Tottenham Hotspur player ratings from lopsided loss at Crystal Palace
By Aaron Coe
On an afternoon where Tottenham needed to be aggressive, they were passive and as a result, everyone was poor in the loss at Palace, as our player ratings reflect.
The regular season had shown Tottenham Hotspur faithful that the free-flowing preseason offense was as much a result of the competition as it was the Spur’s talent. Through three matches, however, the Tottenham defense had shown to be an effective, cohesive unit. All of the positives about the Tottenham defense went out the window as Spurs fell to an abject 3-0 defeat at Crystal Palace. Here are our ratings for a sorry Spurs side, starting with our man of the match who was as absent as Spurs effort.
Tottenham man of the match – N/A
The stark reality is that not one Tottenham Hotspur player really played up to his full potential on Saturday. As a result of some injuries and other absences, Nuno Espirito Santo opted to change his formation as well as his personnel.
The change in shape to start proved a fatal mistake as Spurs were off the pace almost from the off. With their defensive leader going down only a quarter-hour into the match, Tottenham quickly went from a team barely in control to barely struggling to hang on.
The balance that heretofore had helped the team and the crisp passing were both completely absent as the players were beaten first mentally, then physically by the Palace attack. In a match where the best game plan would have been for the Spurs to try and dominate possession and keep Palace down, Tottenham did the exact opposite and got smacked around as a result.
It was a poor plan coupled with poor execution and our ratings reflect both.