Peter Crouch reveals who was ‘one shining light’ for Spurs in Palace defeat

Peter Crouch believes Lucas Moura was the ‘one shining light’ for Tottenham during their Premier League defeat to Crystal Palace. 

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side went into the fixture after the international break as the only team to boast a perfect record in the league, but saw that come to an end as they were swept aside 3-0 at Selhurst Park. 

Spurs were flat in the defence of their record, while Palace were deserving of their first win of the season under new boss Patrick Vieira. 

Nuno headed into the fixture with a handful of absentees through injury which included Heung-min Son and Steven Bergwijn, while the South American trio Cristian Romero, Giovani Lo Celso and Davinson Sanchez were still away in quarantine. 

To make matters worse, Spurs lost Eric Dier early on into proceedings, before Japhet Tanganga was dismissed before the hour for a second bookable offence. 

Former Spurs striker Crouch said Spurs’ squad problems would not have helped on Saturday and found it hard to pick out a good performance in the defeat.

He did, though, manage to highlight Moura’s showing as a small positive in an otherwise retched afternoon in south London. 

Speaking to BT Sport 1 (2:47pm, September 11, 2021), he said:  “They’re huge problems without a doubt, but they’ve still got to do better than they did. I didn’t think there was any urgency, they were passive in defending.

“After the first half an hour, it was all Palace from then on. I just felt in midfield there was a lack of creativity, there was a lack of urgency. I think Lucas Moura was the one shining light. It also shows how much they miss Son.

“Lucas Moura wants it to feet, but when Son stretches the play, [Harry] Kane can get on the ball, Moura can get on the ball. It just makes it totally different for Tottenham.”

Spurs Web Opinion 

Moura looked like the brightest spark for Spurs, which wouldn’t have been hard to achieve on a disappointing day all-round. He looked to drive forward and was at the centre of pretty much anything Spurs tried to create. It can’t just be him to try and make something happen, though, and he needs the others around him to try and step up. 

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