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Mauricio Pochettino defends record as Crystal Palace dump Spurs out of Cup
Gone in under 68 hours. Tottenham Hotspur have been knocked out of both domestic cup competitions as they crashed to defeat against Crystal Palace less than three days after their Carabao Cup semi-final loss to Chelsea.
Mauricio Pochettino had defended Spurs’ record by pointing out their glory days were so long ago they were filmed in black and white. But there will be no colour show-reel from this season, in the domestic cups at least.
The Spurs manager defended them again in the aftermath of this loss and understandably so although his argument that winning such cup competitions, right now, is only to feed the ego will raise a few eyebrows.
Everyone knows what he means, everyone appreciates that he is achieving and over-achieving and, of course, it is too simplistic to reduce it to the argument of ‘what have you won?’ but it was interesting to hear his forthright take.
“We are going to create a debate that to win a trophy is going to help the club,” Pochettino said. “I don't agree with that. That only builds your ego. In reality, the most important thing is being consistently in the top four and playing Champions League. That is going to help the club to achieve the last step.
“The club is doing fantastically. It's so successful. In the last four or five years, we've been fighting in different ways to achieve what the club needs, to be in the level of Chelsea, United, City or Arsenal or Liverpool.”
True. And patience and time are still needed. But everyone needs an ego boost every now and again even if Spurs can point to how fortunes have cruelly conspired against them – through injury, absence and a horrible fixture pile-up. “I think we came from a very crazy fixture and were forced to take some decisions, rest some players and rotate,” Pochettino argued.
He was. But the debate will also centre on those lack of signings, over how their resources have been so stretched and tested - and few teams would survive their set-backs - and maybe also over whether Pochettino will soon have taken them as far as he will want to.
Time will, also, tell on that one but it was surely difficult for him that, chasing the game, he brought on Erik Lamela at half-time but then had to turn to a holding midfielder, in Victor Wanyama, and 20-year-old Kazaiah Sterling whose previous first-team experience was a handful of minutes more than a year ago.
Spurs made seven changes from the Chelsea tie, Palace made six from their last Premier League fixture and beyond the satisfaction of a deserved victory and gaining a place in the fifth round there was also the delight of Connor Wickham scoring for the first time in more than two years - 799 days, to be precise, as he has suffered from a serious knee injury.
There was a knee slide in his celebration as the centre-forward let out a roar before thumping the turf with his fist. The goal was a tap-in, or rather a knee-in, as he forced a rebound over the line but no-one could deny him his exuberant reaction. It came after Jeffrey Schlupp ran on to Joel Ward’s pass infield and burst past Davinson Sanchez, shooting across goal with goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga palming the ball only for Wickham to pounce.
It got worse for Spurs and again Wickham was involved as Wilfried Zaha attempted to pick out the striker with a cross. Kyle Walker-Peters panicked and stuck out a left arm to deflect the ball away but also to concede the clearest of penalties which Andros Townsend chipped into the centre of the goal with Gazzaniga diving to his left.
Townsend, who did not celebrate against his former club, should have quickly ended the tie as Palace broke down their left and he was picked out by Patrick Van Aanholt with a low cross but, running onto the ball, with time and space, he shot straight at Gazzaniga who parried.
Would that prove costly? It should have done. Lucas Moura won a free-kick right on the edge of the Palace penalty area and, with the home side down to 10-men as the impressive Joel Ward received treatment for a cut, Kieran Trippier cleverly turned the ball to his left. Kevin-Georges Nkoudou was unmarked and his first-time shot was blocked by Julian Speroni with the 39-year-old goalkeeper excelling by reacting quickly to parry the follow-up for a corner.
Palace received another, even bigger reprieve. Fernando Llorente flicked on a header and as Juan Foyth tried to turn away from Van Aanholt he was clumsily caught by the Palace defender. Another clear penalty for referee Kevin Friend to award and, without Harry Kane, it fell to Trippier who had not taken a spot-kick for Spurs before. The full-back complained about the state of the penalty spot, being unable to place the ball properly, maybe also not helped by the wind – and then screwed his shot wide of Speroni’s right-hand post.
Spurs dominated the second-half, reducing Palace to the occasional break out but despite the pressure they created few, clear opportunities beyond a deflected Llorente shot that Speroni sharply tipped around a post.
“In the last few weeks I was listening a lot about winning titles, about many things,” Pochettino later said. “In the last few seasons we were there and we were close.” Spurs were and are. But, frustratingly and despite the greater goals, another trophy has eluded them.
Match details
Crystal Palace (4-3-3): Speroni; Ward, Kelly, Dann, Van Aanholt; Meyer (Milivojevic, 79), Kouyate, Schlupp; Townsend (Ayew, 88), Wickham (Benteke, 70), Zaha.
Subs not used: Tupper (gk), Sakho, Wan-Bissaka, Riedewald.
Tottenham Hotspur (3-4-3): Gazzaniga; Vertonghen (Lamela, 46), Sanchez, Foyth; Walker-Peters, Skipp, Dier (Wanyama, 62), Trippier; N’Koudou, Llorente, Moura (Sterling, 81).
Subs not used: Lloris (gk), Rose, Winks, Aurier.
Referee: Kevin Friend.
Attendance: 19,491.
Full time: Crystal Palace 2 Spurs 0
Spurs are out of a second cup competition in the space of 72 hours, and the truth is that their squad - quite understandably - cannot handle the loss of three such significant attacking figures as Kane, Son and Alli.
Three days after losing to Chelsea in the Carabao Cup, in which they gave everything they had, Pochettino's back-up options fell short again at Selhurst Park.
Those key injuries are a huge caveat to what is likely to be another debate about what this Spurs side can achieve, but the manager isn't going to pretend to be happy about this week's events.
Palace, deservedly, are in the hat for the fifth round.
70 min: Crystal Palace 2 Spurs 0
Foyth is faced with Zaha, in the box, but he keeps his head (and his feet) to stop him in his tracks, rather tidily. At the other end, Trippier finds N'Koudou with a deep cross, but he can't clip the ball back to a white shirt in the middle.
Palace sub: Christian Benteke replaces the scorer of the opener, Connor Wickham.
Half time: Crystal Palace 2 Spurs 0
An absolute mess of a first half for Tottenham. Palace were out of the traps first, Connor Wickham's opener had been coming, and then Kyle Walker-Peters conceded a mindless penalty to make it 2-0. There was still time for 1) Georges-Kevin N'Koudou to miss from eight yards and then four yards, and 2) Kieran Tripper to put a penalty wide.
Spurs' supporting cast have been disastrous, basically.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 1 (Wickham 9 min) Spurs 0
Hello! His first start in over two years, and Connor Wickham has a tap-in! Jeffrey Schlupp bursts through the Spurs defence, his shot is half-saved by Gazzaniga, and Wickham is there to convert from two yards! BT Sport are calling it "a fairytale", which is a bit of a stretch.
Hodgson: not feeling the magic
The Crystal Palace manager knows which side his footballing bread is buttered:
"It's nothing like the glittering prize it was in my youth because we have the Champions League and Europa League now. Not many have the ambition to win the FA Cup.
The FA Cup is still being won by the top teams, and our position in the table [14th] isn't as good as we'd like it to be.
What is my ambition? To advance in the FA Cup and get to the semis or the final, or stay in the Premier League? My ambition is to stay in the Premier League."
The stars were bright, Fernando...
Two games for Fernando Llorente deputising for the injured Harry Kane; two goals (but only one of them at the right end.)
At Stamford Bridge on Thursday, Matt Law observed the curious spectacle of a back-up striker trying to rediscover his touch...
Nobody can blame the 33-year-old for being rusty, for needing time to readjust to first-team football, having spent most of his Spurs career warming the bench, but he could have at least run about a bit.
While many of his team-mates who have been asked to play three games in a week for much of the campaign chased, harried and, in Eric Dier’s case, fouled, Llorente pretty much stood still.
Pochettino bellowed ‘Fernando’ as he tried to get some instructions across to the forward midway through the first half, but that did not seem to provoke a response.
Llorente had been preparing for a move back to Athletic Bilbao before Kane’s injury and he looked like a man who wished he was somewhere else.
Best bets
Our man Ross Clarke has found the value for this one:
It probably will not be considered too much of a shock if Tottenham are knocked out by another Premier League side on Sunday, but the 2/1 available for a Crystal Palace win looks just too big to ignore.
With Tottenham short on star quality through injuries and international call-ups and losing on Thursday night in the League Cup, there are sure to be plenty of tired legs on show and Mauricio Pochettino will surely make multiple changes ahead of a tricky home match against Watford on Wednesday.
While Crystal Palace are never a team to have complete faith in, they have showed in recent weeks, with victory over Manchester City and a 4-3 defeat to Liverpool, that they can compete against the bigger teams and Roy Hodgson’s side will have far fresher legs.
Mauricio Pochettino and The Concept of A Trophy
One down, three to go. Tottenham's stumble at the penultimate Carabao Cup hurdle at Stamford Bridge on Thursday once again emboldened those who believe all progress, all perceived overachievement, all positivity means nothing unless, at the end of it, there's a massive silver cup with ribbons on it.
Mauricio Pochettino's reaction to his failure - in official terms, at least - to restore Tottenham to their glory days...was to point out that those glory days pre-dated colour television.
“Tottenham, no history of winning,” said Pochettino. “Our glory, I watch the video about the glory, it’s with (Bill) Nicholson. It’s black and white and I watch it nearly every week. To create again that feeling you need time. Four years, five years, that’s nothing in the history of the club.”
More to the point, Pochettino - while hardly declaring that trophies don't matter - insisted yet again that Tottenham deserved credit for their gradual upward trajectory.
“Remember, we were unbeaten, 19 games in the Premier League, at White Hart Lane in our last season there. And no-one said what it means to move to Wembley to play and create another project. Not only this, but we are going to play only one season and then it’s nearly two seasons and no-one says nothing.
“When Arsenal moved after playing in Highbury, people talked about massive problems, how they were still paying for it and this and that. They are talking about (Tottenham) winning. We still need to finish our stadium. We still need to create the basis to have the possibility to win.”
Hang-up or no hang-up, though, trophies exist to be won. And there are three left for Spurs to fight for (if we charitably include them in the Premier League title race, of course). Can they win the FA Cup? Of course they can, and no narrative can deny that. Will it make any difference to Pochettino's Spurs legacy? Let's see if they can beat Crystal Palace first, shall we?
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