Connor Wickham ends his long wait as Crystal Palace knocks Tottenham off | Soccer

Tottenham Hotspur, a team that bears the scars of a World Cup and an exhausting national campaign, is slugging off its second major competition in four days. That seemed a rather mild capitulation compared to the elimination of the Carabao Cup in Chelsea last week, a team whose resources seem to have been exhausted by injuries succumbing to an unused Crystal Palace on such comfortable occasions on its territory .

Palace had asked for the scalp en route to the final in 2016, but even if Roy Hodgson dares to dream after this success, it is the shortcomings of the Spurs that really caught the eye. Without Harry Kane, Heung-min Son, and Dele Alli, they had frank looks in the attack and legs in the middle of the field. Too many players show the pressure. Mauricio Pochettino could not offer a resonant whistle at the last whistle before moving away painfully from the sidelines, hands buried deep in his pockets. The Spurs have joined West Ham and Everton to see their aspirations in this competition buried in South London on the weekend of the fourth round.

Pochettino looked like a man against whom everything was conspiring from the moment Jeffrey Schlupp retrieved Joel Ward's pbadport and bypbaded Davinson Sanchez too easily to shoot in nine minutes. Paulo Gazzaniga could only counter this attempt by Connor Wickham, followed, to pack his first goal for 799 days. The referee checked the offside, but a player whose career was seriously interrupted by a serious knee injury would not have been denied the moment. The emotion of his celebration, happily hitting the grbad, said it all. Yet yielding to such a rusty attacker has damned the visitors.

They could have been beaten by the break. The inexplicable handball of Kyle Walker-Peters, as he jumped to reach a Wilfried Zaha center with Wickham on his back, offered a penalty to Andros Townsend duly buried. The former Spurs winger should have added a third of Patrick van Aanholt's pbad moments later, but even with that missed opportunity at Gazzaniga, Tottenham did not seem to have the ambition to relive.

Julian Speroni would have twice prevented Georges-Kevin N'koudou to get closer as a result of a clever free kick. Then, as half-time approached, Van Aanholt's gross fault on Juan Foyth gave Spurs a kicking kick. Kieran Trippier, who had not been involved in the shootings at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night, seemed puzzled by the balloon that escaped as he was preparing to convert. Once repositioned and with Speroni plunging in the right direction, he put all his efforts into the left post.

The girl had pretty well summed up Spurs' unsuccessful efforts in the first half, but with Erik Lamela there was more urgency and intent afterwards. Speroni tilted Fernando Llorente's deflected shot around a post, then blocked again in front of the Spaniard while he was spinning inside the penalty area. If the Palace's 405th Silver participation turns out to be his last, while Vicente Guaita and Wayne Hennessey should be available for the mid-week trip to Southampton, a new opportunity would be a good way out.

In truth, the Spurs' monopoly of possession, even inside the penalty area, and the multitude of turns gave very few clear opportunities. It was an exit with barely a groan, and another road leading to the first silverware of Pochettino.