End of Season Bumper Special

It's time to wrap up the 2021/22 season with the best & worst moments, player superlatives, and more! Plus, who's got that dawg in them?

Now that the league tables have been finalized and we've all taken several deep breaths, it's the perfect time to look back and reflect on the highs, the lows, and the downright baffling moments that make up a Tottenham season. I've split it up for the Men's and Women's teams so they can both get their full moment to shine. Now, when I say "bumper special" I really mean it--this issue is a doozy. Grab your favorite beverage and a cuddly pet if available, sit in your favorite chair, then keep reading for a brief chronological recap of each team's season, notable fun facts, and the Spurs Across the Pond awards!

Tottenham Men 2021/22

4th place, 71 points, 22-5-11 record

+29 GD (69 for, 40 against)

Honors:  Golden Boot (Son Heung-min), Player of the Season nominee (Son), Goal of the Season nominee (Son)

I think it's worth looking back even as far as the pre-season to get the full picture of the 2021/22 campaign. After a 72-day search for a new manager to replace caretaker Ryan Mason (and José Mourinho before him), during which such candidates as Paulo Fonseca, the vile Gennaro Gattuso, and even the return of our beloved Mauricio Pochettino were hinted at, former Wolves manager Nuno Espírito Santo was finally appointed. It didn't seem like he was the right person to restore Tottenham to its attacking glory, but he seemed like a decent man, so maybe he would at least restore peace in the dressing room?

Oh, and there was the whole matter of Harry Kane wanting to leave the club to play at Manchester City. He would end up being hugely important to our success this season, but because of the transfer saga, he got a slow start to the season, missing the first match (at City, of course) and did not score a goal in the PL until the eighth matchday.

We got off to an auspicious start results-wise with three straight 1-0 wins, but there were signs that the winning streak wasn't going to be sustainable. The single goal in each of those games came from a Son Heung-min wonder goal, a Dele (!) penalty, and a somewhat flukey Son free kick, respectively. We weren't creating much offensively at all.

Then came one of the worst months of football I can remember since I became a Spurs fan. September's fixture schedule was made up of three London derbies (Crystal Palace, Chelsea, and Arsenal), and we lost all of them, conceding three goals in each and only managing to score in one (the Arsenal match, thanks to another moment of individual brilliance from Son). The only bright spot during this period was a penalty shootout win in the League Cup over Nuno's erstwhile Wolves.

October would be a month of mixed results, notching a few important wins, including a narrow 1-0 win over Burnley in the League Cup. But the derby troubles persisted with a 1-0 loss to West Ham. Then on the penultimate day of October, Nuno sealed his fate when he subbed Lucas Moura off for Steven Bergwijn early on in the 3-0 loss to Manchester United. The boos from the home crowd were deafening and the board was left with no choice but to sack Nuno.

Thankfully, we didn't have to wait 72 more days to get in a permanent manager. The board acted swiftly and decisively to bring in Antonio Conte, definitely the #1 choice. Of course, it would have been nice if they had acted that decisively in the summer, when we were first linked to Conte, but better late than never.

Conte got off to a rollercoaster start at Spurs. I haven't talked about the Europa Conference League yet, but that was... certainly a competition that we played in this season (and hopefully never again). Conte got a little sampler of the good and the bad of Spurs in that first Conference League match that he managed, but it was good to see the players looking far more motivated than they had in recent weeks. We then played out a scoreless draw with Everton in the PL before the international break rolled around.

From the end of November into mid-January, Spurs went on an eight-match unbeaten run in the league, with mixed results in the cups (we advanced in the FA Cup, but got knocked out by Chelsea in the League Cup semi-finals). We also witnessed the Steven Bergwijn impact sub masterclass against Leicester! February was a bit chaotic, exemplified by the blockbuster win at Manchester City followed by a loss to Burnley at Turf Moor. We would also be knocked out of the FA Cup in early March by tricky Middlesbrough, and suffer another defeat to Manchester United. But for the most part, spring was a successful time for the club and top 4 was looking like a real possibility. Those hopes seemed nearly dashed when Matt Doherty, who was suddenly vital to Conte's preferred wingback formation, suffered a season-ending injury at the legs of Matty Cash, joining Oliver Skipp and Japhet Tanganga on the list of sidelined players.

The powers-that-be at the Premier League must have been delighted that the rescheduled NLD (our home fixture) ended up being such a pivotal match for Champions League qualification. Coming off a hard-earned 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield, Spurs rode their confidence to a ruthless 3-0 victory over Arsenal. Top 4 still wasn't in our hands until the next matchday though, when we eked out a 1-0 win against Burnley and saw Newcastle beat Arsenal. All that was left to do on the final matchday was to earn at least a draw against already-relegated Norwich. The 5-0 thrashing of the Canaries that ensued made Arsenal's win over Everton completely meaningless. And in a special moment for a player who had come up big for Spurs time and time again this season, Son Heung-min won his first-ever Golden Boot thanks to a brace in the final match, sharing the honor with Liverpool's Mo Salah.

Although it was far from a flawless season, with plenty of points dropped in winnable games (I remain salty about the Southampton win that was stolen from us by objectively poor refereeing, though), the team showed much-improved resilience and mentality to secure top 4. Qualifying for the Champions League not only ensured that Conte and Kane will still be at Tottenham next season, it also gives the club some extra leverage in the transfer window to strengthen the squad with both starter-quality talent and additional depth to compete on all fronts in 2022/23.

Fun Facts!

Well, most of these are not so fun, actually, but they are interesting quirks of the season. I focused solely on the Premier League here.

• Spurs only had one red card: Tanganga against Crystal Palace

• We were only awarded five penalty kicks, four converted by Kane and one by Dele

• We still had a goal difference of zero as late as matchday 23, past the halfway point of the season

• We went on two separate three-game losing streaks in the league, once under Nuno and once under Conte

• Likewise, each manager oversaw a two-game stretch without a single shot on target (Manchester United and Everton games under Nuno, then Brighton and Brentford under Conte)

• We only had one assist through our first five matches, from Bergwijn to Son on the opening matchday

• Five players appeared in every single clean sheet match: Lloris, Højbjerg, Son, Kane, and Dier

• Across the whole PL season, we had 14 different goal-scorers, two of whom left in January (Dele and Ndombele) and one who just joined in January (Kulusevski)

Underappreciated

These are just a few topics that I thought deserved special mention or a fresh perspective.

• Son's set piece deliveries. Even if you exclude the free kick against Watford that probably shouldn't have found the back of the net (if Watford had any sense of defensive awareness about them, that is), Son created quite a few goals this season from corners and free kicks. Some were direct assists, and on others he got the play going. On one occasion he even got the ball back after his initial corner kick and was able to assist a teammate for the goal. I grew very weary of hearing complaints about Son's corners being poor all season when the evidence suggests the opposite. Now, if we could only get Kane off of direct free kicks and give them to anyone, literally anyone, else.

• Own goals. I know, I know. It's easy to joke about how "Own Goal" was our third top-scorer this season, but let's think critically about that for a moment. Own goals don't happen in a vacuum, except on very rare occasions when an opposition player genuinely just screws up a routine play (the example that's coming to my head for some reason is Unai Simón at the Euros last summer. If you missed it, here you go). Otherwise, they happen because of sustained, tactical pressure. I'm sure y'all can recall a few of the own goals that happened in our favor this season, and how many times we were disappointed that one of our Spurs players didn't get credit for the goal because it was such a close call. Enough said. Keep the own goals coming, by all means!

• Our fearless skipper, Hugo Lloris. Hugo hasn't been getting Player of the Season accolades for obvious reasons (having a teammate win the Golden Boot will do that), but I still think he deserves massive credit for Spurs' top 4 finish. With only a couple of exceptions, he was an absolute wall in between in the sticks for us. He pulled off some of the best saves I've seen from him yet, and although he often gets criticized for his poor distribution, I actually think he improved in that regard this season quite a bit. Several of our superb team goals started all the way back with Hugo, even in a couple of crucial games (Liverpool away comes to mind). Far from winding down in his career, I would argue he's firmly at this peak. Kudos to the club for locking down a contract extension!

First Goal Inductees 🎉

Players who scored their first goal for Spurs, in any competition:

• Emerson Royal

• Cristian Romero

• Dejan Kulusevski

• Matt Doherty

• Sergio Reguilón

Best Moments

• Doing the double on Manchester City

• Leicester comeback win heroics from Bergwijn

• Doherty's renaissance

• The "60 minute NLD" win

• Son's brace on the final matchday to win Golden Boot

Worst Moments

• Kane transfer saga

• Nunoball, including the three straight derby losses in September

• Both Southampton fixtures

• Burnley away--and Conte's post-game press conference meltdown

• Everything about the Conference League

Player Superlatives

Biggest surprise: Matt Doherty

Best new signing: Cristian Romero

Best young player: Dejan Kulusevski

Most valuable player: Son Heung-min

Most improved player: Ben Davies

Mr. Tottenham: Eric Dier

Player of the Season

Drumroll please...

The nominees are:

✴︎ Son Heung-min

✴︎ Harry Kane

✴︎ Hugo Lloris

And the winner is:

Son Heung-min!

Honorable mentions go to Romero and Kulusevski, who didn't play enough games in my opinion to be true Player of the Season contenders (and this is my award 😉), but certainly made valuable contributions in their limited time.

Season rating out of 10:  7.5

Getting top 4 was hugely important for the club, but there were a few too many bobbles along the way to consider the season a total success. Conte gets some leeway in that he only had one transfer window to work with and will surely benefit from a full pre-season going into the next campaign. If we had not suffered under Nunoball for so long and if Kane had been ready to go from the start of the season, we could easily have achieved top 3 or even gone farther in the cups (the domestic ones--clearly the Conference League was never a true priority for the club).

Questions and concerns:

Here are a few musings on the past season and looking forward to next season.

• Is Conte a one-trick pony? He sometimes struggled to make in-game adjustments when necessitated by player injuries or unfavorable tactical matchups. He seems dedicated to his formation of a back-three, wingbacks, midfield double pivot, and three forwards, but we'll see if he does some tinkering next season based on who we bring in during the transfer window.

• What should Paratici's transfer window priorities be? Knowing that Conte prefers a back-three 99% of the time, additional center-back depth is a must. We also could use reinforcement for both wingback positions, since we played with a couple of players who weren't true wingbacks by trade (Royal and Reguilón), a couple who took some time to get up to speed (Doherty and Sessegnon), and some overlap regarding injuries (all but Royal). We never brought in a true second striker (bless Dane Scarlett, he is simply too young to be playing consistent minutes in the PL), and we were extremely lucky that Kane had a rare injury-free season. With Gollini leaving after his loan completion, a second keeper is also needed. The midfield is more of a would-be-nice-to-have situation since we can assume Skipp will be back into the rotation soon. Depending on outgoing transfers, we could need more depth at the winger positions, too.

• Is Son now Tottenham's talisman? Not to ignore Kane's numerous and valuable contributions this season, but it really seems like Son has fully become the face of the club, as well as its most important player on the pitch. For large stretches of the season, he was the only thing keeping Spurs afloat. And many times when we needed a clutch goal or assist, it was Sonny who delivered. The attacking output became more balanced under Conte, but Son remained consistent throughout. Even in his "bad patches" he was still converting goals and making assists. Pundits might continue to call us the "Harry Kane team," but from my perspective, it's been the "Son Heung-min team" all season.

Let's bid the Men's team farewell for the summer with a GIF of some of my favorite photos.

Tottenham Women 2021/22

5th place, 32 points, 9-5-8 record

+1 GD (24 for, 23 against)

Honors:  Player of the Season nominee (Ashleigh Neville), Manager of the Season nominee (Rehanne Skinner)

The managerial situation was much simpler for Tottenham Women, as Rehanne Skinner completed her first full season in charge. There was a clear signal of intent during pre-season to mold the team to her vision; eleven first-team players left the club in the summer and were replaced with a mix of savvy veterans and fresh talent.

The Women started the season with four straight wins, including a memorable 2-1 win at Manchester City (albeit against a weakened City team due to injury and a "hand of god" style intervention on our second goal). This started an exciting new trend of taking points off the top 4 teams, something never achieved in our previous WSL campaigns.

In November we secured 1-1 draws back-to-back with Manchester United and Arsenal. A challenge for the coveted 3rd place spot in the table (and Champions League qualification along with it) seemed possible if we could continue taking points off the league giants. There was also a memorable 11-0 win over Watford in the League Cup with several first Spurs goals across the lineup.

Then misfortune struck in the West Ham match. Worse than the 0-1 home loss was the fact that Kit Graham, arguably our MVP of the season up until that point, suffered a season-ending ACL injury. We were able to bounce back and win the next three matches in all competitions to end the calendar year, but started 2022 off dropping points to West Ham again thanks to a stoppage-time equalizer for the home side, despite them being down a player.

This is the point in the season when our squad depth (or lack thereof) was really tested by the temporary loss of several players to the Women's Asian Cup. Tang Jiali would end up winning the tournament with China after beating Cho So-hyun's South Korea in the final, while Kyah Simon and Australia were disappointed to not even reach the semi-finals under a lot of pressure in the leadup to hosting the World Cup next year.

After beating Liverpool (who just gained promotion to the WSL, so we'll be seeing more of them next season) to advance to the semi-final of the League Cup for the first time as a club, we suffered three gutting losses in a row. First a 3-0 loss at Manchester United, then a brutal 1-3 extra time loss to Leicester City in the FA Cup, and finally the end of our League Cup campaign courtesy of a 3-0 drubbing from Manchester City.

We were able to get things mostly back on track after that tough stretch of fixtures, picking up two more wins and a draw in the league, but the lack of available substitutes and ability to adjust tactically was starting to take its toll. We were able to hold Manchester City to just one goal in our home fixture, but that only came from a Caroline Weir worldie, so it could have been a much-needed draw in our Champions League qualification quest. Ashleigh Neville was largely responsible for the points we did pick up against Brighton, Birmingham City, and Reading, and would end up earning Player of the Month honors, a first for a Spurs Women player in the WSL.

COVID struck in late March and the outbreak in Spurs' camp postponed our highly anticipated back-to-back games against Chelsea and Arsenal. Even with the players who participated in the Asian Cup finally back in the squad, the team was running on fumes going into the final stretch of fixtures, which had now become more congested.

After a long (unwanted) break, we finally got back into action only to lose to Aston Villa, and then had another long break before the Chelsea double-header--a frustrating quirk of the rescheduled match logistics. (That second break happened to be of the international variety, in which Ria Percival, another hugely important player, picked up a season-ending ACL injury of her own while playing for New Zealand.) The derby scorelines (1-3 loss at home, 2-1 loss away) didn't tell the full story, as Spurs played quite well and definitely had more opportunities to score, especially in the home fixture, in which Chelsea went down to 10 players after their keeper committed a red card foul. All season long we had struggled with not being clinical enough in our finishing, and it would prove to be our downfall time and time again.

We ended the season with a draw at Everton, a lopsided loss in the away NLD, and a narrow win against Leicester City on the final matchday at  Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Skinner and her recruitment team have another pivotal transfer window ahead of them to bolster the squad for next season and give Spurs a better chance of challenging for top 3. This past campaign was undoubtedly a success, since Spurs earned their highest-ever table finish and points total in the WSL. And most importantly, we played with a clear identity--even if the execution sometimes let us down when it came to scoring. With our strong defensive foundation, there is plenty to build on next season to continue reaching new heights.

Fun Facts!

I don't have as many for the Women's team, which is on me for slacking when it comes to stats collection (I will do better next season, pinky promise). But there are a few season/fixture notes worth repeating for their significance in Spurs Women's history.

• This was our highest-ever points total for a WSL season--and we've only been in the WSL for three seasons, so the rapid growth is very encouraging

• Likewise, it was our highest finish in the league table at 5th

• We only allowed one more goal (23) than the Manchester teams, who both conceded 24

• We took points off Manchester City (3), Manchester United (1), and Arsenal (1) for the first time in club history

• We reached our first-ever cup semi-final in the League Cup

• There were 12 different goal-scorers in league play

• Our two keepers, Becky Spencer and Tinja-Riikka Korpela, both had six clean sheets across all competitions, with Spencer having more in the WSL

• Only Molly Bartrip started all 22 WSL matches, while Rachel Williams appeared in all 22 but started 21; Shelina Zadorsky and Ashleigh Neville both had 21 appearances, all starts for Zadorsky

• Our squad boasts international talent from 11 different senior national teams; significantly, Neville was snubbed from the most recent England call-up despite her career-best season

Underappreciated

• The importance of our goalkeeping duo. Not only did rotating Spencer and Korpela allow them both to avoid major injuries (Spencer has struggled in past seasons with back problems), they each have strengths and weaknesses that made them better suited to specific matchups. I'm glad they are both under contract for next season so we can continue taking advantage of this asset in our roster.

• The midfield generals. Maéva Clemaron and January newcomer Eveliina Summanen both had fantastic seasons with Spurs but didn't always get the accolades they deserved. Clemaron is adept at winning the ball as well as providing defensive cover, while Summanen has creative playmaking in her toolkit (not to mention a decent long-range shot--looking forward to her first goal!). They kept the team ticking all season long, often doing the less glamorous work in Clemaron's case in particular.

• Ria Percival. Just, everything about Ria! She's a pro at set piece delivery. She's fearless when going in for a tackle or header. And she played some of the most beautiful through balls I've seen at Spurs. It's a huge pity that she'll be out of action for a good chunk of next season while recovering from her ACL surgery, but I can't wait to see this versatile player back in the matchday squad.

First Goal Inductees 🎉

Players who scored their first goal for Spurs, in any competition:

• Cho So-hyun

• Tang Jiali

• Asmita Ale

• Kyah Simon

• Chioma Ubogagu

• Isabella Lane

• Esther Morgan

Best Moments

• Manchester City win

• Arsenal draw at the Hive

• First cup semi-final for the club

• 4-0 win over Brighton

• 11-0 win over Watford in the League Cup

Worst Moments

• West Ham draw from a stoppage-time equalizer

• Chelsea double-header losses

• Kit Graham' and Ria Percival's injuries

• Bare bones bench during the Women's Asian Cup

• 3-0 away NLD loss

Player Superlatives

Biggest surprise: Tinja-Riikka Korpela

Best new signing: Molly Bartrip

Best young player: Asmita Ale

Most valuable player: Rachel Williams

Most improved player: Jessica Naz

Ms. Tottenham: Shelina Zadorsky

Player of the Season

Drumroll please...

The nominees are:

✴︎ Ashleigh Neville

✴︎ Rachel Williams

✴︎ Ria Percival

And the winner is:

Ashleigh Neville

Honorable mentions go to Kit Graham (whose season was sadly cut too short to be a fair candidate) and the goalkeeper duo of Spencer and Korpela.

Season rating out of 10:  8

Relative to our expectations going into the season, I don't think anyone can deny it was an unequivocal success. With the benefit of hindsight, we could have put in a more serious challenge for top 3 with some better squad depth and more clinical finishers in the attack, but overall the team did us proud. It's clear that Rehanne Skinner has fostered an environment of togetherness and commitment in the dressing room and on the pitch. She definitely earned her contract extension and a chance to keep proving her managerial acumen in the next few seasons.

Questions and concerns:

• What should our transfer window priorities be? Attack, attack, attack! That was the case even before learning that Rachel Williams is departing the club. We need some clinical finishers so we won't have to defend as many narrow leads next season. This is the time for Spurs to make a real statement of intent with our next striker signing and prove that we are capable of truly competing with the league leaders. The defense is in a pretty good place and mostly just needs some additional depth. I wouldn't mind seeing another attacking midfielder brought in to give Summanen some competition.

• Do we employ a win-now strategy for squad building, or protect youth development? I think it can be both, as long as the youth prospects we bring in are close to making the next step in their career, not complete projects. I also believe we already have a couple of promising young players in the existing squad, Esther Morgan and Asmita Ale (it's too early to call with academy product Izzy Lane, who only just got her senior debut this season). That being said, we have to take advantage of the momentum from this season and ensure that we don't fall out of the Champions League qualification chase. At least a few top players must be brought in, not only to elevate the level of the team as a whole but also to continue raising the profile of the club on the global stage.

• Should Ash Neville be getting England call-ups? As I am not an England supporter this question isn't of huge personal importance to me, but I know it's been on everyone's lips lately. She certainly earned a call-up on form, but we all know that form isn't the only variable in the national team squad equation. Quite a few players kept their spot because of past performance and reputation. And it's obvious that players from teams outside the top 4 rarely get the nod. As Tottenham's status in the league grows, that could (and should) change. It's a pity that Neville will be missing out on the Euros, but if she maintains her stellar form next season she could very well be a contender for the World Cup squad.

And now to send off the Women's team with a celebratory GIF!

Do you hear that barking?

Nobody asked for this, but I did it anyway:  Who got that dawg in them?

I simply couldn't resist engaging in the meme du jour. There are some Spurs players who undoubtedly have a bit of the ol' dawg in them, while others were a bit harder to rank.

Guidelines:

-I excluded players who were out on loan and unlikely to be back with the first team next season.

-Players who have already transferred out permanently were also not included. Unfortunately, this affected the Women's team more than the Men's team, since the former's season ended earlier and transfer business is already well underway. We'll never know if Rachel Williams possessed the dawg...

-I don't actually think any of our Spurs players are "not nice," I promise! I can't even explain my reasoning with that metric. Some of it is willingness to commit a foul, some of it is "did they say something sassy in a team social media video?" Totally arbitrary vibe check.

Men's Team

Women's Team

Feel free to fight me on Twitter over these selections 😛.

Spurs Across the Off Season

When I started this newsletter I was adamant that I wouldn't focus much on transfers. Well... my stance has softened a little bit. It's hard not to get excited about the latest rumors and movements and want to discuss them in the context of the team. I'm still not going to pop up with a new post every other day this summer, however. Instead, I'm going to aim for one brief post a week (the day might fluctuate as needed) to share any club news updates, transfer business, and notable international duty happenings. That's the plan for the summer months, and at some point in late July I'll do a season preview. Sound good? Cheers.

Thank you for reading my newsletter! Thank you to everyone who's shared it on Twitter. And a special thanks to Friends of the Newsletter, Hometown Glory, A Bit Spursy, and The Extra Inch for giving Spurs Across the Pond a shoutout on your respective podcasts. Big love to my own podcast family at Tottenham Depot! It's been a fun season through all the twists and turns, and I'm glad to be part of the global Spurs community. Here's to bigger and better things in the 2022/23 season!

COYS