As I left the ground on Monday night all I could hear were people deriding Wilfried Zaha.

People were angry that "He never passes", or half-laughing, "He'll never get in the Man United squad again. You think Louis van Gaal will call him up after that?"

Given that the loanee winger should have had the most blatant penalty I've seen in a long time thanks to his pace and trickery, this seemed like an ignorant and misplaced hunt for a scapegoat.

At 1-1, that same trickery and attempted slaloming was greeted with riotous applause and encouragement.

The second the game swung back in the Black Cats' favour it was his fault, apparently. Does that mean it was his fault our off the ball movement was so poor and options in possession were so lacking?

That's not to say Zaha played exceptionally well.

Nevertheless, it's hard to pinpoint where Palace fell short but it wasn't especially on the wings. The Eagles fell short all over the place.

Joel Ward had one of his weakest ever games in red and blue.

Julian Speroni had a classic Speroni performance - outstanding shot stopping with several electrifying reflex saves yet consistently diabolical, embarrassing distribution.

Warnock rues more referee clangers

Jedinak points the finger at referee Dowd

Mile Jedinak helped ruin the game with his stupid second yellow.

Plus, Brede Hangeland just isn't Premier League standard. If only we had Scott Dann 1 and Scott Dann 2 at centre back instead.

Despite the overarching underperformance, for a long stretch of the second period – about 34 minutes – the Eagles worked like lightning and seemed to finally gel.

Only the side couldn't capitalise and take the lead.

For Neil Warnock to try to shift the blame onto the referee is an embarrassing attempt to deflect from the performance and his short-sighted tactical decisions.

Your Local Guardian:

Short-sighted: Neil Warnock tried, embarrasingly, to deflect attention away from a bad performance by blaming the referee

The officials made some howling errors, but Palace had 53 per cent possession and 11 corners yet managed one effort on target – even finding the back of the net through an own goal.

As the intense attacking pressure began to subside, as Sunderland weathered the storm, the Black Cats then snatched the lead again.

So Warnock made what are fast becoming characteristically kamikaze, Holloway-esque decisions.

Chasing the game? Yeah, sub off your tallest player in Hangeland, FINALLY bring on one of our shortest in Dwight Gayle and then play to his biggest weakness by desperately thumping the ball long and high.

Gayle's strengths - clinical finishing, pace, willingness to shoot, instinct, raw talent - were precisely what we were lacking during our dominant spells.

Your Local Guardian:

Dwight Gayle: Too little, too late, too tactically inept by Warnock

The biggest worry, and the most depressing aspect of the game, is that Sunderland looked awful.

Now we head to Manchester United on Saturday to face a side looking to exercise some derby demons.

And no matter what all those angry, frustrated fans around me were saying in the heat of the moment at the final whistle, the ineligible Zaha will be an added handicap we really don't need.

Not to mention our absent Aussie skipper.