By OkayGoal
Tottenham won by two goals, took 34 shots and climbed to eighth, and the thing everyone left talking about lasted only a few minutes and did not even end in a goal.
Luca Williams-Barnett came off the bench for Mathys Tel late on for his Premier League debut, with Tottenham already 2-0 up and 10-man Crystal Palace long since beaten. He turned 18 only at the start of October, and three weeks ago his manager was telling everyone to be patient.
We think that patience has just got a lot harder to justify. Here is why those few minutes mattered, and why the win around them was better than a 2-0 scoreline suggests.
How did Tottenham 2-0 Crystal Palace become so one-sided?
The game changed after 13 minutes. Jean-Philippe Mateta went in late and studs-up on Micky van de Ven, Michael Oliver showed a yellow, and VAR sent him back to the screen to make it red for serious foul play. Mateta now misses Liverpool, Coventry and Hull.
Archie Gray headed in Mohammed Kudus’ corner midway through the first half, and Jan Paul van Hecke finished it in the 73rd minute. Dean Henderson tipped his header from Mateus Fernandes’ cross onto the bar, and Van Hecke bundled in the rebound.
The numbers are absurd even with the red card in mind. Spurs had 79.4% of the ball, 758 passes to Palace’s 149, and 34 shots to two, with an expected goals count of 3.26 to 0.14. It was their most shots in a Premier League match since February 2016, and the most Palace have faced in a league match since those records began in 2004-05. It’s also a long way from the opening-day disaster against Brentford: three straight league wins for the first time in 20 months, 12 points from nine games.
What did Luca Williams-Barnett actually do?
His first act told you plenty. A ball dropped out of the air over the top and he killed it dead with one touch, then went straight at Anan Khalaili with a little feint inside and out. No nerves, no safe pass back to a team-mate. It probably should have been a free kick when he was stopped.
The run that should have been an assist
Then came the move people will replay. Destiny Udogie swung the ball out to him on the touchline, and the way he took it is what stood out. His body gave nothing away, so Khalaili could not tell whether he was going inside or down the line.
Khalaili showed him the outside, so he took it there, then shifted back in and left the defender on the floor. A lot of young players would have got carried away at that point and gone wide again. He spotted a small gap inside and went into it instead, kept his balance with Palace bodies all over his back, reached the byline and drove the ball across on his weaker foot.
Kudus somehow failed to turn it in from close range, and Williams-Barnett was denied an assist on his debut. The chance was the smaller part of it. Holding off that contact and still delivering a clean final ball is what suggests a teenager is physically ready for this level, and not merely gifted.
Is he another Max Dowman?
That is the comparison we keep coming back to. Arsenal’s teenager has the same fearless streak, the same instinct to run at a full-grown defender without first checking whether he has permission. Jamie Redknapp went further on Sky Sports on Saturday and called Williams-Barnett a “sensational talent”.
Why was De Zerbi so careful with him?
Until now the senior minutes have been thin. He was a regular in pre-season and got 12 minutes in the EFL Cup against Charlton Athletic, but on 10 October he had not been in a Premier League squad since the first weekend of the season, and had only 65 minutes of Premier League 2 football this term.
Roberto De Zerbi called him “another special player” that day, while warning: “The management of the very, very young players is very complicated.” After Saturday’s win his tone was warmer. He said in his post-match press conference: “My career is clear, when I work, when I have young, talented players, nothing changes.” He added: “He’s a big, big talent.”
Three weeks is not long, and one cameo against 10 tired men is not a case for handing him a start. But Spurs are reported to want him on a new contract, and a January loan looked the sensible route a few weeks ago. That conversation has moved on.
Did Spurs beat the low block or simply outlast it?
The obvious knock on this performance is that both goals came from set pieces, Gray’s direct from a corner and Van Hecke’s from the second phase of one. Fair enough, but it misses how many different ways Spurs got into the box, 66 touches of it in all.
After the second goal, Tel whipped in an early cross, Dejan Kulusevski competed for it, and Conor Gallagher arrived on the second ball to force a superb save out of Henderson. Later Tel fired a pass into Andy Robertson in a pocket inside the block, Robertson moved it on and kept running, and Omar Marmoush found him first time, only for Henderson to get there just ahead of him. Then Pedro Porro picked out Dominic Solanke from a central spot, and Solanke’s swivel and shot needed another fine stop.
Cross, combination, pass from deep. That variety is what the best sides show against 10 men in a block, and it’s what De Zerbi’s football has been promising. Palace, meanwhile, had one dangerous break all day, through Dwight McNeil. De Zerbi said his side “didn’t concede a counter-attack, maybe just one in the second half.”
Who really ran this game for Spurs?
Mateus Fernandes
The best player on the pitch, in our view. He created a team-high four chances, had 102 touches, and made seven line-breaking passes as well as seven into the final third. He also won every duel he contested, and supplied the cross for the second goal.
Sandro Tonali
Fernandes sitting deeper is what frees Tonali to push on, and it works because Tonali has the legs to stop any counter before it starts. He covered more ground than anyone, 12.3km. De Zerbi said: “Tonali today was unbelievable, incredible.”
Jan Paul van Hecke
160 touches and five shots from centre-back, on top of the goal. This is the sort of match he suits, with Spurs camped in the other half and the ball moving around him.
Pedro Porro
Back from a hamstring injury, he replaced Gray at half-time, a change De Zerbi explained simply: “No, the yellow card. I didn’t want to take a risk for another yellow card.” Against a deep block it suited Spurs anyway, with Porro making 15 line-breaking passes and 10 into the final third. “Pedro is ready,” said his manager. Spurs did all this with six men out and Rodrigo Bentancur suspended, as our gameweek 9 injury list showed, and with James Maddison only on the bench after his groin scare.
Verdict: Williams-Barnett has earned more than a late cameo
Palace are 18th on seven points and Pierre Sage has real problems, starting with Liverpool at home on Sunday 8 November without his striker. But that is a story for another day.
For Spurs, the trip to Leeds on Saturday 7 November is the next test, against a side who lost 2-0 at Bournemouth on the same afternoon. We aren’t saying throw an 18-year-old into the starting XI. We are saying the idea that he is a few months away from being useful looks dated now. Give him 20 minutes at Elland Road, with Spurs chasing a fourth straight league win, and see what happens.