West Brom manager Slaven Bilic says that Crystal Palace's current tactics are hiding their "brilliant" attacking line, encapsulating the dismay at recent performances felt by supporters.
Following a fantastic performance against Leeds before the international break, Palace have fallen to consecutive defeats against Burnley and Newcastle.
Palace were without Wilfried Zaha for both matches due to COVID protocols, and struggled badly to create chances.
Fans have been disappointed on social media by what they perceive as negative tactics from Roy Hodgson, with Palace rarely dominating possession or creating lots of goal scoring opportunities: Palace tend to score most of their goals via set-pieces or on quick transitions.
And it's something that Bilic says is confounding about Palace's style, when there are such high-quality players available in attack.
"That’s their paradox," Bilic said when asked about Zaha and Palace's talented attacking line. "They don’t want the ball, so you think they must be solid - but no, their forte is front players.
"There is so much talent in there. Skill, pace, ideas, freshness, combinations. They’re brilliant. Not only Wilfried, but especially him.
"The statistic that in the last 18 games he didn’t play they lost 15 is unbelievable.
"He’s a big influence on them. He’s a guy who can decide a game from nothing. Others benefit from him. We’ll see if he’ll play, I know he’s available. Definitely they’re a different team with him.
"That goes for almost every team who has a star player."
Bilic says that he does not think Palace are in danger of getting dragged into a relegation battle just yet, and that he knows his side cannot afford to let up on Sunday after winning their first Premier League game of the season last time out.
"Not at the moment," Bilic said when asked if Palace were in a relegation battle. "I would like a few other clubs to join our group of four, or for us to leave that group!
"They've lost three games, but even if you’re at the top of the table and you have a big gap, it’s not good. Nobody likes to lose three games. Every defeat affects something, even one in training.
"Still they’re not there, they’re comfortable but that can change. I know that they’ll be on their toes, they can’t afford to have a spell of bad results and bad performances.
"Unfortunately I know they’ll be very aware on Sunday."
