It may have been a defeat, but there were plenty of positives to take from the opening game of the season.
Palace were by no means outplayed, and could have perhaps taken a point from the game on another day. The goal came at just the right time for Spurs and they were professional enough to see the game out.
One thing that the team will get used to is the extra time on the ball they get, and this could really benefit the team as they like to pass the ball around the defence and midfield.
There were also many promising sides in the squad. Mile Jedinak has continued his dominating form in the middle of the park, Marouane Chamakh had some good touches and runs that can develop with confidence and could see him be a handful against bottom-half clubs, and Williams and Phillips were both very effective when they came on.
Considering this was against opposition with aims of breaking into the top four, this is promising. Continuing in this vain should see us pick up points against those teams around us, which may seem a strange thing to say after a loss but taken in the context of the recent history of this club, losing 1-0 to a team that has spent many millions on improving their squad is very admirable.
Ian Holloway’s post-match reaction was anger and frustration at refereeing decisions but in some ways this takes away from the team’s performance in the sense that it seemed the mainstream media were just as interested in that than the actual way the team played.
There can be no real complaints about the penalty and at the same time no complaints about Moxey, there was nothing he could do and if it wasn’t for his solid performance then Lennon may have been in on goal more than he was.
It was inevitable that those comments would lead to Holloway getting in trouble with the FA but the team and the supporters can take a lot from Sunday’s game as they look to bounce back away at Stoke.
Daniel Smith - @dmsmith1987