Crystal Palace succumbed to defeat against Newcastle United in a game that followed a familiar pattern over the past three months, stretching back to the end of their 19-game unbeaten run at Everton.
An all too familiar tale since their last Premier League victory, the Eagles slipped down the table – rapidly falling 10 places to 14th in just under a month. Still, however, just four points adrift of the top five in a compact top-flight season.
Palace are now seven games without a win, achieving just one solitary point in the past five League outings.
It was very much the same old story at St James’ Park on Sunday afternoon. A dogged and determined display, with a tired group running out of gas, was undermined by a tepid attack and two more goals conceded from set pieces.
Palace are weak in both boxes as much of the early-season promise continues to dissipate.
Everything has come at once and all of the potential issues that Oliver Glasner could have faced have gradually piled up.
His team took to the field at Newcastle, missing eight players.
Long-term absentees Chadi Riad and Cheick Doucoure were expected back by now.
But in the past month, Glasner has lost the services of Daniel Munoz, Chris Richards, Daichi Kamada, Eddie Nketiah, plus youngsters Caleb Kphora and Rio Cardines.
Add to that Ismaila Sarr, who is representing Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, and Palace’s squad — already low on numbers — is creaking.
On Tyneside, both Jefferson Lerma and Nathaniel Clyne had to be withdrawn to add to the aforementioned absentees as the misery continued.
A lack of rotation, 32 matches into the season, means tired bodies and minds.
Whichever way he turns, Palace’s Austrian coach is encountering a new challenge, and just as winning became a habit during that incredible run, confidence is being eroded by all of the setbacks.
When Glasner turned and looked at the bench as he pondered changes, he would have seen that eight of the nine players available had just one Premier League start between them this term.
The exception being Justin Devenny, who is the footballing equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife. This time out, the technical 22-year-old was asked to fill in at right wing-back after Clyne left the field with a hamstring injury.
Contrast that of Glasner’s counterpart, Eddie Howe, who had more than £250m worth of talent to call upon. Howe was able to make changes and the outcome had a feeling of inevitability about it.
Toothless in attack
Palace have managed just two goals in their past five top-flight matches, and despite adding new club-record signing Brennan Johnson to the ranks, they managed just one shot on target as Nick Pope enjoyed an easy afternoon in the home goal.
Johnson had 40 minutes of training with the group prior to the game, and given that Glasner usually likes a good deal of time to bed in his new recruits, it would have been unfair to expect too much.
His profile is very similar to Sarr's, so at least things look positive moving forward on the right.
On the opposite flank, Yeremy Pino certainly tried and probed, looking more confident and attempting to make things happen, but as so often of late, attacks broke down in the final third.
Jean-Phillippe Mateta is not in his richest vein of form either, while other options, Christantus Uche and Romian Esse, are yet to convince despite showing flashes of skill intermittently.
Further reinforcement is required in this window. A real individual game-changer must be added to the systematic framework.
There is little unpredictability or players who can beat an opponent one-on-one. Whether that is a conscious choice of Glasner is unknown, but it is very much a missing ingredient within his selection.
A lack of ruthlessness in front of goal and missing big chances has been a regular talking point.
Will Hughes, who put in a huge shift, missed a great opportunity to put his side in front just before the break after being played in by Pino. The struggles in front of goal continue.
Set-piece again
Post-match Glasner was again ruing Palace's set-piece defence as another two goals were yielded.
The weakness has been exposed time and again, and as the Austrian coach very honestly pointed out, Palace cannot win games so long as the trend continues.
He promised to reassess the way they defended restarts again after another dismal afternoon.
Though Glasner may consider changing the current zonal system, he is certainly not helped by a lack of size and presence in the box, with Malick Thiaw’s goal forced home in a manner that provided a horrible reminder of the trip to Elland Road a fortnight ago. The backline were bullied into submission again.
Missing the physicality of Richards, Muñoz and Sarr — as well as the loss of Lerma, who has an incredible leap — are major factors too. But without them to call upon, Glasner and his staff must find a solution, at least in the short term.
