5 Talking Points : Crystal Palace vs Tottenham Hotspurs, 18th August, 2013

Crystal Palace are back in the Premier League after a gap of 8 years and their first game of the season was a London derby against Tottenham. Spurs had made quite a few signings during the transfer window and were looking to push on without Gareth Bale.

Palace, on the other hand, wanted to show their fans that they can put up a fight, more importantly it was Ian Holloway’s chance to keep another Championship side up as his previous side Blackpool were relegated as soon as they came to the Premier League.

In an absorbing encounter it was Tottenham who came out winners thanks to a penalty from new striker Roberto Soldado. Spurs did create a lot of chances and had to weather a late onslaught by Palace but they held on for the win.

Here are 5 talking points from the game

Spurs’ attacking threat

Soldado, after scoring the goal

Tottenham provided debuts to three players, all in the attacking third. Record signing Soldado, Paulinho and Nacer Chadli all started the game. Soldado converted the penalty Spurs won thanks to a hand ball incident by Moxey. Soldado cool-ly slotted home the penalty. Chadli looked bright down the left and created a lot of problems for the Palace defense often cutting in and going for goal, he seems to be a steal by Spurs for only 7 million pounds from FC Twente.

Paulinho did not look out of place either and was energetic throughout the game, linking up well with Sigurdsson. Soldado also looked impressive, especially his movement. With Defoe, Holtby, Adebayor and Capoue waiting in line to get into the squad, Spurs have a really good attacking outfit and could do more than just get into the 4th position.

No Bale? No Problem

Gareth Bale was not missed

Gareth Bale was not part of Spurs team for the game. The official reason being cited is that he is injured but this could have been a tactic to keep a player, maybe not right in his mindset for doing some damage during the course of the game. However Spurs did not need extra firepower to win the game.

Their attacking trio of Soldado, Lennon and Chadli tormented the Palace defense throughout the game and should have scored a few more if not for some last ditch defending.

Lennon was outshone by Chadli in this game. Lennon’s final delivery has always been in question and the same issue rose up during this game with the winger getting into great positions but not being able to deliver the telling cross. If Spurs are to sell Bale they should invest in another winger or Lennon has to step up and show he can take up the mantle which will be left by Bale.

Quality is key

It was a well balanced match

The final scoreline might have divided the teams by only a goal but there was an overall lack of quality in the Palace team. Holloway might have used the same set of players to win the Championship playoff but they need to get a couple more quality signings to survive in the Premier League. If they had a bit more control and vision in the final third they could and should have scored a couple of goals.

The triple introduction of Phillips, Williams and Chamakh provided much impetus in going forward but ultimately the team were not able to score past Lloris. Phillips, Dikgacoi and Gayle had chances to score but were unable to convert. Crystal Palace, based on this showing, are not the worst team to come up from the Championship (Derby County comes to mind) but they aren’t the best either and a little bit of good luck could keep them up in the league.

The fan support should keep them up

Palace have a special stadium

Even though Palace were being led 1-0 by Spurs, their fans still had something to shout and cheer about. Being back in the Premier League after a gap of 8 years and going into administration, Palace fans have seen worse days than this.

The fans should enjoy every minute in the Premier League because who knows what may happen at the end of the season. Based on the vocal support of the fans, Palace should make Selhurst Park a fortress, the atmosphere was unbelievable in the stadium and when Palace win a game there it would blow the roof off the place.

The support from the fans seemed to invigorate a sense of belief on the 11 players on the field and they had a right go at Tottenham at the end of the game. Lloris made a good save and a brilliant tackle against Phillips to keep Spurs in the lead. Palace should be a team to watch if not for the wily manager Holloway then at least for the fans.

Penalty decision was influenced by earlier tackle?

Soldado takes the penalty

Spurs were awarded a penalty in the 49th minute when the frustrating Lennon tried to cross the ball into the box and a sliding challenge by Moxey led to the ball hitting his slightly raised left hand. Not many protests followed but pundits did say the decision could have gone either way and some referees may not have given the decision in Spurs’ favor.

Maybe referee Clattenburg’s decision could have been influenced by a challenge from Palace captain Jedinak on Paulinho. It was a clumsy tackle just inside the box but Clattenburg chose not to blow the whistle at that moment. It was not much of a respite for the defense as the referee did award the penalty against Moxey which Roberto Soldado converted to score a goal on debut and give Spurs all three points.