The defense has been abysmal and the midfield somewhat disorganized. Benteke has played well thus far, though his PK on Boxing Day was terrible. I haven't looked at the updated table, but the number of goals conceded by Palace is bottom-3, and a large number of those occurred within the closing minutes of a half and/or in stoppage time. I think they are mid-table in terms of goals scored, with Benteke probably leading the team. I know he didn't fit well with Liverpool, but he's been pretty good up top for Palace. All that said, Palace has slide dramatically in the last 12 months. Last year around Christmas, they were in the top 5-7 in the league (mostly with smoke & mirrors), and then they didn't win a league game for about 4 months. They were never close to relegation, but they were close to having to think about it. This year has been more of the same, only with more goals (both ways).

I just know that they paid a lot of money for a player that is really limited in what he can do. He's not going to offer much on defense and really requires a lot of service to be productive, which lends itself to very little flexibility in system(s). He seems like a good fit for Tony Pulis - except for when Pulis is completely parking the bus and just wants to play with speedy forwards to steal a goal on a break.

I just don't know why they paid so much for a player when that amount can pay for a few more Zahas and Cabayes (theoretically).

Big Sam might sell him in January. It seems Zaha playing in the African Cup of Nations is a source of consternation.