry on playing Jimmy and play hoof ball to Michy... #CPFC #Hodgsonout
— Ish. (@SamIsmail1995) April 4, 2019
Deluded! #cpfc https://t.co/pQHszUdXcJ
— CPFC (@Steveg1581) April 4, 2019
Disappointing result for us yesterday. Too many individual errors. Formation too narrow. Wilf our only outlet, so three Spurs players around him whenever he got the ball. Very poor. Oh well on to the next game and congrats to Spurs on the stadium and result #CPFC
— Nye Roberts (@NyeRoberts) April 4, 2019
100% want Roy gone at end of season. He had to take most of the blame for tactics and lack of in game management but the players are just as much to blame. Does Roy instruct them to give possession away with sloppy passes and not track back? Big changes need to happen#CPFC
— Mark (@EagleMarkCPFC) April 4, 2019
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