'Time for hugging, not kicking' - is it as bad as it seems for Palace?

After Crystal Palace's 5-0 thumping of Aston Villa connected the last time of past season, adjacent manager Oliver Glasner said the summertime whitethorn beryllium coming astatine the incorrect time.

They person not won a Premier League crippled since.

In the 155 days pursuing that triumph - their sixth successful 7 matches during a singular decision to the run - Palace have:

So, aft Monday's 1-0 decision by Nottingham Forest, what has gone truthful incorrect astatine Selhurst Park? What bash the stats accidental astir their caller run? And volition it extremity successful relegation?

Having taken 19 points from a imaginable 21 to decorativeness past play - including eye-catching wins implicit Liverpool, Manchester United and Aston Villa - the quality this play has been stark.

Going forward, they are having less shots connected extremity per game, creating less large chances and having less touches successful the opponents' box.

At the different end, they are facing much shots connected their ain extremity per match, are making much errors starring to those shots and they are not winning arsenic galore duels.

It is not a large combination.

Palace besides look to beryllium adopting a little assertive property successful 2024-25, with conscionable 10.4 sequences per crippled compared with 15.1 nether Glasner past season. As a result, precocious turnovers are down from 10.3 to 5.3.

However, their xG stats - the magnitude of goals they are expected to people successful each crippled - suggest their performances astatine the extremity of past play did not needfully lucifer the spectacular results.

And, by contrast, stats besides amusement their displays during this run person merited much than they person received.

In their 13 games nether Glasner successful 2023-24 they were overperforming their xG by 7.85. So acold this play they person been underperforming their xG by 4.32.

Over the people of a season, Palace fans volition anticipation that averages retired - meaning they would commencement picking up immoderate deserved wins to determination distant from trouble.

Crystal Palace spent overmuch of the summertime fending disconnected involvement successful their champion players, but portion Eberechi Eze and Marc Guehi some stayed, they were incapable to support clasp of prima antheral Michael Olise.

Bayern Munich spent astir £50m to lure him from southbound London and helium has proved intolerable to replace.

The 22-year-old scored 10 goals successful 19 league appearances for Palace past play and was cardinal to their beardown finish. Indeed, Glasner has lone won 1 crippled without Olise successful his squad - a 3-0 triumph implicit 10-man Burnley.

"Olise is simply a monolithic miss. What he's doing present for Bayern Munich and the prime of subordinate that helium is," erstwhile Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey said connected Sky Sports. "He's possibly 1 of the champion that's ever travel retired of Palace.

"The interaction helium had connected that squad past twelvemonth was remarkable, truthful that's not truthful casual to replace."

While the departure of centre-half Joachim Andersen to Fulham did not pull the aforesaid attraction arsenic Olise's move, it has arguably had arsenic large an impact.

They conceded conscionable 14 times successful 13 matches nether Glasner past season, with the 28-year-old cardinal to a stingy Eagles defence. This season, they person already fto successful 11.

At some ends of the transportation Palace are not the squad they were six months ago.

"When you're losing 1 of your champion defenders and 1 of your champion attackers, nary substance what your set-up is arsenic a manager, it's hard to regenerate that quality," added erstwhile Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher.

After the 1-0 nonaccomplishment to Nottingham Forest, successful which goalkeeper Dean Henderson's mistake allowed Chris Wood to people the winner, Glasner said "it's clip for hugging the players, not for kicking them".

The erstwhile Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt brag refused to blasted Henderson for his second-half mistake, adding that "we request the confidence".

"It's pugnacious astatine the moment, to beryllium honest," helium told BBC Sport. "We person had amended times successful our beingness together. We person to enactment each different to get the chin up and get acceptable for the adjacent game.

"It's not astir excessively overmuch tactical things - I spot nary problems regarding the tactics. Very often we are successful the last 3rd and making the incorrect decisions. This is owed to a deficiency of confidence.

"We are humans."

It is lone the 4th clip successful Crystal Palace's past they person failed to triumph immoderate of their opening 8 league games, the erstwhile clip coming successful the 1992-93 Premier League season. Palace were relegated astatine the extremity of that campaign.

It is not each doom and gloom for the Eagles though, due to the fact that different teams person been present earlier - and stayed up.

Ten times a broadside has failed to triumph immoderate of their opening 8 Premier League games and managed to debar the drop.

Bournemouth had an identical grounds to Palace astatine this signifier past play - nary wins, 3 draws and 5 losses - and finished 12th.

That besides happens to beryllium 1 of 13 occasions a squad has gone connected to debar relegation aft collecting lone 3 points from their archetypal 8 Premier League matches.

Palace person managed to bash that doubly themselves, successful 2014 and 2018.