New Year, Same Old Problems at Spurs

But there's a new iteration of Spurs Across the Pond, at least!

Welcome to SAtP's new home on Ghost. I thought long and hard about which platform to move my newsletter to after it was announced that Revue was shutting down, but ultimately decided Ghost was the best choice for a variety of factors. I took the liberty of migrating all the previous subscribers (including the few who signed up after the Revue announcement and are now reading their first issue, hello!), but I will totally understand if this newsletter is no longer sparking joy and you need to unsubscribe. See you around Twitter if that's the case!

For everyone else, you're all signed up for the free subscription currently, which will include access to the majority of posts (match recaps, previews, weekly news, etc.), but this year I will be creating some bonus content for the monthly membership option. Right now I'm planning on sharing some special mini-essays on timely topics around the club (see the Conte discussion further below for an example of what those mini-essays might look like), monthly mailbag posts, and more. I'd like to hear any other suggestions y'all have as far as what kind of content would be of interest, whether for monthly members or in general— maybe a Discord server for live match threads and such? Let me know!

If you do want to get in on the extra goodies and upgrade, you can do so below.

Most regular posts will be on a Monday and Thursday cadence; I like to give myself a day to chew on results before writing out my verdict, and this schedule accommodates the usual weekend and mid-week timing of matches for both teams.

One last bit of admin before we dive back into the never-ending chaos that is Tottenham Hotspur FC:

SAtP is just shy of 75 subscribers and I would love to hit 100 by the end of the season in May, so please feel free to share the newsletter with a Spurs-loving friend in your life!

All right, back into the fray.

In this issue: Mid-season reviews for Spurs Women and Spurs Men | The Conte Question | Transfer Grapevine

Let's catch up. When I last wrote, the World Cup final hadn't happened yet (congrats, Cuti!), Spurs Women suffered a third loss in a row in the league but finished top of their Conti Cup group before heading into the winter break, and the Men's team got off to a stuttering start as the Premier League resumed.

I won't rehash any of those past results because, well, they deserve to stay in the past. Instead, it's time for the mid-season review, even though it's technically not the halfway point of the season for either team; both have two more matches to go to reach exactly halfway. Close enough!

If you want to take a trip down memory lane, check out my mid-season superlatives from last season (at the end of the post). It's interesting to look back and see how bullish I was on both Antonio Conte and Rehanne Skinner since I have, shall we say, conflicting feelings about them at the present moment. The board did indeed end up backing them—if only in the summer for the Women's team —but with varying results. We'll get into it now.

Buckle up!

Where we stand:

WSL- 8th place, 9 points, 3-0-6 record (1 game in hand), -6 GD (11 for, 17 against)
Conti Cup- Finished top of group with 3 wins, +6 GD (8 for, 2 against); face Chelsea at home in the quarter-final
FA Cup- yet to begin

Although the season started fairly positively with the team beating the opponents we'd be expected to beat and only losing to top 4 sides, there were worrying signs (low goal-scoring output, leaky defense, and an injury crisis) that all culminated in a miserable stretch of four WSL losses in a row to end 2022. Even the successful Conti Cup group stage wasn't without its concerns. Oh, and we beat Brighton 0-8 away in the middle of all that. As one does during a crisis season, naturally!

If I had to choose one word to describe Spurs Women's season so far, it would be unpredictable. Partially because of the extensive injury crisis that made the starting XI so variable from game to game, and partially because of the up-and-down (mostly down towards the end) performances. There were far too many matches where the team was underperforming relative to its potential—and indeed, the previous standard set last season. We went from being clear contenders for "best of the rest" at the start of the season to borderline relegation form in the month of December. The winter break could not have come at a better time for a reset.

It can't be understated how much of an effect the spate of injuries (many of them long-term) has had on the team's performance so far this season. Not only has Rehanne been constrained in her lineup selection and substitution decisions, but I think it's also fair to say it's caused some players to hold something back on the pitch for fear of joining the injured ranks. And you honestly can't blame them—seeing Rosella Ayane go down with a fractured leg (thankfully only a four-week absence from the squad) and then Kyah Simon and Ellie Brazil both suffering ACL injuries, all within the first two months of the season, would be daunting. And it's not just Spurs dealing with a pile-up of injuries; the entire women's football community is concerned about the frequency and severity of injuries to players across the globe.

All that being said, the team is still performing below expectations. We've been too over-reliant on one player (Ashleigh Neville) and have struggled to fully integrate all of the new transfers from the summer window.

The defense in particular looks a shadow of the stalwart backline from last season—Shelina Zadorsky and Molly Bartrip seem to have lost some of the chemistry that made them such formidable center-back duo previously, and Amy Turner has mostly been played out of her preferred position. Newcomers Angharad James and Drew Spence have altered the midfield calculus and left Eveliina Summanen looking adrift where she usually proved so decisive. And the forward line... where to even start? Our promising young striker, Nikola Karczewska, has battled fitness problems all season and hasn't been able to consistently contribute (or even play), while another new signing, Celin Bizet, is also a young player adjusting to the pace and level of the WSL. Rosella Ayane and Jessica Naz still haven't made the leap from reliable squad players into difference makers and only have two goals (and zero assists) between them. Super Ash has been played all over the pitch to varying effectiveness, but is far and away our standout performer of the season so far with three goals and two assists. The rest of the squad have had limited appearances and limited impact.

It has been frustrating to watch the team essentially go backwards after the rapid progress of last season. The teams who finished below us in the table then were very savvy in their summer transfer business and have deservedly overtaken us in the first half of this season. And it goes without saying that any hopes of somehow pipping the Manchester teams to third place for Champions League qualification is out of the question now.

The second half of the season is going to be about a) damage mitigation and b) setting the groundwork for next season. I don't say that to be pessimistic, I just think it's important to not to lose any more ground in the table and risk losing our newfound reputation of a club with ambition that prospective players will be excited to join. The team will also need to focus on rediscovering the strong mentality that set it apart last season compared to the other mid-table teams. It's not impossible, and I believe we can do it with a few tweaks to tactics and personnel during the winter break.

Areas for improvement

These are the biggest changes I hope to see in the second half of the season:

• better set piece defense
• creativity from the midfield—which will hopefully come from Kit Graham and Ria Percival when they return to play!
• more consistent starting lineups to build up a run of form—injuries allowing, of course
• a proven goal-scorer joining the team in the January transfer window—more on that later!

Fun facts (and some not-so-fun)

• Tinni Korpela has both of the team's clean sheets
• Kit Graham and Ria Percival are the only players on the roster without an appearance so far, due to their ACL injuries carrying over from last season
• The only players to have started all 9 WSL games are the center-backs Shelina Zadorsky, Molly Bartrip, and Amy Turner and the midfielders Drew Spence and Eveliina Summanen
• We haven't scored a goal in the WSL since the Brighton game on matchday 5

Mid-season superlatives

Like last year, I'm choosing to keep these purely positive superlatives, because let's face it, the club doesn't need any more negativity around individual players at the moment.

Biggest surprise: Gracie Pearse

Best new signing: Drew Spence

Best young player: Nikola Karczewska

Most valuable player: Ashleigh Neville

Most improved player: Asmita Ale

Ms. Tottenham: Kerys Harrop

Mid-season grade: C-

Where we stand:

PL- 5th place, 30 points, 9-3-5 record (1 game in hand), +8 GD (33 for, 25 against)
League Cup- Knocked out in first game by Nottingham Forest
FA Cup- yet to begin
Champions League- Finished top of group with a 3-2-1 record, +2 GD (8 for, 6 against); face AC Milan in the Round of 16

Evaluating the Men's team at this point of the season is a little tricky, because they have already come back from their mid-season break of sorts—the unprecedented World Cup pause. While the performances in the past two games since that return aren't necessarily a marked difference from the performances of the pre-WC portion of the season, the results were a bit of a departure.

That's because in the pre-WC games, the performances were often not very good, but the team still managed to grind out results. We were fourth heading into the break. In the two games since, we only managed to pick up one point and have already dropped a place in the table, to a team (Manchester United) that also has a game in hand on us. So while it could be tempted to think these recent results are outliers, it's possible that they are in fact worrying confirmations of a trend of bad performances that had been partially obscured by some fortunate results earlier in the season.

To back up just a bit, I think it's fair to say that confidence was high after encouraging transfer business in the summer window. We brought in a few experienced players (Ivan Perišić, Fraser Forster), up-and-coming talents from within the PL (Yves Bissouma, Richarlison), a solid loan option for the defense (Clément Lenglet), and a couple of young players for the future (Djed Spence, Destiny Udogie [loaned out for this season]). We also loaned out several players who had been taking up valuable squad space—and let's face it, headspace amongst the fanbase, too. Considering that we ended the previous season on such a high, securing top 4 thanks to a nearly-undefeated run after mid-March, these transfer deals felt like "win now" moves. Why couldn't we contend for the title, or at least be comfortably in the top 4? It seemed firmly in the realm of possibility.

The latter scenario is technically still in play (I think it's safe to say the title is Arsenal's or City's to lose, barring a springtime collapse from either side), but the vibe is decidedly more downbeat after such a sluggish restart to the PL. Thus far, we haven't been able to build on the momentum of late late season.

I don't want to dwell on the last two results too much, however, because there were some important caveats: Rodrigo Bentancur and Richarlison picked up injuries at the WC and didn't feature in either match, while Dejan Kulusevski missed the Aston Villa match due to a minor injury from training. All three are key players in their own ways—Bentancur and Kulusevski as nailed-on starters and Richarlison as a much-needed rotation option for Son Heung-min, who has struggled to find form all season. The fact that the aforementioned Son is in a very extended slump of form compared to his Golden Boot caliber performances last season can't be overlooked, and similarly, Hugo Lloris has looked like a shadow of his former self off-and-on all season. It's entirely possible that neither of those players will regain their previous form, but at least the injuries to the other players are issues that will gradually be resolved.

Still, there's no getting around the fact that the majority of the team performances this season simply haven't been good enough. Like we saw with the Women's team, you wouldn't know that defensive solidity was a major strength of this team last season. Eric Dier hasn't looked the same since getting his return call-up to the England squad, and Cristian Romero has missed a large chunk of the season through injury—and appeared, shall we say, less than motivated in the lead-up to the WC. Conte has been playing starting lineup roulette at the wingback position, possibly the most pivotal position in his preferred system. And the two-man midfield that he plays in most games (we've seen a few dalliances with the 3-5-2 formation, but not nearly enough for my liking, personally) tends to get ran over by our opponents unless Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg—the usual starters—are in particularly good form. And it's not that our forward line isn't scoring; Harry Kane is currently second in the league for goals behind the unstoppable Erling Haaland. But Son and Kulusevski have not contributed at anywhere close to the same level as Kane, Son because of his dip in form and Kulusevski because he has missed just under half of the games through injury. Højbjerg and Bentancur finally starting to contribute goals more frequently has mitigated that lack of goals from the wingers to some extent, but not entirely.

...and that's where the slow starts come in. The rate we're scoring at overall would probably be sufficient if it weren't for the defense constantly setting the attack up for failure. We haven't kept a clean sheet since matchday 10, and have conceded the first goal in the last seven PL matches (and the last ten matches across all competitions). To be fair, we've earned the most points from a losing position amongst any team in the league this season, but as we saw in the last two games, that luck won't hold forever. Ironically, in the last match against Aston Villa, the first half was actually better than the second. But regardless of when exactly the goals are being conceded, it's a massive concern that we seem to require some adversity in a game to truly get going. Plus, having to mount so many comebacks is extremely bad for us poor fans' health.

As I said, the pre-WC portion of the season was much more positive with the results going our way for the most part, and we finished top of our CL group after a chaotic final matchday. Getting immediately knocked out of the League Cup was unfortunate (if understandable in the circumstances), but there's still the FA Cup to pin our domestic cup hopes on. For all we know, the team could turn things around starting with the Crystal Palace game and regain top 4 standing in short order. And there's still a chance that Fabio Paratici will work some more January transfer window magic like he did with Deki and Lolo last season to bolster the squad for the second half. As a rule, I prefer to remain positive—sports are supposed to be fun, after all, not doom and gloom all the time.

But that's not to say that I don't have plenty of criticisms of Conte and his tactics, or a desire for the board to be more ambitious with transfers. It's easy to feel very discouraged after the lackluster start to the "festive fixtures," but I also don't think it's time to ring the crisis alarm just yet. It doesn't help that our main rivals are leading the league at some distance, and I think we'd all be feeling more sanguine about the state of Tottenham's own standing if that weren't the case. It's hard to be patient when you're being outpaced.

For the Men, the second half of the season is all about timing; the timing of key players returning from injury, the timing of scoring first in order to dictate the flow of games, and the timing of player rotation (a word that I think Conte would legitimately like to remove from his vocabulary if he had the chance, but alas, Antonio—you gotta do it!). My hope is that there will be less need for stoppage-time heroics and more need for post-match celebratory tacos & margaritas. Okay, maybe that last bit is just for me and not the players, but I highly recommend it as a fan practice.

Areas for improvement

These are the biggest changes I hope to see in the second half of the season:

• better organization of the backline; this comes from the keeper and the central CB, both of whom could very well be different players than we're used to if Paratici has his way this transfer window
• the return of Son to form—he probably won't ever get back to the level of productivity from of his Golden Boot-winning season, but I would happily settle for a 5-6 goal return in the remaining PL games
• bravery from the midfield—one of the reasons I would love to see more of Oliver Skipp soon, as this is a quality he has in spades
• more flexibility from Conte (I realize it is a fool's errand to even suggest such a thing from football's most stubborn man—after José, of course)

Fun facts (and some not-so-fun)

• Twice we have secured back-to-back clean sheets in the league, but those are the only four so far
• Harry Kane is the only Spurs player to have started all 17 PL games; Ivan Perišić is the only player to have appeared in all 17
• Dejan Kulusevski is joint-third in assists for the PL despite only playing 10 games and starting just 8 of them
• We have only been held scoreless by our opponents twice in the PL

Mid-season superlatives

Once again, positives only because I'm a softie at heart.

Biggest surprise: Clément Lenglet

Best new signing: Ivan Perišić

Best young player: Dejan Kulusevski

Most valuable player: Harry Kane

Most improved player: Ryan Sessegnon

Mr. Tottenham: Pierre-Emile Højbjerg

Mid-season grade: B

The Conte Question

I can't move on to transfer talk without first addressing the Italian elephant in the room: Antonio Conte.

I will be perfectly honest and say that I don't always read/listen to Conte's press conferences. I find him almost as frustrating to listen to as a I did José Mourinho, and that is saying something. For one thing, Conte can be a bit long-winded sometimes, not to mention contradictory in his statements. For another, I am not always clear on how truthful he is being, and therefore how much stock I should actually put into what he says. See below for a perfect example of his, ahem, unconventional manner of communicating.

(You are not being clear, bro! Not at all!)

Those feelings still apply regarding his most recent comments, but I felt it necessary to tune in and analyze them this week since the club (or rather, the fanbase) is in so much turmoil. You can read Conte's words in full and summarized by Alasdair Gold in the article below if you're not caught up.

Conte admits that if he’s not convinced by Spurs ‘then I can leave my work here’

The Tottenham Hotspur head coach has been brutally honest about his future at the club and the decision that lies ahead for him

Football.LondonAlasdair Gold

I understand why so many fans are upset with those comments, because they are brutally honest, as Alasdair Gold said in his subheadline. Sometimes reflecting upon the reality of a situation can be painful. But he's not incorrect in saying that the reality at Spurs Men is that a lot of work is still needed to lay the foundation for a title-contending team. Of course, anything can happen in football—just look at Spurs' 2018/19 run to the CL final for proof—so nothing is ruled out. He's only suggesting a tempering of expectations:

We have only one way to follow, we have to stay together and it’s important to have togetherness between fans, the club, the players. We have to stay together and know we are going to do something good if we have time and patience. The process has started and then this is the reality now.

I don't get the sense from his words that he is necessarily daunted by the task of building that "foundation" at Spurs, or unwilling to undertake it. He included enough positive statements about the club and his understanding of the "project" at hand to suggest that he's approaching the task knowingly and enthusiastically. I mean, I don't think this man is capable of doing anything in football without passion. We also have to remember that he is used to managing at clubs who are much more firmly established at the top of their respective league tables, and therefore the Tottenham job truly is a new challenge for him.

I also thought it was wise of him to note that other clubs are also constantly trying to improve and outpace their competitors. None of us Spurs fans would like to admit it, but Arsenal's long-term approach seems to be paying dividends this season. Newcastle took the sportswashing route of instant success, but they are entitled to do that if their (lack of) ethics allow. Even Manchester United, with as many ups-and-downs as they've had in their recent transfer business, presumably have some sort of (convoluted) plan and are beginning to figure things out. That's all any club, and any manager, can do: try. I do not doubt that Conte is trying. I don't even doubt that our ownership group and chairman are trying their best, too.

What I am beginning to doubt, in spite of everything above, is that Conte is still the right man for the job—or ever was.

Longtime readers of SAtP may recall that when Conte was appointed, I was a little wary and wondered if this was going to be a repeat of the Mourinho situation: a "proven winner" coming in and expecting to operate the way he had at his previous clubs, only to learn that his methods and manners were incompatible with the way things are done at Tottenham Hotspur. I suppose the main argument in favor of appointing him was that he would transform the club through sheer force of will and the influence of his impressive reputation.

But there were plenty of critics to be found amongst the fanbase who were familiar with his preferred tactics and questioned if his style of football could ever be successful at a club like Tottenham, which traditionally has prided itself on being an attacking-forward side. For me personally, that kind of daring, fluid style of play—most recently seen under Mauricio Pochettino—is exactly what led me to become a supporter.

The truth is, Conte is not a dynamic manager, and his teams are not generally dynamic, either. They rely heavily on his famed "automations," passages of play that the players themselves can learn to recreate through intensive training, but which become predictable to opposition over repeated exposure. If it seems like almost every team we've played this season has had a plan ready for us, it's because they do. It only takes one team figuring out how to successfully break us down—or keep us out of their goal—for other teams to be able to follow the blueprint.

Which leads me to my foremost criticism of Conte: he is not nimble. He would rather stick with his Plan A and hope that the players will grow into the game (and to be fair, they sometimes do, as evidenced by our numerous comeback wins and draws this season), rather than reacting to the situation at hand with strategic changes to the formation or lineup through substitutions. Because Conte is so reluctant to make in-game adjustments (or even changes from match to match), in games where the opposition has a clear advantage in their overall quality of players, we won't be able to find an edge through tactics. His rigid adherence to the 3-4-3 as well as his stubborn insistence on utilizing players outside of their best positions continues to defy logic. One theory is that he’s continuing to put square pegs into round holes to force Daniel Levy & the board to see that he needs players better suited to his system, but that’s a risky bluff. Perhaps they don't want to get locked into this specific style of play by catering to Conte's transfer requests, and would rather him make the most out of top quality players of different profiles.

On that note, my second criticism of Conte is that he spends far too many of his press conferences reiterating his need for new players. This constant harping on just reinforces my suspicion that he isn't innovative enough to get the most out of his current squad (like he did in the second half of last season, as it happens), as other managers at teams with “lesser” (or at least less expensive) squads have done—like Brighton, Brentford, and Newcastle, just to name a few examples, though Newcastle did accelerate that process by shelling out for a better manager.

Despite these concerns, I am not #ConteOut... yet. I might feel differently if Conte had been vocal about wanting to leave (he has never actually said that outright, even if many have interpreted certain statements of his that way), but for now, he genuinely seems committed to continuing the project. I often think that managers are not given enough time to leave their stamp on a club in the modern era of football. Conte just passed the 1-year mark at Spurs in November, so it definitely feels too soon to write him off.

But he has to improve just as much as the players' performances do. Yes, it's unfortunate that we have several key players out injured right now, but it's his job to find solutions. It's also his job to manage the squad from a mentality standpoint, and I think he's been dropping the ball in that aspect lately, too. Reading his comments in support of Sonny made me feel a little reassured on that front, but the whole squad appears in need of a morale boost at the moment. Good luck to Antonio.

I have plenty of thoughts on the ENIC/Levy of it all, but I'll save that for another essay later this month. For now, I am backing Conte—reluctantly and with some hesitation, but also with some hope that anything can happen under a "serial winner."

Transfer grapevine (ripened edition)

The January transfer window just opened a few days ago so there aren't a ton of solid rumors to discuss just yet—though there are plenty of not-solid rumors around the Men's team, none of which I will be dignifying with a mention here. What I can safely discuss is that last week's credible rumor that Spurs Women are signing Bethany England from Chelsea (and reportedly on a record fee for a player transferring between WSL clubs, over £250K) has now come to fruition.

This is obviously huge news for the club, and very welcome after such a miserable month of fixtures in December, in which we scored exactly zero WSL goals. Beth England is a proven goal-scorer who has the potential to transform Tottenham's attack immediately upon arrival. We have been desperate for an experienced and consistent striker, and here she is. All season long we have been unable to get enough players in the box to convert chances, but rest assured that Beth will be our fox in the box.

Here are some salivating stats of Beth's from the past two seasons:

It's also a great move for Beth herself, since she has struggled to get minutes in the Chelsea side over Sam Kerr (honestly, who wouldn't?). She's hoping to make it back into the England squad for the upcoming World Cup, so coming to a club like Tottenham where she is guaranteed to be a starter is preferable to warming the bench at another club, even one that wins trophies as often as Chelsea. Hopefully, she will bring a winning mentality with her to Spurs and be an experienced leader in the forward line, much like Rachel Williams was last season.

Players tend to peak a little later in the women's game, so it's very encouraging to see the club signing a 28-year-old player of England's caliber. That fact also puts the high transfer fee in context, and explains why we're willing to buy out her contract to bring her into the side this January rather than waiting. It's worth it for a player who will have an instant impact and can help salvage what has been a disappointing season so far for Spurs. The club has clearly put a lot of faith in Beth to deliver, as her new contract extends to 2026.

Beth mentions in her signing interview that she worked with Rehanne Skinner previously in the England youth setup, so this is another example of the pull Rehanne has when it comes to recruitment. I'm not gonna lie, seeing Rehanne's broad smile next to Beth was just the tonic I needed to get over the painful December that Spurs Women just had, as well as the negativity surrounding the Men's team currently. Things can change so quickly in football, so there's always reason for optimism and belief.

I also think it was important make a statement transfer of this nature after having such a middling start to the season. It shows other prospective top talent that Tottenham is still a club with ambition and an attractive team to join. Beth England cannot change Spurs' fortunes all by herself, but this signing is a promising first step to show that we're still on the right path as a club—and that investment money is available to bolster the squad.

The only downside I can see to this transfer is that it will slow Nikola Karczewska's development, but since she has been battling injury/fitness concerns ever since she joined in the summer, it can only be a good thing to have her shift into a more rotational role for the remainder of the season. She'll get minutes when she can, and then can fight for her starting spot back next season. And as the conventional wisdom goes, competition for spots is beneficial to all involved in the long run.

As far as Spurs Women's other transfer needs go, I would like to see another defender brought in (preferably a right-back, if Rehanne is going to continue employing a back-4—Amy Turner simply cannot continue playing there) and possibly a second forward who is versatile enough to play on the wing or centrally. In theory, we are well-stocked in the midfield as long as Kit Graham makes her return this month as expected and Ria Percival is not far behind.

There's one final transfer rumor to touch on, of the loan ending variety. H/t to Paul Wheeler, our contact for all things Coventry United related:

Presumably Esther Morgan will be staying at Spurs and not going back out on a different loan. I mentioned above that we have need of another defender, and I wouldn't mind seeing Esther get those minutes. She's a very capable player with good passing vision going forward (some of that much-needed creativity), at least from what I can remember the last time I actually saw her play, which feels like ages ago now. Either way, Esther is proper Spurs and it will be nice to have her back around the club. And if this frees us up to pursue another forward in the window instead of a defender, it's a win-win!

Here's to hoping we don't have to wait until the end of January for any more signing news, for both teams.

Let's say goodbye to 2022, much like Son appears to have said goodbye to his protective face mask.

(Maybe he should still be wearing it though... I'm not a doctor. Be safe, Sonny!)

COYS

Programming note:

Normally I would end the first post of the month with a spotlight on the previous month's Players of the Month, but since the Men only had one competitive game and the Women only had one good game (which I did not get to watch), let's all agree that it's best to skip it just this once. Hopefully we'll have some worthy candidates from January's games.

We'll also be back to regularly scheduled match previews after the Men's Crystal Palace match.

Thank you for reading!

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