Crumbling Comebacks
In the words of COYS legend Adele, we could have had it all...
...Or at least three more points and a jump up their respective tables a spot or two for both Spurs teams. Instead, we got a heaping serving of frustration due to late goal concessions.
Both games had heightened narratives around them; it was the first rematch of the Europa League for Spurs Men and the first WSL fixture between Spurs Women and London City Lionesses. And for the most part, the games delivered on entertainment. We certainly got a lot of goals!
In this issue: Manchester United recap | London City Lionesses recap | News from around the Lane | Pub chat
I was pretty disappointed with both results, but after a few sleeps, I can be a little more pragmatic (there's that buzzword...) about what they portend—or don't.
Since it's international break on the Men's side, I thought I would put together some bonus bookmarks for your reading pleasure after the Women's NLD, including a piece that is full of surprising tidbits on the end of the Robert Vilahamn era at Spurs Women and the subsequent process of hiring Martin Ho.
PL MD 11 | Tottenham 2 - 2 Manchester United
Tel 84', Richarlison 90+1' | Mbemo 32', De Ligt 90+6'
On paper, this was probably the expected result—the two teams are literally tied on points at the moment—but the nature of the late comeback being squandered by an even later goal concession made it more disappointing than it should have been.
Such an unnecessary lapse of concentration to close out the game was something we haven't seen very often from this team under Thomas Frank; more commonly, we've been decisively beaten across the course of a game, perhaps with the exception of the Super Cup draw (and subsequent penalty shootout loss) to PSG. In this game, it was a poor corner to give up right at the end, and therefore quite predictable that United would score to equalize and share the points.
You could argue that we should have gotten a toehold in the game much earlier, though the substitutions did prove decisive in turning things around. The biggest regret will be not testing a weak Manchester United defense to greater effect.
It's a pity we couldn't hold onto the win since it would have been a much-needed boost to Spurs Men's home form, and a balm for the restless home crowd. But there were still positives to take from the performance, particularly late on.
Destiny Udogie's slow ease back into play after an injury has limited his gametime, but he's made the most of his minutes and finally got his first goal contribution of the season with an assist, as did fellow substitute Wilson Odobert. Mathys Tel has also featured largely off the bench this season and doubled his goal tally with a well-taken strike. And although Richarlison's goal was very opportunistic (he lowkey stole a goal from Odobert, which wasn't a great look after not allowing Dane Scarlett to take the penalty in the previous game), we do need him to get back to scoring ways for the sake of the team. The other silver lining was that Xavi Simons, despite being subbed out when we were still chasing the game (likely for minutes management reasons), had a promising performance and looks to be finally adjusting to the Premier League pace.
Even with the early League Cup exit, we still have a lot of matches to contend with over the festive season. As Frank navigates squad rotation through those fixtures, we need to feel confident that we can both create and finish chances, no matter who is on the pitch. The injury situation likely won't be alleviated significantly until the turn of the year, so we must make do with who we do have available in the meantime. And in fact, the injury roster has a new addition to its ranks, with Randal Kolo Muani exiting the game at halftime with what we later found out was a broken jaw.
We're still in a European qualification spot at the moment. The question is how long we'll be able to sustain that until we get some bodies back. If up-and-comers like Odobert and Tel can make a significant leap, we have a decent chance, but it feels like there's not a lot of margin for error at the moment.
Notable & quotable:
• Coming into the game, Spurs were unbeaten against United over the last seven fixtures (W5, D2) and hadn't lost to them since October 2022. That streak is now extended.
• In total, we had three goal contributions from three bench players (two assists, one goal). Wilson Odobert could have had one of each if Richarlison hadn't flicked on his shot.
• We picked up our largest yellow card tally in a single match this season, with five total. Cristian Romero is now on yellow card accumulation watch with four.
• Thomas Frank described the upside of the game quite succinctly:
Of course it's tough, of course it is painful, but for me there’s a difference compared to Chelsea is it was a much better performance. Also, we didn’t lose.
He was sanguine about the fact that Spurs fans' last-minute delight quickly turned to United away fans' euphoria:
I know I'll take the positives out of it, but of course when you're in the moment and you think you've won it, you just see all the positivity, everything, everyone is happy, we’ve finally won at home, all that... that's the beauty of the game—sometimes we're on the right end, sometimes we're on the wrong end.
WSL MD 8 | London City Lionesses 4 - 2 Tottenham
Godfrey 8' • 84', Parris 50', Nildén (OG) 81' | Tandberg (Pen) 38', Summanen 69'
For as gutting as Manchester United's equalizer at the death was, I was actually more affected emotionally by the loss to Women's Super League newcomers London City Lionesses. This was a game with outsized stakes, not only by nature of the WSL having so few fixtures relative to the PL, but also the inevitable comparisons the result would invite regarding the two teams' respective approaches to squad investment.
And indeed, it's fair to say that London City's superior squad depth—acquired quickly over the last two seasons and at a significant cost—made the difference in their second-half dominance. It wasn't just a matter of technical advantage, but also experience, that gave them the edge to cancel out Spurs' initial comeback.
From a Spurs perspective, there should be some concern that our two goals both came from dead-ball situations: a penalty for Cathinka Tandberg and a free kick for Eveliina Summanen (both expertly taken, it's worth noting). From open play, we were less effective, particularly in the first half. It was the first game I can recall this season where Olivia Holdt—who has been so important to Spurs' attack thus far—took too long to get into the game. The wingers likewise struggled to make an impact, and Tandberg was starved of service in the striker role.
The only player who made much of a difference in creating chances (and only at the end of the game, when we were clearly throwing everything at the wall that might stick) was Ash Neville. This is where I begin this season's "play Ash at winger" campaign, knowing it's not a realistic request of Martin Ho when his fullback options are so limited with Ella Morris out with an ACL. Her fullback partner, Amanda Nildén showed clear signs of fatigue in the build-up to Nikita Parris' goal. But in an ideal world, Neville would provide another angle for the winger position while Jess Naz and Matilda Vinberg are largely failing to impress.
So despite equalizing twice and looking the more likely team to win after Summanen's free kick, Spurs suffered a morale blow with an Amanda Nildén own goal and then another quick LCL goal from Freya Godfrey, completing her brace and cementing her Player of the Match status.
While I recognize that Ho didn't have entirely the right types of players on the bench to fix the issues we were seeing from the starters, it still feels like his in-game management hindered the team's chances of getting a result. The one substitution I would have liked to see was Kit Graham to replace Drew Spence, who was looking tired but played the full 90. I also would have liked to see Beth England introduced first, instead of Martha Thomas, to play alongside Cathinka Tandberg rather than replace her on the pitch. It's been a couple of league games now since we've gotten to see England and Tandberg play together.
I also questioned the decision to keep Lize Kop in the game after what looked like a possible broken nose. No, it's not ideal to drop Eleanor Heeps into a closely contested game for her first appearance of the season, but it also wouldn't be ideal to drop her in cold to this weekend's NLD if Kop was unavailable for selection. My personal opinion is that Kop didn't look like her usual sharp self for the rest of the LCL game, so besides giving Heeps some much-needed competitive minutes, it may have been a relief for Kop to come out of the game.
On the defensive end, this was the first non-top 4 opposition game where I've had concerns about Clare Hunt and Tōko Koga's centerback partnership. Their collective positioning was awry on several of the LCL goals. You have to wonder if Molly Bartrip will finally get a look-in soon; she's still yet to make her season debut after starting the campaign rehabbing a pre-season injury. But it's possible this game was just a blip, and Hunt and Koga will return to form in the next game (not that it's going to be an easy task, considering the opponent).
Hopefully the fact that savvy, proven players like Parris, Saki Kumagai, Grace Geyoro, and Kosovare Asslani (and Alanna Kennedy and Poppy Pattinson off the bench to see out the match) propelled LCL to a decisive win in the inaugural edition of this WSL fixture serves as a wake-up call to the powers-that-be at Tottenham. We simply have to up our recruitment game starting in the January window to bring in some players who have the experience and wow factor to elevate the team. It should be more than a little embarrassing that a newly promoted team is already challenging us for "best of the rest".
All of that being said, if we look at this game in a vacuum, it's not a complete debacle. We knew from the beginning of the season that there would be some growing pains to get through with a new manager and a more demanding playing style, and we also knew that this squad is still a work in progress. We're still in a very good position in the league table and would truly have to blow it the rest of the season to get anywhere close to a relegation scrap. So for now, while we wait for the winter transfer window to open and bring in some reinforcements, the focus is on continuing to develop, as a team and as individual players. As ever, control the controllables.
Notable & quotable:
• Eveliina Summanen's free-kick goal was her first of the WSL season.
• Amanda Nildén's own goal was the first for Spurs this season.
• Our goal difference is back in the negative for the second time so far this campaign.
• This was the first time we've lost to a newly promoted team since March 2023 (three seasons ago, away at Liverpool).
• Showing due respect to the opponent was a trend for Spurs managers this past weekend, with Martin Ho acknowledging:
I thought we deserved to come back when we went 2–1 down and we pushed really well after that to make it 2–2. But we allowed some really small defensive mistakes—and we were punished for them. Some games you get away with it, some you don’t - and today we didn’t.
News from around the Lane
• Maite Oroz underwent successful surgery on her ACL.
• Radu Drăgușin got his first match minutes back after recovering from his own ACL injury, playing in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Leyton Orient with the U21s.
It’s different, you can train how much you want, but once you are there in 11v11 on a big pitch, it's different, you can't really replicate it in the training. It’s the details like the sprints back, the adversity, the exposure that you get as a defender, it was a good day.
• Jhanaie Pierre is going on a dual registration loan at Watford in the National League Southern Premier Division for the rest of the season. Watford are managed by former Spurs player Renee Hector.
• Time for another Spurs Men loan army update:
- Will Lankshear is up to five goals now for Oxford United
- Tyrese Hall has scored six goals and one assist in all competitions for Notts County
- Mikey Moore scored his first goal for Rangers, who have a new manager, Danny Röhl (had to get my obligatory Bayern-adjacent mention in somehow)
And two notable international appearances for our loan contingent:
- Yang Min-hyeok made just his second appearance for South Korea, in a game in which Son Heung-min scored a beauty of a free kick to lead their nation to a 2-0 win over Bolivia
- Luka Vušković made his first start for Croatia on his second cap as they beat the Faroe Islands 3-1 and clinched World Cup qualification
• The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium match dates for the Men's Euro 2028 have been confirmed. The club's stadium will host four group stage games and one Round of 16 game.
• You can vote now in the FSA Awards. No Spurs nominees, sadly, but I recommend voting for Megan Feringa for Writer of the Year since she's one of the few journalists who regularly covers Spurs Women! More on that in the bonus bookmarks below.
Pub chat: Bonus bookmarks
As usual, the bookmarks all somehow ended up being about women's football, but if you aren't interested in that, you wouldn't be here in the first place anyway.
• Let's get straight to the good stuff. The aforementioned Megan Feringa has a new article out at The Athletic about Spurs Women, detailing the circumstances that led to Robert Vilahamn's dismissal during the summer, as well as the factors that led to hiring Martin Ho.
Megan Feringa
I feel compelled to call out the four most intriguing (and gasp-worthy) reveals for those of y'all who don't have a subscription (but if you do, the whole piece is well worth a read):
- There was effectively a player mutiny on the team bus on the way back from the FA Cup knockout defeat at Everton, putting in motion the decision to sack Vilahamn after the season ended.
- Casey Stoney personally called Spurs Women managing director Andy Rogers to recommend Martin Ho when she found out he was on the shortlist.
- None other than former Spurs loan player Grace Clinton personally called Rogers to find out if the club really was hiring Ho when the news was leaked a day before the official announcement.
- Tōko Koga was so close to joining another (unnamed) London club that she had literally already moved into their shared player housing before Rogers and Ho jointly convinced her to stick with her initial decision to join Spurs.
What delicious reporting! (But also, yikes about the near miss on Koga.) Of course, we can laugh now at the mess of last season because we've come out the other side in a stronger position. But it's so rare that we get these kinds of dishy insights into the inner workings of Spurs Women (or any insights at all, for the most part), so let's enjoy it. And hopefully, if we continue our upward trajectory, we'll get more frequent media attention than we have in the past.
• Feringa's article also mentioned that Spurs are moving away from a "one club" approach for Spurs Women. I listened to one of the Expected Goals podcast's recent episodes that discussed this very topic, and it's worth a listen.
Adrian Jacobs, formerly of Chelsea Women and now Head of Football at World Sevens Football, was the episode's guest. He spoke about how important it is to have dedicated staff who are solely focused on the women's side of a club, both for marketing and operational purposes. His arguments were pretty compelling, but I've been leaning towards this way of thinking for quite a while now myself.
• WSL Football has released guidelines on building or upgrading stadia for women's football.
Megan Feringa
As the article notes, the guidelines aren't actual requirements for clubs, but rather recommendations.
One thing I found interesting, in a frustrating way, is that the lack of safety provisions at many of the current WSL and WSL2 grounds has led to the change to earlier kickoff times this season. Yet another instance of women having participation in sports restricted and curtailed because there's no motivation from leagues or clubs to make accommodations. Perhaps the money that went into the WSL Football rebrand could have paid for some street lights or been used to lobby for better transportation links? Just a thought.
Anyway, for Spurs Women fans specifically, I highly recommend connecting with the Women of the Lane supporters' group, who do important advocacy work on these issues and facilitate fan meetups for anyone nervous about going to a match alone, at night or otherwise.
• Finally, this feature on Leyton Orient Women's new co-owner and player, Steph McCaffrey, may not seem relevant to Spurs Women at first, until you consider which women's team currently plays at Leyton Orient's primary ground... right, Spurs Women!
Megan Feringa
LOW's progress through the tiers is something to keep an eye on since it could force the issue on Spurs Women moving grounds again within a few seasons.
Up next:
November 16 | Spurs Women vs Arsenal
Team news — Lize Kop available for selection; long-term injuries still out
This could be a very intriguing women's NLD. Not only is it already set to be a record crowd for a Spurs Women game at Brisbane Road, based on tickets already sold (hopefully not to too many Arsenal fans), but Arsenal are coming off two straight games dropping points. They drew to Chelsea in WSL play (with a heap of refereeing controversies involved), then lost midweek away to Bayern Munich in the Champions League after an early 0-2 lead. (Shoutout to Klara Bühl, the jealous Barca fans could never make me hate you!) So either they'll be in a terrible place, morale-wise, or else raring to bounce back. We'll find out in just under twelve hours!
COYS
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