A Magical Cup Weekend

Both Spurs teams advanced in the FA Cup this past weekend after handily defeating lower-division opposition. Elsewhere in the Tottenham universe, the transfer window business came to a close and the club shared an update with the Supporters Trust, while Antonio Conte recuperates from surgery.

In this issue:  FA Cup recaps | Previewing the weekend matches | Transfer window review | News roundup

I wanted to wait to write this issue after the transfer window had closed and I'd had some time to process it. As a result, the FA Cup matches from last weekend aren't quite as sharp in my memory anymore, so I'm just going to do a rundown of the highlights and key talking points.

Men's match:  Preston North End 0 - 3 Tottenham

You would expect a PL team to easily handle a mid-table Championship team, and indeed, Preston never looked like scoring, let alone keeping a clean sheet against the likes of our formidable Perišić-Son-Kulusevski front-3. All three forward players were involved in at least one goal contribution.

I was somewhat surprised to see that Davinson Sánchez was named captain for the match, but I suppose he is one of the most tenured players at this point, at least amongst those who suited up to play on Saturday.

A few more notable tidbits from the game:

• Son Heung-min had a performance worthy of leading the team (albeit without the captain's armband), scoring a brace to secure the win. His second goal in particular was a promising sign that he could finally be approaching a good run of form, since he had a lot of work to do on the ball to line up his shot. Too many times this season he has hesitated on the ball or otherwise just seemed to lack his usual standard of first touch, so this was reassuring to see.  

• New loan signing Arnaut Danjuma made his debut appearance as a substitute and got his first Spurs goal in short time. It wasn't the prettiest of shots but could indicate that he has that all-important, mythical quality of "good luck" in front of goal.

• Not to spoil the transfer window section, but we saw Matt Doherty and Bryan Gil play their last game of the season for Spurs—and possibly ever for both, depending on how Bryan's latest loan goes.

• Despite my initial concerns with the defensive starting lineup, they kept a clean sheet and even registered an assist through Japhet Tanganga. I honestly thought this might be his last performance in a Spurs shirt, but he survived the transfer window chopping block—at least until the summer.

In Monday's draw for the fifth round, Spurs pulled an away matchup at either Sheffield United or Wrexham on Wednesday, March 1, depending on who wins that fourth-round replay. While Wrexham should be the easier prospect in theory, they seem to have claimed most of this season's "magic of the cup" en route to the fourth round, and very nearly pulled off another cupset until John Egan equalized in stoppage time. Sheffield United were down a man after a mysterious red card, so Wrexham really ought to have been able to finish the job—perhaps a sign that if they do pull off an away win in the replay, the might of a Premier League team will prove to be one level of difficulty too far to overcome.

Women's match:  Tottenham 5 - 0 London City Lionesses

You would also expect a WSL team to easily handle a Championship team (even one currently leading the second-division table), and hey, the Women got it done, too! London City put up a valiant fight in the first half but Spurs handled the Lionesses' few chances capably—including a great save from Tinni Korpela on a shot from Sarah Ewens, joint-top scorer in the Championship—and their own defense was no match for Spurs' energetic press. Wow, is it ever nice to be able to say that phrase after such a long stretch of the press looking nonexistent.

This match marked the return from suspension of Ashleigh Neville, who has (at least temporarily) been moved back into defense by Rehanne Skinner, now that Mana Iwabuchi is bolstering the forward line. We reverted to the back-4 formation after seeing a back-3 against Chelsea in the Conti Cup.

A few more notable tidbits from the game:

• Beth England's goal marked two in three games for our new signing, and it was Rosella Ayane's first assist of the season (unless I'm forgetting one from the Conti Cup, which is very difficult to find stats for online—please share if you know of a resource!).

• Mana Iwabuchi scored her first Spurs goal on just her second appearance! It took a deflection but was decidedly on target.

• Drew Spence is officially on a goal-scoring streak, hitting the back of the net in both cup games this past week.

• Eveliina Summanen was a veritable super sub, involved in the buildup to all three second-half goals. She also linked up nicely with another substitute, Nikola Karczewska. It's great to see both of them stepping up to provide a spark off the bench while England and Iwabuchi got some rest—though I would like to see Eveliina starting regularly, too.

The draw for the next round of the Women's FA Cup also happened on Monday, and we pulled a matchup against Reading at home for the Round of 16 on Sunday, February 26. We've already played Reading twice this season, once in the Conti Cup group stage (a 1-2 win) and once in the WSL (a 1-0 loss), but have undoubtedly strengthened more in the recent transfer window, so I would expect us to advance to the quarter-finals without too much trouble.  

Both teams are back in league action this weekend on Sunday, the Women up first against Chelsea and then the Men against Manchester City. Since we played both of those teams, respectively, in the recent past (less than two weeks ago!) I'm not going to do a super in-depth preview for either game. Most of what I said about the previous matchups still applies. Just a couple of things to note:

• Expect to see the back-3 for the Women's team again, as Rehanne has consistently chosen that formation against Chelsea across two seasons now. We've had way, way too many matchups against our London rivals for that sample size thanks to unfavorable cup draws—and the fixtures always seem to occur nearly back-to-back because of bad postponement luck! I think we are overdue to finally get a point or three off of them.

• Pedro Porro should have time to get at least one training session in with the team before Sunday, so I would expect him to start, much like Danjuma was ready right away for the Men's team and England and Iwabuchi for the Women's team after their transfers. Hopefully, he will have the same undeniable impact on the scoreline as they have had!

• And don't forget:  Harry Kane is still poised to break Jimmy Greaves' Spurs goal record outright with his next goal.

Transfer window review

There's a lot of symmetry between our Men's and Women's teams at the moment, and that extended to the number of incoming transfers each made this January (I'm not counting the addition to the Men's academy team, Jude Soonsup-Bell, who does sound like an exciting prospect nevertheless). Both brought in two players, one permanent signing and one loan. But while the Women's team opted for experienced and proven talents, the Men's team signed players on an upward trajectory.

Women's Team

I've already written a lot about England and Iwabuchi over the last few weeks, so I'll just add that I truly think they are going to have a transformative effect on our season. No, we're not going to be contending for those coveted top 3 spots after such a poor first half of the season, but we can definitely regain some ground in the table and reestablish ourselves as the "best of the rest." I personally am hoping that we can convince Mana to stay after her half-season loan ends because I already can't bear to think about a Spurs Women starting XI without her in it. Fingers crossed...

On the outgoing side, we only had two of our younger players, Gracie Pearse and Esther Morgan, go out on loan. These moves do give me some pause since we are now quite thin in defensive cover. But with Iwabuchi present in the attack, Ash Neville is freed up for defensive duties—and knowing her, she'll still find ways to impact the offense as well as remind us all of the defensive prowess that first earned her a glowing reputation amongst Spurs fans and neutrals alike.  

Overall, I think we strengthened enough to do what we needed to do in this second half of the season, which is to pick up points against the mid- and lower-table teams and at least be able to compete against the top clubs, if not beat them. We filled our two most key positions of need—striker and attacking midfielder. As long as one of Kit Graham or Ria Percival returns soon, we should be in a very good spot. The only other incomings I would have liked to see were possibly a left winger (Rosella Ayane and Chioma Ubogagu can do a job, but could have been upgraded on) and/or another defender. But we know the Women's transfer window can be a more challenging market than the Men's, purely based on the smaller quantity of available players, so I'm more than happy with the statement signings we did manage to pull off (one of which was a huge, pleasant surprise!).  

Women's transfer window grade:  B+

(If you're interested in looking ahead to the summer transfer window for the Women's team, check out the latest episode of N17 Women, on which we did a rapid-fire question round to decide which players whose contracts are expiring at the end of the season should be renewed.)

Men's Team

The story is more complicated on the Men's side, because although the two players we brought in seem very promising and capable, and one (Porro) fills our most important position of need, the outgoings were... well, a hot mess, frankly.

I'll first say that I don't think it was necessarily realistic to bring in a center-back this window—that's a signing for the summer window, based on the current market for that position—so I'm not going to get on the club's back about missing out on that type of signing. The same caveats apply to the goalkeeper position. However, let's hope the recruitment team is already hard at work to fill those crucial openings as soon as possible when the summer window opens, so the keeper especially will have the benefit of a full pre-season to get embedded with the team.

I had misgivings about Danjuma, but his first appearance reassured me on most fronts, even if he was only playing against a Championship team. We'll definitely learn more about where he will be used most often in the formation (and how often) over the next few weeks.

There was some anxiety over whether or not the Porro deal would be completed after all, so it was another eventful deadline day for Spurs. But now that he's here (on a loan that will be made permanent in the summer), we finally have a right wingback who is a) actually trained in that position and b) not coming back from a major injury. Knowing how important the wingbacks are under Conte's preferred system, he could very well be a transformational signing. I don't want to get my expectations too high, since Kulusevski and Bentancur were borderline miracles last January, but would I really be a Spurs fan if I didn't begin with hope?

Sadly, that's where my positivity ends regarding the Men's January transfer business. For all of the other senior team deals, all of which were outgoings, I feel either neutral or negative.

The neutral: Djed Spence going on loan to Rennes and Harvey White going on loan to Derby County.

I'm just neutral on Djed in general, so if Ligue 1 is where he's going to get the most game time, good for him! At least he'll be playing with Joe Rodon (yep, technically still a Spurs player!). As for Harvey, he's still young enough that I wouldn't expect him to be playing much for Spurs' first team anyway, so the loan experience is much-needed. We might have liked to see him playing for a Championship side rather than a League One team, but I'm sure he'll be guaranteed more minutes lower down the pyramid.

The negative:  the departures of Matt Doherty and Bryan Gil.

I mean, the Doherty news was simply shocking, no other way to put it. His contract was mutually terminated so he could sign with Atlético Madrid. It sounds like it was a mix of Spurs falling afoul of a new rule around how many outgoing loans a team can have at one time and a possibility that he was going to be leaving the club in the summer anyway—due to his age and recent injury history—and the club wasn't expecting to receive a big fee for him in the end. But man, my gut reaction is just that this one kind of hurts. He never really got going after last season's injury (for the millionth time:  screw you, Matty Cash!), and it's such a shame after the stellar run of form he was on prior to his season-ending injury. In my opinion, he was the better option at right wingback between him and Emerson Royal. But perhaps it was harder for the club to move Royal on, and they took less of a loss with Doherty. Football can be cruel sometimes. We can only wish him the best.

As for Bryan, he's out on another loan to La Liga, this time at Sevilla... the club we originally signed him from. While it's officially a loan, I somehow sense that we could have seen the last of Bryan in a Spurs shirt for a variety of factors, not least the fluctuating management situation. From my perspective, it's kind of a shame to see him go. I personally have enjoyed watching him play every time he's been on the pitch, and he seemed to finally be adapting better to the Premier League. He was certainly one of our most creative options in attack. Alas, we might never know if he could have made it at Spurs if his heart is set on staying in Spain at the end of the season. Time will tell.  

Part of my unhappiness with those last two outgoing moves is that there are other players I would have much rather seen leave the club, whether on loan or permanently. But it doesn't do any good to dwell on that now, so I won't.

Overall, I'm still struggling to suss out what the long-term plan is; so much of that is tied into Conte's contract limbo, which I've already written about previously. But at least we brought in two players who should be able to contribute week in and week out. We know the weak spots in the roster going forward, and those were always going to be positions that would have to be addressed in the much more amenable summer transfer window. The large number of outgoing loans is going to have to be addressed then, too, because most of those players are long overdue for a permanent exit from the club and it would be detrimental to have them return in the summer. So, it could have been better, but it also could have been worse.

Men's transfer window grade:  C-

To wrap up this late midweek issue, there are just a couple of news items to touch on, one briefly and one at length.

Antonio Conte had successful surgery to remove his gallbladder this week and is already on the mend.

Most people recover pretty quickly from this type of surgery, so I wouldn't expect him to be away from the touchline for too long. In the meantime, Cristian Stellini will be managing the team in Conte's absence once again. Get well soon, Antonio!

I've seen some comments across Twitter that this health issue might be another reason for Conte to want to return to Italy at the end of the season, and while I can see it in the sense that it's always preferable to be close to family when a health emergency arises, he's unlikely to have serious long-term effects, so it shouldn't affect his day-to-day work after his initial need for recovery time. These things just happen, and it's good to hear that he's already feeling better and eager to be back with the team. Now, whether the other issues around his contract renewal have changed is another matter entirely.

Sort of along that note, the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust (THST) recently asked the club to answer four questions about the club's long-term strategy and vision. You can see the responses in full here as well as THST's comments. I will say first off that THST really could use a better communications strategy, because the four questions they submitted to the club were quite redundant and therefore always likely to cause frustration when they received the club's responses; there's a lot of overlap. But logistics aside, I don't think this attempt at dialogue illuminated anything new or unexpected about the club's strategy that we didn't already suspect.

I wrote a little more in depth about my feelings around the ownership and Daniel Levy's tenure as chairman of the board in last month's bonus issue, and this update from THST didn't change my stance. I also think that a lot of fans were doing some intense projection when it came to interpreting the club's response, but that's their issue, not mine nor yours. If you read it without trying to ascribe a certain tone or intent behind the club's statements, you'll find that the strategy (in so far as it's ever been public knowledge) hasn't changed, though the club did admit that player recruitment has not been wholly successful in recent seasons and is a noted area for improvement. So while they expressed some frustration at "perceived lack of backing for head coaches and lack of spending" from fans, they did own up to mistakes in recruitment strategy. The club's response was hardly a dismissive doubling down as some fans have suggested.

I personally appreciated the acknowledgment that further investment is needed for the Women's team, and they did deliver when it comes to the signing of Beth England. Just knowing the Women's team is top of mind in the overall strategy is a relief to hear because we all know that is not the case at every club. Still, more can and should be done.

I also respect the club for pointing out that while we could attempt to keep up in the rat race of spending with clubs like Chelsea and Manchester United (I'm using those teams as examples, although the club did not mention specific names), it goes against the club's values of sustainability alongside competitiveness. Perhaps that makes me (and the club) not "ambitious," but I would much prefer to gradually work towards success than gamble with excessive spending and short-term strategies. I understand that other fans might disagree, and that's fine, but that's how I personally feel. I am reassured that the club is cognizant of the changing financial fair play rules and is also anticipating that further changes could be on the horizon. If Chelsea's spending over the past two windows isn't an indication that something has to give, and soon, I don't know what is.

If I were going to be critical of one aspect of the club's response, it's that we still don't have any idea what the plan is regarding Conte's future at Tottenham. But realistically, we can't expect the club to divulge that information publicly—for many reasons. There is only so much information that we can rightfully be privy to as fans without hurting the club's strategic position and potential maneuvers.  

I am curious to hear other thoughts about all of this though, so please leave a comment if you'd like to share your opinion on the club's update—or anything else I covered in this issue (transfers, cup runs, etc.). One of the reasons I was most excited to move my newsletter over to Ghost was finally having a comments section again, so please, utilize it!

I'll be back after the weekend games with the next issue, and while there's never a dull moment with Tottenham, I wouldn't mind a slightly less chaotic week ahead. Let's hope for two more wins!

COYS

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