Direction of the Tide
Lately, following Tottenham Hotspur Football Club has felt like being in a rickety boat at sea: we're up and then we're down, buffeted by the waves of shifting form. And although the "one club" ethos has meant both senior teams play a similar style, that commonality hasn't translated to corresponding results. It was a wonderful weekend for the Men's team but a horrid weekend for the Women's team.
Okay, maybe horrid is a bit harsh, since we did have to play the reigning champions, but it certainly wasn't good.
Luckily (or not, depends on how you want to look at it), Spurs Women are now on international break and have some time to refresh and regroup.
Spurs Men have very little time to recover from their weekend routing of West Ham United, as they get back to Europa League action on Thursday.
In this issue: West Ham United recap | Chelsea recap | Previewing AZ Alkmaar | Pub chat
Then to wrap up this midweek issue, I have a grab bag of bookmarks to share.
PL Matchday 8 recap | Tottenham 4 - 1 West Ham United
Kulusevski 36', Bissouma 52', Areola (OG) 55', Son 60' | Kudus 18'
Writing out the scoresheet just now surprised me because I remembered Mohammed Kudus' goal happening way earlier in the match than the 18th minute—incorrectly, obviously. But it's not like this was the first game this season where we've had to come from behind to win. Overall, the players did a great job of staying calm and sticking to the plan to equalize before halftime, and then Ange Postecoglou's tactical tweak at the break spurred us on to victory (no pun intended).
The meltdown from Kudus that led to his sending-off was just icing on the cake.
Starting XI:
It's always a boost to see that Son Heung-min is available to start in a London derby. We also had the benefit of Richarlison making the matchday squad for the first time in quite a while, providing another attacking option off the bench. Otherwise, no surprises in the lineup and reinforcements.
Key highlights and takeaways:
• The aforementioned Kudus goal came about from a similar move to one that Guglielmo Vicario was able to save earlier in the game. Once again, the man marking broke down on the defensive right side and Kudus was left open to receive a switching cutback from Jarrod Bowen. Failing to adjust tactically in-game and allowing an opposition player to repeatedly take up the same dangerous position is going to be a recurring theme with the Women's team recap, so brace yourselves for that. Thankfully, Vicario didn't have to make too many saves as Spurs dominated the second half.
• One of my favorite aspects of Dejan Kulusevski's game is his "shooters shoot" mentality. It was on perfect display for his 36th-minute goal. He's also the kind of player who can take the game by the scruff of the neck when needed, and 0-1 down approaching halftime in a derby is certainly such an occasion.
• I did not really perceive Pape Sarr as having a similar characteristic, but that's basically what he did when he came in as a halftime substitute for James Maddison. I don't think we've seen the best of Sarr in the majority of his appearances this season, so hopefully this is a sign of a strong run of form to come. His pass for Son's goal, the final one of the match, was a glimpse of his bold passing range that we don't see often enough.
I've seen a lot of commentary about how Sarr shored up the defense when he came on, and it's true that West Ham never really threatened in the second half. But I think his ability to stretch the midfield and provide a central outlet for the buildup play was just as important. It's not that Maddison was having a bad game—he did provide an assist, even if the goal was 90% down to Kulusevski's skill. Sometimes a new perspective is needed to give the opposition different problems to solve. West Ham didn't have an answer for Sarr.
• Son had a strong return from injury, scoring a goal and forcing an own goal as well. On another day that own goal and an earlier chance that hit the post could have turned into a hat trick for the skipper instead. I know there will come a day when he truly doesn't have anything left to give, but I'm thankful that we seem to be far off that sad day.
• Neither Brennan Johnson nor Dominic Solanke got on the scoresheet, but they still put in important shifts. Solanke's holdup play just gets better and better. And it was good to see Richarlison get back on the pitch after such a long absence.
• The red card incident wouldn't have been nearly as entertaining with Richarlison stepping in as Micky Van de Ven's pigeon wingman and falling down with him in solidarity after Kudus hit them both. Kudus also managed to hit Sarr in the face and yet would have escaped punishment if not for VAR. How the head official missed all of that I will never know.
SAtP Player of the Match: Son Heung-min
Sonny did have a great game and it clearly provided a boost to the squad to have their captain back, but I also just wanted an excuse to include this photo.
His goal was vintage Son, and it never gets old.
Notable and quotable:
• Not only did Son's goal mark his 250th goal contribution for Spurs (165 goals and 85 assists), he also entered the top 20 for Premier League all-time top scorers.
• Although he didn't extend his scoring streak, Brennan Johnson is still looking in great form. He attributed his improvement in part to the coaching of Ryan Mason:
I've been working with the coaches here and especially with Ryan Mason, he’s been doing a lot of work with me on picking up the right positions, the different types of finishes, what kind of part of the foot I'm hitting with and also dribbling and then shooting, so a lot of thanks must go to him because he's been helping me a lot with that.
He also opened up about his decision to deactivate his social media accounts earlier in the season:
It wasn't a massive deal for me. It wasn't anything too tactical and it definitely wasn't to try to enhance and improve my game or add something different - it was just a personal decision I made instead. All the training and hard work never stopped throughout. It wasn’t a change in my approach as I always come in and try to do the best I can here because l love this team.
• I loved Deki's post-game quote as well:
When I scored to make it 1-1 then I knew we were gonna win. I can only look forward and help this team even more. When we played good, we were unbelievable. Pape changed the game for us. When everything is clicking we can score four goals in minutes. This is Tottenham football. More of that please!
WSL Matchday 5 recap | Chelsea 5 - 2 Tottenham
Hamano 10', Nildén (OG) 44', Kaneryd 70' • 90+1', Baltimore 74' | Nildén 21', Summanen 84'
I am quite annoyed about this one because the loss was more down to poor mentality than anything else. Oh, and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd going into beast mode for Chelsea. But seriously, this was the weakest Chelsea lineup we could have hoped to see this season thanks to their numerous injuries and we didn't take advantage.
Starting XI:
To be fair, we're still carrying a few injuries of our own—and important ones at that. It's frustrating that we've barely seen our summer signings five games into the league campaign. Maite Oroz is out for weeks, but hopefully Hayley Raso will be fit to return after the international break (she has been withdrawn from the Matildas squad), and we finally got the competitive Spurs debut of Ella Morris.
Martha Thomas dropped to the bench and Matilda Vinberg started instead, shifting Jess Naz over to the other wing as Beth England took up the striker role.
Key highlights and takeaways:
• We still didn't get a goal from the forward line for the third league game in a row, so perhaps it's safe to say at this point that it's a system issue and not necessarily the individual players who are solely to blame. I'm curious to see how Raso's return from injury may affect the calculus. We also learned this week that Wang Shuang is finally back in team training, and she could provide a much-needed creative spark in Oroz's absence.
• We are getting goals from defenders though—Amanda Nildén in this case. It was a very opportunistic goal, with Nildén spotting Hannah Hampton off her line and giving it the old college try. We can debate whether or not it actually went over the line until we're blue in the face, but because the WSL is an unserious league that is seemingly prioritizing vibes over professionalization and hasn't yet invested in goal-line technology, we will never know the truth. Hampton got a yellow card for making her feelings known. This was Nildén's first goal of the season.
• Unfortunately, Amanda also scored for the opposition with a very unfortunately timed own goal from a Chelsea corner kick. We simply have to stop conceding goals just before halftime because it always, always proves to be a morale killer.
• The situation didn't get truly dire until the 70th minute, at which point Kaneryd got her first goal with an absurdly acrobatic shot and Sandy Baltimore made it a three-goal lead on a rebound from a missed penalty kick. Yes, we gave up a penalty for the third game in a row, and the second time in a row due to handball. Guro Reiten hit the post with her spot kick, but nobody from Spurs could react quickly enough to clear it and Baltimore got the scrappy goal.
• Our final goal of the match, which wasn't much consolation, came from a superb free kick by Eveliina Summanen. She seems to be the designated free kick and penalty taker at this point, and when her conversion rate is two-in-two so far, you can't really argue with Robert Vilahamn's choice. If I recall correctly, this free kick opportunity came about when Naz would have been free on goal if she hadn't been fouled, and Kadeisha Buchanan was arguably lucky not to receive a red card for DOGSO.
• Kaneryd again made fools of us with her pace and technical ability, although it didn't look like our defense had any heart left to defend with anyway. I'm also concerned about the drop-off in Becky Spencer's shot-stopping capability, which was never her strong suit as a keeper, to begin with (her actual strengths: distribution, positioning, and the occasional penalty save). I hate to sound like a broken record, but the situation we're in with the goalkeeper depth chart is such a frustration. To that point, if Spencer were to get injured over the international break we'd only have one keeper available to play against West Ham in the next league fixture since Katelin Talbert can't play against her parent club.
• The one positive for me was that the later substitutes did make a noticeable impact on the attack. Morris was much more willing to drive the ball into central areas from the fullback position and used her physicality to good effect. And Lenna Gunning-Williams continues to look undaunted at the senior level. There are very few players in the starting XI who should feel like their spot is secure at the moment, so it's good to see the young players challenging for minutes.
• As a general note, this loss to Chelsea feels more costly than usual because of the context of the rest of the "middle of the pack" in the WSL getting more competitive every season. If we aren't picking up valuable points against the teams around us in the pecking order, we're that much more likely to fall prey to the timing of the fixture schedule and fall into a morale rut, much like we saw in the relegation fight situation two seasons ago. And so far, we aren't picking up those necessary points; we've dropped four points compared to the identical fixtures last season.
All of this puts fans in a difficult headspace, myself included. We would like to think that more statement results like the 1-0 NLD win or the 2-2 draw at Manchester United are possible, but those scenarios demand near-perfection from the team, and we haven't approached anything close to perfection since opening day against newly-promoted Crystal Palace. We can't seem to play two solid halves of football in one game. And the teams we have previously used as benchmarks are not standing still; while the top 3 feels consistently unreachable, the floor of the league has definitely risen. With the domestic cups still dominated by those same top 3 or 4 teams, there's no realistic alternative goal to league title success. This also makes the lack of a 4th European spot more frustrating, even if that also feels unobtainable at this juncture. And even if we did manage to consolidate our 6th-place finish from last season, is that satisfying as a fan? Losing a game I expected us to lose to Chelsea shouldn't have me feeling this existential about Spurs Women and the WSL writ large, but here we are.
SAtP Player of the Match: Eveliina Summanen
She had a few of her own dodgy moments on the defensive end, but it's worth noting that she has the most WSL goal contributions of any Spurs player so far (two goals, two assists). She's also the only player to have an assist and a goal in the same game this season.
Notable and quotable:
• Jhanaie Pierre made the bench for the first time with the senior squad.
• This was Ella Morris' WSL debut and first appearance for Spurs since pre-season.
Previewing Europa League Matchday 3 — AZ Alkmaar
It is time for the Troy Parrott derby! Our former player has five goals in nine Eredivisie matches so far, so he's not doing too bad for himself out in the Netherlands.
He and the rest of AZ Alkmaar have to travel to London for this one, though. With so many midweek matches coming up in the next few weeks, I'm glad we get to start off the load management gauntlet with a home match.
Our Dutch opponents have lost their last four matches in all competitions, including a 2-0 away loss to Athletic Club in the Europa League. They're 5th in the Eredivisie (just outside the European qualification spots) and 18th in the ridiculously long Europa Leaguephase table (yes, I'm still calling it that).
I'll be honest: not a single name in the AZ Alkmaar squad is ringing a bell besides Parrott's. And for as many leagues as I keep tabs on, the Eredivisie is not one of them, so I sadly have nothing to share in the way of an opposition preview.
For Spurs, Ange Postecoglou confirmed that Son Heung-min would be sitting this match out to ensure he doesn't immediately land back on the injury list having just come off it. But Wilson Odobert could be available for selection for the first time since mid-September. However, he will also be eased back in like Son.
Fingers crossed that we can continue our perfect start in the Europa League.
Pub chat: Bonus bookmarks
Time for a quick roundup of some of my recent reads and listens about Spurs and the wider women's football landscape:
• The club put out a thorough biography of former Spurs player, manager, scout, and Club President Bill Nicholson. It's well worth a read, especially if you're a more recent fan like me. I'd learned a little bit about him in a couple of the club biographies I've read, but not in this much detail.
It's rare for one single person to leave this much of a legacy behind. It's probably fair to say that Tottenham would be a different club entirely if he hadn't been a part of it.
• Speaking of the club, it lowkey angers me when the purple & gold crowd makes the club out to be a greed-driven enterprise and ignores all of the important work done by the club in the local community. This video about Belvin Lewis, who teaches physical activity classes with the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, was a perfect example of that impact. It honestly brought me to tears. I think Ledley King was close to tears in it, too!
This is Belvin. He brings our community together 🤍@premierleague // #NoRoomForRacism pic.twitter.com/4XLrP1yvrk
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) October 18, 2024
• This interview with Lenna Gunning-Williams from Versus is a bit of spon-con, but also somewhat illuminating. Like the fact that she's a Coldplay apologist! Not that I'm anti-Coldplay (I enjoy watching competitive figure skating, where their music is unavoidable), but I don't think I would ever describe them as having "bangers."
Simi Iluyomade
• This is a great feature from Emma Sanders on pioneering Black coaches in the NWSL.
Emma SandersBBC Sport women’s football news reporter
I was particularly struck by this quote from Yolanda Thomas, one of Seb Hines' assistant coaches at the Orlando Pride:
I hope my visibility will create an opportunity and a sense of 'I can do that' too. I chose a long time ago to not view it as a burden but a privilege.
If I fail, unfortunately it could impact those after me. That is unfortunate but it’s my reality. I just decided to take on that attitude and think 'it’s not just for me, but for those who come after me.'
• I don't always agree with Maggie Murphy's opinions, but I appreciate that she shares them freely, so I'll be tuning into her new(ish) podcast, Expected Goals, with keen interest.
This was the first episode I listened to because I'm always curious about the factors that have kept women's football attendance so low in the UK, with a few obvious exceptions (Arsenal, Bristol City, Newcastle & their sportswashing enterprise). I agree that the Lionesses not playing in a major tournament this past summer was to the detriment of the WSL, but as I've noted in the past, this is the problem with the league focusing so much of its marketing efforts around England players—the same goes for club-specific marketing. Food for thought!
I'm going to close with the delightful video of Vicario dancing on a table at his birthday party to the Shakira World Cup classic, "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)." I could not love this goofball more.
vicario dancing to waka waka on his birthday 🤣🤣🤣🤣 A CLASSIC! pic.twitter.com/oEnh5lqpHJ
— ari 😶🌫️ (@queencarolpls) October 21, 2024
COYS
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