Crystal Palace (away) 11.09.2021

There was little cheer as Spurs returned to Premier League action, missing players for various reasons, suffering a sending off and a penalty award against them, as Nuno Espirito Santo suffered the curse of the Manager of the Month award in a 0-3 defeat by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

Dele got the game underway, as the sun shone on the pitch and a Spurs side much changed due to injuries and international issues.  Emerson Royal cane out for his debut and got an early tackle in on Wilfried Zaha, before doing the same to Mitchell.  Having won the ball from a Palace throw, halfway in the Spurs half, Lucas Moura went off on a 30-yard run, drifting past Palace players with ease and then Royal won a corner on the Spurs right wing but it didn’t beat the first man.    

When Hugo Lloris rolled the ball out to Eric Dier, Jordan Ayew was on him straight away and although the Spurs central defender won the ball, he was clattered and went down when Spurs didn’t need any further injury problems.  He got up and played on and Spurs were working hard, with Hojbjerg pressuring Conor Gallagher to give the ball away and then looked he looked for Reguilon when Moura found him.  The ball was cut out and when play went to the Spurs end, a free-kick was played in that Dier won over Benteke, but he went down again having to be replaced by Joe Rodon.  Dier limped away down the touch-line, but it took him a long time to reach the tunnel, as he was in obvious pain.

Neither team were convincing when they had the ball producing a lot of untidy play.  A free-kick 25 yards out just to the right gave Gallagher a chance to have a go at goal, but he fired high into the Sainsbury’s end.  I’m not sure what Hugo was on, but from the resulting free-kick he gave the ball to Palace with a low goal-kick that was nowhere near a white shirt.  Spurs were missing Son and Bergwijn, as three defensive midfielders were making forward progress difficult.  Under the new interpretation about fouls, Zaha was looking even more exasperated than in previous years whenever he decided he ought to have a free-kick.

While Kouyate complained about Dele’s late barge that sent him over the touchline, Ayew was at it again, with a blatant late leg across Hojbjerg.  When it got to the half hour mark, neither side had worked the goalkeeper, with Gallagher’s free-kick the only effort of the game.  Palace were looking more determined in the tackle and were on the attack, but the final ball either found a Spurs shirt or went off the pitch.  It was a warning to Spurs not to sit back. 

Kane was dragged down by Andersen, but Moss let play go on and it ended up with Zaha having a weak shot that would have gone off target even without a deflection.  The corner brought another and Lloris did well to get punches to them under pressure from the giant Palace players.  Too often when the ball was cleared by Spurs, there was no targets to receive it, but coming up to five minutes before half-time, Spurs strung together a lot of passes, but lost the ball and it was worked to Gallagher, but he found the fans behind the goal again.

Oliver Skipp lost the ball in midfield but got back to cut out a pass to Zaha that might have put him into the box.  The winger did get away when he came inside Royal, got to the dead-ball line in the box and pulled it back to Gallagher, who forced Reguilon into  block and then Lloris to a save at close range at the near post. The corner was won at the far post by Benteke who was climbing all over Joe Rodon and that was about it for a first half that Tottenham had not even attempted a shot.

That changed within a couple of minutes of the restart when Moura jinked inside from the right, past three players and then made Gueita save with a left foot shot.  In the 50^th minute, Zaha played a low ball into the box from the left and Benteke lifted it up and Gallagher beat him to the volley that Joe Rodon blocked well taking the ball wide for a corner.  It dropped for McArthur, but he pulled his shot well wide.  Spurs then attacked and Moura was left on the floor by Gallagher’s studs into his ankle, but Palace looked to break away only for Japhet Tanganga to take Zaha out with a blatant foul.  As he always does, Zaha jumped up and was in Japhet’s face, but he wasn’t going to take it, bringing about a mass melee that ended up with both players ending up getting booked.

A short Palace corner saw Mitchell cross the ball after referee Moss blocked Skipp getting to him, but Kouyate headed it over.  When the next ball came forward, Tanganga won it, but his intended pass came off Gallagher and as the Spurs youngster went for the ball, he brought Ayew down and Moss produced a second yellow and a red, when it didn’t look any worse than the earlier fouls that Ayew perpetrated and got away without a free-kick.  With injuries affecting the side, they didn’t need to lose another one and Winks had to make way for Ben Davies to fill into the defence.  From the free-kick which was pumped high into the box, it dropped for Ayew, who shot wide and the set-pieces kept coming as Moss seemed willing to give Palace decisions that he wouldn’t countenance for Spurs.  And that was proved in the 65^th minute when Guehi let the ball bounce and then knocked Moura over as he looked to seize on the ball on the edge of the box.

Palace attacked again and the ball came out to Ayew, with seemingly a clear shot on goal inside the box, but Dele came out of nowhere and block the shot that the Palace man took an age to get off.  I suppose it was only a question of time before the incessant high balls into the box from free-kicks and corners paid off, but Spurs were defending doggedly.  It was never more well applied when Mitchell crossed to the far post over Hugo, but Sergio Reguilon got a header to the ball under the crossbar to make a fantastic clearance.

With nothing going Tottenham’s way, it was perhaps no surprise that when Zaha crossed from the right wing, a penalty was given when it hit Davies’ arm.  Zaha scored and it was going to eb a long way back for Tottenham, who failed to threaten much with eleven men.  Spurs did win a corner, but it wasn’t won by a white shirt and Palace broke away resulting in Gallagher skying a shot into the Holmesdale end. 

To rub salt into the wound, Moss booked Lucas Moura for throwing the ball down when he gave a handball against him, after he had his boot removed and felled as he looked to go forward.  Consistency still seems to be an issue with referees and there was little on show from Moss today. 

With ten minutes left, Palace took off Benteke and brought on new signing Ousonne Edouard, who took Zaha’s ball in from the left with his first touch and dragged it to Lloris’ left with his second.  There was space for Palace to play the ball because of Tanganga’s dismissal.   Spurs tried to get something back and Moura headed Reguilon’s cross a couple of yards wide.  Gallagher got booked for high studs into Davies’ shin and then Zaha caught Royal late without punishment, which would have meant sending him off of course, so Moss waved play on.  So when Palace broke, Gallagher found Edouard in acres of space in the box to make it 3-0 in injury time.

So, Palace get their first win over Spurs in six years and it was a win over half a team and then ten men … and some inconsistent officiating.  We didn’t play well but were coping with the home side until the sending off, which gave them space to make the most of.  Royal had a good game and came out even with his battle on the wing with Zaha, but the referee needed to realise what is a foul and what is not, because it was shocking to see some of the decisions he came up with. 

The next Premier League game will be tough, with Chelsea coming to the Lane, but hopefully we will have a more even-handed ref and some of our players back in action to put in a much better performance.  There is no doubt Palace deserved to win, but given the same situation, I would thin that Tottenham might have achieved the same result.

Matt Pierce

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