The opening few months of Pierre Sage’s time as Crystal Palace boss have felt like the definition
of feast or famine football.

We may well be back to our usual mid-table position following Sunday’s 3-1 win at home to Nottingham Forest, but supporters are all a little dazed and confused by the journey taken to get there.

It was never going to be a straightforward task stepping into the sizeable shoes that Oliver
Glasner vacated in May.

Signing off in Leipzig with a victory over Rayo Vallecano in the Conference League final meant he had delivered three pieces of silverware for the club in 12 months, a feat put into perspective when you realise that we had no major honours to our name before his arrival.

Sage himself arrived in SE25 with trophy winning pedigree, having secured a first ever Coupe de
France for Lens in a season which saw them run the all-powerful Paris Saint-Germain as close as anyone in the league.

But taking on his first Premier League role at a club with such a glut of recent successes would be a daunting task for any coach.

The football Palace are playing is full throttle – we have created the second most “big chances” in the
league with 21, but also have the highest expected goals conceded (if you are into that sort of thing) at 12.8.

The result is a migraine-inducing mixture of blistering attacking play and all hands-on-deck defensive
scrambles.

I am sure it is tremendous fun for neutrals who happen to tune in, but when you are the
ones being put through the emotional wringer, it leaves you with a feeling of unease.

Prior to Sunday, our only win of the Premier League this term came away at rock bottom
Fulham, a clash in which we had twice fallen behind, only to win it 3-2, thanks, rather ridiculously,
to a trio of strikes from left-backs Tyrick Mitchell and Ben Chilwell.

There is no question about the team’s resilience.

It was on show in that outing at Craven Cottage, at home to Ipswich Town, where we fought back to level despite playing with 10 men and Sunday, with the early concession of a breakaway goal only appearing to strengthen our resolve.

It just doesn’t feel sustainable in the long-term.

To Sage’s credit, he is not attempting to paper over any cracks in post-match interviews, directly
addressing the need for a greater sense of defensive organisation to limit the mind-boggling
number of chances we are giving the sides we face.

It will have to come quickly, with Palace travelling out to face Lyon, a former club of his, in the Europa League this Thursday, before an away game at high-flying Brighton on Sunday and then another away trip in Europe, this time at Besiktas the Thursday after that.

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By anyone’s standards, that is a run of games that could see a team come unstuck very quickly,
particularly when you factor in the need for squad rotation, something we are yet to see Sage
implement successfully.

In an idyllic future paradise, we return from Istanbul with four wins from four, toasting the
Frenchman as a tactical genius and dreaming of the potential for more European glory in May.

Sadly, the nature of almost all of our displays under to him to date could easily see the complete
opposite occur, adding fuel to fires that naysayers are already stoking.

That Jekyll and Hyde seesaw is where I fear we as a fanbase are going to be forced to reside for
the rest of the campaign, a sense of eternal hope tinged with a nagging worry that the worst of
our traits may come and halt the party without a moment’s notice.