Roy Hodgson says Spurs have joined an elite group of teams at the top of the Premier League with their performances this season, as he heaped praise on Palace’s next generation after watching the Under-21s in action this week before Friday night’s Premier League encounter.
The manager has been impressed with his players’ attitude since the defeat at Newcastle United, and hopes it is a spirit which can stand them in good stead heading into the meeting with the current league leaders.
“The players have been very good in that respect too: no one has attempted to seek excuses, no one has attempted to gainsay our judgment on what happened in the game, and that’s all you can hope for, that’s all you can do,” Hodgson said at his pre-match press conference.
“You go back over what happened, you make it clear what you think, you involve the players in that, and then you hope that they’ll use that to their advantage. [You hope] that they’ll be honest as well in relation to anything you might be putting before them, and then you forget it, because the fact is we can talk about Newcastle United and losing 4-0 every time I sit here, for weeks and months to come, but it’ll always be 4-0.
“I can’t say anything which suddenly would change that result, or even change the quality of our football in that game. It was what it was.
“Luckily, and I did say this, I think, after the game, it’s not something which I’ve had to take into consideration very often, because in the first eight games, going up to this with 12 points and playing without important players, we weren’t that unhappy with the way things were going.
“I don’t intend to let one game and one defeat against a good team suddenly throw everything that I think about this team, and believe in this team, out of the window.
“But we have to confront it, we have to look at it, we have to accept it, and we have to make certain that the mistakes that we did make, the coaching staff and players, we don’t make again.”
Looking ahead to Spurs, Hodgson believes that Ange Postecoglou’s efforts this season have seen Spurs rise to a similar category of opponent as last season’s title-rivals Arsenal and Manchester City.
“Tomorrow night is going to be a very different game for us,” he explained. “We have got to find a way somehow of stopping what has proved to be something of a juggernaut so far.
“You don’t play Manchester City every week, you don’t play Arsenal every week, and now Tottenham have joined that group of teams that ask you very special questions.
“It’s because a) they are very good physically, like Newcastle; b) they are excellent technically; and c) they have a system of play which all the players understand, and the rotation asks a lot of questions of your team.
