Doubly Disappointed
Disappointment is maybe not the right word... Perhaps it's better to say that I've become increasingly resigned to the fact that the season is going nowhere for the club, barring a possible Europa League trophy for the Men's team. The league landscape is pretty bleak for both senior teams. And back-to-back losses on a Sunday is never a fun situation.
Luckily for me, I immediately hopped in the car to go on a trip to Chicago for a few days with my sister and two of my nephews, who will humor some soccer talk from me but are largely insulated from the world of English football. I barely thought about these games while I was gone, so let me try to surface some memories of the game action to try to write about them.
In this issue: Fulham recap | Brighton recap | Previewing West Ham | News from around the Lane
Only the Women's team plays this weekend since it's an international break on the Men's side (good thing I am only minimally invested in the USMNT, because woof). It's a derby match with our rivals to the east and sure to produce some chaos to liven up what has become a slow fizzling out of the Women's Super League season.
Coincidentally, this week's news roundup will also be pretty Spurs Women-centric. There's more nonsense afoot from the WPLL, a staff departure at Spurs, and other general WoFo updates, plus a bonus bookmark for further reading.
Let's begin!
PL Matchday 29 recap | Fulham 2 - 0 Tottenham
Muniz 78', Sessegnon 88'
I mean, we held them off until almost the final ten minutes! Since we had a fair amount of squad rotation and yet another unusual midfield configuration, it could definitely have been worse.
I'm not sure you can concede a worse goal than what happened with former Spurs player Ryan Sessegnon, though. He completely bodied Ben Davies, who had badly misjudged the bounce of a long kick from Fulham keeper Bernd Leno. As a staunch Davies defender, I wanted the ground to swallow me up, so I can only imagine how embarrassed he felt. It's very unfortunate that this happened on his 350th appearance for the club.
You can never count on Spurs picking up points at Craven Cottage. And I'm honestly a bit happy for Sess that he got his revenge. The weird enmity that Fulham seems to have for us also makes more sense when you look at how many former Arsenal players were in their starting lineup... the ghosts of Gooners past.
Starting XI:
As for our own lineup, it didn't exactly inspire confidence. While it was exciting to see Archie Gray finally starting in the midfield, it was alongside Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum—I'll let y'all decide which is which. Rodrigo Bentancur playing as the #10 was not a very successful experiment. I think it could have worked when he first joined Spurs, before his series of injuries that he has never properly come back from. The creativity is there in theory, but the physical sharpness is not.
Speaking of players who have struggled upon return from a long injury layoff, I continue to have concerns about Destiny Udogie's long-term prospects at the club. He simply hasn't looked like the same player we signed. And as alluded to earlier, Davies didn't have his best game either, so the left side of the defense was a major liability. They both looked like traffic cones on Fulham's first goal by Rodrigo Muniz.
And while I'm still willing to give Mathys Tel a lot more patience in his search for his first Premier League goal (he nearly did score in this game but was denied by a strong save from Leno), it's less than ideal that Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson are now scoreless in their last three league games each. When our attacking stalwarts Son Heung-min and James Maddison aren't on the pitch, it's sometimes hard to see where the goals are going to come from.
Normally this is where I would do my "Top Three Things" section to hit the main talking points of the game, but I think I'd rather look at the big picture this week.
Ange Postecoglou is walking a fine line when it comes to blatantly de-prioritizing the league games in favor of the Europa League. I can understand it from the perspective of wanting to protect player fitness for the Europa League games, which are absolutely critical at this stage of the season with nothing else to play for, but he risks dragging squad morale down further as we continue to languish in the bottom half of the table. Once the team is back in action after the international break, I think he's going to have to put more effort into picking up a couple of league results (even a draw would be a moral victory at Stamford Bridge) to build momentum ahead of the resumption of the Europa League in mid-April.
SAtP Player of the Match: The substitutes
No, they didn't manage a goal between them either, but Lucas Bergvall came very close to drawing a penalty, and we at least looked more organized going forward with the likes of Son, Maddison, and Wilson Odobert involved.
Notable & quotable:
• This was the third time this season that we didn't pick up a single yellow card, with one of the other instances being the reverse fixture. Kind of bizarre for a derby! This was also the second time this season that neither team in the match had a discipline card, with the other being the home match against Everton on matchday 2.
• Postecoglou suggested it was poor game management on the pitch that lost the game:
It was a tight game, we knew it would be, and up until they scored, I thought we were the better team. We had some big chances to go one up, Vic didn’t really have a save to make, but then we conceded a soft goal. We’ve done that number of times this year and that allows the opposition grow into the game.
He also reflected on the overall course of the season:
It’s very frustrating. I don’t like losing, we’ve lost too much this year, and I said that to the boys, we can’t accept that, it’s just not good enough for a club like ours to lose as many games as we have this year. That’s disappointing and we’re need to address it.
• Solanke echoed a lot of his manager's thoughts in his own post-game comments:
We pride ourselves on being a fit team that can run for the full 90 minutes, a lot of the time that works in our favour at the end of the games, but they scored first quite late in the game and that killed our momentum. We don't want to be that team that’s great one day and then bad another day. We want to win every game, so we need to find that consistency.
WSL Matchday 16 recap | Tottenham 0 - 1 Brighton & Hove Albion
Kirby 42'
Consistency has been a wider issue across the club, with the Women's side also failing to build on a positive performance from their previous match. The team selection perhaps played an even bigger part in their struggles, however. So let's just jump right into the team selection.
Starting XI:
We already knew in the buildup to the match that Beth England, our team talisman, would be out for at least this match. In his post-game comments, Robert Vilahamn revealed that she's going to be missing several more games with her quad issue.
So how did he account for England's absence in his lineup decisions? Not very well, it turned out. I felt a frisson of excitement when the teamsheet came out thinking that we were finally going to see Ash Neville given a chance at winger this season, but nope, it was Amanda Nildén who got the nod to move up from fullback instead. Vilahamn has also insisted on playing Matilda Vinberg on the right side lately, which doesn't seem to suit her. And it's true that the manager didn't have any surefire options to replace England at striker as far as form goes, but Martha Thomas didn't do anything to move up in that pecking order over Jess Naz or even youngster Lenna Gunning-Williams, who at least has brought some energy and bravery in her limited appearances.
It was also encouraging to see that Olivia Holdt finally made her first WSL start, but she failed to impact the match in a meaningful way. I don't think the less-than-ideal forward trio did her any favors in that regard—the linkups just weren't there.
Top three things:
- Lize Kop is growing on me. It's not that she did anything spectacular here in this game, but I've become increasingly convinced that she is rarely the problem when we concede a goal. More often, she is hard done by with the defensive effort in front of her.
- More officiating incompetence. How no one out of the center official, assistants, or even the fourth official saw fit to rule out the sole Brighton goal because of the head injury in the buildup, I will never understand. It was a scary moment for young fullback Ella Morris when the ball struck her full in the face from close distance and undoubtedly gave Brighton an advantage, as the ball fell kindly to Rachel McLauchlan for the assist to Fran Kirby.
- Forwards lack finishing edge. Indeed, without England, we did not score. At no point did we really even look like scoring. We finished the match with zero shots on target. It's hard to say if it's a lack of confidence, unfamiliar partnerships in the forward line, or perhaps a combination of factors keeping the non-England forwards off the scoresheet. Either way, let's hope she heals quickly.
And a bonus topic:
At this point, I am wondering if it's less an issue of confidence within the players or more of a lack of confidence in the tactics and manager. I'm sure Vilahamn's constant chopping and changing of the lineup in recent weeks hasn't helped to build (or maintain) trust from his players. This isn't the first time after a bad result this season that I've questioned whether Vilahamn has lost the dressing room, but it did solidify my theory that England's on-pitch leadership has been the only thing truly holding this team together. Her absence was noticeable not just in the failure of the team to score, but also in the overall disorganization in the flow of play.
With the captain likely to miss at least the next two games before the international break, it will be interesting to see if Vilahamn persists with the more recent additions to the starting lineup, or revert to the players who were consistently starting at the beginning of the season. You can also look at it from the perspective of the season being a foregone conclusion (give or take a place or two in the table standing) and argue that he should prioritize developing the players who are most likely to be the future of the team. I have a feeling the fanbase will not be very patient with the later approach, however, unless he communicates it effectively and firmly.
SAtP Player of the Match: Ella Morris
She truly knew nothing about the Brighton goal because of her head injury, and otherwise, she was one of the few bright spots in the game (and most of the recent games, to be honest). It also feels like she's due for a goal soon; her long-range efforts have mostly been off-target so far, but I like that she's taking them.
Notable & quotable:
• This was the fourth WSL loss in a row for Spurs, and the fifth loss in all competitions. In that stretch, we have only scored one goal (h/t Alex Mitton,).
• Co-captain Molly Bartrip made her 100th appearance with the club. She reflected on the privilege of reaching that milestone with Spurs:
Every game that I'm lucky enough to play in, I think ‘I’m playing against some incredible players right now’ and I never thought I'd be able to do that growing up and, if I’m honest, even five or six years ago, so I just honestly feel really, really lucky to be where I'm at.
• Morris was a bit wry, but honest, as she commented on the result:
It was a bit of a scrappy one, we knew we wanted to get the result but a bit of controversial goal from them, however that’s football, and we could have taken some of our chances, we just didn’t do that.
• Vilahamn's assessment was much more blunt:
We were both struggling in possession and to have a consistent play, they won the fight, they won the duels and they scored a goal, and we didn’t, so they won.
Previewing WSL Matchday 17 — West Ham United
The team will be feeling some pressure around this fixture before it even kicks off: not only have we fallen a place in the table before playing due to Everton's decisive win over Crystal Palace and won't regain 7th place without a win, but West Ham could leapfrog us if we fail to get even a draw.
West Ham haven't had the best record since they knocked us out of the League Cup in the quarter-final (still hurts), but they did win against the team we just lost to (Brighton) and pulled off a surprise draw against Manchester City. This is the Hammers' second home fixture in a row, which will surely be a boost for them; all four of their wins and two of their three draws in WSL play have come at home.
We will have almost the full squad available with Charli Grant returning from concussion protocol, but will still be without the most important player, Beth England. Robert Vilahamn observed that "it’s going to be hard to pick a starting eleven" in his latest press conference, though perhaps some of that difficulty is of his own making. He also mused on how the team can make do without England's goal-scoring prowess:
I think we need to look at what we’re doing on the ball, how we play, what we do when we win the ball in the high press too, we need to be a little bit more determined, how to get into their box, make sure we attack the crosses and so on. We have a lot of good moments in the game where we don’t have a lot of goal chances because we’re not in the spaces we should be, so we looked a lot into that this week and, in these last six games, the focus will be on how to create more goal chances and score more goals because that’s Tottenham Hotspur and we need to get back to that.
West Ham also have a pretty fit squad, only missing Jess Ziu. Viviane Asseyi is back after serving a yellow card accumulation suspension.
Ahead of the match, Molly Bartrip (acting as captain in England's absence) called on her teammates to "fight":
There’s the work ethic [in the group] but it’s the fight. There’s a difference between work ethic and fight. Not backing out of challenges; those little things are what win you games sometimes.
Derbies naturally bring fight. I’m hoping whoever steps on the pitch will show that. It’s for the badge.
PSA for US-based fans: the match will be on ESPN+.
This is often a goal-heavy fixture, so brace yourselves. And happy Rehanne Skinner derby day to all who celebrate! I suppose it's also the Shelina Zadorsky derby.
News from around the Lane
• The Women's Academy U16s have reached the PGA Champions Trophy final for the first time, with the fixture date for the final still to be determined.
• Former Spurs Women defender Siri Worm has retired. Best wishes to Siri!
• Tom Garry reported that the club has mutually parted ways with Spurs Women general manager Alex Zurita, as the role is set to change. I assume this shift has something to do with the supposed hiring of a sporting director on the Women's side, which we still have yet to see confirmed.
• The club published the minutes from the latest Fan Advisory Board meeting, and one of the items that I found interesting was that the club is working on how best to handle legacy numbers for Spurs Women. Preserving the history of the Women's team is very important so I'm glad to hear it's on the agenda.
• Malachi Hardy has signed his first professional contract with the club. The 17-year-old centerback has featured heavily for the Men's Academy U18s this season and recently scored his first goal in the 6-4 NLD win. Hardy has also made his U21s debut this season and featured on the senior team bench several times.
• Jamie Donley made his debut for Northern Ireland this week after receiving his first call-up to their senior side. There was some concern that his FIFA paperwork might not be processed in time for him to feature (he had played for both Northern Ireland and England at youth level before making his decision to play for the former at senior level), but he was able to come on as a substitute in their 1-1 draw with Switzerland, playing over half an hour.
Special topic: The ever-changing world of women's football
• Suzy Wrack reported that the WPLL is considering scrapping (there's that word again) the League Cup—known from this season as the Subway Cup, though apparently that sponsorship agreement was only for two seasons—as part of its "revamp" of the women's game in England.
While there's been constant discussion of how to improve the competition amongst fans, I don't think anyone wanted it to be done away with altogether; that move would make much more sense on the men's side of the sport where fixture congestion is an even bigger issue across the board. On the women's side, teams like Spurs Women would struggle to play more than two games some months in the autumn without the League Cup fixtures. A smarter move across the board would be to reimagine the League Cup as a competition for only the teams who aren't competing in Europe.
For more coverage of the WPLL's controversial ideas, see my recent bonus issue about the relegation scrapping proposal.
• I have much more mixed feelings about this news item: World Sevens Football, a new seven-a-side club tournament is launching this May with massive prize money involved, funded by the co-owner of NJ/NY Gotham FC. Each edition of the tournament (to be held twice a year) will feature eight different clubs; the first edition will not include any teams involved in the UEFA Champions League final. Chief of Strategy (and Bay FC co-founder Aly Wagner) explained the tournament's appeal to players:
The seven-v-seven format is one the players love, it’s one of their favorite things to do in training, the small-sided games, and it’s one that I think fans will end up clamoring for. It’s so intense, action-packed and it’s all the stuff that players love, one-v-one duels, shots, goals.
You may be thinking that this sounds awfully similar to the TST 7v7 tournament that's been held in North Carolina the past two summers. The first edition was co-ed, then it divided into separate women's and men's divisions for the second edition. I've watched a fair bit of TST and found it enjoyable, but since the rules are very different from traditional 11-a-side soccer and the majority of the participants are either retired or amateur-level players—or even celebrities/influencers and athletes from other sports—I've never viewed it as a legitimate alternative to the various club and international competitions happening concurrently.
This is where World Sevens Football has the potential to be a genuine disruptor in terms of generating fresh excitement around the women's game—if they actually do have top, professional talent participating, as claimed in the initial reporting of the announcement. But Laura Georges, part of WSF's player advisory council, suggested the tournament aimed to "[unearth] some of the next generation" alongside more established talents. Anita Asante, another member of the council, noted that the rules of the competition (30-minute matches, rolling substitutions) have been crafted with player load management in mind.
The announcement of WSF is also interesting in the context of the full launch of the Women's Club World Cup being delayed until 2028 (a scaled-back tournament, called the Women's Champions Cup, will be taking place in the seasons in between the marquee event starting in 2026).
• And for a bonus bookmark, Katie Whyatt published a piece earlier this month in The Athletic about the "embryonic" stage of recruitment in the women's game:
Katie Whyatt
I had just been wondering how much had changed (if anything) since Charlotte Harpur shared her important reporting on the subject last year.
One of the interesting challenges noted in this article for identifying emergent talent is the lack of access to game footage of players in lower division leagues, let alone stats. As Jonathan Pepper (former manager of Lincoln City Women) put it:
In the men’s game, the pyramid is really important in talent identification. The more access you have to the pyramid, the better that talent identification will be.
I was also intrigued by the InScout Network which empowers players to make their information, stats, and video highlights available to prospective clubs. Such a platform is especially useful for players who don't have an agent or who have been out of the game for a while for various reasons.
Even though the mood around the club is a bit deflated again, remember that we're going to miss watching our teams play in just a couple of months when it's the off-season again.
COYS
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