This wasn't a vintage Palace peformance by any stretch of the imagination - and as Mark Gardiner tells us, it added to what has been a difficult weekend for him!
That just rounded off a great weekend. Defeat at Lord’s yesterday, up at 6am with stomach bug, the usual lengthy stroll from Seven Sisters in sun we should have had last month, wonderfully dehydrated, and now to cap it all I’m writing a report of a match that thousands more will have viewed in HD from 16 different angles with super slo-mo when I had to peer around the Damien Delany fan club to catch a glimpse of the action. Someone pass the Imodium... It was a match where both sides’ attacks struggled to break down defences, Spurs’ goal coming on a break from a Palace attack, and where Pardew’s initial selection & formation as well as substitutions come under some critical light. It would be trite to say that the difference was the goalkeepers. But I’m fed up so I’m saying it too! Lloris always seems to have good games against us. As it was Palace weren’t worth a win in a game which turned out to be eminently winnable.
Pardew, lacking Wickham (temporary), Murray (permanent) & Chamakh (honestly, who knows) again selected to play without any recognised striker, with Campbell & Bamford on the bench & Gayle present but not in the squad. The big shock was Dann’s absence; as he was also at the Lane I assume this was a late health call. Delaney returned to partner Hangeland; while Scott may be the secure padlock, when Delaney went down early on it looked like we might be missing the gate as well. Initially Puncheon started on the left with Sako in the hole, Wilf on the right and Bolasie up front, but these four saw little of the ball in the first half. Not much happened as Spurs’ attacks tended to break down around the edge of our area, with Cabaye & McArthur providing a solid shield. Kane had an early unmarked header from a corner but put it well over; he wasn’t impressive. Palace didn’t man-mark him either, the nearest defender picking him up, even the full backs, while at subsequent set pieces he was marked by Souaré. Our biggest danger was over-confidence, with Hangeland in particular looking to make dummies & turns on the ball in our own box, while Puncheon was very careless with the ball all game. McCarthy made a decent save from Lamela and Damien was quick to beat Kane to the rebound, although the striker was flagged offside.
It took Palace some time to tinker with their misfiring attack, but finally Puncheon & Sako swapped places. Jason was more effective there, but Sako was anonymous for the first 30 minutes, while Zaha saw little of the ball and only made a couple of decent runs. Bolasie looked our best chance of threatening Lloris, with one shot blocked, one well saved and one that was awful. Sako then turned up for a free kick and forced Lloris into another good save, and from the ensuing corner a loose ball nearly trickled into the net. This was Palace’s best spell of the game and after an initial move down the left, Zaha set up Cabaye cutting in from the right and Yohan’s shot beat Lloris only to ping straight back into play from the inside of the far post.
Half time saw Campbell stripped and he replaced Zaha – whether this was tactical or down to injury I don’t know but Wilf would be missed for his attacking potential. Although Campbell was no great shakes Palace’s attacks did look a little better focussed with someone used to playing up front in place of Bolasie, who moved to the left. Sadly Yannick was to disappear for much of the second half, and with Sako equally invisible most of the time on the left, Puncheon looking a luxury we couldn’t afford, Cabaye sitting deep and McArthur really lacking pace to support the attack, Palace were seldom an attacking force in the second period. Spurs weren’t much better, although Son Heung-Min looked to be a good investment, outshining the rated Kane, while Dele Alli was as good as Cabaye & McArthur in the middle.
McCarthy started the half with a lax clearance that was charged down and luckily the ball bounced well wide, not the first time his dilatory kicks have nearly found that fate. He did better with Lamela’s free kick, pushing the shot over the bar. This was Tottenham’s best spell and a series of corners ended with a scramble in the Palace six-yard box, with what looked at least one clearance off the line before the ball was forced home only for celebrations to be cut short by a linesman’s flag. Then came the turning point, as a good Palace move featuring Campbell twice laying the ball off saw Sako’s arrow-true shot across Lloris tipped onto the far post by the keeper. The corner saw the ball break and Kelly have a shot charged down. A long clearance saw Eriksen feed Son in on our right, and although Hangeland tried to shepherd the Korean wide he didn’t block the shot. It was hard but straight at McCarthy, but the ball went under him / through his legs.
A goal down and Spurs started to pass the ball at will across their back line; Supa-Al was going spare trying to get the team to press higher up the pitch. At this time I think he made an error with his substitutions: he could have taken off any of Bolasie, Sako or Puncheon, but instead withdrew McArthur for Mutch. In itself this was not unreasonable, as on paper it added a little more punch through the middle & fresh legs, but it was compounded by the next change, when Bamford replaced Sako. Now with two forwards we need two wingers, so Mutch was stuck out on the left, where he had a bit of a ‘mare. The obvious wide choice was Lee but we couldn’t make a fourth change. In hindsight, with both remaining wingers very disappointing in the second half, the second substitution should have been made with the third & final when the situation was clearer; as it was Lee was left kicking his heels while Mutch toiled on the sideline. Palace didn’t really come close to an equaliser, and our last real effort was a shot by Souaré that was so misdirected I nearly fielded it in the upper tier behind the corner flag.
Ratings:
McCarthy – 5 - A couple of decent routine saves and a good one from Lamela’s free kick, but really should not have let Son’s effort straight at him find the net. His slowness in clearing the ball was nearly found out as well.
Kelly – 6 – Defended well enough, and was caught upfield when Son was played in on his flank, but at least once was totally burned by Spurs’ left winger (no programme so no idea who it was) while his passing on the attack wasn’t crisp.
Souaré – 7 – Good solid display and worked in some dangerous crosses on the attack; his last second effort was only a couple of fields off target.
Hangeland – 7 – Good display with plenty of firm & important tackles, and gave me kittens more than once with his willingness to look for a Cruyff turn in our own box. I would question whether he could have done more for the goal, as it reminded me a lot of Benteke’s winner at Selhurst last season. He shepherded Son to the right of the goal but didn’t make a challenge and failed to block the shot when it came. I think we should expect that little bit more in those circumstances.
Delaney – 7 – Down injured early, so apparently not fully recovered from his groin injury, so did well not only to complete the match but to put in another fine performance.
Cabaye – 7 – Played deeper than usual so was less effective in setting off attacks but did a lot of the hard defensive work. Unlucky with effort that beat Lloris but not the post.
McArthur – 6 – Slightly more advanced than Cabaye but seemed to lack the horsepower to get up and support the attack on the break. Can’t fault the amount or quality of his defensive work.
Sako – 5 – Low mark for someone how forced one good & one excellent save from Lloris, but that is virtually all he did in the game. Like most of the attack was often too static when the ball was in the middle or deeper.
Zaha -5 – Didn’t see much of the ball in the first half, but did spark a couple of moment’s panic in Tottenham’s area. Surprised he was taken off at the interval unless it was injury; we missed him in the second.
Puncheon – 5 – Made some good touches when played in the middle; as a left winger he was drab & ordinary. But was caught in possession or turned / ran into trouble more often than he set up an attacking move.
Bolasie – 6 – Average of two separate marks per half: our best attacking option in the first, when he did force Lloris into a decent save; anonymous in the second down the left when his lack of movement off the ball was painful.
Subs:
Campbell – 6 – The attack looked more functional when Fraizer came on, although he didn’t see many glimpses of goal. Was involved twice in the move setting up Sako’s shot that was turned onto the post. Had one strong challenge on the keeper that showed he was willing to go in where it hurt.
Mutch – 5 – some good touches but one awful early cross field pass that missed its intended target by about 15 yards. When pushed onto the wing his crossing was poor, and we now know why he kept cutting back on his right foot judging by his one left-footed cross.
Bamford – 6 – Couple of useful touches and actually won a couple of headers in his short spell.