Two seasons ago, in the final seconds of a game against Albion, Crystal Palace opted to "play the percentages" and go long from the goalkeeper rather than try to keep possession deep in their own half.

You know? The safe option.

It resulted in an easy concession of the ball and Albion scoring a last-gasp goal at Selhurst Park.

On Thursday, in the final seconds of the first half, Albion did the opposite.

They opted not to "play the percentages" and go long from the goalkeeper and instead they tried to keep possession deep in their own half.

It resulted in an easy concession of the ball and Crystal Palace going ahead at Selhurst Park.

Moral of the story? It ain’t what you do it, it’s the way that you do it, as the old song said.

Or, as Albion might put it, the approach isn’t the problem, it’s the execution. Not often – but often enough to make it costly and a talking point.

The potential pitfalls of playing out short from the back have been all too clear to see in the two recent away games.

Passes by Bart Verbruggen have been picked off at Arsenal and Crystal Palace.

The Gunners scored from a subsequent corner, the Eagles punished their visitors straight away.

The complaint is that the Seagulls are messing (or other words) around too much at the back.

But the same tactic has, as most obvious examples, brought them a stunning 30-pass goal at Manchester United.

Or the Julio Enciso finish which made sure of sixth place and was crowned the best Premier League goal of last season.

There are plenty of examples of the playing from deep paying off.

The most obvious is when it leads to a goal or a chance at other end.

Harder to quantify are the times when the short passing ensures retention of possession and therefore means the opposition cannot do anything with the ball themselves.

But it has to be done well and the margin for error can be small.

The straight-talking Jan Paul van Hecke was asked about the nature of the Palace goal and told The Argus: “It gives us also a lot of good things.

“You see a lot of times they try to press and we play out of the press and we attack.

“I think that is our style and that kind of thing can happen.

“Of course, it is bad timing but how we played in the first half wasn’t good enough and how we conceded is also not good enough.

“But that’s football. Then we can turn it around in the second half.

“We did it but not enough and maybe we should start playing like this earlier and then we win this game for sure – but we didn’t.”

Speaking to Sky Sports, Roberto De Zerbi suggested Verbruggen should have been given another angle by Carlos Baleba as he looked to play out ahead of the Palace goal.

He was not so specific when he then took questions from newspaper reporters.

But he made it clear more time on the training pitch would lessen the chances of such mishaps occurring.

He said: “The important thing is in the next months we will play not every three days.

“We can prepare better, we can train better.

“In the first half, the goal we conceded was because we had not so much time to work.

“It is a very easy situation and I am sorry, I am frustrated to concede this type of goal.”

Van Hecke has been one of the big pluses of this season so far.

It is perhaps an indication of his increasing importance, and of his willingness to speak, that he has come out to face the written media after the two disappointing results on the road this week.

At Arsenal, he was downcast because of the nature of the performance but could have no argument at going home with no points.

At Palace, it was more about the failure to turn plenty of good things into three points.

He said: “I think everyone was really disappointed because we had a feeling we should have won.”

Still it feels like the pieces of the puzzle should be there.

That Albion’s challenges so far can be the making of them in 2024.

We sometimes talk about “a good point” after a draw and the usual perception seems to be that those word apply to getting such a result when you were second best.

But maybe “a good point” is one which is gained as the better team.

When you come away from a draw knowing you have everything to do better, not worse.

Albion were a more disappointed team than Palace on Thursday.

The home side got “a good point” but in whose place would you rather be right now?

Asked whether the second half of the season can see Albion really kick on, Van Hecke said: “Yes – and also we had a lot of games and lot of injuries so it’s not easy.

“Now every week one game, players coming back.

“Danny Welbeck is now back and he played a really good game so happy for him and also for us.

“Hopefully we can go again against Tottenham.”