This was a match of missed opportunities for a number of Tottenham Hotspur players when they needed to show so much more.
It all felt very familiar. There was a point during Nuno Espirito Santo's time at Spurs when Harry Winks spoke to the media after a 1-0 defeat to Vitesse Arnhem in the Europa Conference League back in 2021. The academy product had found himself playing in a shadow XI in the competition as the Portuguese coach selected his strongest team in the Premier League and the midfielder wasn't having it.
"It is tough, yeah. We’re meant to be a team. It’s meant to be competition," he said. "It’s meant to be competitive. Everybody should be fighting for [a place in the] weekend games, and it’s difficult. Motivation should be everybody fighting for the same cause and the same thing. It’s difficult."
Just under four years on and it feels like a flipped version of that scenario with Ange Postecoglou playing his strongest team in Europe and a second string in the Premier League and the results have reflected that.
Take Cristian Romero for instance. The team's leader at the back and World Cup winner has played just 45 minutes in the Premier League in the past month. Alongside him, Micky van de Ven has only played in the second half of a league match once since mid-December and technically just twice since October if you're including his two hamstring injury lay-offs.
The problem, as so often is the case at Tottenham, is that the squad is never strong enough to sustain a second XI truly capable of winning games in an effective fashion.
It wasn't the case in Winks' time and it still isn't now. Sunday brought Tottenham's record 20th defeat of the Premier League season. They are currently 17th in the table and when football.london asked Postecoglou how the season can have such extremes from reaching a European final in the same week as setting a new club low for defeats he bristled somewhat.
"Yeah, look and I get it and people are banging the drum about this record with defeats, but if people don’t see there is a correlation between the two, I am not going to sit here and, it’s not exactly Pythagoras' theorem," he said.
"It’s quite simple to understand we would have had much better results if we didn’t have to navigate this. So, either you understand or you don’t and beat us over the head, I get it.
"I am not happy with the way we performed today, so that’s what I look at. I think we could have performed better and irrespective of the result you can still lose a game of football and our performance level wasn't anywhere near where it should be. That's my responsibility to address."
Tottenham's league form has been utterly dreadful. They have won just four of their past 20 matches in the competition. Only the three relegated sides have won fewer games and Manchester United have the same number of wins in those games with four.
Spurs have been victorious just once in their past 10 matches and it's all very well Postecoglou dismissing the form as having to prioritise the European run with an understrength squad but in the same breath we've heard the Australian repeatedly speak about his team not being anywhere near the level they needed to be.
He did so again after watching Palace look like scoring at will against them in their own home, a familiar feeling as well with just six wins from 18 league matches at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this season.
"We weren't anywhere near the level we needed to be today," he said. "It's not helpful when you lose another player, it's the fine line we're trying to navigate at the moment. That aside, it was a disappointing performance and nowhere near the level it should be."
He added about the eight changes he had to make with tired players from Thursday night's win on Bodo/Glimt's artificial pitch: "That explains some of it but not all of it. I still felt we should have been better than we were today. So I can't totally discount the performance today on the fact I've made a number of changes. We should have still been able to perform better than what we did."
That's the problem in a nutshell. On a macro level, Postecoglou is quick to write off Spurs' dreadful Premier League campaign due to the impact of the injuries but then those who have been in his post-match press conferences know that on a micro-level, he has also often criticised the levels of the team in games, especially either side of the winter injury crisis.
The truth lies somewhere in between the player availability, a squad not big enough for purpose and an inability on Postecoglou's part to get that better level from certain players in the Premier League.
He denied the squad was too weak overall beyond a stronger group of 12 or 13 players, with many raw young players signed who will be exciting in the future but provide inconsistency right now as they're thrown in to learn at the highest level.
"No, I just think we haven’t been able to cope with what’s been presented to us this year. A lot of that is because of the injury situation we had, particularly earlier in the year," he said.
"It’s not just about getting players back, I’ve had to manage guys like Micky, Romero and Destiny. There is every possibility they could have played more than what they’ve played, but we’ve had to manage it and we haven’t been able to cope with it.
"We have got a lot of young players in the squad who we have exposed to a lot of football and fair to say a few of them are looking tired I think because we’re into our 60th or 61st game and because of the injury situation we had, we’ve paid a price for that in the league. So, that is the story as it’s been told."
The injuries were indeed a huge issue over the winter and there's no denying that as Spurs plummeted from sixth place when they hammered Manchester City in November, and four points off Pep Guardiola's second-placed team, to where they find themselves now as the fourth worst team in the Premier League.
It's been a freefall buoyed only by the runs in Europe and the Carabao Cup. From four points off City then, they are now 27 points behind a Manchester side that have had their own problems as well.
There's also a huge financial knock-on effect for Spurs of this plummet down the table for every league position is worth roughly £3million more than the one below through domestic and international merit payments from the Premier League.
That figure changes due to various factors each year and while this season's prize money figures are not yet known, using last season's figure of £2.8million per position, we know that Tottenham made £45.1million from finishing fifth under Postecoglou.
With the same figures used this season, they would earn just £11.3million if they end up 17th which is a strong possibility with a trip to Aston Villa and a final game against Brighton to come.
That's a huge drop of £33.8million in prize money, which all presumably comes out of the transfer kitty for this summer.
If the club can win the Europa League final, that brings with it £10.95million for the winner but more lucratively entry to next season's Champions League. The Champions League earned clubs £15.7million last season just for qualifying and last season a potential £71.9million if they managed to win the whole thing and every game along the way.
So financially Spurs need to win the Europa League on May 21 to finally end a 41-year wait for a European trophy but also to offset the huge loss of prize money income this season as well. Chairman Daniel Levy said the club needed investment more than a year ago yet nothing has since emerged in any concrete fashion.
Levy was in attendance as usual on Sunday and he would have seen poor displays from his employees around the pitch as Palace, who made only two changes compared to Tottenham's eight, ran riot every time they broke and had a couple of efforts ruled out by VAR, one a marginal offside decision and the other a handball one. In all the visitors had 23 shots at goal to Spurs' eight.
Djed Spence was a shining light for Postecoglou earlier in 2025 but his performances have sharply declined since Destiny Udogie returned from injury.
Against Palace the 24-year-old was all over the place at times, either caught in possession or out of position and the visitors repeatedly took maximum advantage. Most of their attacks could be found utilising the space left behind Spence.
The first disallowed goal came from Daniel Munoz getting in behind him, then the same player dispossessed the full-back soon after and raced on before sending a shot against the crossbar.
Then for Eberechi Eze's first goal before the break, Munoz had the freedom of the flank as Spence was caught well up the pitch and the wing-back squared for the England international to touch the ball home.
Early in the second half Ismaila Sarr raced down Spence's side and while the Spurs man blocked his first cross, the ball rebounded to the Palace man and he picked out the once again unmarked Eze to fire past Antonin Kinsky.
Some sympathy has to go to Ben Davies, who was constantly trying to cover for the AWOL Spence and Kevin Danso, who also kept wandering up the pitch and losing the ball.
The Wales international led Spurs' defensive stats by a distance with seven clearances, four ball recoveries, two blocks and two headed clearances.
The next on the Tottenham list was actually Mathys Tel, with seven ball recoveries, two clearances, one block and one interception. The 20-year-old Frenchman was the only player, with Davies, who looked to be trying to state a case to push for a spot in the team for the Europa League final.
Davies pushed his claims for minutes if Micky van de Ven has a problem at any point. The 32-year-old has not played a single minute in Tottenham's three appearances in a final during his time at the club and he has had to watch them lose them all. Right now, he looks less shaky than Danso, who like Spence, has been unable to keep up his early form.
Others did little to nothing for their cause. Wilson Odobert was mostly anonymous other than one decent run and cross, Pape Matar Sarr headed a glorious curling ball from Pedro Porro wide when it was easier to send it on target while Archie Gray struggled to find his rhythm either in midfield or on occasions at right-back.
When Postecoglou spoke about young players tiring, you sensed he was speaking about Gray who was playing 90 minutes every three days for more than three months and perhaps now the teenager has the accumulated fatigue of that.
Spurs looked lost without a physical hold-up striker up front, but Postecoglou admitted he was never planning to bring either Dominic Solanke or Richarlison on.
"No, we weren't going to. The last time we played on an artificial pitch with Tamworth, the game after we got two calf injuries out of it," he said. "Guys like Brennan, maybe Richy and Madders, so we were never going to risk those guys today."
Nobody appeared to have told Richarlison though with the Brazilian going out to warm up frequently in the second half, at times on his own, and spent large portions of time around the 75 minute mark glaring back at the technical area, waiting for his call to come on.
It never came and the forward, who rarely buries his emotions, did not look best pleased as he returned to the dugout realising that it was to be a day without football.
Postecoglou also revealed that young striker Dane Scarlett had undergone surgery for a groin problem that had bothered him all season and would return for pre-season this summer.
For those fit and playing, the Spurs head coach was left distinctly unimpressed by the majority of those fluffing their lines in the auditions to get into his final preparations. He shot down the prospect of Odobert playing any real game time in the number 10 role.
"It was a needs must basis today, I put him in there, he's played there before because I didn't want to expose any of the other guys from the other night so he had to play in there," he said.
"But I think aside from all that, it's still about performance. Guys had an opportunity today to put their name forward and put some pressure on the guys who played the other night. Fair to say there wasn't any compelling evidence of that.
"That's what I'm trying to push with these guys, that sometimes in football you've just got to take the opportunities there before you. They're never going to be perfect. We made eight changes but there is an opportunity there and you've just got to take it when presented to you and I'm disappointed more didn't step forward today."
Postecoglou refuted the suggestion that, as with Winks' time under Espirito Santo, the rotated players believe they have no chance of making the starting XI for the final.
"That's the problem, because how do you know? Like we lost Lucas [Bergvall] the day before a game. You've got to be ready for your opportunity," he said. "They may think that this team's already set, but if there's nothing else we've learnt this year it's that nothing goes to plan. So I'm not thinking about the starting line-up now for the final because we've still got another game and 10 days to navigate.
"So if there is that attitude in there then it's the wrong attitude because you're missing an opportunity. Like I said when Lucas went down, we had to throw Biss in there, so you have to be ready."
The biggest concern for the final came with Dejan Kulusevski, who first fell awkwardly after a blocked shot and then was wiped out by a Marc Guehi challenge which appeared to rock his knee somewhat just 15 minutes in.
The Swede could be seen moving up and down the touchline with a physio, never really looking comfortable. He came back on to the pitch and tried a little movement, grimaced and then tried to squat and clearly felt discomfort before sitting on the turf and waiting to come off.
After speaking to Postecoglou on the touchline he waited for the medical staff before heading down the tunnel.
The Spurs head coach appeared to have positive news after the game on the 25-year-old.
"Should be OK, just talking to him after. Medical team are not too concerned with him, more of a knock than anything else. So we're hoping he should be OK," he said.
Tottenham fans have heard such things before only to discover players are out for far longer, James Maddison a case in point just 11 days ago.
Spurs cannot afford to lose Kulusevski from their line-up for the Europa League final. Without Maddison, Kulusevski or Bergvall, their creativity drops to zero other than Porro's delivery from right-back.
That was evident against Palace as chances were few and far between and overhit passes down the flanks were predictably mopped up by the visitors' defence. Porro created Spurs' two best opportunities with a free-kick just over and that cross for Sarr.
The other chance in the second half fell to the returning Son Heung-min, with Tel winning possession and feeding the captain only for his shot to be blocked at the last moment.
Son's return was a rare plus and while he struggled to find much to get his teeth into up front in a team creating practically nothing, he could well start against Villa on Friday night on the left and it will soon be evident whether the enforced break with his foot injury was something he needed after a season that had brought 43 matches until that point.
"It was good to get him some match minutes and hopefully we can get him some more against Villa on Friday and it'd be good to get him back and involved and available," Postecoglou told football.london.
After the high of Thursday night in Norway, Spurs came crashing back down just three days later in their own home. A large chunk of the 60,254 fans who had paid out for those expensive tickets for such dross had long exited into the sunny Sunday afternoon by the hour mark.
In truth it was always likely to be an 'after the Lord Mayor's Show' kind of match and Postecoglou had to make changes with the team only arriving back from Bodo at 4.30am on Friday morning and most players needing to recover their lost sleep that day.
Yet it was still another damning indictment of the Premier League debacle of this season and the squad assembled by the club that was stretched to breaking point during the injury crisis but has not looked much better beyond that in coping with two different competitions.
It's a familiar Tottenham tale and if the club can find their way into the Champions League next season through their night in Bilbao then they will need major and costly squad surgery in the summer, despite that lost prize money, otherwise more of the same Premier League pain lies ahead.
