Consequences
I cannot begin to tell y'all how many times I have sat down to write this issue and come up emotionally empty. It's not so much that I have nothing to say—and indeed, I've already said most of it over on Bluesky over the last week or so—but more so that I've wondered if there's even a point to continuing this newsletter.
Well, there is, and its name is Spurs Women. I'm not going to turn my back on them for something completely out of their control. So that coverage will continue until at least the end of the season, when I will likely be reconsidering the future of this project.
But I can't in good conscience continue to write about Spurs Men, at least until Roberto De Zerbi is no longer their manager. This is a personal red line of mine that the club crossed, with no regard for or acknowledgement of the numerous, vocal fan protests against his appointment. Apparently, something that is so clearly beyond the pale that it united all of the major supporters' associations didn't even merit a "thanks for sharing your concern, but we're doing it anyway." The complete silence and lack of shame from the club is almost more painful than making the decision to appoint De Zerbi in the first place. It still wouldn't be acceptable, but they could at least admit that they prioritized an intended sporting outcome over the club's own stated values. Whether that intended sporting outcome—avoiding relegation—actually comes to pass is another matter, and I'm frankly torn on whether I would prefer to see the team relegated or not at this point; perhaps the club could use that difficult lesson on hubris, and it's hard not to wish for something that would get De Zerbi out the door sooner rather than later.
I know that many fans who were likewise against this managerial hire have nevertheless decided to resume full support behind the Men's team. I just don't have it in me to pretend like things are back to normal, because for me, they aren't. My heart is no longer in it the same way. I don't feel like I'm the same fan of Tottenham Hotspur that I was a week ago. There have been previous minor schisms between my football club and me (the signing of Yves Bissouma, and then several Spurs Men players liking Memphis Depay's Instagram post defending Benjamin Mendy), but this feels like a more complete betrayal due to the fact that the club acted in spite of concerted resistance from fans. They've made their decision, and I've made mine.
So what's the plan for today's issue? I had already fallen a few games behind on recaps, but now at least there is one less to write about. I'm going to combine the last two Spurs Women fixtures since they unfortunately had identical scorelines (which I will include for posterity) and focus on the main takeaways. Then there will be a roundup of all the non-Spurs Men senior team club news, and a bonus bookmark. Things should be back to normal by the next issue, barring any other absurd decision-making from the club.
In this issue: Manchester City & Arsenal recaps | News from around the Lane
If you've stuck with Spurs Across the Pond this long, I hope you'll keep reading even though the scope is about to narrow considerably. Cheers and solidarity.
Manchester City 5 - 2 Tottenham
Shaw 8' • 18' • 21', Kerolin 37', Nildén (OG) 45' | Holdt 15', England 84'
Arsenal 5 - 2 Tottenham
Russo 5' • 7' • 27', Foord 61', Blackstenius 90+5' | Maanum (OG) 20', England 78'
This is not the first time Spurs Women have had a tough second half of the season after a flying start, nor will it likely be the last. But hopefully there are some lessons being learned here by Martin Ho and the club, particularly around squad depth & management.
- In both games, Ho made the curious decision to bench Eveliina Summanen, and only started captain Beth England in the first match against City. It's possible there are extenuating injury management circumstances that we're not privy to, but if those decisions were tactical in nature then it's fair to say they likely cost us potential goals, if not a possible result.
- We were still missing usual centerback starter Tōko Koga for the City game, but she was able to return to the side for the NLD. Why did we not see much of an improvement in the defensive effort, then, in the latter game? It could be partially post-Asian Cup fatigue for Koga, but it could also be lack of gametime experience for her and Molly Bartrip as a CB duo. Regardless, the damage is now done, and with Clare Hunt injured in the Asian Cup, Ho will need to find a way to make this partnership work for the remaining games since the club did not adequately address the lack of CB options in the summer or January transfer windows.
- Ho's team selection also suffered from having a lack of experienced players for these high-pressure fixtures. Hanna Wijk and Signe Gaupset are being asked to do too much in their first WSL half-seasons (the former making Ashleigh Neville's transfer to Leicester City in January all the more puzzling), and Cathinka Tandberg is also struggling as the forward line's focal point in a debut season that has been punctuated by injury. Matilda Vinberg is far from the finished product, despite her recent contract extension. The surplus of game time for these players could certainly pay dividends in future seasons. But there are many examples of previous Spurs Women campaigns that show how heavily a streak of losses and the resulting morale dip can weigh on a team, and that gets compounded with such a young squad.
The scorers of the first-half hat tricks are both players in the top 4 for the Women's Super League Golden Boot race, but that doesn't make them any more acceptable. They played out like a Greatest (or perhaps Worst) Hits of our defensive issues this season. There have undeniably been improvements to the attack this season, but Ho still has a lot of work to do improving the defense.
To end the recap on a positive note, we improved over the course of both games and at last managed four goals more than we scored in these two fixtures combined last season (which was a whopping total of zero).
Notable & quotable:
• Taken together, these two losses led to our first three-game losing streak under Martin Ho.
• We haven't kept a clean sheet in the Women's Super League since matchday 12.
• We are now up to two own goals conceded (both by Amanda Nildén, unfortunately for her) and two own goals drawn in WSL play.
• Bunny Shaw's hat trick was the fastest in WSL history.
• After the City game, there was a three-way tie in the squad for most WSL goals (six each for Beth England, Olivia Holdt, and Tinka Tandberg), but England pulled ahead with her goal against Arsenal. Holdt still leads the team for overall WSL goal contributions.
• It was also England's 200th WSL appearance, 64 of which have come with Spurs.
• We're down seven points in the fixtures in the second half of the season compared to the reverse fixtures in the first half of the season. However, we are still significantly up on last season's overall points total. We need one more win to match our best-ever WSL points total.
• Eveliina Summanen is choosing to view the recent defeats as learning opportunities:
The football season is long. There are going to be ups and downs, and all the difficult moments actually give a little bit more than those good moments. There is something to build on and it's a good chance to learn as well, it's still the first season with Martin... It's not a sprint, it's a marathon in a way. We kind of need to keep on building and be resilient in that way.
News from around the Lane
• Going forward, I won't be sharing any news updates pertaining to Spurs Men and its squad, but I did want to share this photo of Spurs legend Cliff Jones helping to celebrate Ben Davies' 100th Wales cap over the last international break. That was the one thing related to the Men's team that's actually gotten a smile out of me recently.
I hope for Ben's sake that he finds greener pastures next season, assuming he won't be retiring just yet.
• There was a trio of contract extensions at Spurs Women:
- Olivia Holdt
- Matilda Vinberg
- Martin Ho
For my full thoughts on these new contracts, I encourage you to listen to the latest episode of N17 Women. But the short of it is that I feel pretty mixed about them! Keeping Holdt in the fold was very important, but I'm less convinced of the upside on Vinberg, and it seems premature for Ho.
• Big congratulations to Tōko Koga and Maika Hamano for winning the Women's Asian Cup with Japan! Hamano scored the only goal of the final. Commiserations with Clare Hunt, who was unable to feature in the final due to a knee injury, which the club has confirmed she had surgery on.
Hamano was also honored as part of the FIFPRO Asia/Oceania Team of the Tournament, voted for by her competitors at the tournament.
• The Women's Academy U16s have won the PGA Plate!
The U19s have also reached the semi-final in the Capital Cup. They will face Fulham on April 19 to hopefully progress to the final.
• And the promised bonus bookmark is a recent podcast interview with Jess Naz on Upfront.
BellevueLiz
It was honestly touching to hear former Spurs keeper Chloe Morgan giving Jess her flowers.
Up next:
April 6 | Spurs Women @ Chelsea
Team news — Maika Hamano is ineligible to play against her parent club; Clare Hunt is added to the medium/long-term injury list; Ella Morris could make her first appearance of the season.
Let's get behind Spurs Women in the FA Cup quarter-final against Chelsea!
COYS
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