| Match report
With three new signings in the
starting eleven, it was a new look Spurs team. But the
performance added to that impression, with a comfortable, although
not entirely comprehensive victory over newly promoted Crystal
Palace at Selhurst Park.
Where Palace had been very
good at home and Spurs very good away last season, the step up was
almost bridged by the effort and determination of the South London
side, but the difference between the two sides was the extra quality
that Tottenham had in their ranks. Soldado, Paulinho and
Chadli began in the eleven and while there were new faces in the
Eagles line-up, including their record signing Dwight Gayle, his fee
was about a quarter of Roberto Soldado's - Tottenham's record buy.
The game had been preceded
by rain showers, but the sun soon came out for a real opening day of
the season feel to proceedings. There was a nervy start with
some misplaced passes on both sides, but three minutes in, Speroni
had to rush out of his box to the left to stop Soldado getting the
ball. From the throw, Walker got into the box on the right to almost
set up Sigurdsson, but the ball was intercepted.
Eight minutes in, Rose got a
yard to cross from the left, but Soldado's header ahead of the near
post, but 12 yards out, went wide. A minute later, Paulinho,
Lennon and Walker work space on the right wing and Lennon's cut back
is put out for a corner. As usual, nothing came from it !!
It was in the 12th minute
that former Swansea City striker Stephen Dobbie got away on left in
Palace's first foray forward, but he delayed his cross and it was
cleared away. Within a minute, Spurs were on the attack again,
with Soldado's back heel on the right to Lennon, who then played it
to Dembele an the Belgian let fly from 25 yards out. The ball
dipped just scraping the bar on it's way over the top. It
looks like Mousa has been told to get more shots away and more goals
this season.
Dobbie got away on left once
more and pulled the ball back, but there was no-one in a red
and blue shirt on edge of box to cash in on the opportunity.
Soldado got his first effort on goal in the 21st minute, when a foul
on Rose on left wing saw Gylfi Sigurdsson put a low ball into near
post. Roberto got there with a flick of the outside of his foot, but
it flew over the top. The combination on the right was working
well and Kyle Walker played a great ball inside the full back to
Lennon, but his cross was cut out again. Spurs had been
working both the flanks well and getting into crossing positions,
but they need to get the ball away quicker to cause more problems in
the goal mouth.
A 27th minute free-kick
brought Palace's first on target effort, as a free kick 30 yards out
was flighted onto Aaron Wilbraham's head, but it was straight in the
middle of the goal and straight at Lloris. The home fans were
making a lot of noise and having a fine time with their coloured
sheets making a mural before the game and singing their weird songs,
but then this is a big experience for them and they are out to enjoy
it.
Michael Dawson was using his trademark driven diagonal ball from
right to left to find Rose or Chadli. When he licked out the Belgian
on the half hour, Nacer cut inside to unleash a shot but it was
blocked by a defender for a corner. Tottenham's best
effort of the half came in the 35th minute, as Lennon played a ball
into Gylfi and although the ball went away from him, it bounced back
into the D of the penalty area and his shot was athletically tipped
over by Speroni. It would have dipped just under the bar
without the keeper's save.
A minute after the save, Chadli and Rose worked a 1-2 on the left
and Danny burst into the area, but pushed the ball too far.
Spurs were getting muscled off the ball .. and not always fairly ...
with Clattenburg not giving a lot of protection to our players,
while Palace got a bonus for promotion in that they were awarded
soft free-kicks for should charges and when Spurs players won the
ball. I am reliably informed that Niall Quinn on Sky thought
that Clattenburg got everything right and that Spurs players were
guilty of all they perpetrated. Quelle Surprise !!
Neat little passing interchanges were being played by Spurs now as
their confidence grew and one almost saw Chadli on right of centre
fed the ball to Soldado, but there was a little too much pace on the
pass and he couldn't control it. Five minutes before
half-time, Walker and Lennon's 1-2 put the winger away, with him
trying to find Soldado at the near post, but his cross was just too
far in front of the Spanish striker.
Another fine example of the leniency shown to Crystal Palace was on
41 minutes when Dwight Gayle went through onto a return pass, but
with Walker coming in, the ex-Peterborough striker threw himself to
the floor and the ref pointed for a goal-kick. Last season, it
would have been a yellow card had Bale done it. Instead, he
just got a telling off. Where's the justice, eh ?
Late in the half, Owen Garvan went down and the players took a
drinks break. It gave a chance to look around the stands and I
noticed a fair number of empty Palace seats. How excited were
their fans then ? Maybe the thought of a season of misery in
the top flight and a relegation fight from the time the fixtures
were drawn randomly (our 16th away opening fixture in 21 Premier
League seasons ... Moyes is right !!) may have persuaded them that
the £96 million game in the play-off was the pinnacle of their
ambitions.
In the last seconds of the three added on minutes,
Lennon's long right wing cross saw Chadli racing in at the far post
and get the jump on Ward to win the header, but it was just over the
top. The half-time whistle brought a chance to gather our
breath after a pacy first 45, with Palace doing a lot of closing
down to try and stop Spurs playing. They surely wouldn't be
able to keep that up for 90 minutes ? With the pom-pom girls
out at half-time (as they were before the match), the thumping music
made it hard to take stock of what had gone on in the first half.
Palace had a quick start to the second half, with a couple of balls
into the area, but after Paulinho had been bundled over with no
penalty given, the move continued with Lennon getting away on the
right, hitting the line and then crossing to finds Moxey's arm
blocking it and this time Clattenburg did point to the spot.
50 minutes into the season and Roberto Soldado stepped up to send
Speroni the wrong way from the spot, as the ball flew into the left
side of the goal as he looked at it. All last season without a
penalty and one in the first game of this !! Just as well we
bought someone who knew what a penalty kick was !!
Capoue made his entrance in the 57th minute, on for Dembele,
announcing his transfer with a shot from 25 yards that went almost
that high over the bar !! I know he is versatile, but
hopefully the coaches can get him to practice with football goals
and not rugby ones in future. Clattenburg was still allowing
rugby style tactics, as Gayle was released after the ball had been
taken off Paulinho by wrestling him aside and the new Palace man had
a rush of blood and shot from 25 yards, but it rose over the
top. Palace made a triple substitution in the 66th minute, to
try and make them more offensive, with Phillips, Chamakh and
Williams all entering the field. And it did seem to work for a
little while, with some more creative passing an an old head in
Phillips to hold the ball up.
Spurs had the next scoring opportunity though, with Walker slipping
the ball inside the left back to Soldado and his square pass to
Sigurdsson was taken first time from around the penalty box, but the
shot wide left of the goal by inches. it was a good opening
and one that should have been put away, as it might have settled the
game then. Especially when, a minute later with 70 on the
clock, Chamakh played Gayle in, but Lloris was quick off line to
dive and grab ball first. Then our keeper had to race well
outside of his box to tackle Phillips and out of position, was
vulnerable to being chipped, but Williams dallied on ball and was
robbed, thus avoiding an embarrassment for Hugo.
Chadli was getting into the match more, after a relatively quiet
game, coming in from the left and to fire a shot wide of far post.
The referee gave a cheap free kick to Palace when Sigurdsson blocked
Dikagcoi as Walker ran forward. After what had gone on in the
previous 74 minutes, the award was a joke. Anyway, the eagles
fluffed it up and they were better off when Spurs had a set-piece.
A 77th minute corner was cleared to Paulinho outside the edge of the
box and he sent his volley into ground, which was cleared
upfield. Kevin Phillips flicked it on and Gayle went through,
but Rose was quick enough to cover and was fouled by the former
Gooner trainee.
Another chance to put the game beyond Palace came in the 80th
minute, when Dawson intercepted a sideways pass and the ball went to
Soldado. He ran it forward and played Chadli in for shot that
goes a couple of feet wide low to the left of the goal. It was
another opportunity that should have hit the target. The
Belgian winger did well a minute later, when a Walker cross was too
long, but it was picked up by Nacer on the left wing and he changed
feet twice and then tried a chipped shot that lands on the roof of
the net from a narrow angle.
Palace were still trying to find an equaliser, so when a tackle was
won on half way, the ball ran forward to Phillips and he had a shot,
but he dragged it way wide. With five minutes remaining,
Lloris came for a corner that he dropped under pressure, then had to
dive at his near post to stop Delaney's shot getting through.
Spurs took Soldado off and brought on Defoe, s an impact sub, while
Kaboul came on for a run-out with Rose being rested. Defoe
broke away and held up ball with good upper body strength to win
throw-in near the corner at the Palace end of the pitch.
Jermain was also involved in a neat move, when Lennon played the
ball into him, left of centre on the edge of the box. His
flick through his legs found Chadli and he played a low square ball
into the heart of the area for Sigurdsson, whose shot was blocked.
Just a minute later, Spurs broke quickly from the back as Palace
tired and it ended with Defoe going past four defenders before
dragging a low shot wide of the goal by a yard from inside the box.
Chances were slipping by and
Spurs had to be vigilant as Palace pressed at the end of the game.
With 90 minutes showing on the clock, a long right wing cross saw
Phillips head the ball back for Dikagcoi to shoot low to Lloris'
right and the Frenchman dived to make a good stop and then saved at
the near post with his feet from the same player who got the
follow-up. There was also a nervy moment in added time, when a
long ball was played into the Spurs box, with Walker heading it back
to Lloris, who had to jump high to reach it !! Another few
inches and it could have been very embarrassing.
As it was, Spurs ran down the clock with possession keeping the ball
away from Palace players and Clattenburg's final whistle was greeted
with the joy of three points in the bag by the Spurs fans. It
is not always the best day for Tottenham supporters, with our noted
slow starts some times costing us come the tail end of the season,
but one this occasion, the team played a solid game, without being
extravagant and while Palace fashioned a few chances, they were very
much in a Championship style. The difference in quality showed
in the end and while there is still time left in the transfer
window, the sort of quality they need will not come cheap.
The outcome of this game is
not really an indicator to how the rest of the season will go, but
it will act as a useful introduction to our new boys about how the
Premier League works, with this one of the teams tipped for
relegation and they pout in a good shift, letting the incoming
players know that they have to perform to a high level consistently.
Paulinho was neat and covered a lot of ground, always making himself
available, while Soldado looked to get an effort on goal whenever he
could, but also linked play well and set up some chances.
Chadli warmed to the game as it went on and he will be a sound
winger, who can give Rose a bit of protection behind him.
Capoue didn't get a full run-out, but looked strong and someone who
doesn't mind a tackle and likes to go forward with the ball.
Swansea at home next and
that will be a very different match ... but not half as
different as the Dinamo Tbilisi one that comes before then in the
Europa League !!
Aidenby
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