As Pierre Sage waited to receive the Coupe de France trophy as the victorious manager of RC Lens last May, he turned to his staff and said: "Do you realise where we are?"

Sage had just led the club to a first French Cup title in its history while plotting a course to finish second in Ligue 1, its joint-best league position in over two decades - all in his first season in charge.

Having managed only 56 professional games prior to joining the club, he had become the rising star of French football almost overnight.

Less than six months on, the 47-year-old may be glad he took that moment to embrace the good times.

Since the irresistible lure of the Premier League tempted him to the Crystal Palace dugout in July, he now finds himself second-favourite to be the next managerial casualty in the top flight at the helm of an Eagles side languishing in the relegation zone with the worst defence in the division.

Half a year on from their own historic cup success, Palace have plummeted like a stone and could end this weekend bottom of the Premier League if they are beaten by Liverpool on Sunday, live on .

Losing their last three league games without scoring and conceding nine times has left Sage's position in inevitable jeopardy before he has even managed 10 league games in England.

But even as the Eagles fell two behind in their latest defeat at Tottenham on Saturday night, there was no concerted outpouring of frustration from the away end towards the head coach. The fans know as well as Sage does, now at least, what he has walked into and there are wider problems which will remain at Selhurst Park, even if Sage exits.

He did not hold back after that defeat. "It's a disaster," he told . Aside from results, that could easily point to the damage caused by the departures of Daniel Munoz and Maxence Lacroix last summer and the replacements struggling to emulate their quality.

Or missing Ismaila Sarr, whose absence following his 21-goal haul last season has been harshly felt. Or the form of Adam Wharton, who has become a shadow of his previous self in three months. Or that Jean-Philippe Mateta had just got himself sent off 13 minutes into his second Premier League start since August - and will now miss the next three games.

Sage may be well advised to avoid walking under any ladders with the level to which his luck seems out. Though beyond that, there are also pertinent questions to ask regarding Palace's rationale that he was a good fit for their squad in the first place.

His first problem may have dropped into his in-tray long before he even took the job. Marc Guehi's sale to Manchester City in mid-January, without a replacement, saw Oliver Glasner's Palace ship 26 goals in their remaining 16 games at a rate even more porous than Palace's defence this season.

It was clear a rebuild was necessary - and possible, after banking solid sums for Guehi and Eberechi Eze across the previous 12 months. Even more so following the departures of Munoz and Lacroix.

That would prove director of football Matt Hobbs' first real test since succeeding Dougie Freedman. The results have been mixed at best.

Munoz's replacement Anan Khalaili is creating chances at barely half the rate of the Colombian while loanee centre-back Axel Disasi has been unable to match Lacroix's dominance in defence, winning only 54 per cent of his aerial duels. That has not helped with shipping five goals from set-pieces already, a record only beaten by his parent club Chelsea.

Replacing half a team's worth of talent in Eze, Guehi, Munoz, Lacroix and Michael Olise across the last two years was never going to be easy but while Palace look on enviously as old rivals Brighton thrive despite having their best players picked off, it is hard to argue any new arrival at Selhurst Park has come close to filling their precedessor's shoes bar Jeremy Pino.

Of those who still remain at Selhurst Park, Sage has been robbed of Palace's most profitable attacking outlet from last season with Sarr, who scored 21 goals from 45 games, struck down by a recurrence of a groin injury.

Palace's league goals dried up by almost half to just 0.71 a game when he was unavailable last season though even then, Mateta still managed to plunder 12 as their top league goalscorer. The pair have been on the pitch for a combined total of just 183 league minutes from a possible 1,170 under the new head coach.

Wharton should be Palace's best player regardless, but Sarr's availability and the absence of Munoz has had a knock-on effect on him too with few players waiting for early balls forward when he is in possession.

His lack of rhythm may have affected his out-of-possession game too. Over the previous two seasons Wharton won the ball back in the middle third more than three times a game on average. Now his tally sits barely above one.

The 22-year-old would likely have thrived in Sage's Lens system last season, built around throttling opponents, high turnovers and rapid transitions. His ability to pick a pass and spot a runner would have provided a dangerous weapon, just as it had done for Glasner's Palace.

But this is not that side. And that is a problem in itself, because Sage's beliefs have not changed. When asked about Palace's porous defence after defeat to Newcastle last week, he replied: "My idea is that the best way of defending is to have the ball, because then you cannot concede."

He inherited a team which had racked up 42 per cent possession or less in 19 games in 2025/26, also contributing seven of its 11 wins. Since he came in Palace have won the possession battle just twice and only two sides have seen less of the ball. Keeping it as he would like is not their forte and their goals against column is paying the price.

Sage is clearly a talented coach to the point he was briefly on Liverpool's radar this summer, but the 3-4-2-1 he deployed at Lens which may have lured Palace in was predicated on opposition-half pressure and high tempo rather than the counter-attacking unit Palace have become known for.

His Lens side produced the second-most high turnovers ending in a shot last season. No team has managed fewer across the Premier League this season than Sage's Palace.

Beyond the other issues, it presents a question of whether he might be the right fit at the wrong time. His demands sit far closer to that of Iraola who, ironically, Palace courted for so long this summer before he joined Liverpool and whose Bournemouth team were also far different stylistically to the Eagles.

Ultlimately, should the club's poor form continue and his position become untenable then perhaps it is not so much because he is the wrong man for Palace, but they are not the right club for him.