Opposition View: Tottenham v Crystal Palace ft. HLTCO

Spurs welcome Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this weekend in the Premier League.

Palace are now looking to kick on following the appointment of Glasner, while Spurs need to return to winning ways to keep alive their hopes of a top four finish after the setback against Wolves.

We caught up with HLTCO to get a look inside the opposition ahead of the London derby tomorrow afternoon:

Palace have been busy recently with the managerial appointment of Oliver Glasner, How do you expect your side to set up on Saturday?

“It has only been one game of Oliver Glasner’s time in charge, albeit the first fixture he was actually present for was away at Everton and we set up with a back three with three central defenders and two overlapping full-backs. You wouldn’t necessarily call them full-backs as such but that has been the model against Everton and Burnley. Last weekend just gone, with two defensive midfielders and then a front three with one central striker and attackers on either side, so that I would imagine would be very similar formation style to the one which we will go with against you.

“You can look at it and say we’ve got a deeper block because it’s a game against a higher quality opponent. Spurs away from home is a different test to that posed by Burnley at home particularly when we were against ten men for a large part of that game but I think what Oliver Glasner has said in his early time in charge as Palace boss is that we will play the same way week after week and we will just adapt slightly elements of our overall adventurous nature but the formation will remain relatively rock solid, so I would imagine that we would go with and it depends whether you could call it a three at the back, two overlapping full-backs, two defensive mids and a front three with one central striker – that is the general pattern of how we would set up against you, I would imagine.”

We’ve also had a new manager this season, what has been your impression of Ange Postecoglou?

“My impressions of Ange Postecoglou have been incredibly positive. I am someone who has made something of a rod for his own back with my praise for him and my admiration for the way he goes about the game along with the way he carries himself. I just think he is every inch the sort of manager you would love to have at your club and prior to him taking over at Spurs, I actually recorded a podcast in which I said that he would be the perfect appointment for you.

“I’m not suggesting it has been perfect because there have been bumps in the road, but certainly it feels like he has got the Tottenham fanbase back feeling positive and with a sense of general momentum I imagine you would have a decent shot at the top four, whether or not you actually get it is up in the air right now but I think when you look at the energy-sapping times of Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte in charge of your club and you contract that to Ange Postecoglou is night and day in terms of the enthusiasm he has been able to foster and bring that among your fanbase and your players . I would imagine that would continue under him.”

You come into the fixture on the back of a 3-0 win over Burnley, did you see any glimpses of Glasner’s blueprint this early on?

“He wants to play a high-energy style of football with a high press. He wants players to be in the opposition’s faces and his whole game seems to revolve around getting the ball up the pitch as quickly as possible when the opportunity presents itself.

“I think one key difference in the way he is looking to set us up compared to Roy Hodgson previously isn’t just that he wants to get more bodies in the box and create more goalscoring opportunities but he also wants to make sure the team continues to press for extra goals after we’ve gone in front. As much as we were playing at home to a Burnley side who are in a relegation battle last weekend and were doing so against ten men, there was still a desire once we did get our noses in front to really hammer home the advantage we ended up scoring three goals in just eleven minutes and if you look at the second and third goals, they are on the break. The first of the two that followed the initial goal from Chris Richards there was some lovely interplay from Tyrick Mitchell and Matheus França on the left hand side, he puts the ball across the box where there are bodies and Jordan Ayew gets it in at the back post. The third goal is one that comes from the penalty spot after a quick break from Matheus França after he carries the ball from inside his own half and was fouled in the penalty area.

“I think that blueprint in itself is there for all to see and hopefully we do see more of it against your side this weekend. You can look towards the way that Wolves performed and I’m not suggesting we will be a carbon copy of how Gary O’Neil had his players operating against you but that ability to break after a low block is something we will look to exploit.”

Injuries have been a problem for both sides this season, you’re without Olise and Guehi, who do Spurs need to be wary of?

“Undeniably the absence of Michael Olise and Marc Guehi is huge for us there is no doubt about it. When you look at what Marc Guehi has been able to do in terms of defensive solidarity, he has been pretty much ever-present since he made the move from Chelsea and in Michael Olise I truly believe that we have one of the best creative talents in the Premier League, not just outside the top six but across the entire division.

“To be without those two is a severe body blow to us, there is some suggestion that following six full days of training that Eberechi Eze will come back into the first team fold this Saturday. Whether or not that is from the first kick or whether it is from a place on the bench, I’m not sure but Oliver Glasner certainly seems more cautious when it comes to throwing in players from the very beginning in these first-team fixtures when they are returning from injury compared to Roy Hodgson. That said, he is a transformative figure himself in Eberechi Eze and you would hope he would be able to put Spurs to the sword when it comes to ninety minutes if he is given a start.

“Aside from him, Adam Wharton has been fantastic since coming in from Blackburn at the back end of the January transfer window. He immediately came into the side despite being just 20 and I think he is someone who will continue to progress across the next few years. I don’t want to put too much pressure on a young player’s shoulders but he has taken to everything like a duck to water and he is going to become a key part to our midfield for many years. Similarly, Daniel Munoz arrived in the January window from Genk over in Belgium and has been a transformative force on the right-hand side, bombing forward and making sure he does get involved in the attacking side of things.

“Jordan Ayew is a more familiar face for Spurs fans compared to the last two names has certainly upped his game over recent times and got a goal away to Everton in our last away game and was fantastic at home to Burnley last time out. All of those players should hopefully create a cohesive performance and can see us do well on Saturday.”

Which Tottenham player has impressed you most this season?

“It is very difficult for me to nail down one specific player as part of the Tottenham setup who has truly impressed me. Not because there aren’t a vast number of candidates, it is for that exact reason that I am having trouble in nailing down one specific name.

“I think the way that you have played as a cohesive unit under Ange Postecoglou this season has been so refreshing to watch and it feels as if you have got so many moving parts of that squad who have contributed to the whole.

“I think if I had to, I would say that Pedro Porro is someone who has really impressed me on an individual level because has been such a transformative force for you when he has been fit.

Where do you think Tottenham will finish in the Premier League this season?

“I think you have a genuine chance in the top four. I have seen plenty of people and also on my own social media presence when I think it was two or three weeks in, there was an interview which Ange Postecoglou gave after a game in which he had won. You were playing some fantastic stuff with upward momentum and it felt to me like a different Spurs side to the one which we have seen over the past few years.

“I’m not suggesting it’s a guaranteed lock and you will 100% be there but there is no reason to suggest why you cannot be there. It is ensuring you have consistency in these last Premier League games and without European football to content with between now and May, you can be laser focused on it. Games like Crystal Palace at home are your bread and butter, you can look towards the defeat you had against Wolves last time out and suggest probably you should have got over the line there and didn’t so you have to bounce back but if you can get the results against the teams you’re expected to, especially away from home alongside your home form, then there is no reason for me that you cannot finish in the top four.

Finally, a score prediction…

“Whenever I do these score predictions, I try to be as pragmatic as possible but also I do not want to get too carried away, so even though I am feeling very positive about the Oliver Glasner era and we performed fantastically against Burnley last time out. I won’t say that we will get a victory, that said I cannot come onto these opposition previews other than a positive result for Palace because it feels somewhat counter-intuitive, so I will go with a 1-1 draw.”

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