Derby Déjà Vu—and the Cups, Too

I'll be perfectly honest, I needed some time to digest this past week of results before getting my thoughts down here. It's been a tough week to be a Spurs fan, despite the week starting positively with a rare win against Chelsea for the Men's team. Unfortunately, that was where the success stopped. The Women's team went out of the FA Cup on penalties to Reading, and then the Men followed them with a midweek loss to Sheffield United in regular time. Both teams were poised to enter the quarter-finals in the next round but couldn't get past objectively lesser opposition. Where do we go from here?

There are a few positives to point out from the Chelsea game, though, so let's rewind and start there.

In this issue:  Chelsea recap | Reading recap | Sheffield United recap | Previewing the weekend matches | News roundup

Tottenham 2 - 0 Chelsea

Much like the previous derby win over West Ham, this was not a Chelsea team at their best. Regardless, it's been ages since we beat them in the league, so I will take it! As many fans have pointed out, there's some poetic justice in the fact that our two goals came from two Spurs Academy products, while Chelsea's grossly expensive squad couldn't muster a single goal—or even much of a fight.

The lineup was unchanged from the West Ham starting XI, which was a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed seeing Ben Davies playing at LWB again, and Emerson Royal is proving why he is still the starting RWB over new signing Pedro Porro. In fact, Royal was just named a nominee for the PL's February Player of the Month award. I happily voted for him, although I abstained from voting for Antonio Conte for Manager of the Month. To me, it hardly seems fair when Cristian Stellini was the man on the touchline, regardless of how much input Conte gave him for these matches. But I digress, back to the game.

We had some good luck with Thiago Silva exiting the match early for Chelsea with a knee injury, but we also had some bad luck with Hakim Ziyech getting away with a red-card-worthy shove at Emerson Royal. It didn't end up affecting the outcome of the match though, so we can let this particular officiating farce slide, even as VAR continues to cause more trouble than it's worth in the PL this season.

Otherwise, the first half wasn't too awful eventful. Spurs definitely controlled the match and Chelsea never looked likely to score. Cristian Romero was at his imperious best keeping Kai Havertz in check (and visibly rattled) and was truly in his element, while Fraser Forster started a clean sheet streak in the league with two in a row now.

The balance of the game immediately changed at the start of the second half, with Spurs scoring basically right after kickoff. An initial shot from Royal was spilled by Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and sloppily cleared out of the box by Enzo Fernández (he of the £106 million transfer fee), where Oliver Skipp won the ball off Joao Felix (€11 million loan fee) and scored with an absolutely beautiful long-range strike. His shot had just enough curve to glance the ball off Kepa's glove and into the back of the net. I was amazed to hear that this was Skippy's first goal for Spurs, but he had only scored for Norwich in his loan season and for Spurs' youth team previously. It's kind of a shame it happened so close to the second-half kickoff, because many of the home fans weren't back in their seats yet! Either way, it's great to be able to celebrate Skipp's first senior Spurs goal and to see him get some recognition for the offensive side of his game, which often goes under the radar even amongst our own fanbase.    

Son Heung-min subbed into the match in the 79th minute and quickly made an impact for the second game in a row, this time not with a goal of his own but a superb corner kick that Eric Dier was able to flick on to Harry Kane for a close tap-in. Ben Chilwell, who didn't appear to be marking anyone, helpfully kept Kane onside. Cheers!

The rest of the game passed without incident and finished as another 2-0 home derby win. We took four points off both West Ham and Chelsea this season, teams who have had a bit of a bogey factor for us in recent years, so I consider that an improvement. Upcoming games will prove to be a further test of that mentality shift, as indeed the FA Cup match ended up being a failure of the test.

There were some curious comments from Stellini after the match that made me continue to question what exactly is going on behind the scenes at the club at the moment, but we will probably never learn the full extent of Stellini's influence during his caretaker manager stint. Either way, the squad obviously got somewhat of a mini "new manager boost" from his presence on the touchline. It will be interesting to see what happens when Conte returns.

A few random callouts to wrap up the Chelsea recap:

• Ben Davies made his 300th appearance for Spurs, and while many have questioned the wisdom of keeping him in the squad for so long, I think that this season especially he has proven his versatility, dependability (he rarely has long spells out with injury), and consistency are big assets to the team. One thing you definitely cannot doubt is his commitment. And as he has shifted into a new role in the last couple of league games, he has found a good balance between contributing to the attack while still maintaining his defensive duties.

• Friend of the newsletter Harsh pointed out that we scored nearly identical goals in the first fixture against Chelsea this season when we drew 2-2. They didn't learn!

• I thought Richarlison looked very bright in this match and was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet in some manner, but Dejan Kulusevski is still looking a bit off his usual (extremely high) standard. Sadly, he's one of the players in the squad whom we can't really afford to have an extended downturn in form because he is one of the few sources of creativity in the side. I have no doubt he will get back to his best soon though as his fitness improves post-injury.

• While this slightly tweaked lineup paid further dividends in the PL, we saw midweek how the squad depth is far from where we'd like it to be, and I worry that we are just an injury or two away from a full-blown injury crisis—an issue that has completely altered the course of the season for the Women's team, I must note.

Tottenham 0 - 0 Reading

(Reading advance 4-5 on penalties)

Well, we kept a clean sheet. So there's that. And realistically, we were unlikely to win the FA Cup anyway. It's not the end of the world that we can now focus fully on the league, where we desperately need to start picking up some points.

Still, this was a winnable game. And we failed the first case of the "can we score without Beth England?" test.

England was out of the squad with a "knock," though we don't yet know if it's serious enough to keep her out of the next WSL game too. Jess Naz was also unavailable, but Cho So-hyun was back on the bench as an option. Usual team captain Shelina Zadorsky was on the bench and did not end up featuring, perhaps needing both a physical and mental break after a difficult international break with Canada—understandably. Ash Neville served as captain in her place. Asmita Ale made her first start in a while, as did Angharad James in place of the suspended Eveliina Summanen. But the most surprising aspect of the matchday squad was Kit Graham's inclusion on the bench, finally returning after her ACL injury rehab.

Rehanne Skinner did a little experimenting with the formation, opting for a front-2 of Celin Bizet and Nikola Karczewska. They worked pretty well with each other, with Celin seeming to thrive in a more central role while Niki went out wide at times to utilize her strong hold-up play and then get the ball to Celin in the box. We actually had a lot of scoring opportunities throughout the match and particularly in the first half. I think it's fair to say that we controlled the game, but it was another instance of many this season where the finishing just was not there. And while it's encouraging to see that the team has improved in most of the fundamentals over the last few weeks and there's a clear style of play, at some point the goals will have to come or it won't be enough.

There was a slight dip in attacking output in the second half, and we entered extra time looking a little leggy in several positions. I think Rehanne did the best she could with the bench she had available to bring in some fresh energy, and also kept the possibility of penalties in mind with Rosella Ayane's introduction particularly; she's a penalty ace.

Kit subbed in shortly before the halftime of extra time, and she immediately made her presence known. It doesn't look like she has lost a step at all, despite this being her first appearance in 15 months. She was eager as ever to go into challenges, win balls, and drive into the central areas of the pitch with intent. She even had a chance to pull off a fairytale game-winning goal, but her shot went just wide. I still consider her first game back a success though, because there was always the chance that she might look like a shadow of her former self post-ACL injury. Instead, it looks like she is going to be able to contribute a lot during the last portion of the WSL campaign, bringing some composure and control to the midfield to help dictate the pace of games in Spurs' favor. She could potentially be another late-season game-changer alongside our January signings, England and Iwabuchi. Of course, she will need to ramp up her minutes progressively over the next few games.

You have to give some credit to Reading; their game plan was obviously to force a penalty shootout and they did just that. This wasn't their first shootout of the season, so they had the edge there, not to mention many more substitutions for fresh legs to actually take the penalties. I definitely think fatigue factored into Kerys Harrop's missed penalty for Spurs (and to be fair, it was close to being a perfect penalty), and Drew Spence's shot nearly went awry, ricocheting off the post and into the net. Celin and Kit both took strong penalties and Rosella Ayane made the fifth to keep us in it, but Tinni Korpela couldn't pull off a save to force sudden death.

We get to play Reading one more time this season in the league, lucky us!

Sheffield United 1 - 0 Tottenham

I promise I am not going to dwell on this one too long, because a) it's too painful and b) there's no point.

I had a bad feeling when I initially saw the starting XI because it was a heavily rotated side from the team that beat West Ham and Chelsea back-to-back. I understand some rotation was necessary with the fixtures starting to pile up twice a week (though we have now lost the possibility of playing in the last three FA Cup rounds), but it seemed like this much change was going to unsettle the side and break up the momentum the team had built over the last two games.

At the same time, I don't think we can fully blame the team selection on the loss. The simple truth is that the whole team lacked the proper mentality for a cup match. As much as I would like to complain about the way Sheffield United played (and they certainly should have been playing down a man after George Baldock's dangerous tackle on Ivan Perišić), they deserved the win. We did nothing to earn it.

I hate to revert to my #ConteOut ways so soon, but honestly... we should not be going out to play that negatively and conservatively against a Championship team—let alone one that had heavily rotated themselves, focused as they are on gaining promotion to the PL and also dealing with an illness bug in their squad. There's no excuse. And sadly, I think this telegraphed exactly where Conte's (and perhaps the club's) priorities lie, and they do not involve winning a domestic cup. This was a year in which the FA Cup was imminently winnable, but it appears that securing top 4 and qualification for the CL (in other words, the financial priority) is the primary goal for the season. And I would advise not getting your hopes up about the team turning around the 1-0 aggregate deficit in our Champions League tie with AC Milan next week. It appears we have to accept yet another season of embarrassing cup exits and banter from other clubs' fans about our lack of trophies, at least until next year.

I could get into a lot more of my frustration around this match (Stellini's weird mind games around Richarlison pre-match, the complete defensive breakdown on the goal we conceded, and more), but candidly? If the club isn't bothered to win a trophy, I'm not going to bother lamenting the cup loss at length in this newsletter. Unfortunately for my poor family and the Tottenham Depot group chat, they have had to hear my extensive ranting about it instead.

The last thing I will say is that I really do wish the club would tear off the Conte bandaid now and at least let us enjoy attacking football again under a more progressive manager for the remainder of the season. But I don't have any realistic hope of that actually happening; the board will let Conte's contract run out and we'll find out who's coming in during the summer instead. It is what it is.

Back to league play at the weekend

The Men's team plays first this weekend with a Saturday fixture at Wolves. Molineux Stadium is not the place I would prefer to send a team low on confidence after a cup knockout defeat, but here we are.

While Wolves don't have the same reputation for brutishness as Sheffield United, they aren't going to be any easier to score on. We got two wins against teams that at least try to press, but we won't see much of that from Wolves, and will therefore have to pull some creativity out of somewhere in the squad to get the job done. Fingers crossed that Deki can finally get out of his recent rut in form, but if not, it may take some of Harry Kane's skillful passing or even a well-worked set piece to find the winner.

I would like to see the same lineup we saw against West Ham and Chelsea, but it's not about what I want. Plus, Royal apparently has a knock that could keep him out of the starting XI.

I hate to be a downer, but things could get bleak very quickly if we follow up the FA Cup exit with a loss in the league, and potentially an exit from the CL as well midweek.

And I can't say things look much rosier for Spurs Women, who face Manchester City on Sunday, also an away match. City are in much better form than they were the first time we played them this season when they nevertheless beat us 0-3. Chloe Kelly has finally come alive after a slow start, and Bunny Shaw has not slowed down. It could get ugly.

I fear it will be even uglier if Beth England is unable to start, but she is still considered a doubt with her mysterious knock. Hopefully, Niki's injury concern near the end of the Reading match was simply a cramp and not anything more serious. Otherwise, we are probably looking at another appearance of Striker Ros, or perhaps will see Celin given a shot up top again. I much prefer Rosella on the wing and thought Celin looked decent playing more centrally in the cup game, but we'll see.

It would be great to see Kit get another runout, but again, not too much too soon. And while Asmita didn't have the best game on Sunday, it would be prudent to give Kerys a rest, particularly in a game where we could use more pace defensively. This is the last match of Eveliina's two-match ban, so I would assume we'll see Angharad in the midfield again, though Cho is always a wild card option. Perhaps a little unpredictability would suit us for this already tricky fixture.  

We should probably approach this one with lowered expectations because the two games coming up next are so important to get right. I'm not saying to throw this game by any means, but it's not one that we were realistically expected to pick up points in, to begin with. Maybe don't look at the table after the final whistle, though. It will still be painful regardless of the result.

News from around the Lane

I'm going to mostly ignore the Formula 1 partnership news and the rumors of Tottenham's board wanting to add another sport to the club's roster of teams (especially because the latter is only that at the moment, a rumor). The timing of the F1 news certainly wasn't great in light of the footballing failure just a day later, but hindsight is always 20/20. But I mostly just don't care about that sport and the partnership isn't going to have a noticeable impact on the club until next season anyway, as far as I can tell. Moving on.

Richarlison made the three-player shortlist for the FIFA Puskás Award for Best Goal, but ended up losing out to a truly incredible goal from the award's first-ever amputee winner, Marcin Olesky. It looks like Richy enjoyed attending the awards show and he was a very gracious loser, so we can still be proud of him. It's too bad he couldn't keep the streak of Tottenham players winning the award alive, though!

Going back a little further in time, it's worth noting that Eveliina Summanen and Tinni Korpela won the Cyprus Cup with Finland during the last international break. Eveliina scored two free kicks during the friendly tournament, so it seems like the whole situation with the FA and her WSL match ban hasn't affected her too much. You love to see it.

Morocco were not involved in a tournament but had two shutout wins in friendlies with Slovakia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Rosella Ayane scored in both games.

Our other international players were not as successful in their friendly tournaments, with Becky Spencer and Drew Spence having a tough go of it in the Cup of Nations and both Shelina Zadorsky and Mana Iwabuchi securing just one win each with Canada and Japan respectively.

Mana's country got the upper hand in the sole matchup against Shelina's country, with Japan beating Canada 3-0.

It's hard to find detailed info on Poland's two friendlies with Switzerland, but both were draws, the first scoreless and the second 1-1. Unclear if Nikola Karczewska had any involvement in Poland's one goal!

Angharad James and Esther Morgan were runners-up with Wales in the Pinatar Cup, going unbeaten.

Celin Bizet's Norway had mixed results in the Tournoi de France, finishing in third place after one win, one loss, and one draw. They only scored one goal in the whole tournament, however, and Celin was not involved.

Lastly in the news roundup, Alfie Whiteman signed a new contract with the club that runs through 2025. He was most recently on loan in Sweden so we haven't seen much of him at all lately, but this could perhaps suggest that Brandon Austin will not be renewing his contract and the third keeper spot will be up for grabs after this season.

All right, that's all for today. I know it's tough to feel much optimism about either of our teams at the moment, but still, we will support them.

COYS

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