Crystal Palace have decided that Pierre Sage deserves a little more time to fix things, which is a generous way of saying the club looked at the calendar, saw two games in four days, and concluded that firing a manager midweek would be administratively inconvenient. The Frenchman remains under huge pressure and could be dismissed if Palace lose to Tottenham on Saturday.

Sage's position was in serious doubt after another poor performance in the 2-0 defeat to Newcastle at the weekend. That followed a 5-0 thrashing against Brighton, after which Sage was warned he could be dismissed if results did not improve quickly. Nothing says "we believe in you" quite like a formal warning followed by another defeat.

With Palace set to travel to Craven Cottage to face Fulham in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening before their trip to Spurs in the Premier League, the club's chair, Steve Parish, has decided not to act given the tight turnaround in Palace's schedule. Sage, who attended the Ballon d'Or ceremony in London on Monday evening, is understood to have been left in no doubt that the meeting with Spurs on Saturday is crucial to his future. Attending a glitzy awards ceremony while your job hangs by a thread is certainly one way to spend a Monday.

Palace are 17th and have conceded 19 goals in eight Premier League matches this season, the highest in the division. That is the kind of statistic that tends to focus minds in boardrooms. But it is understood Sage retains the support of his squad, with two leading players having sent him messages saying they still have faith he can turn things around. Nothing bolsters a manager's standing like a couple of sympathetic texts.

Palace's hierarchy are said to be split over whether to fire the former Lens manager after only 12 games in charge, with some in favour of bringing in Thomas Frank or Sean Dyche to steady the ship. Rob Edwards, the former Wolves manager, has also been mentioned as a potential contender. Because nothing says "steady the ship" like a shortlist.

There is sympathy for Sage at boardroom level given that Axel Disasi, who was signed on loan from Chelsea to replace key defender Maxence Lacroix, has only just returned from a three-match suspension. There were also signs of improvement in the 2-2 Europa League draw at Besiktas in midweek, with Sage believed to have been delighted with Jean-Philippe Mateta's response since returning from injury. The France striker is in the final year of his contract but failed in an attempt to have it ruled invalid by an independent Premier League tribunal and Fifa. A man who tried to have his own contract declared void is, one assumes, not easily discouraged.

There are concerns about Ismaïla Sarr, however, who missed the defeat to Newcastle after a recurrence of the groin injury that ruled him out earlier in the season. The Senegal forward has made no secret of his disappointment after Palace rejected a bid from Liverpool in the summer, and Sage needs last season's player of the year back on the pitch if they are to recover from a poor start to life after Oliver Glasner. So: a manager on a warning, a squad sending supportive texts, a board split on replacements, and a star winger sulking about a rejected transfer bid. Palace's season is going splendidly.