Since defeating Chelsea 2-0 on February 26 in the Premier League, Spurs haven't kept a clean sheet.
After Tottenham recorded its first clean sheet in the Premier League since February, Ryan Mason paid homage to the team.
Spurs defeated Crystal Palace 1-0 on Saturday, thanks to Harry Kane's first-half header—his 28th goal of the campaign—keeping them in contention for a top-six finish.
With his 209th Premier League goal, Kane passed Wayne Rooney into second place on the all-time scoring list, but Tottenham's development was more apparent at the other end of the field.
Mason utilized his whole week on the practice field to make adjustments to the 3-4-3 formation that had been in place for the majority of the 18 months since Antonio Conte took over after giving up six at Newcastle and four at Liverpool during the previous two weekends.
Spurs decided to play with a back four when they didn't have the ball, and it worked well because Palace had few opportunities, allowing the hosts to record their first league shutout since February 26 against Chelsea.
"Keeping a clean sheet is a collective effort. Everyone participated in the battle for the clean sheet, according to Mason.
"The players who were on the field, as well as the ones who weren't, because during the training week, we all worked very hard together to achieve the desired objectives.
"We recognize the significance of the win, and the clean sheet as well is a tremendous response from the players because sometimes mentally when you concede so many goals in a short period of time, it can have an affect, but the guys have put in a lot of effort.
"The entire team put in a lot of effort on the practice field. We've got some time to try to influence things, and they have reacted. Although I felt the game was close, I think we deserved the three points.
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