Tottenham had a chance to build momentum ahead of their Europa League final, but instead, they turned in another limp showing at home. Here are five players who let Tottenham down against Crystal Palace.
Indeed, for Tottenham Hotspur, they have their eyes set on the Europa League final, which is set to take place on 21 May.
The Premier League season has long ended for many fans, with Tottenham sitting all the way down in 17th after suffering 20 league defeats in 36 games.
Sunday’s defeat to Crystal Palace marked the 20th of the league campaign – the most in a single season by Tottenham.
Ange Postecoglou rang the changes, giving his fringe players a chance to make a case for a place in the Europa League squad. But the majority of them failed to impress. Here are five players who let Tottenham down against Crystal Palace.
Djed Spence’s body language is a worrying sign
For the second week running, Djed Spence looked really poor at the back, with his defending leaving much to be desired.
He was constantly getting caught out of possession, positioning himself poorly in defensive actions, and showing a lack of desire to track back – all of which were on full display against Crystal Palace.
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It is frustrating to watch because we know there is a good player in there, but it appears as though he is not too happy being played in dead rubber games.
Ben Davies’ time at Tottenham might be up
Tottenham’s defence was all over the place against Crystal Palace, and they could have been 3-0 down at half time.
It is frustrating to have both Spence and Ben Davies on the same side of the pitch, as both players do not complement each other well at all. The Welshman was poor defensively, with question marks over his positional sense in this tie.
With his contract set to expire, given his performances in recent games, it looks like Spurs might be better off letting him run out his contract.
Kevin Danso needs to sharpen up before May 21
With the club’s luck with injuries, it would not be the strangest of things if another player picked up an injury before the Europa League final, as it has been the story of Tottenham’s season.
At the moment, given the performances of Tottenham’s second-choice centre-backs, one would be praying that neither Cristian Romero nor Micky van de Ven pick up knocks.
Kevin Danso was really poor against Crystal Palace. He had a 6.2 rating on FotMob, did not win any of the tackles he put in all match, and was dribbled past once after Jean-Philippe Mateta simply put the ball beyond him to go through on goal.
These performances do not inspire confidence, and for a player who has been solid since joining Spurs, Danso has to be much better in the coming weeks.
Pape Matar Sarr has an on-field identity crisis
Pape Matar Sarr looks very lost on the pitch. What exactly is his role? Is he there to mop up, to make runs into the box, or to keep Tottenham ticking? The midfielder looks like he is not sure what he is meant to do on a football pitch these days.
Against Crystal Palace, he was just as disappointing. He managed the fewest touches (29) of any outfield player to play 90 minutes.
Going forward, there was nothing to show for it either. He had two shots in the game, neither of which was on target. He also missed Tottenham’s biggest chance after failing to keep his header on target from a Pedro Porro cross.
Touches in the opposition box? He only managed two. Tottenham lack creativity when James Maddison and Lucas Bergvall are not on the pitch in midfield, and with Sarr’s display against Palace, that theme continued. He needs to be more effective in the attacking phase of play.
Mathys Tel a bright spark for Tottenham but lacks support
The forward was one of Tottenham’s bright sparks in the clash against Crystal Palace, as he looked to make things happen and was eager to get on the ball.
He even offered defensive cover for Spence at times in the game, tracking back to cover up for the full-back.
But most of his hard work goes under the radar because the winger lacks service from those around him. Against Palace, he completed the most dribbles (3) in the match, was the most fouled player in the match (4 times), and won the most duels (11).
That is a complete performance from the Frenchman, and had he grabbed a goal, it would have been the perfect way to cap off that display.