On this day in 2023, Tottenham Hotspur overcame Crystal Palace to make it eight wins and two draws from Ange Postecoglu’s first ten Premier League games in charge, making him the first manager in Premier League history to take that many points from his first ten games in charge.
For this particular game, Ange opted for a line up of; Vicario; Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Davies; Sarr, Bissouma; Kulusevski, Maddison, Richarlison; Son.
Other than having no Udogie, who was unavailable, this was by and large the most used team under Ange in his first ten games – before all of the injuries and suspensions began kicking in. There was a lot of continuity with this side.
The first half was actually the worst under Ange to date. With Roy Hodgson as manager of the time, Palace played incredibly deep and made it very hard for Spurs to be able to create clear cut chances in the final third. Ange’s side would go into the break goalless.
However, not long into the second half, they would be rewarded for their endeavour. After a nicely crafted move between Porro and Sarr down the right hand side, the ball fell into Maddison, whose fizzed in ball was so powerful, that the only thing Joel Ward could do was divert it into his own net.
Midway through the second half, Maddison showed great footwork before slipping Johnson through, who then had the composure to square the ball to Son to tap home from very close ranege, and give Spurs a 2-0 lead.
The game was generally being pretty well managed, before a free-kick fell to Ayew, who smashed the ball into the bottom corner on the half volley. The issue was, he had controlled it to half volley the ball by using his hand, which somehow was not given. In any case, it mattered little, as Spurs held onto for the 2-1 win to make it 26 points from 10 games.
The substitutes used that day were Emerson, Johnson, Bentancur, Gil, and Højbjerg. Forster, Dier, Lo Celso and Skipp were unused. Quite the contrast to how the squad looks now.
Let’s all hope for a similar result later today, exactly one year on. Ange’s 26 points from 10 games remains a record now, although Arne Slot would beat it by one point, should his team win their game. I think it’s safe to say, most Spurs fans would not mind if he does beat it.
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