Palace failed to make their dominance count in a strong performance against a listless Everton side. Here are five of Robert Sutherland's observations. 

 

This is a rebuilding project

It's easy to say that we need to move on from the difficulties of January, February and March but beneath the relief of the win against Norwich, there's still a fragility that the players need to be nurtured out of.

Wednesday's game was one which the Palace of just a few weeks ago would have lost. Because that urgency to get the win, to push for a goal with little regard for the other aspects of the game, all too often resulted in soul crushing defeats.

We saw some excellent glimpses of the Palace that we so loved in the first half of the season. A strong defensive unit, a midfield pulling strings, and an attack getting into positions. A less rusty attack (more on that later) might have capitalised on the opportunities.

There's no shame in that result. Even if Everton were there for the taking.

 

Injuries are a major contributor to form

Look at the difficulties the club has faced as a result of the injuries, and it builds up a picture of what went wrong since December.

Since the Stoke win, Palace have had spells without Dwight Gayle, Connor Wickham, Emanuel Adebayor, Yannick Bolasie, Bakary Sako, James McArthur, Yohan Cabaye and Joe Ledley. You talk about how a team needs a strong spine running down the middle of it - Palace's has been broken for months.

And the after-effects of these injuries have had  implications even when the players have returned. It takes players time to readjust to the pace of the game, for strikers to regain that sharpness in front of goal, for midfielders to find their range, for wingers to find their groove.

Injuries still blight us now, even with some of those players back. Wickham got injured just as he found his scoring boots. His sharpness clearly wasn't there when two scoring opportunities fell his way on Wednesday. It wasn't there when he tried to do a little too much when in possession. Neither was it there for Adebayor.

And just to add insult to injuries, Dwight Gayle was seemingly taken off as a precaution - he spoke with club physio Alex Manos as he left the pitch at half time. Here's hoping it's just a slight strain.

 

Yannick and Wilf will sometimes toil

...And that's okay. Against two fullbacks that are no slouches, Bolasie and Zaha had somewhat ineffective games in which they struggled to create meaningful chances. 

It wasn't that they weren't finding the gaps, but that final execution seemed laboured and inaccurate. It made sense for Palace to take a different approach and it was one which very nearly paid dividends.

With a seriously busy schedule coming up, its also sensible for Alan Pardew to spare the two of them at a point where their impact wasn't tangible.

 

Our defensive unit deserves credit

For all the talk of attacking frustrations, it takes some of the shine off what was defensive performance of tenacity and strength. 

Pape Souare and Joel Ward - both subject to a fair deal of criticism during this barren spell, both showed a focus that kept Aaron Lennon and Arouna Kone at bay. Meanwhile, in the centre, Damien Delaney and Scott Dann took turns to keep Romelu Lukaku under wraps. 

When chances did fall to Everton's players, especially in the first half, Wayne Hennessey was there to make a number of vital saves. 

It's not easy to get a clean sheet in the Premier League. To get two in a row, the first against a side that had just gathered momentum and the second against a team with a richness of attacking options, is worthy of celebration. 

 

Cabaye is a thoroughbred perfecting the workhorse role

When Pardew signed Cabaye, he did so with an indication that the French international would play a less creative role for the side. His arrival at Selhurst was about having a player that could keep the play ticking over and to reinforce Palace's defensive play. 

Cabaye doesn't want to play as a number 10. He hasn't done so for a while. Palace's record signing has been the hardest worker in most of the club's recent fixtures. He covers the most ground, makes the most tackles, makes the most passes. He's a utilitarian midfielder with gallic flair. 

It seems a point of irritation for some of our fans that he spent a lot of yesterday's game getting involved in spats with Everton's players. But that's also something Palace sometimes lack. Look at other clubs in this division and you'll see players cynically hounding referees and opponents. 

Once we move on from wishing Cabaye played an attacking role in the side (which he still does, sporadically) we'll come to appreciate all the other work he does. And he does that so, so well. 

What do you think? Was there anything else that you learnt?