Even after Eberechi Eze’s curling free kick gave Crystal Palace an unexpected goal, this game was all about patience.
Because the guests from all across London were seated so deeply, it seemed as though they were competing on the Formula 1-style karting track located beneath the south stand. Spurs had 78% of the possession during the game and completed an incredible 728 passes across the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium surface compared to Palace’s 156.
However, it took some time to break down the disciplined Palace team with their static back five. Timo Werner’s big chance, which was played through in the first half, would have made the process quicker, but the German eventually made up for it by equalizing in the 77th minute to open the scoring and extend Spurs’ Premier League winning streak to 38 games, which is the equivalent of a whole season.
Oliver Glasner, who just took over at the south London club, set up his team to frustrate Spurs and their supporters. For extended stretches of time, this strategy worked, particularly in the first half when the home team poked away slowly without forcing Palace to come out of their shell too often.
Werner’s equalizer was brought about by Brennan Johnson’s arrival, which also raised the intensity and tempo to the necessary levels. Spurs never looked back after that as the Eagles were destroyed by three goals in only eleven minutes.
The home team had 11 corners and six of their 14 efforts on goal were on target. The number of times Palace entered the Tottenham penalty area was summed up by their four shots, one of which was on target, and one corner.
Ange Postecoglou was pleased with his team’s performance for the whole Saturday afternoon Premier League match.
“The entire game satisfied me. We had to start the play since a side sat so deep, so the first half was challenging for us because we had to be extremely patient and careful to work the opposition, which I think we did. We had a few excellent opportunities, but we didn’t generate many,” he said to football.london.
“To crack up a squad that will sit so deep, you need that goal. I continued to believe that we were working on them enough that we would eventually be able to break them.
