Tottenham are sinking in a sea of venom. Relegation is no longer a distant prospect for the owners of the country’s best and costliest stadium. On the contrary, it is all getting all too real. Tottenham have rolled the dice, replacing a bedraggled Thomas Frank with a bewildered Igor Tudor, but they are only a point above the bottom three and offered absolutely no evidence that they are capable of arresting the slide during this shambolic defeat by Crystal Palace.
It was quite the evening at the ground where the fans hate the players, the players hate the fans and everybody hates the board. Micky van de Ven wore the captain’s armband and was sent off with Tottenham somehow in possession of a 1-0 lead. By half-time there was an argument that the Tudor experiment had already run its course. There has been no new manager bounce since the Croatian’s arrival. Tottenham have been well beaten in each of their three games under their interim and in the absence of anything resembling a new manager bounce there is a clear case for drastic action to be taken before all hope is lost.
The question, of course, is if there is anyone else to turn to in the final nine games of the season. Harry Redknapp would put an arm round the shoulder but he’s 79. Tim Sherwood is out there. Chris Hughton, a Tottenham man, is available. Maybe Daniel Levy has secretly been studying for a coaching licence since being removed as chair in September.
Levy’s departure was supposed to usher in a new era of success in N17. The line was “more wins, more often”. The reality, though, is that Tottenham are winless in the league since the turn of the year. Nottingham Forest and a resurgent West Ham will study this performance and smell blood. Tottenham were confused with 11 on the pitch and gutless once they were down to 10. They collapsed after Van de Ven, who will miss next weekend’s trip to Anfield, saw red for a stupid foul on the irrepressible Ismaïla Sarr. The punishment was brutal, Palace replying with three goals in the space of 12 minutes, and the mood in the stands could not have been more toxic by the time the first half came to a close.
Tudor changed system more out of hope than expectation. The clunky 4-4-2 from the defeat to Fulham was out. Conor Gallagher, Xavi Simons and Yves Bissouma dropped to the bench and Radu Dragusin was not in the squad. Would this low level shock therapy be enough? Tudor opted for a deep 3-4-3 formation, used Archie Gray and Souza as the wing-backs and ceded possession. It was not much of a plan, though. Tottenham were rushed and sloppy on the counterattack and there was no discernible pattern to their football.
Palace were smoother, with Adam Wharton an elegant presence in midfield. Tottenham were under a lot of aerial pressure during the early stages. A long throw dropped to Wharton inside the first minute but the England international’s shot was pushed away by Guglielmo Vicario. Tottenham responded with a shot from Mathys Tel. Randal Kolo Muani turned into trouble a lot. Souza, a 19-year-old Brazilian who joined from Santos in January, lasted 43 minutes on his full debut. His main contribution was the heavy tackle that forced Daniel Muñoz to go off with an arm injury after 14 minutes.
