A Tale of Two 2-0s

Spurs Women suffer a pre-season defeat to Chelsea | Spurs Men defeat Nottingham Forest despite another underpowered performance | Previewing West Ham midweek | Loan outgoings

I'll kick things off today with Spurs Women's final pre-season friendly of the summer—at least, as far as open-door friendlies go—against Chelsea, then recap the Men's deceptively decisive scoreline against Nottingham Forest. There's also the first midweek game of the PL season to preview, plus a couple of outgoing transfers on the Men's side. Buckle in!

Chelsea 2 - 0 Tottenham

Despite Chelsea Women missing a few key players for this friendly, they didn't appear to be missing a step at all. On that note, wishing all the best to Chelsea's first keeper, and German international, Ann-Katrin Berger as she undergoes chemotherapy for a recurrence of thyroid cancer.

There were still a few of the usual suspects causing havoc on our backline, including Pernille Harder and Guro Reiten. A new signing for Chelsea, Ève Périsset also impressed for the opponents. Both goals for Chelsea came in the first half (from Harder and Lauren James), and we were unable to answer with a goal of our own, despite a few quality chances—one in particular from Karczewska that was just cleared off the line was giving me flashbacks to last season's numerous "nearly" chances. Jessica Naz and Kyah Simon also had some decent looks at goal, but overall the Chelsea press prevailed.

This third pre-season loss is not necessarily cause for concern, because although the non-WSL teams we lost to in the Women's Cup were strong opponents, they're not quite at the same level as Chelsea, perennial WSL champions. That we were able to keep the scorelines respectable in all three pre-season matches is a testament to Rehanne Skinner's squad's fighting mentality, and all of the matches provided different challenges for the team to navigate and adapt to. In other words, exactly what you want from a pre-season run.

I wrote previously about the need to experiment with different lineups during these low-stakes games, and we saw a new midfield pairing for this one of Angharad James and Drew Spence. The midfield is honestly the area of the formation I feel least confident predicting for the opening matchday lineup, simply because we have a lot of distinct options for those spots, each with their strengths and weaknesses. And speaking of options, we saw a lot of substitutions in this friendly, and I can honestly say the subs brought more energy and ideas to the attack than the starters did. When I saw the starting XI for this friendly I suspected that could be the lineup for the Manchester United match, too, but now I'm not so sure.

A few stray observations from the match:

• Kyah Simon is already back from her short injury spell, and looked quite bright in attack

• I am already super impressed by Nikola Karczewska's confidence and maturity; she looked completely undaunted by Chelsea's star-studded squad

• I sometimes straight up forget that Cho So-hyun is on the team, mostly because she was sporadically utilized last season, but she really provided a spark when she subbed in during the second half

There is a quick international window for World Cup qualifiers before the WSL kicks off (because of course there is) and Spurs have a few players involved, including some U23s call-ups. We'll have to wait until September 10 for Spurs Women to be back in action.

Nottingham Forest 0 - 2 Tottenham

The Men continued their unbeaten run to start the season with an away win at Nottingham Forest. There was an early Harry Kane goal (thanks to Dean Henderson being unsighted by his own defense) and a late Kane goal (thanks to a blinder of a cross from Richarlison), but a lot of stress in between. Nottingham certainly didn't roll over at any point in the match, though we did limit them to only one shot on target. It just didn't really feel like Spurs ever had full control of the match.

You may recall that I was not one of the many voices predicting that Forest would struggle to stay up after completely overhauling their squad, and in fact made a point to tip them to stay up in my PL season preview. They may have a lot of moving parts in their promotion season squad, but they're mostly good parts. For an interesting look into the financial side of their transfer window, check out this piece from The Athletic. Suffice it to say, if they're looking this decent just four games into the season, with their latest incoming transfer yet to feature and a couple of them sidelined with early injuries, they can only improve from here.

In the match against Spurs, Forest largely won the midfield battle and kept our defense busy for most of the game. To the credit of Eric Dier, Davinson Sánchez, and Ben Davies, they had it under control in the defensive third, with a few interventions from Hugo Lloris. The problem is that we struggled to progress the ball up the pitch, and often resorted to counter attacks. Not that there is anything wrong with that in general, but it can make for frustrating viewing, waiting for those occasional opportunities.

When we did create attacking opportunities, we looked dangerous. Son had a shot go just over the crossbar, Kulusevski could have had a few chances if he'd been a little more selfish (I know I've said several times already that I want him to get the Playmaker award this season, but at the same time... just shoot, bro!), and a couple of the subs also had chances (Richarlison, Djed Spence on his debut).

And of course, I can't recap this match without mentioning the handball incident and subsequent penalty miss from Kane. Forest defender Steve Cook brought new meaning to "unnatural position" with his blatant handball in the six-yard box, and I honestly think the only thing that saved him from getting a red card is that it was the other defender nearby, Scott McKenna, whose movement actually caused Kane to be too low to meet the ball with a header—in other words, denying the goal-scoring opportunity. McKenna's shove of Kane's back was not dissimilar from the foul on Son in last season's home NLD that earned Spurs a penalty. In this case, a penalty had already been called for the handball, so it was a moot point. The laws of the game have not evolved to account for these sorts of grey area, combination fouls, and no clear red card offense could be determined.

At least, that's how I'm trying to rationalize VAR not awarding a red card to Cook. It was a sketchy situation all around. I certainly think that if Forest had been taken down to ten men, we would have run riot in the second half. It's also unfortunate that the handball/foul incident robbed Perišić of an assist for Kane.

(Side note, I love how harried referee Craig Pawson always looks. Big "I don't get paid enough for this" energy, although he probably does.)

As it happened, Kane had his penalty saved by Henderson. It wasn't Kane's best penalty shot by any means, so I'm not surprised Henderson was able to stop it, familiar as he is with Kane's penalty technique from their time training together with the England National team.

Luckily, Kane got a chance to redeem himself with another goal–though it was largely down to Richarlison's efforts. The Brazilian is quickly becoming a super sub for Spurs with the energy and laser-focus he brings to every appearance, and it was the same against Forest. After Sessegnon fumbled an opportunity to pass to Kane arriving in the box, it looked like the play was over, so much so that Forest's defense effectively gave up marking Kane. This allowed Richarlison to retrieve the ball near the left touchline and deliver an outside-of-the-boot cross to a waiting Kane for the header, who was never going to miss with that much time and space afforded.

Kane is now tied with Andy Cole for third-most goals in Premier League history, and has passed 200 league goals in his career as well.

I think it's ridiculous that rival fans and pundits alike have been so scandalized by Richarlison doing keep-ups during the match. Honestly, players practice that skill so often in training, why not make some use of it? Forest's Brennan Johnson showed his youthful temper by fouling Richarlison right after and got a yellow card for his rashness (perhaps lucky it wasn't a red). So by all means, be you, Richy! I am all for provoking the opposition into silly, needless fouls and cards. Lamela would be proud!

The last exciting moment of the match was when Djed Spence had an opportunity to score on his debut, against the team he played for on loan last season, no less. He also had a chance to show off his lightning pace on another play, and if he and Richarlison had just a little more experience working together, Richy might have been able to find the right pass to Spence to send him through on goal. He looks to be a promising player and a very capable substitute for Emerson Royal at right wingback—or even Kulusevski at right winger, since that's effectively where Spence was playing during his very brief appearance against Forest.

Considering that Spurs have both a midweek and weekend match this week, Conte has some decisions to make regarding squad rotation—and several players made a strong argument for inclusion in the starting XI against West Ham on Wednesday. More on that next.

Overall, it's fair to say that Spurs could have played better, but it's objectively a sign of strength that we're picking up results even when the performances have been lacking a certain something... okay, we know the something–a more productive and creative midfield for the attack. Still, a clean sheet is always a good thing, a Harry Kane brace is always a good thing, and finally having a bench worth relying on is definitely a good thing. If we're not even out of first gear yet, other teams should be feeling very concerned about facing Spurs. And I can't wait to see how we play at peak form.

London derby #2

The away trip continues on to East London for a Wednesday night PL fixture against West Ham.

As always at this early stage of the season, I feel compelled to remark upon each upcoming opponent's significant summer transfer business. West Ham were wise to bring in another keeper to account for Łukasz Fabiański rapidly approaching retirement, signing Alphonse Areola permanently from PSG after a successful (I suppose...) loan last season. They also grabbed Thilo Kehrer from PSG, who hasn't exactly gotten off to a good start in London (he conceded a penalty on his debut), and further bolstered the defense with Emerson from Chelsea. Finally, they brought in two forwards, Burnley escapee (sorry, Burnley) Maxwel Cornet and Gianluca Scamacca from Sassuolo. Y'all have probably heard that West Ham have only scored one PL goal so far this season collectively, and it wasn't from either of the forward line newcomers, so not ideal.

In fact, their only goal this season came from a heavily deflected Pablo Fornals shot, so it's safe to say they are struggling on offense so far. They did, however, blow their Europa Conference League opponent, Viborg, out of the water over their two-legged qualification tie, so perhaps they are once again putting all their eggs in the European competition basket. That did not work out so well for them last season, as they lost the Europa League semi-final to eventual winners Eintracht Frankfurt and only managed a table finish good enough for the Conference League for this season.

There is always the derby factor to consider, however, and I would not want Conte and the players to enter this match feeling too overconfident. Confident, yes, but not forgetting how much this fixture means to West Ham and their fans.

Injuries-wise, West Ham will be without Ben Johnson, who suffered a slight hamstring injury in the Aston Villa match this past weekend and will be out a few weeks, as well as having a couple of doubtful players (Craig Dawson, Naif Aguerd). I believe our injury situation is much the same, with Oliver Skipp and Cristian Romero back in training but probably not ready for a return to the matchday squad just yet. Lucas and Bryan Gil both have knocks that could keep them from the bench.

I think the big lineup decision for Conte to make is whether or not to rest Son–or bench him, however you want to look at it. Richarlison has certainly made a strong case for his first Spurs start in the PL. But I have always been of the opinion that it's best to let Son continue getting minutes to work his way into some form, and Richarlison has been a crucial second-half spark for us in a couple of games so far (Chelsea and Nottingham Forest most poignantly). Plus, Sonny scored twice the last time out against West Ham.

The wingbacks have put some serious mileage on their boots already and will need rotation soon–particularly Emerson, since Sessegnon and Perišić have already been sharing starts. Conte and his staff have been wise to limit Doherty's minutes so far as he returns from his injury, but he will need to see some significant game time soon. Looking even further ahead, his fitness could be critical in the post-World Cup months, since Ireland did not qualify for the tournament and he will be presumably be well-rested and able to shoulder either wingback role during the immediate World Cup aftermath if need be. We also learned that Djed Spence is a viable option, and I would at least like to see him get a longer substitute appearance soon, if not in the West Ham match then against Fulham on the weekend.

I feel very good about Spurs getting a win, I just hope we can do it without too much strife, knowing that pesky Fulham are waiting on the weekend. This truly is going to be a relentless season and there will probably some fixtures we look back on and think "it wasn't always pretty, but we got the result." I'm fine with this derby being one such example.

Adiós, arrivederci

I wish these were more lasting goodbyes to report, but for now, Spurs Men have sent two more players out on loan for the 2022/23 season. Giovani Lo Celso is going back to Villarreal for another stint, while Tanguy Ndombele will be plying his trade at Napoli. Lo Celso's deal does not include an option to buy, and Spurs have reserved the right to recall him in January if another club is interested in a permanent transfer for the midfielder. Ndombele's loan deal does have a buy option worth just under half of what Spurs originally paid for him. Hopefully these two players are able to find a more lasting solution for next season for the sake of their careers, because frankly, I don't think it's ever going to happen for them at Spurs.

The SAtP podcast extended universe

I was happy to be invited on The Game is About Glory podcast this week to chat about the win over Forest. Check it out and give them a follow!

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