Angeball Accelerates

I wasn't able to get a new issue out in time to preview the League Cup quarterfinal against Manchester United (the holiday season is seasoning!), but I doubt I could have predicted this amount of cup chaos anyway.

The matches from the weekend were just as interesting, with a five-goal routing of Southampton for the Men's team and a tense 1-1 draw with Brighton for the Women's team.

In this issue: Brighton recap | Southampton recap | Manchester United recap | Previewing Liverpool | News from around the Lane

It'll be one-game weekends for the rest of the calendar year now that Spurs Women are on winter break. But there is sure to be plenty of intrigue to go around in Spurs Men's Premier League match against Liverpool—now a preview of the first leg of the Men's League Cup semi-final.

WSL Matchday 10 recap | Brighton 1 - 1 Tottenham

Olislagers 82' | England 75'

This match had big "six-pointer" energy going into it but ended with the points shared. It remains to be seen whether Brighton can keep up their strong start to the season into the new year, but at least Spurs are starting to catch up in terms of performances. This was a very evenly matched contest with positive spells for both teams and a thrilling finish in stoppage time.

Starting XI:

We already knew that Becky Spencer would be a doubt to play since she's still recovering from an illness, and Eleanor Heeps got her fourth consecutive start in all competitions (second in the Women's Super League) as a result. Heeps will have to wait to secure her first clean sheet in the league but continues to put in solid shifts between the sticks in her debut season.

The future of the #1 keeper spot is still up for debate when Spencer returns in the new year, but otherwise, this XI is solidly in contention for Spurs' ideal lineup. And if we're keeping an eye toward the future and prioritizing development, you could argue that Heeps' inclusion is welcome. I certainly don't think she's done anything to warrant being dropped after the break, but with Jennifer Falk heavily rumored to be joining during the transfer window, the club may decide to send her out on loan to continue her development.

Key highlights & takeaways:

• Raso on the right (left) side. I've been intrigued to see Hayley Raso and Jess Naz swapping sides since the Australian winger got back from her injury layoff, with Raso on the left and Naz on the right. There's the usual caveat that in the Robert Vilahamn system, all of the forwards are given license to roam and interchange fluidly, but for the most part, they have stuck to their respective flanks without losing efficacy. Raso hasn't made a goal contribution in the league since the opening game but it feels like it's coming now that she's ramping back up to full fitness. And while Naz didn't get a direct goal or assist either, her well-timed pass to Martha Thomas for Beth England's goal was crucial to the buildup and her footprint has been all over the attack in the recent games.

• Defensive disarray. The persistent downside to the "BobbyBall" flexibility is the resulting lack of organization on defense. Naz was drifting around the box and failed to get out to mark Marisa Olislagers for Brighton's equalizer—although the difficult finish deserves some credit. Heeps appears to have misread the volleyed shot as a cross and let it fly into the net at the back post, wrongly anticipating that there would have been a follow-up header or shot. While we've seen an overall improvement in set piece defense, there are still some weak spots to address when defending from open play.

• Beth England's hot WSL form. England had a slow start to the season but has really started to heat up in recent games. She's scored three goals in the last two league games, including a brace against Everton. The variety of those goals is also encouraging; she put away a rebound in the box and converted a penalty against the Toffees, then arrived in the box for a clean finish in the Brighton game. But her impact hasn't been limited to goals. Her off-pitch leadership has also been cited by Vilahamn as integral to helping the team turn things around after a rough stretch of games.

• Fatigue was a factor. My only issue with Vilahamn's game management was the single substitution. Many of the remaining players were struggling in the closing minutes, particularly Naz and Drew Spence, both of whom tend to leave everything on the pitch. Spence has had a bit of a reprieve from needing to control the entire midfield with Maite Oroz's return from injury, which has enabled her to play higher up the pitch and maximize her offensive contribution. But Oroz herself is on limited minutes and had to come off early in the first half. At least Vilahamn did get that substitution correct, bringing on Martha Thomas to shift Spence back into the pivot, taking up the #10 role herself. Thomas hasn't always worked seamlessly in a partnership with England but registered the all-important assist for the sole Spurs goal of the game.

Still, I couldn't help wondering if some fresh legs would have made a difference in gaining the full three points rather than settling for a draw, albeit against tough opposition who were also doing everything they could to claim a home win. Matilda Vinberg, Lenna Gunning-Williams, and Anna Csiki have all made it onto the scoresheet in recent cup games, while Araya Dennis would have benefitted from the experience of coming into a close match. Wang Shuang also earned another look-in after her strong substitute appearance against Crystal Palace in the cup, but wasn't included in the matchday squad (presumably for fitness reasons, though I haven't heard that confirmed). In a three-game matchweek, more rotation was necessary.

SAtP Player of the Match: Beth England

At the beginning of the season we were all lamenting that England wasn't finishing these types of chances in the box from open play, so to see her finally back in top form in front of goal is a relief.

The only disappointment is that Beth is hitting her stride just in time for the pause in games until mid-January. Hopefully she picks up right where she left off in the new year.

Notable & quotable:

• Speaking of the buildup to the goal, this was the first WSL goal for Spurs with an actual assist since matchday 5.

• It was Martha Thomas' first assist of the league campaign.

• This was the team's first WSL draw since matchday 2.

• While I've been viewing this draw from the glass-half-full perspective, Robert Vilahamn sounded more disappointed than satisfied with the result:

It was tough to not get the win. The first half is though not the best, I think Brighton [was] better than us. So getting a draw away against Brighton with that first half is still okay but I really wanted to win today. It was a tough game.

He did note, however, that we scored "a beautiful goal" and improved as the game went on, particularly with the press.

There's still one more game to go before the official midway point of the WSL season, so we'll have to wait to make our full mid-season assessment until after the unofficial midway point—the winter break. We enter the break in the top half of the table thanks to results elsewhere in the league going our way, staying in 6th place for the second week running.

One final note before we bid Spurs Women happy holidays and a restful break: the WSL transfer window opens on January 1 and closes on January 30 at 11 pm UK time. Robert Vilahamn has already hinted that Spurs will be active in the transfer market this winter, and I'll be wrapping up the latest transfer news in every issue that month.

PL Matchday 16 recap | Southampton 0 - 5 Tottenham

Maddison 1' • 45+4', Son 12', Kulusevski 14', Sarr 25'

One of the common complaints from the fanbase this season is that the Men's team underestimates and plays down to weaker opposition. You definitely can't say that was the case against Southampton. Spurs were brutally efficient during the first half and cruised through the second half with ease.

Southampton looked completely out of ideas (or belief) and their manager, Russell Martin, was sacked after the game. But this was the sixth time Spurs have beaten a Premier League team by three goals or more this season, so the Saints aren't alone in their misery.

I don't want to spend too much time analyzing this one—it was a total capitulation on Southampton's part, just as much as it was a total domination by Spurs—but there are a few notes worth making, after a quick look back at the starting lineup.

Starting XI:

For this match, both of the usual #6 starting options were suspended (Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur), so Ange Postecoglou gave Lucas Bergvall a chance to prove himself. I'd say that he mostly succeeded, not looking out of place amongst his more experienced teammates.

Elsewhere, the Djedaissance was back on, although Spence had to adjust to switching sides early on in the game when Destiny Udogie got injured and had to be subbed out—therefore cutting into Pedro Porro's valuable rest time.

Both Bergvall and Spence were making their first Premier League starts for the club.

Top three things:

1. Experience begets responsibility. The senior players really delivered in this game in the wake of critical comments from Ange Postecoglou following the draw at Rangers. The captain, vice-captain, and their honorary deputy (how I'm thinking of Dejan Kulusevski lately) all got on the scoresheet, as did Pape Sarr, who isn't one of the oldest players in the squad but has been at the club for several seasons now. They all led by example. With two young players, Bergvall and Archie Gray, playing key starting roles out of necessity, the forwards were able to take pressure off the defense. This was a performance from the leaders of the team that Ange could be proud of.
2. Eye to the future. With the fixture schedule not slowing down any time soon, the team has to take advantage of any opportunity to conserve some energy. It's not that there weren't still opportunities to get forward and attack in the second half, but the ruthlessness of the first half had been tempered for the sake of saving something for the all-important midweek cup game.
3. Perfect game management. For once, I didn't have any qualms with Postecoglou's substitution strategy. It was unlucky for him to have to make a change so early when Udogie went down (right after playing a big part in the fourth goal), but otherwise, his changes were all voluntary and well-timed. After showing out in the first half, Son Heung-min got to rest for the entire second half, replaced by Brennan Johnson. Ange didn't risk overextending Spence (who's played limited minutes this season) and swapped him out to give Alfie Dorrington his senior Spurs debut. Maddison exited the match at the same time while Timo Werner got a chance to redeem himself. Will Lankshear also got some valuable development minutes when Dominic Solanke needed a rest.

SAtP Player of the Match: Son Heung-min

Although James Maddison got the official Man of the Match award for his brace that bookended the first half, I have to give the nod to Sonny because of his three goal contributions and a milestone achievement. He became Tottenham's all-time Premier League assist leader, passing Darren Anderton to claim the top spot with 68 assists.

I have to share this graphic from svr that lists all the players Son has assisted in the Premier League. Of course, Harry Kane tops the list since they share that duo record for goal combinations in the league, but it's interesting to see that he's been pretty equal opportunity with his teammates otherwise. There are some real deep-cut trivia answers in there like Alejo Véliz and Tanguy Ndombele, as well as Sonny's best friend, Ben Davies. Although he's already starting to establish a fruitful partnership with Maddison, Pape Matar Sarr was a brand new addition to the list in this game.

Son also scored his 125th PL goal in this game and became just the 20th player to score in 100+ games in the competition, so it was a true milestone match for the skipper.

Notable & quotable:

• Djed Spence registered his first Premier League assist for the club.

• This was Pape Sarr's first league goal of the season.

• This match marked the first time Spurs scored five goals in the first half of a PL game.

• Fraser Forster kept his first PL clean sheet of the season.

• Try not to tear up reading Alfie Dorrington's reflections on his senior Spurs debut:

It’s an honour, a true honour. I’ve watched so many of those players, now I’m part of it. It’s funny, when I was a young boy, I didn’t even think of being here on a day like this. I just enjoyed playing football. Now, I’ve come on and made my Premier League debut for the team I grew up watching. It’s unbelievable, really.

Then the moment comes... it felt like I was on the touchline for ages, excited, just waiting to get on. I was thinking, 'This is what I’ve worked for my whole life.'

He also thanked his teammates for doing their part to prepare him for the moment:

The players are so welcoming. I didn’t feel as if I was a young player, as such, with that pressure, they just treated me as normal and that really helped me settle in. Just before I went on, Sonny was behind me, shouting at me to be ready, telling me this is what I’d worked for. All the lads on the bench were so encouraging.

• On the leadership note, Ange Postecoglou praised Son Heung-min and James Maddison for setting the tone:

I thought [Son and Maddison] both were the catalyst for that tonight, with both the football but also their mindset just going out there. We had to start strong today, we knew we would probably run out of gas at the end of the game considering the line-up we had out there, coming off Europe on Thursday night. I think the players sensed that and credit to them that they started the game in that way.

Men's League Cup Quarter-final recap | Tottenham 4 - 3 Manchester United

Solanke 15' • 54', Kulusevski 46', Son 88' | Zirkzee 63', Amad 70', Evans 90+4'

This match was bonkers. As ever, the neutrals must have had a great time watching it. For Spurs fans, it was yet another lesson in not getting too complacent, because strange things can and will happen.

Do I need to do a Stefon Meyers-style list of everything that this game had? Of course I do:

• Dominic Solanke brace
• Kulusevski goal less than a minute into the second half
• Two major keeper errors from Forster in seven minutes
• Son goal direct from a corner kick
• Stoppage-time goal from 36-year-old substitute CB Jonny Evans

But after all that drama, Son Heung-min's first-ever Olimpico stood as the game-winner and our ticket to the semi-final... where we face a two-legged tie with our next Premier League opponents, Liverpool. You have to beat the best to be the best, as they say.

Starting XI:

Spence got his second-straight start, this time on his less preferred side. Yves Bissouma returned to the lineup after serving his one-match suspension in Premier League play.

Top three things:

1. Solanke reigns supreme. Dominic Solanke finally got the goals that his strong performances had deserved, notching a brace with two crafty goals. The first was a poacher's rebound from a saved Pedro Porro effort, while the second came about from an audacious through ball by Spence that Solanke did well to control and maneuver into a better shooting angle in the box.
2. A dearth of defense from United. Not only did their backup keeper, Altay Bayındır, have a terrible game, but none of United's defenders seemed capable of properly clearing a ball either. Lisandro Martínez gifted Dejan Kulusevski an assist for his goal just after the second half began. He was left bamboozled by Solanke on the striker's second goal of the game. And after all the discourse about Guglielmo Vicario being weak on corners, I couldn't believe Bayındır had the cheek to suggest that he was fouled by the merest brush of a touch from Lucas Bergvall when Son scored his Olimpico. If Vicario needs to be stronger, does Bayındır just need to pack it in?
3. From hero to zero. Well, nearly. Fraser Forster followed up a superb save on a Joshua Zirkzee header with two of the worst keeper mistakes we've seen in ages. Both times he dawdled on a perfectly reasonable back pass from Archie Gray. It was inevitable that Forster would struggle at some point during this run of relief games for the injured Vicario, but he single-handedly let United back into this cup tie.

SAtP Player of the Match: Dominic Solanke

Regardless of Manchester United's inconsistent form this season, it's always a big deal to score a brace against them in a pivotal cup quarter-final. Solanke deserves all the flowers for his statement performance.

Notable & quotable:

• Djed Spence made an assist for the second game in a row in all competitions.

• Ange Postecoglou was full of praise for him after the game:

It's not that he's come in and filled a spot for us, he's actually making an impact. [I'm] really pleased for him because it's not easy when you're training, you're training, and you want to contribute and get that opportunity... He loved the day he signed for Tottenham. It's taken a long time to kind of get out there and for him to sort of feel the love of the supporters last night, credit to him and well deserved.

• Son Heung-min has three goals in the last four games, all competitions.

• Dejan Kulusevski was named Player of the Match for the second League Cup game in a row.

Previewing PL Matchday 17 — Liverpool

According to the NBC Premier League that just popped up on FotMob, we are officially in the "Festive Fixtures" period. I have a feeling it doesn't feel very festive to the exhausted players, and Spurs will probably be hoping to get through this stretch of games with as little damage to the playing squad as possible.

So naturally, it's an extremely difficult match against the league leaders up next. Liverpool are one of only two teams to have a better goal difference than Spurs at the moment, largely thanks to their stingy defense—the best in the Premier League this season.

And as I alluded to before, this match will essentially serve as a preview of the upcoming two-legged tie in the League Cup semi-final—the first leg, to be specific, as it's a home game for Spurs.

Although Destiny Udogie was held out of the League Cup fixture, he's expected to be fit to play against Liverpool. Timo Werner may miss out on the matchday squad again as he's still recovering from a fever. Mikey Moore has been back in training after recuperating from his own illness, but Ange Postecoglou noted that Moore still needs "at least a couple of weeks" of training before he returns to match action.

Rodrigo Bentancur will serve the last game of his suspension after his appeal to be reinstated for this game was denied.

Compared to our laundry list of injuries, Liverpool only have two absences, Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konaté, both defenders. Diogo Jota and Kostas Tsimikas have both recently returned from injury.

This will be the first time we face Liverpool since Jurgen Klopp left, with new manager Arne Slot off to a very promising start. They lead both the Premier League and Champions League tables. Even more worrying, they've only suffered one loss across all competitions this season, a 0-1 home loss to Nottingham Forest back in September.

Mohamed Salah's resurgent form is a big factor in their early-season success. He seems to be rolling back the clock even more than our own Son Heung-min has been, and while the two players once shared the Golen Boot award in 2021/22, only Salah is realistically in the running this time around. He has 13 goals in the league so far, only four of them penalties, which has him tied with Erling Haaland for the lead. He's not slacking in the assist department either, registering nine in the league already. This brings up an important question: do we put Djed Spence's defensive skills to the test, or put out a not-quite-fit Destiny Udogie to deal with Salah? I think it's a lose-lose situation no matter what when it comes to such a prolific attacker, but it's a decision Postecoglou will have to weigh carefully.

This is another one of those fixtures where wild things tend to happen, so if nothing else, we can expect an entertaining game.

News from around the Lane

• The fixture details have been set for Spurs Women's League Cup quarter-final against West Ham: January 22 at 7:30 pm UK time/2:30 pm ET. If you aren't able to get out to Brisbane Road the match can be streamed on YouTube.

• The time has been changed for the February 2 WSL match against Manchester United taking place at Tottenham Hotspur stadium, thankfully avoiding a fixture clash with the Men's game at Brentford. It will now kick off at 6:45 pm UK time/1:45 pm ET.

• Beth England has been nominated for WSL Player of the Month for December and Robert Vilahamn nominated for Manager of the Month. Vote for Beth and Robert!

• Spurs Men have been drawn against Liverpool in the two-legged League Cup semi-final. The first leg will take place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the second leg at Anfield.

• Ange Postecoglou gave an update on Guglielmo Vicario's injury rehab:

He's going well, typical of Vic, he's pushing every boundary. Obviously, he's still a fair bit away, but whatever timeline that is, he will make sure he's back as quickly as possible.

He's still very much around the group. We saw him last night, he's also training every day. He's so invested in what we're doing, helping the keepers, helping the whole group. He's one of the leaders and, yes, he's progressing well.

Here's to hoping Vicario is back sooner rather than later.

There's only one thing left to say...

COYS

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