Mateta finds feet to give Glasner a lift

Oliver Glasner does not believe in magic. He is an admirably pragmatic man who trusts his principles.

- Jonathan Wilson

He trusted them at the end of last season when Palace looked like world-beaters and everything was going right, and he trusts them now when Palace look like relegation candidates and everything is going wrong. Give it time and equilibrium returns; the principles will have their effect. Or you could just wait for the visit of Tottenham.

Trust the principles all you like, Spurs will still be Spurs, a paradox that suggests there is some deeper process that ultimately matters far more than the surface processes that can be seen and analysed. They are a club with a fragile soul, capable always of a dreadful performance.

Poor Mikey Moore, who made his full Premier League debut, barely got a look-in. Rattled by Palace's press, Spurs started with their worst half of the season other than the second 45 at Brighton. If anything, it got worse after the break. "We need to be a lot more clear-headed," Ange Postecoglou said. "It was a bit of a battle. It was stop-start, lots of standing around and we didn't deal with that."

For Palace, it was a much-needed league win, their first of the season, which should ease the pressure on Glasner. "All our performances were OK but we missed a little," he said. "Today we showed a courage and intensity, and maybe this is what we were missing."