Drawing Up Shorthanded

You can look at the past week of Spurs Men results in one of two ways:

1. The team blew two separate leads to draw in the Europa League at home, and then once again at home in the Premier League, failing to build momentum after the win over Manchester City the previous weekend.
2. The team managed a point in two games where they were lacking several key players due to injury and illness, staying afloat in both competitions.

I lean more toward the second perspective, but I definitely understand the frustration of giving up winning positions twice in the space of a few days. I just have a little more sympathy for the players at the moment with the lack of senior backup options on the bench and the undeniable fatigue that many of the most experienced players are dealing with out of necessity.

Unfortunately, there are probably going to be a lot more dropped points over the upcoming slate of fixtures through the end of the year with the injury crisis only worsening and opportunities for squad rotation low. The unforgiving cadence of a midweek match followed by a weekend match will continue until the first week of January, but it could pick right back up the next week if we progress in the League Cup to reach the semi-final. Forget about a meaningful break until February.

Of course, Spurs won't be the only club suffering from the relentless fixture schedule. I genuinely think this is an issue the football governing bodies need to address because it weakens the quality of the actual entertainment on the pitch. We always see stilted and underwhelming matches around this time of year because the players are simply knackered. I feel for the clubs who are soon going to have the Club World Cup to contend with as well—it seems like the perfect timing for a good old strike from the players, but I doubt it will happen.

In this issue: Roma recap | Fulham recap | Previewing Bournemouth | News from around the Lane

Next up for Spurs Men, it's another Premier League fixture, away at Bournemouth. Plus, there's some assorted club news to round up, including an Academy loan watch update.

This is where I have to admit that my attention was very divided for both of the last two matches, so apologies for the surface-level recaps.

Europa League Matchday 5 recap | Tottenham 2 - 2 Roma

Son (Pen) 5', Johnson 33' | N'Dicka 20', Hummels 90+1'

The early penalty in Spurs' favor seemed like an auspicious sign and suggested we were going to see the more inconsistent side of Roma, but they quickly started to turn on the attacking pressure and could easily have won this game if it weren't for a handful of narrow offside calls.

I had noted in my preview that Mats Hummels would be a player to watch from the Italian side, and indeed, he had a momentous game—giving up the penalty against Sarr but also rescuing a point for his team with a stoppage-time goal from a recycled set piece. But Paolo Dybala was also turning back the clock with a creative performance that showcased his strong technical skills, especially from set piece opportunities. Although he only had one official assist on the day, he would have had another if not for one of the aforementioned offside calls and also came close to scoring himself.

Starting XI:

Destiny Udogie was given a rest as Archie Gray replaced him at left fullback, while Rodrigo Bentancur got the nod over Yves Bissouma in one of the few games he's not suspended for in the coming weeks. I personally think it's gross that his suspension only applies to domestic league and cup games, but here we are.

Top three things:

1. The offside trap. The typical Ange Postecoglou system high line looks a little with two more traditional defenders in the centerback partnership. Ben Davies and Radu Drăgușin aren't as pacy as Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, so they have to use their strong sense of timing to execute the offside trap and reduce the number of occasions on which they have to make last-ditch recovery runs. It worked very well in this match and was largely the difference between holding onto the draw and losing all three points.
2. Set piece defense. As Ange has defensively noted in several recent press conferences, set piece goal concessions haven't actually been a significant trend for us this season overall. Unfortunately, that was the case in this game, with both goals we conceded occurring from set pieces, the first a free kick and the second a late corner kick. We at least contested the first one and lost the aerial duel, but the lack of marking for Hummels' equalizer was much more problematic.
3. The art of arrival. Brennan Johnson's been timing his runs into the box perfectly of late, although Dejan Kulusevski's looping cross provided a much more interesting assist than usual for Johnson's goal in this game. I wish we could see a little more variety in his game, but at least he's doing this one thing very well and very consistently, including a similar goal in the following Fulham match.

SAtP Player of the Match: Dejan Kulusevski

Speaking of adding variety to their game, Kulusevski has been the poster child for development this season in Spurs Men's squad. Not only has he provided a well-balanced slate of goal contributions, but he's also done so from several different positions—both in the sense of what role he's playing in the formation as well as his willingness to find the space at any given moment and exploit it. He popped up on the left flank to send in his cross for Johnson's goal in this match. It's becoming a bit of a cliché to compare him to an NBA player, but in a game where the action was very much end-to-end, Deki rose to the task and utilized the full pitch.

Notable and quotable:

• Due to other results in the league phase, Spurs are now down to 9th place—outside of the automatic qualification spots for the knockouts—with three matches to go. The next two matches are both away games.

• Son Heung-min's penalty was his first goal in Europe this season.

• Ange Postecoglou commented on the entertainment factor in spite of the result:

Why can’t it just be entertaining? Isn’t it why we all come? Would you really prefer us to sketch out a couple of 0-0 draws and a 1-0 win and we getthrough. I don’t know. I would much rather we’re exciting to watch and maybe it is edge of the seat stuff and sometimes we don’t get the reward, like we could have tonight, but no, if you want those kind of games, there are plenty in world football you can watch every weekend. I’d like to think when you tune into us you’ll be entertained.

PL Matchday 13 recap | Tottenham 1 - 1 Fulham

Johnson 54' | Cairney 67'

I paid even less close attention to this game than the Roma match, so no real analysis from me on this one. I didn't even realize until just now that it was Fulham's goal-scorer who also got sent off. As for that foul, it definitely rose to the level of a red card offense for me and I couldn't believe there was any argument about it from the NBC commentators. It's just a pity we weren't able to take advantage of Fulham being down a player for the remaining time (including significant stoppage time).

Fulham's playing style has seen some interesting tweaks over the last couple of seasons, particularly with their fullback and winger play, but I still find them a little too prone to the "argy-bargy" tactics for my liking. It was difficult for Spurs to maintain any sort of flow in light of the constant fouls and time-wasting tactics, especially at the end of the game when Fulham were content to hold on for a point and were no longer foraying into the attack.

You only have to look at the Tottenham bench to understand why it was difficult to mount a comeback after Fulham's equalizer. We simply didn't have anything left in the tank. With the exception of Djed Spence, pretty much everyone who could reasonably be expected to make a positive contribution made it onto the pitch, though many of the substitutions came quite late. Ange Postecoglou seems to be treading a fine line between relying on his most trusted players and risking them being run into the ground. It was also a stroke of back luck that one of those late subs, Archie Gray, had to be taken right back off five minutes later after picking up a knock. We're arriving bruised and battered for the most strenuous stretch of the schedule.

Starting XI:

Dominic Solanke was a surprising omission from the lineup, but it turned out he had an illness. Also surprising was the inclusion of Sergio Reguilón, in the matchday squad for the first time since April 2022. He was joined by two Academy players, Callum Olusesi and Luca Williams-Barnett.

SAtP Player of the Match: Fraser Forster

I still don't find myself totally convinced by Forster as a true backup to Guglielmo Vicario (and indeed, they're very different keepers), particularly in terms of his positioning, but he certainly found ways to use his physicality to great effect in this game. He snuffed out several big chances for the Cottagers and arguably is the reason we didn't suffer another embarrassing home defeat.

Notable and quotable:

• Brennan Johnson has the most goals for Spurs in the Premier League this season. He also became the first PL player to score 10 goals across all competitions without a penalty.

• Will Lankshear made his PL debut.

• This was the first draw for Spurs in the PL since opening day against Leicester City.

• It was also just the second time in the league that we registered zero yellow cards across the squad.

• This season, Spurs have only won one out of five games in the league immediately following a Europa League game.

• Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro are now the only two players to have started every league match this season.

• Ange Postecoglou reflected on the frustration of drawing two games after such a standout win against Manchester City:

I've had already probably three questions on the Man City game and why can't we repeat that? I think if you can't see that even in seven days, we've copped a couple of significant blows since then I think, it's too easy to say, well, let's just play like we did against Man City every game. And it somehow again, seems with this club that whatever it is that we do well is then used as a millstone to bring us down at every other opportunity.

And I guess from my perspective, as I keep saying, it's really important that we don't react to any of that and just stay focused, because I just sometimes feel like, especially the players we've got at the moment, they're just really working really hard for this football club to try and progress as to where we want to be. We're in good shape, we're still in good shape, we're still in a decent position in the league. We're still in the Carabao Cup, we're in a decent position in Europe, so it's about us maintaining our focus on continuing to develop.

Previewing PL Matchday 14 — Bournemouth

I genuinely don't think I've caught a single Bournemouth game live this season yet, so I couldn't tell you what they've been up to in terms of tactical updates or key players. Tyler Adams appears to be back in the mix though, so that's notable to USMNT fans. The Cherries haven't had very consistent form in terms of results but are coming off a strong 2-4 away win at Wolves. Fun fact: Justin Kluivert scored a hat trick of penalties. Let's hope we don't give him any opportunities to score from the spot!

Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like Dominic Solanke is likely to be available to start against his former club. I would only expect to see him off the bench if he plays at all. Archie Gray is fit to play after an injury scare in the last match, but otherwise, all of the existing injuries are still in place. That also includes Mikey Moore, whose recovery from illness has been delayed further. So it'll be another match with a makeshift bench of substitutes to make up the numbers.

For Bournemouth, one-time Spurs transfer target Alex Scott is out with a torn meniscus, while Julián Araujo is out with a long-term hamstring injury and Luis Sinisterra is doubtful to play.

Unlike in recent matchdays, we're one of the last teams to play this time and already know that results elsewhere haven't gone our way. So it will be important to gain all three points and not lose any ground. As it stands, we can go as high as 5th place in the table on goal difference with a win, assuming that Brighton loses at Fulham. This would also put us just one point out of the Champions League qualification berth. Fingers crossed I'm not jinxing it with all this scenario speculation.

News from around the Lane

• Unbeknownst to me, the FA Cup draw happened on Monday. Spurs have been drawn away to Tamworth, the lowest-ranked team remaining in the competition. So no pressure. The tie will take place the weekend of January 11.

• Speaking of the magic of the cup, on-loan Academy goalkeeper Josh Keeley scored a crucial set piece equalizer in storage time to send Leyton Orient to extra time against Oldham Athletic.

I’ve said it to everyone – ever since I became a goalkeeper, I’ve always dreamt of scoring from a corner or a set-piece, so it’s a dream come true. I think any keeper dreams about saving a penalty in the last minute – that’s a great feeling – but now I’ve experienced what it’s like to score in the last minute for your team, it’s unbelievable.

It was quite surreal to be honest and looking back at it, all I can just do is laugh because it’s something that I never ever thought I’d do in my career, especially being so young. Not a lot of keepers can say that they’ve scored a goal. It was absolutely brilliant.

Leyton Orient went on to score in extra time to advance to the next round. Jamie Donley is also on loan with them and has seen significant game time.

There's a nice bit in the article linked above about Pat Jennings mentoring Keeley in his role as Academy goalkeeping consultant.

• In other goalkeeper loan news, Carey Bloedorn has saved a third penalty for Aveley.

• And finally, George Abbott won the FA Cup's Goal of the Second Round award for his crafty long-distance chip after taking advantage of a mistake from Peterborough United's goalkeeper. His stoppage time goal was only a consolation as Notts County were knocked out by Peterborough with a 4-3 scoreline. This was Abbott's second goal contribution of the season for his loan team, the other being an assist in League Two play.

• We still have to wait until the weekend for Spurs Women to return to play, but some congratulations are in order for the Finnish and Swedish contingents for clinching Euro 2025 qualification with their national teams. Martha Thomas' Scotland were unfortunately knocked out by Finland. Elsewhere in the qualification games, Spurs alumna Angharad James captained Wales to reach their first-ever major tournament. And Jess Naz got more game time with England in their friendly against Switzerland after starting the friendly against the USWNT.

• The club released the official Spurs Women team photo for the 2024/25 season:

It's back to the grind for Spurs Men today, and let's hope everyone who was out on international duty from Spurs Women gets back to the club without any injuries.

COYS

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