For goodness sake. What we are seeing is simply a reversion to the mean. Palace aren't supposed to be in the top six. The fact we've slipped out of it doesn't mean anyone has done anything wrong it that it could have been avoided if this, that, or the other had taken place. It was a pleasant surprise to be there for a few weeks. Even if we didn't have European football and had turned our noses up at the domestic cups, we don't have the sixth, seventh, or probably even the tenth best team in the league.
We have had a purple patch where several of the youngsters with potential that we signed all came to the boil at around the same time, but Olise, Eze, and Guehi were never going to stay once they'd blossomed, just like Wharton won't. Alongside this, a few journeymen like Mateta, Richards, Hughes etc all came good at the same time, but none of them are too six players. We've had players better than we should naturally have given the budget, with others over performing. That wasn't going to last forever. Nothing is broken or wrong.