Crystal Palace (Home) 02.03.2024

Having watched Tottenham’s previous match against Wolverhampton Wanderers, the new Palace manager Oliver Glasner had identified similar tactics to stifle Spurs and having been over-looked for the position Ange Postecoglou finds himself in, he probably wanted to make a point to the club’s hierarchy.  Setting up his side with a 3-4-2-1 formation, Glasner hoped to frustrate Spurs going forward and try to grab a goal on the break as happened in the previous match at the THS.  Probably buoyed by the fact that in-form Richarlison was going to be out for a month with a knee injury and Pedro Porro was still unavailable, The Palace boss also had midfielder Eberiche Eze back in the ranks, although Marc Guehi and Michael Olise were both out injured for a few weeks.

Having been raining in the morning and in the preceding few days, it seemed hard to understand why the pitch needed to be watered prior to kick off, which led to the large number of players slipping over, just as they had done in the three previous home games.  I can understand that it quickens up the turf to speed up a passing game, but while it cost us when we were in promising positions going forward, it did seem to assist in one of our goals.

Ayew had the first try at goal, but shot wildly over the bar from just around the edge of the area, followed shortly after by Mateta trying to get away form Micky van de Ven, but his recovery won the ball and then Mateta fell on top of him.  That meant he needed a bit of treatment but was OK to play on.  When Udogie slipped with just more than 10 minutes gone, he fouled Ayew outside the box to the right and when it was taken, it came into the box and Mateta hit a volley that Royal go in the way of and then Wharton shot the rebound high into the South Stand.

The return to fitness of Rodrigo Bentancur has been a boon for the Spurs team and his intuitive passing opened up the Palace defence, looking to get Son in behind, but Johnstone came out to clear, only hitting the Spurs skipper and fortunate to see the ball go off him and go wide for a goal-kick.  He was involved again, when a Palace move broke down halfway inside the Tottenham half as Maddison nicked the ball away and Son played a first time ball through the left hand channel for Werner to run clear of the last man Munoz.  He cut his run across the defender and tried to take the ball wide to the keeper’s left, but Johnstone managed to smother the shot and Kulusevski dinked the ball back into the goalmouth, but straight to a defender’s chest.

Spurs were grateful to Guglielmo Vicario when Eze dinked a ball over the Tottenham defence and Munoz ran onto it it, with the Spurs keeper having to dive forward full-length to punch the ball away before the Palace man clattered into him.  Only then the flag went up to rule him offside, with this ridiculous interpretation almost leading to a serious injury.  Tottenham then won a couple of free-kicks around the Palace box, with the most danger produced from the first one when Maddison forced Johnstone to dive to push the ball wide.  Another offside flag came after Vicario had made a very good save to keep out Ayew’s effort from inside the box without knowing that the linesman would decide to give the decision after the action.  The game moved to the other end with Emerson Royal putting an enticing ball across the face of goal with Son and Werner unable to reach it. 

There was plenty of opportunity for Tottenham to find a way into the Palace box, but there were always a lot of red and blue shirts in there to prevent much happening.  While the crowd were urging Maddison to shoot, it was a little difficult with three men around him.  When Bentancur finally acceded to the shouts from the crowd in added time, his shot went high over the top to the groans of those who wanted the effort in the first place. 

Reaching half-time without any score, Spurs had not really been under any threat as Palace’s approach work may have been adequate, but they lacked any real potency around goal, while Johnstone had been the busier keeper when the linesman at the other end kept his flag down.  A new competition was launched during the break where two fans had to kick a ball onto a giant image of a darts board, which wasn’t gripping and their accuracy wasn’t great but maybe it is only teething troubles and even Paul Coyte could see that it there was a bit of embarrassment about it.

When the second half got underway, it was Tottenham who were asking questions of the Palace defence and Werner played a fine low ball across the six yard line, but where was Brennan Johnson at the far post when you need him ?  Lerma picked up his regular yellow card against us, dating back to his Bournemouth days and this time it was a cynical foul on Maddison, who wriggled away from him. 

Royal made a fine tackle on Ayew in the area when he looked as though he might trouble Vicario, then again, the play switched ends and Werner went down under a tackle from Munoz, with players and crowd calling for a penalty, but it didn’t look like it was and the referee didn’t think so either.  It did bring a corner that went through to the far post, where Son got the ball down, but couldn’t find a way past the defenders in front of him.  He got closer in the 54th minute, when a low ball was played in from Kulusevski on the right corner of the box and Son hit it first time, beating Johnstone at his near post, but the ball cannoned out off the foot of the woodwork.  Three minutes later and Palace launched a counter-attack that ended with Bentancur hauling the midfielder down just outside the box which earned him a booking.  It took a while for the free-kick to be taken, but Vicario seemed to have lined up the way badly, as Eze hit the ball straight and wide of the keeper’s reach to side of the wall.  One moment and we were behind. 

There was an almost immediate response with Kulusevski and Son working the chance for Werner, but the ball was smuggled behind by the keeper.  Ange brought on Johnson for Bentancur and he was straight into the action, with the German striker beating Munoz easily to pull the ball back to Son and he helped it on to Johnson in the middle of the goal, but he leant back to sky the shot over the bar.  Spurs were pushing forward and won three corners, without making anything from them, while Palace made substitutions, taking off Wharton, Ayew and Eze.  Still Tottenham looked to equalise, with Son finding space inside the left hand corner of the area, but his shot was low and wide of the keeper, but also wide of the far post.  When Johnstone took his time over the goal-kick, the referee booked him for time-wasting, as it hadn’t been the first time in the match he’d done so.

Within a couple of minutes, Tottenham had levelled the score.  Joachim Andersen, who had been giving the referee stick all game, was beaten to the ball by Johnson when he slipped.  He got up but lost out to a more determined tackle from our substitute, who then won a tackle against Lerma to take him into the right side of the penalty area.  Looking up, he played a square ball across the six yard line and Timo Werner was alone at the far post to fire it into the net to the relief of the home fans and the player himself.  It was a great reaction from the crowd, which was a response to his good performance.

Just after conceding the equaliser, Ward was urging his team-mates to focus.  It was just what they didn’t do, as Kulusevski threw the ball to Royal, who took a quick throw to find Maddison.  He had drifted away from Edouard and hooked the ball into the middle and Romero was more aggressive than Ward to glance a header downwards and wide of Johnstone.  Cristian didn’t get much power in the header, but it was away from Johnstone enough to find the net.  The keeper looked as though he should have reached it as he failed to move his feet enough and tried to stretch for the ball, but it was too far out of his reach.  With a blink of the eye, we were suddenly in front and Palace were rocked by two goals in three minutes.

Ange decided to take off Werner and Maddison bringing on Sarr and Hojbjerg, must to the groans of some fans, who wondered why he was taking off two of the better players in the team.  Sarr lent some energy and covering, while Hojbjerg won tackles and moved the ball upfield, both making useful contributions.  When Franca tried to get on the end of a ball into the Spurs box, Vicario was there first and got caught by the Palace sub, but started a move that was passed back and forth across the Spurs box, much to the irritation of a number of fans.  Van de Ven played it up the left and Johnson won the ball in a tackle with Munoz and the ball went forward, releasing Son to run at goal.  Taking the ball forward and across and away from Richards, before putting the ball to Johnstone’s left with the keeper having already committed to going the other way.  It was another clinical piece of Sonny finishing to punish Palace, who simply fell apart.

There were brief substitute appearances from Lo Celso and Scarlett before the game ended to great celebration form the Spurs sections and some weak applause from the half empty away end.  It was a little worrying that Pape slumped to the ground at the final whistle, with the physio giving him treatment, with Ange’s post-match comments indicating that he had been carrying a back problem and that was why had hadn’t started the match.

It was a good response to come back from going behind, but in truth, Palace didn’t deserve the goal, as they had showed little inclination to apply much pressure on the Tottenham goal.  However, it is essential that the team are alert to any danger that might arise, as it has cost us in the past.

Palace have real problems.  Not our worry, but the team that looked half-decent a couple of years back are now a mish-mash of ageing players (Clyne and Tomkins anyone ?) and no-name signings.  Munoz looks like a defender who is willing to run around a lot, but it is like a headless chicken and his inability to tackle cost his side and will do in the future.  Mateta is just a forward who runs into his marker and looks unlikely to score, while Richards is a tall but bang average defender with little pace.  Eze is the stand-out player in their team, but, with a lot of interest in him, he could move on in the summer.  Both Johnstone, who didn’t cover himself in glory and Henderson, who is now playing second fiddle to him, must be wondering why they moved to SE London.  Their new signing from Blackburn, Wharton, who we were supposedly interested in, looks OK, but is a little lightweight and at the moment looks like a little boy lost in a struggling side. 

Even with their issues, they stuck to a plan until the pressure told on them and they couldn’t hold out.  The process that Spurs have been mainly successful with this season is to keep playing their own game to the end of the match.  While there weren’t any goals in added time in this match, three late goals in eleven minutes built the anxiety in the Palace defence.  Micky van de Ven showed how important his pace is to the way we play, with all the outfield players squeezed into ten yards either side of the halfway line at a goal-kick during the match.  The rest of the players all put in good performances with a growing belief in the way Postecoglou wants them to play the game.  

Next week’s match at Villa could be a Champions League qualification decider, with the Midlands side sitting two points above us in the table.  They are in good form at the moment, so it will be a tough task against a side who have had the sign over us in the last couple of years.

East Stan

• Tottenham stretched the club league record run to scoring in 38 consecutive matches, the second-longest in Premier League history.
• The club set a new passing record in a Premier League match, completing 732 passes.
• The attendance of 61,339 was the highest for a home game against Crystal Palace at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
• Spurs won their eighth consecutive match against Crystal Palace in a home game, which is the club’s longest Premier League home winning sequence against one particular club.
• Palace equalled their longest losing run away at the same Premier League opponent.