After Tuesday’s disappointing result against Villa, most Palace fans were looking at the Spurs game with some hesitancy – and understandably so. Despite failing to find consistent form under Pochettino, Spurs have an expensively assembled squad and, in Christian Eriksen, a huge talent capable of winning matches on his own. If you’d offered Palace fans a point before the game, most would have taken it, but the manner of the performance at White Hart Lane was such that the team and fans alike couldn’t help but wonder what could have been.
Neil Warnock did not spring any surprises in team selection – fit again Damien Delaney had to sit it out as the impressive Brede Hangeland kept his place alongside Dann. Joe Ledley returned to the midfield alongside Mile Jedinak and James McArthur so Dwight Gayle missed out to accommodate him. Marouane Chamakh took the lone striker role, moving forward from his usual attacking midfield position. Ward was at left-back, Kelly right-back with the exciting pairing on either flank of Yannick Bolasie and Wilfired Zaha keeping Jason Puncheon on the bench.
The early signs were that Spurs would try to push their home advantage from the off. Ryan Mason found Christian Eriksen on the left hand side and the Danish International nutmegged Martin Kelly with consumate ease before dragging his shot wide of Julian Speoni’s near post. Any expectation that the early scare was a sign of things to come was short-lived as Tottenham looked short on confidence. Palace came into the game shortly after, initially restricted to a couple of efforts from range from McArthur and Jedinak.
It wasn’t long before the in-form Yannick Bolasie made his mark – and most people are still wondering how he did what he did. Chasing a ball on the left flank, Bolasie turned his back on the defender and looked to produce a 360 spin. Audacious on its own, but in the course of the spin, the DR Congo International rolled the ball over his standing foot which then flicked it into the air and past the defenders in the blink of an eye. Whilst they were still standing there looking at the space where Bolasie was supposed to be, the winger expertly cut the ball back to the edge of the box where the onrushing Joe Ledley drilled a shot at goal. Agonisingly the shot flew over the bar with Lloris beaten.
Spurs attempted to come back into the game after resisting pressure and Soldado drilled a reasonable chance over the bar, but the next real chance also fell to Palace. A corner, which Palace had an incredible 12 of in the course of the match, from Ledley found the head of Scott Dann in the area between the near post and penalty spot. Dann planted his header low to the ‘keeper’s left, but Lloris reacted brilliantly to dive down to it and tip it wide.
The effort rocked Spurs a little and they struggled to find their rhythm, with the impressive Eriksen looking the only player with the belief befitting their side. It was the Dane who almost threatened to open the scoring with a curling, dipping free-kick aimed at Speroni’s top right corner, but the Palace man got two strong hands on it to push it out of danger. He was called into action soon after, first to turn away a shot from the edge of the box by Eriksen and then to narrow the angle as Soldado bore down on goal and shot directly at him.
Before the half came to a close, Wilfried Zaha, looking like he was finding some form of his own, decided to get in on the action with a trick of his own. Faced with two Spurs defenders, Zaha rolled the ball onto his left foot with his right and quickly back to the right with his left to dance between them before attempting to finish the move by curling a shot powerfully into the corner to Lloris’ left. The ball was about a foot wide, but it was great to see Wilf produce something reminiscent of his best work.
After such a good half, but failing to capitalise on good work, it is customary for fans to fear a second half collapse – but from the moment the second half kicked off it was clear that Palace knew their gameplan and that Spurs had little answer. That said, it was Spurs who threatened first – Soldado got himself in the clear before shooting embarrassingly wide and Harry Kane, largely anonymous throughout, attempted and non-threatening long range effort before Palace could muster a clear chance. When that chance came it was from the feet of Yannick Bolasie, who was terrorising the Spurs defence. He cut inside and looked to shoot on a couple of occasions, but failed to properly connect with both and was unable to test Lloris in spite of creating the opportunities himself.
On 65 minutes, with Palace still in the ascendancy, Neil Warnock replaced the impressive Zaha with Jason Puncheon. Puncheon got straight into the action, showing the sharpness his game had lacked of late. First he combined with Chamakh on the left side of the box and rattled the underside of the bar from close range – the rebound narrowly missing Dann at the far post. Moments later, Puncheon was through to slot the ball home, but was correctly judged offside. Replays showed that Puncheon could have left the ball for Chamakh who was onside but in the heat of the moment, it would be a very harsh criticism.
As Palace pushed and pushed, Hugo Lloris was at his best to deny Bolasie an effort from just outside the box before Joe Ledley narrowly shot over from another good position. After creating so many chances against Villa and failing to find the net, it got ever more frantic. Sadly for the Eagles, even another late Yannick Bolasie effort could not find a way past the imperious Frenchman in the Tottenham goal and Palace settled for the point.
Neil Warnock described the performance as the team’s “most complete” with the obvious exception of putting the ball in the net. Ir certainly inspired a lot of positivity amongst the watching support and Palace will go into the Stoke game high on self-belief that recent performances should see wins on the board soon enough. The manager’s thoughts will turn inevitably to a goalscorer to convert the opportunities being created as a priority in the transfer window, but for now the team are looking solid and the widemen are playing with the freedom that excites fans and scares defenders.
