Tomkins sees Zarate as vital ingredient
And although he believes new signings Cheikhou Kouyate, Aaron Creswell and Zarate have all made significant contribution he made a point of discussing the Argentinian.
He told wharf.co.uk: “In the first half we gave Mauro a lot of the ball and he was causing trouble for their defence.
“He was picking the ball up in little holes which sometimes we missed last season and that was an impressive thing.
“Fitness was obviously going to make an impact on him today, but when he gets fitter he is going to get better and better. All the signings look good. The whole squad look good and we have a lot of depth which we lacked last year.
With James Collins suspended, Tomkins heaped praised on the Club’s physios for getting him match fit for the Palace game.
He said: “It was real touch and go really. I pulled out the Friday before the Tottenham game and the hamstring injury can put you out for a week or 10 days, so I was always going to be touch and go for this game.
“But the physios have all helped me get fit, light training on Thursday and Friday has done me the world of good.