By The Telegraph (World News) | Created at 2024-10-29 18:11:43 | Updated at 2024-11-05 13:35:27
1 week ago
If Tottenham Hotspur dislike the term “Spursy” so much, they should avoid putting in non-performances such as this. Against a winless Crystal Palace who began the game as the lowest scorers in the top five professional divisions in the country, they were careless at the back and toothless at the front. And nothing much happened in between either. How is it that a team on a run of seven wins in eight games in all competitions can scarcely show up for a London derby?
Spurs were dismal for 45 minutes in the 3-2 defeat at Brighton in their previous away match but here they managed it for almost the entire 90. A win would have taken them into sixth place but they showed little of the will to achieve it that might have been expected. Palace were the side who played with ambition and purpose, and if they had any sort of eye for goal, their first Premier League victory of the season – which took them out of the bottom three – would have been far more emphatic.
As it was, Jean-Philippe Mateta scored the only goal of the match, his third of the season as the players behind Palace’s strong finish to last season – Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton as well as Mateta – finally stepped up again. That said, it was hard to judge whether they were back to their best or just taking advantage of feeble opposition.
Ange Postecoglou, the Tottenham manager, rejected any suggestion that his side had failed to do the basics, an accusation he had levelled after the game at Brighton, and preferred to give Palace some back-handed credit for disrupting Spurs’ normal game.
“It was a game that turned into a bit of a battle with a lot of stop-starting and standing around and we didn’t deal with that well at all,” he said.
“We needed to stay composed and not fall into the trap of trying to play the game that Palace wanted to play, battle after battle and duel after duel. We need to be far more clear-headed about how we deal with that, get people to adjust to our game.
“It was a big game for Palace and they were always going to be desperate to get a win today. They are going to be aggressive in their approach, which is not a surprise and how the referee deals with that – not challenges, but stoppages and taking their time – is out of our control. But we gave away silly fouls and lost our composure. We directed our frustration in the wrong way.”
Guglielmo Vicario, the goalkeeper, was rather less diplomatic when speaking to Sky Sports after the final whistle. “They [Palace] fight and I think we lacked that today,” he said. “We play good football but maybe sometimes we lack the desire to fight. They show a real desire to fight for something. I think we lacked a bit of energy and to be better than them. We have to take this personally and it has to hurt us a lot.”
Tottenham badly missed Son Heung-min, rested with a hamstring injury, and sent Mikey Moore, 17, out for his first Premier League start instead but he had few chances to shine as both teams scuffled ineffectively in a crowded midfield for the first half-hour.
However, when Palace finally knocked at the visitors’ door, they found it wide open. They put pressure on the visiting defenders as they attempted to play out from the back, and Micky van de Ven lost the ball. Ismaila Sarr crossed it, Eze flicked it on and Mateta drove it low past Vicario with the aid of a deflection.
Brennan Johnson almost levelled immediately with a shot that hit the post after 34 minutes. But it was not until the fifth minute of first-half added time that they managed an effort on target and then Dean Henderson produced a fine diving save to his left to keep out James Maddison’s first time shot.
The visiting fans awaited a spirited second half from their team, but in vain. Palace had loud claims for a penalty when Eze went down as Van de Ven challenged, and for a spell it seemed they must add to their lead. Sarr and Eze, though, failed to make good chances count and you were remembered why they had scored only five goals before this. That said, Wharton hit a cracking shot in the 82nd minute that deserved to double the lead, but Vicario got across to paw the ball away for a corner.
Oliver Glasner, the Palace manager, denied that the win had eased any pressure on his position. “I have always felt comfortable in my job so that wasn’t a concern,” he said. “Our performances before this were okay but today we showed courage, intensity. The difference today was the bravery. Credit to the players, they stayed cool, had good training and we got the reward today.”
