Stoke City chairman Peter Coates says that the team's poor start to the season needs to be taken in context.
Mark Hughes' side have picked up just one point from their first five matches and are bottom of the Premier League.
They have let in four goals on three occasions - which they also did in three successive games in a poor late-season run in 2015-16.
"We have conceded too many goals and that has got to be addressed," Coates told BBC Radio Stoke.
"It was poor defending at Crystal Palace on Sunday. Two bad errors for the first two goals.