We lost to Palace, the same as we lost to Burnley & Southampton away, it happens. Football has occasions like this, hence why Burton Albion made it to the semi finals of the League Cup this season.
Some of the semi finals haven't gone our way, some we've underperformed in it happens. Consistency is the benchmark and we've consistently achieved top 4 for multiple seasons now and even though we've hit a really bad patch of form we are still bookies favourites to do so again.
Year on year our stature as a football club is growing. When Pochettino came in he has the likes of Kaboul, Adebayor, Stambouli and Fazio in his squad for the opening match of the league season. Even though we've hit some shit for, we've equalled our record for most away wins this season which cannot be overlooked.
Our strongest defence in my opinion, one consisting of Rose Alderweireld Vertonghen & Aurier haven't played a minute of league action together all starting and our four up top have mustered 6 starts from a possible 43 games played due to injuries, international duty etc. We are currently 3rd despite playing half of our league fixtures in front of a 2/3rds empty Wembley stadium. Yes the last 4 league fixtures have been poor returns but the supporters of the club really do need to cut it some slack at the moment.
Since we last signed someone the following teams have signed the following players:
Woolwich - Aubemayang, Lichsteiner, Sokratis, Leno, Guendouzi, Torreira, Denis Suarez, Mkhitaryan.
C£155m spent
Chelsea - Kepa, Pulisic, Jorginho, Higuan, Kovacic, Emerson, Barkley, Giroud.
C£250m spent.
Liverpool - Van Dijk, Allison, Naby Keita, Shaqiri, Fabinho.
£225m spent
Man U - Alexis Sanchez, Fred, Dalot.
Market value £100m spent
Man City - Laporte, Mahrez.
£120m spent
All of these players have signed for their clubs since we last signed someone in a transfer window. How anyone sees us still above teams that have spent on some occasions 10x more than us like Chelsea have yet us still be above them as a failure I honestly will never know or understand.
Us holding our own against all of the above imporovements is a huge success, yet some see the black and white of trophy or no trophy as ultimate failure. The teams we compete with in the top 6 have spent roughly what £850m+ on talent since the last time we forked out. People need to be realistic and stop putting unnecessary pressure on the club when it is more than holding its own