A little later than planned, here's Alfie Davis' review of the Tottenham performance.
A game where we were bound to be on the back foot from the start, trips to White Hart Lane are always a difficult task. Further fitness setbacks saw Cabaye and Tomkins on the bench, as Pardew named an almost unchanged side from the opening day. Joe Ledley came into the fold following the departure of Jedinak, and it was clear that we were happy to sit back, allowing Spurs the majority of possession. Consequently, we found it difficult to forge worthwhile possession and often resorted to laborious, slow passing around the back four until we’d eventually succumb to a long ball due to pressure from the opposition forwards.
Barrages of shots at the Palace goal were kept out by a lively Wayne Hennessy, with Tottenham's forwards Janssen and Kane squandering numerous chances to put their side into the lead –arguably we were fortunate not to have conceded more goals, as our back line found it difficult to nullify the what seemed constant threat of a positive Tottenham side.
Despite being buoyed by the signing of Christian Benteke, chances were hard to come by for the Eagles. Jason Puncheon found some space outside the penalty area after Zaha managed to tee him up nicely, but his low shot at goal was straight at Vorm. Then, a glorious chance for Yohan Cabaye late in the match should have arguably been on target, as we found it hard to get into the correct positions to have shots on goal.
The tactical approach from Pardew was to soak up the pressure and, when they'd commit too many men forward, hit them with on the counter attack. However, the Spurs defence marshalled our forwards consistently and, for periods weren't troubled at all. A performance that doesn’t show positive signs following the opening day defeat – however, there was no expectation to take away any points and shouldn’t be a reflection on how our side will perform from here forth.
With more players to come into our starting 11, there's reason to be optimistic and no judgements should be made until we’ve seen our side at full strength. Conversely, build up play seems laborious at present and on the ball we lack the forward intent required to thrive in the premier league. As we expect Benteke to start in the next game, there's hope that perhaps Pardew will take a completely different approach to the game - I'm hoping for two up front.
A game where we were bound to be on the back foot from the start, trips to White Hart Lane are always a difficult task. Further fitness setbacks saw Cabaye and Tomkins on the bench, as Pardew named an almost unchanged side from the opening day. Joe Ledley came into the fold following the departure of Jedinak, and it was clear that we were happy to sit back, allowing Spurs the majority of possession. Consequently, we found it difficult to forge worthwhile possession and often resorted to laborious, slow passing around the back four until we’d eventually succumb to a long ball due to pressure from the opposition forwards.
Barrages of shots at the Palace goal were kept out by a lively Wayne Hennessy, with Tottenham's forwards Janssen and Kane squandering numerous chances to put their side into the lead –arguably we were fortunate not to have conceded more goals, as our back line found it difficult to nullify the what seemed constant threat of a positive Tottenham side.
Despite being buoyed by the signing of Christian Benteke, chances were hard to come by for the Eagles. Jason Puncheon found some space outside the penalty area after Zaha managed to tee him up nicely, but his low shot at goal was straight at Vorm. Then, a glorious chance for Yohan Cabaye late in the match should have arguably been on target, as we found it hard to get into the correct positions to have shots on goal.
The tactical approach from Pardew was to soak up the pressure and, when they'd commit too many men forward, hit them with on the counter attack. However, the Spurs defence marshalled our forwards consistently and, for periods weren't troubled at all. A performance that doesn’t show positive signs following the opening day defeat – however, there was no expectation to take away any points and shouldn’t be a reflection on how our side will perform from here forth.
With more players to come into our starting 11, there's reason to be optimistic and no judgements should be made until we’ve seen our side at full strength. Conversely, build up play seems laborious at present and on the ball we lack the forward intent required to thrive in the premier league. As we expect Benteke to start in the next game, there's hope that perhaps Pardew will take a completely different approach to the game - I'm hoping for two up front.
