Sports
Spurs must bin flop who’s “having a disaster of a season”
Tottenham Hotspur will head into 2026 off the back of a victory after they beat Crystal Palace in a tense game at Selhurst Park in the Premier League on Sunday.
One goal was all the difference between the two sides in London, as Archie Gray’s first-half header proved to be the winning goal for Thomas Frank‘s men.
The England U21 international scored the first goal of his senior career by nodding the ball into the far corner after Richarlison flicked the ball on in the middle of the six-yard box.
Where Gray ranks among Tottenham’s best performers vs Palace
Whilst Gray scored the winning goal in the match and deserves the plaudits for that, he was not the standout performer on the night for the Lilywhites.
It was Kevin Danso, with an imperious central defensive display, who was the team’s top performer. Per Sofascore, he won ten duels, seven more than Micky van de Ven, and kept Jean-Philippe Mateta incredibly quiet with his efficient defensive work.
The Austria international may not be the silkiest ball-playing defender, completing 63% of his attempted passes, but his gritty defensive work was needed to keep the clean sheet intact on Sunday.
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Ranking Tottenham’s top performers vs Palace |
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|---|---|
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Rank |
Player |
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1 |
Kevin Danso |
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2 |
Archie Gray |
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3 |
Rodrigo Bentancur |
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4 |
Djed Spence |
|
5 |
Richarlison |
As you can see in the table above, we have placed Richarlison in the top five performers for Spurs, despite the fact that he was found offside for two goals.
The Brazilian striker assisted the winner from Gray and won nine duels, including six aerial battles, per Sofascore, which shows that he was a useful outlet, despite the poor timing of his runs for the two disallowed goals.
Whilst there were several impressive performers, there were also some Spurs players who were saved by Gray’s winning goal, as it possibly saved them from harsher criticism.
The Spurs flop who must finally be dropped
Despite the win, though, Frank must still ruthlessly drop right-back Pedro Porro from the starting XI after another wasteful display against Palace at Selhurst Park.
The Spain international did whip in the corner that was then flicked on by Kolo Muani and Richarlison to find Gray, but that was a rare bright spark in an otherwise dull performance.
Spurs podcaster Seb Martin noted during the game that Porro is “having a disaster of a season“, and it is hard to disagree with that assessment when you look at the numbers behind his campaign.
|
Vs Palace |
Pedro Porro |
|---|---|
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Minutes |
90 |
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Tackles made |
0/1 |
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Ground duels won |
2/4 |
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Aerial duels won |
1/3 |
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Dribbled past |
2x |
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Pass accuracy |
56% |
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Possession lost |
25x |
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Big chances created |
0 |
As you can see in the table above, the former Sporting star lost possession a staggering 25 times without creating a single ‘big chance’ for the team with his attempted crosses.
He also struggled defensively, being dribbled past twice without making a single tackle, and these statistics show that he was a liability to the team in and out of possession.
Unfortunately, this is not a rare occurrence for Porro. Per Sofascore, the full-back is losing possession 19.1 times per game on average in the Premier League this season, more than the 17.5 times per match he did last term.
The 26-year-old flop’s cross accuracy has also dropped from 31% to 19% from last season, per Sofascore, whilst he has also gone from 3.1 tackles and interceptions per game to 2.3 tackles and interceptions per match.
Porro scored two goals and provided six assists in the Premier League last term for the Lilywhites. So far this season, though, the defender has mustered up no goals and one assist by the halfway point of the campaign.
These statistics illustrate how far the Spain international has fallen away from his best in North London, and the disappointing showing against Palace was the latest in a long line, as Seb Martin stated.
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With that in mind, Frank must finally ditch the former Manchester City man from the starting line-up for the clash with Brentford on New Year’s Day, possibly bringing in Ben Davies at left-back to move Djed Spence over to right-back.
