Tottenham 1-0 Crystal Palace: Talking points from White Hart Lane

Following on from the eventual first league win of the season, edging what was a tense nervy affair away at struggling Sunderland and overturning an early deficit midweek against Azerbaijani minnows FC Qarabag, there was a refined quiet optimism ringing around White Hart Lane and Spurs prior to kick off against high flying Crystal Palace.

Despite this, I for one as a fan didn't expect such a vibrant attacking performance to result raining with positives all over the pitch.

From the obvious influential performance and goal of South Korean international Heung-Min-Son on his first league start, to the outstanding saves of captain fantastic goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, (which we almost as Spurs fans are guilty for taking for granted, given his unerring consistency).

In contrast to earlier performances this season, this was one of real purpose and penetration from a highly youthful Spurs team not fazed by Crystal Palace's recent impressive run of form and attacking pace and power.

Fan favourite Dele Alli continued to show maturity beyond his years, adapting to a more defensively- minded role handed to him, but still managed to get forward to great effect on multiple occasions.

In addition to this, there was the improved attacking performance of Erik Lamela, and another solid defensive midfield display from Eric Dier, who along with the back four and Lloris, supplied the solid foundations from which to launch their attacks.

However nobody optimised Spurs offensive intent against Palace, more than match winner Son, who showed that willingness to run at defenders, and shooting on sight, that is sure to engage and excite Spurs fans for games to come. Breathing fresh life into what was becoming a very workmanlike predictable team. This on early viewing appears to be a player willing to take risks and take responsibility for his team, which is very encouraging given his recent introduction to a totally new league and culture and the pressure of the hefty price tag.

Also encouraging was the way he combined with team mates notably Harry Kane for some of his opportunities, and Danish star Christian Eriksen for the winning goal. The latter player providing a welcome boost for Spurs on his return from knee injury, providing an assist within just a couple of minutes of coming on as a substitute.

Although as has almost become the norm with Spurs of recent times, there were times we really had to ride our luck, with shots thankfully bouncing back off the woodwork rather than rippling the back of our goal net. I just hope that contrary to popular belief amongst pundits, this luck is here to stay rather than 'even itself out'. Another perhaps 'overused cliche' is that a week is a long time in football. Though maybe now more than ever, this rings true for this current Tottenham team, where a week has resulted in 3 wins and two clean sheets.

Whisper it quietly, but this just may be a vital week in the overall context of Tottenham Hotspur's season and signs that the team may just be starting to turn a corner. Recent results helping to provide a much needed confidence ahead of the stern test's that await against Arsenal and Manchester City in the coming week.

As always, come on you Spurs!

 

Overall our best showing so far. Son and Alli are looking like players we will come to love.

 

This was a good performance, they outplayed the visitors. Son is good and Ali is certainly a star in the making. Cannot believe we got him for 5 million. The ultimate laugh has to be on Pardew who spent all week gabbing to the media about how Palace would take it to Spurs who would tire because of Europa commitment. Then claims they deserved a point. He would do best if he simply shut up and do his job.

 

Always feels good to whup Pardew's backside!!

 

Son looks like a player who can break through lines and give us much needed pace. The Kane-Erikson-Son combination up top will be absolutely deadly, and if Dier can continue to break up plays the way he did today we will be very solid. However, I must disagree with the majority of fans about Alli. I am a huge fan of his but I thought today he lost the ball too many times in vital positions, but with the level of confidence he plays with I have no doubt he will bounce back.

 

I am reserving judgement on the team until we finish September.

 

Yes Alli did lose the ball a few times but this is to be expected given his experiance. Also he was losing the ball trying to be positive taking people on etc. I feel he needs to be encouraged to do this so he can really develop into an outstanding player in a couple of years. What we would not want is for him to become afraid of losing the ball and becoming negative with no risk play. We have seen enough of that in recent times. So let us get behind him even on a bad day and watch him flourish. I thought yesterday was a outstanding day for him considering it was only his 2nd premier league start and adventurous style of play

 

Whilst our centre backs (Verts and Toby) + Dier and Son were really good, Lamela has a tendency to provide assists for goals but continues to be a frustrating enigma.

What Poch needs to do with Lamela is get him a shrink to work on his confidence, and to shoot on goal more regularly. Poch also needs to train him on how to ghost past an opposition player without sodding around. If there is no improvement by the end of the season, then he must be sold, and we need to buy a more effective player who can do those things. COYS

 

Seriously why would poch want to sell lamela oumost creative player all he needs is a bit of confident and some support from the fans anyway we have sold enogh player so far its about time we work with the players that we have and give them a chance.

 

If Lamela has not improved his game by the end of this season, then it is time to sell him on. We can no longer carry passengers. We need players who can not only provide assists, but players who can go past people at will and score goals.

 

This victory was clear change of tactic from MP. Pardew set up was 4-2-3-1 what Poch himself prefers. Argentinian counter Alan (future England boss?) with 4-1-4-1 that has proved to be effective when Sunderland and MU played against Spurs. After the goal and substitutions both team changed to Spurs 4-2-3-1 and to 4-4-2 for Eagles. Palace became that way a more attacking configuration, but we were able to kill the game.
Lamela work his ass off and should be praised for it, not criticized. He was better than Son overall by a mile.
Ultimately, we had a better goalkeeper. That reflected in result more than anything else.