JOSE’S ON SONG FOR EUROVISION
Kane cracker earns Spurs another top-six hit but Mourinho still struggling to write a winning tune
JOSE MOURINHO used to view the Europa League with disdain.
When in charge at Chelsea he said it was not a competition for his team – the Champions League was where they belonged. In fairness to the Special One, he has since said that when you are at Tottenham you have to win whatever you can get your hands on. So welcome to Thursday night football Jose (left) – thanks to this point and sixth place earned in as drab an endof-season contest as you could imagine.
The absent fans missed nothing. Mourinho, for all his scorn of Europe’s second tier competition, has also won it twice: with Porto in 2003 when it was the
UEFA Cup, and with Manchester United three years ago.
Harry Kane gave Tottenham the lead with a typically ruthless strike, but as so often this season under Mourinho’s leadership Spurs lacked direction and a killer instinct.
Jeffrey Schlupp’s equaliser allowed Palace to avoid a club record equalling eighth straight defeat, and Roy Hodgson’s side could even have won the game.
The former England manager, 73 next month, has seen Burnley’s Sean Dyche linked with his job, but insists he is the man to lead Palace into next season.
Spurs had opened brightly enough and Giovani Lo Celso saw his fifth-minute effort well saved by Vicente Guaita.
And eight minutes later came the moment Palace must have dreaded, going behind to the man they knew would be the biggest danger.
Lo Celso won the ball off James McArthur and then slipped a lovely little pass between two Palace defenders to Kane.
The England striker took one touch to step wide of Joel Ward and cracked a low right-foot shot inside Guaita’s right-hand post.
It was utterly lethal. One sniff of a chance and the ball was in the net. It was Kane’s (with Mourinho above) 18th league goal of the season, and his seventh since the restart. Palace had themselves scored only 30 goals in the league between them before kick-off yesterday – their lowest tally since hitting 33 in a dismal campaign in 2013-14.
To be fair, Hodgson’s team never stopped working and never stopped grafting, but they almost conceded again when Ward cleared from under his own crossbar following Lucas Moura’s mazy run.
Eric Dier then flicked a header wide, but Spurs never looked totally convincing. Palace levelled eight minutes after the break when Scott Dann nodded down from a corner. Jordan Ayew missed his kick but Schlupp thrashed the ball into the net. It was Palace’s first goal against Tottenham in 12 hours and 23 minutes of football, and the Special One was furious, waving his arms in the air.
Moura volleyed wide as Spurs tried to hit back, but at the other end Hugo Lloris was flapping as Ward’s cross came back off a post.
Suddenly there was a confidence and a fluency about Palace and Ayew flashed a shot wide.
And, right at the death, they had an even better chance to win it when Dann headed a foot wide at the far post.
For Spurs, that would have been very embarrassing indeed.