Crystal Palace had some highs and lows in January, in what turned out to be a mixed month. 

The Eagles came very close to beating league leaders Liverpool, and overcame Tottenham in the FA Cup- both being superb performances.

Equally, this was going to be a significant month in the transfer window, as they entered it with some glaring deficiencies in their squad that needed to be resolved.

With that in mind, these are the two biggest mistakes Crystal Palace made over the transfer window:

Not signing a striker soon enough

The chronic lack of form from The Eagles' strikers has forced manager Roy Hodgson to field wingers Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend in that position for most of the season so far. They desperately needed a new striker and it should have been a matter of urgency. Therefore, it is bizarre that they waited until Deadline Day to bring in a new player.

Palace signed Michy Batshuayi on loan from Chelsea in the final hours of the transfer window, in what may be a very good signing indeed. The Belgian had a wonderful time with Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga last season, and while his loan at Valencia didn't go to plan for the first half of this season, he still has undoubted talent.

But had Palace signed the 25-year-old, or a player of his ilk sooner, they may have avoided some troublesome results in January. The Eagles lost to Watford at home and drew with Southampton away. Had they had the striker that they were wanting, the results could have been different. They are only hovering four points above the relegation zone, and those sacrificed five points could prove to be costly.

Re-signing Bakary Sako

Now this is not necessarily saying that Bakary Sako is a bad player, but it is hard to see what he has done to warrant returning to Selhurst Park.

The 30-year-old was released by Palace at the end of last season, and was signed for free by Championship outfit West Brom. He started a total of two Championship games during his time with The Baggies, and while he may have worked his way back to fitness, he did not exactly take the team by storm.

He may thrive again at Palace, but this is a bit of a faux-pas by them signing a player that was deemed not good enough at the beginning of the season.