2 Fast 2 Tottenham

One thing that always feels frustrating about the cadence of the Men's and Women's international breaks is that just as we welcome one Spurs team back to league play, the other team is about to pause. That handover is happening a week early this time since Spurs Women's game against Chelsea is postponed, extending the international break by a further week.

As the Women's team begins the long wait to play in their first-ever FA Cup semi-final, the Men's team will be entering the final stage of the season. The run-in starts with a home match against Luton Town.

In this issue: Bristol City recap | Previewing Luton Town | News from around the Lane

There's also a handful of news items to round up, including an Academy player contract, international duty snippets, and a controversial friendly. Read on!

WSL Matchday 17 recap | Bristol City 0 - 1 Tottenham

England 2'

It could be tempting to say it was a case of déjà vu with the latest Spurs Women match, which finished with an identical scoreline (and goal time) to the previous Women's Super League encounter. But the overall team performance was much improved across all of the statistical measures except number of goals scored. On another day—with more efficient shooting—the scoreline could have become ugly for Bristol City. But thanks to a near-flawless defensive performance, the hosts barely troubled Becky Spencer in goal; she had to make just one save.

Starting XI:

Robert Vilahamn has been working toward more consistency in his team selection lately, but there was still one change from the Leicester City game. Despite scoring in her first start, Matilda Vinberg dropped to the bench and Beth England returned to the starting XI, sending Jess Naz out to the wing instead. We tend to see her play interchangeably on the right and left sides, but it's a relatively new phenomenon to see Celin Bizet playing in an inverted role on the left side.

Injury-wise, Molly Bartrip was still unable to make the matchday squad due to her illness (but has been back in training) and Martha Thomas is also out with a hamstring injury. Barbora Votíková also missed out on the bench after suffering a concussion in training, but Spencer was unlikely to lose her starting spot anyway after a strong clean sheet performance last week. In fact, she doubled her clean sheet total for the league season in this game.

England finally got onto the scoresheet in the WSL for the first time this campaign with a 2nd-minute goal. There was some great passing on display in the buildup, particularly Grace Clinton's through ball assist, but Beth had a fair bit of work to do in the box to evade a trio of Bristol defenders and get into space to take her shot. Although it was her first league goal this season, she's scored a few in the cups as well and appears to be hitting form just in time for arguably the biggest game in Spurs Women history.

Interestingly, England turned provider for many of the other big chances for Spurs—but her teammates couldn't convert. I continue to believe that our ability to generate those chances is more important at this stage of the Vilahamn project than consistently scoring from them because the efficiency will come in time. Still frustrating to witness, though.

In the meanwhile, we have sneakily become a very strong defensive side in the second half of the season. If you take out the wild and windy West Ham game, which felt like an anomaly at the time, we haven't conceded more than two goals in a game since the winter break, and that's only happened twice in the league in the same period (to Manchester City and Aston Villa). The resurgence of Spencer has played a part, but so has Amy James-Turner's sudden upturn in form. I also noticed a renewed commitment from the midfield and attack to track back on defense in this game, and the persistent press cut off many of Bristol's potential attacks from the start. Those pressing movements also helped stretch Bristol's defense and enable the numerous overlapping runs we saw from the attack.

Luana Bühler also deserves a shoutout for holding down the left centerback spot in Bartrip's absence and displaying so many of the strengths in possession and passing that we observed in her initial run of games on the right side earlier this season. She had her own setbacks in returning from the injury list but was able to play the full 90 this match without any drop-off in quality. Once Molly is back we will have a very competitive centerback selection dilemma.

In addition to slowly but surely inching closer to a positive goal difference with the last two shutout games, we have also crept closer to a rise in the table. Both Manchester United and Liverpool dropped points in their derbies, though only two in the Merseyside edition. We are now just three points below United (do not look at the goal difference discrepancy, don't do it!) and four below Liverpool. Our table finish really isn't that important in the grand scheme of things in this rebuilding season, but it would be a nice statement of intent for next year if we could end the campaign in 5th or even 4th. And remember that sometime in the not-so-distant future that fourth spot will come with qualification to a second-tier European competition...

SAtP Player of the Match: Beth England

It was extremely hard to pick for this match (and Luana Bühler is a firm honorable mention), but I have to give it to Beth for her true captain's performance.

She set the tone before the game and carried that leadership onto the pitch.

And with her goal, she has become just the second-ever player to reach the 70-goal mark in the WSL after Vivianne Miedema. We have a league legend at our club and she honestly doesn't get celebrated enough.

Notable and quotable:

• Speaking of Spurs legends, this was Ash Neville's 150th appearance for the club. She's been with the club for the entire WSL journey as well as the two seasons prior in the Championship, and her quality continues to rise year after year.

• On our table standing, we've been in 6th place for 10 matchdays in a row and 11 total over the course of the season. Consistency!

• For just the third time this WSL season, we ended the match with zero yellow cards (the other two were Brighton away and Liverpool at home).

• This was the only time in the 2023/24 campaign that we've notched consecutive clean sheets across all competitions.

Previewing PL Matchday 29 — Luton Town

It's crunch time. There are no more international breaks left on the Men's side, so full focus shifts to the run-in of the Premier League season. Spurs have 10 matches remaining (two of which are yet to be rescheduled, Chelsea away and Manchester City at home) and European qualification still to be earned.

You could say we're easing into it with a fixture against a bottom-of-the-table team, but Luton Town have been given a new lease on life in the Premier League thanks to Nottingham Forest's points deduction and will be highly motivated to further bolster their safety from relegation—as it stands, they're only one point above the drop zone.

Luton are winless since the end of January, but have had some decent performances despite their lack of results. They've been on a scoring streak since an FA Cup game on January 7 and have only been held scoreless on four occasions in the PL (y'all will remember one of them).

We broke our own scoring streak in the last game in an overall disappointing performance, so we come into the match with plenty of motivation of our own. For what it's worth, I have faith in the team to bounce back—especially since we didn't pick up any additional injuries over the international break and Micky van de Ven is back in contention to play.

However, should he play? Can we afford to rush him back for a fixture like Luton at home when we have a contentious derby match with West Ham up next? Or is it better to start the game with our strongest lineup and take care of business early then sub him off to rest up for East London? I've seen good arguments for both strategies.

With the obvious exception of the last game, we haven't struggled to score goals this season. So to me, it makes more sense to hold Micky in reserve if we need to shore up the defense during a second-half comeback rather than risk him from the start.

But Ange Postecoglou will of course have to make his team selection decisions based on who is most fit, and for all we know Van de Ven could be in a better position to start than Radu Drăgușin, who played 135 minutes for Romania over the international break. It's time to "trust in Ange" again.

I've developed a small soft spot for Luton because they've brought a lot more excitement to the league than the typical promotion team, but let's hope their path to safety includes at least one more bump on the road courtesy of Spurs.

News from around the Lane

• An important revelation: Son Heung-min is the godfather of Ben Davies' son.

• Staying with Son, he reached a milestone with South Korea, marking his 125th appearance with a goal.

Also from Sonny's international action, there was a funny yet touching story about the Thai football federation's determination to make his match experience in Thailand positive after Spurs had to cancel a friendly in Bangkok last summer due to a waterlogged pitch. They completely redid the pitch at Rajamangala Stadium to ensure his safety and the satisfaction of the many fans who were excited to see him play in Thailand for the first time.

Last year, when Tottenham came, there was heavy rain, and the game was halted. There was a crisis in Thailand, fearing that Sonny might never come back. So, we invested a lot of budget to completely refurbish the ground.

This is extremely relatable, because I too would do anything in my power to make Son happy.

South Korea won the match 0-3 in the end, with Sonny scoring another goal. All's well that ends well!

• Guglielmo Vicario made his senior debut for Italy against Ecuador and kept a clean sheet in the 2-0 victory. Congrats, Vic!

• Ben Davies apparently doesn't sleep because, in addition to his previously noted educational pursuits, he has now earned his UEFA A and Elite Youth A licenses. He's been helping out with the Academy over the past two years as part of his credentials process. He has so many possible career paths after he retires from playing, but it's cool to hear that management is one of them.

Commiserations to Davies, Brennan Johnson, and Joe Rodon who narrowly missed out on Euros qualification after losing in a penalty shootout to Poland. Ben did make his penalty, though, for the record.

• In Academy news, Callum Olusesi signed his first professional contract with the club. The 17-year-old midfielder has been a key part of the U17 and U18 sides and has also featured for England at youth level.

• Massive credit and appreciation to Richarlison, who opened up about his struggles with mental health since the World Cup with moving candor and a spirit of helping others learn from his experience.

Ange spoke to that sense of responsibility and community that Richarlison clearly prioritizes in his role as a public figure:

Richy has really benefited from the support that does exist, not just for him but for others in the community, and I think that because he has benefited so directly he's taken on the responsibility of trying to share that around now. And it always makes more of an impact when it is somebody who's high profile or in a position where we think, well, "they shouldn't really have any problems" or you know, we see it as a sign of weakness when they're looking for help or support. And it's a credit to him that he could have dealt with this privately, obviously, but I think the public aspect of it is a brave decision for him but more importantly it's a great sort of conduit for others to reach out and seek help when it's required.

Big love to Richy, and I'm so proud that he plays for our club.

• Finally, the club announced a controversial friendly for the upcoming pre-season, a fixture against Bayern Munich on August 10. At least this one is taking place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Personally, I don't feel any sort of way about seeing Harry Kane in Bayern colors because, well, I've been seeing it all season long. Which isn't to say it's become any less weird—it hasn't. But I don't think this friendly is quite the big deal that many fans have made it out to be. The awkward reunion was always going to happen at some point, whether while he remains at Bayern or when he makes his inevitable move back to the Premier League. If anything, I feel like it will be more embarrassing an encounter for him than anyone else.

Oh, and Eric Dier will be there as well. Somehow the fanbase doesn't seem as conflicted about his return to the Lane... perhaps because he didn't join Bayern in a manner that could reasonably be called a betrayal, as Kane did.

Ahem.

I hope it would go without saying since I write a Spurs newsletter and not a Bayern one, but I am fully team COYS for this friendly. And speaking as someone fully aware of the strengths and weaknesses of both teams, I genuinely think Spurs will have the upper hand—depending on how the transfer window goes. But hey, it's a friendly. The result doesn't matter anyway. Let's try to have a fun time! I'm still going to feel conflicted, but I also can't lose.

Thank goodness it's a later kickoff tomorrow since this ended up being another late edition of the newsletter. It helps that we've already had the Daylight Saving Time shift over here and England is not yet on British Summer Time. Cheers!

At some point, I am hoping to find the time to round up the glut of interviews, videos, podcasts, and other sundry media related to Tottenham Hotspur that I've been consuming lately in a bonus issue. But we'll see if it happens.

Until next time,

COYS

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