Ending the Season in Style

We made it! The 2023/24 season has come to a close!

The last week felt like a bit of a slog for both Spurs senior teams, with midweek games inconveniently thrown in due to previous postponements, but the final fixtures were joyous occasions in the end. A rare clean sheet for the Men's team and a Goal of the Season contender for the Women's team made all the difference in banishing the lingering end-of-season doldrums.

In this issue: West Ham recap | Sheffield United recap | News from around the Lane

It'll be quick recaps today for the last matches of the WSL and PL campaigns, ahead of a much more comprehensive season recap post hitting your inboxes next week.

WSL Matchday 22 recap | Tottenham 3 - 1 West Ham United

England 4', Naz 86', Spence 90+9' | Ueki 50'

We got off to a flying start with an early goal from captain Beth England but squandered a few opportunities to increase the lead. West Ham got one back just after halftime through one of their top performers of the season, Riko Ueki, but never looked likely to find a winning goal. Instead, it was Jess Naz with another super sub performance that secured the three points for Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium season finale.

Starting XI:

Becky Spencer was straight back into the lineup after missing out midweek with a knock. Besides being caught out by Ueki's audacious long-range shot (she thought she had done enough with her positioning to keep the Japan international's shot wide of the goal, but it snuck in), Spencer put in a strong shift between the sticks.

With Amanda Nildén out injured until the pre-season (assuming we do pick up her loan option to keep her at Spurs long-term), Charli Grant made her fifth WSL start. She was inches away from scoring with a header but put in an impressive performance overall.

We saw another instance of England and Martha Thomas both starting, but this time England was out on the left wing—recognizing, of course, that under Robert Vilahamn's all of the forward line positions are very fluid. Still, they mostly stuck to these roles when Thomas found England for the first goal. Thomas couldn't reach a through ball from Celin Bizet but pounced on a mistake from West Ham's keeper, Mackenzie Arnold, who spilled the ball right on the goal line. The striker sent an inventive chipped assist back to England arriving in the center of the 18-yard box, who pulled off a quickfire volleyed finish.

As has often been the case this season, Vilahamn's substitutions proved vital. Naz took the game by the scruff of the neck and contributed to two goals, including an assist for fellow substitute Drew Spence. On Naz's goal, the through ball from Grace Clinton was ever so slightly short of the mark, but Naz used her newfound physicality (at least, new compared to previous seasons) to shrug Amber Tysiak off the ball and showed no hesitation in shooting into the far corner. For the final goal of the game, another substitute, Matilda Vinberg, won the ball but was held back by two West Ham players, so Naz took over and drove toward the goal, evading a similarly desperate challenge from Emma Snerle. She then calmly laid the ball off to Spence at the top of the box and Drew ripped off a rocket of a shot with her second touch. It was nice to see Spence cap off her successful return from injury with the literal last goal of the WSL season.

Top Three Things:

1. Tough day at the office for Arnold - I'm a big admirer of the Australian keeper's game, but she was way off her usual standard in this derby matchup. Besides the error that led directly to Thomas' assist for the first goal, she also shut off for the second goal thinking that Naz had fouled Tysiak and barely attempted to save Spence's conclusive goal. But in fairness to her, Spurs had peppered her with shots all game—eight on target—and she still made a few decent saves.
2. A surprising starting midfield duo - This may have been the last appearance in a Spurs shirt for Ramona Petzelberger, but she marked it with a start. It's possible that there was some sentimental reasoning behind the decision to start her since this game had no actual stakes beyond morale heading into the offseason, but it's more likely an indicator that Vilahamn still hasn't settled on his preferred midfield. Olga Ahtinen's tumble down the pecking order since her return from injury creates a big question mark heading into next season, and although we've seen how effective Spence can be in bursts, she's no longer a full-90 kind of player. I would expect to see at least one new midfielder signed this summer.
3. Plenty created, but weak opposition - We've seen this team consistently dominate games against lower-table opposition this season, but how do we make the leap to troubling the toughest opposition more reliably? In our handful of results against top-half teams (two 1-1 draws with Liverpool, a 3-3 draw in the League Cup and a 1-0 win in WSL play against Arsenal, the penalty shootout win over Manchester City in the FA Cup, and a 2-2 draw with Manchester United), we never maintained our best play across the full games. The second half of the season saw a remarkable improvement to the defense in open play scenarios, but set piece defense continued to be a problem. The bigger issue was being able to create chances throughout matches rather than just in brief flurries. The next step in Spurs Women's evolution will involve becoming capable of going fully toe-to-toe with the best teams in the league.

SAtP Player of the Match: Jess Naz

Do I have an agenda where Jess is concerned? Yes. But I think it's hard to argue against her being the player of the match against West Ham, albeit coming off the bench. Beyond the cold hard fact of her two goal contributions to win the game, it was more about the manner in which she entered the fray and never looked back, making her presence known all across the pitch and linking up with her teammates with aplomb.

Jess will have been disappointed with her performance in the FA Cup final the week prior, so it was gratifying to see her end the season on a high note. She's inching closer to her senior England debut and has become an integral player in this growing Spurs side. All of that potential we saw glimpses of in prior seasons is finally being met. Viva Jess!

Notable & quotable:

• Drew Spence's goal has been nominated for Goal of the Season, so get voting!

Her thoughts on the goal:

Everyone tells me that I need to shoot more and that's probably why I took that shot in that moment, I'm happy to get that goal.

• Grace Clinton was awarded the Supporters' and Junior Supporters' Player of the Season award, while Martha Thomas took home Goal of the Season for her NLD winner.

• Jess Naz was the only player to feature in all 22 WSL games for Spurs this campaign.

• Some reflections from Jess on the season and her own growth:

All the fans who have been great support from the start till now, they've helped us along the way. You can see the exciting football, we're attracting more and more supporters.

The way I've grown with the Club, the support the Club have given me... I'm just so happy to be here—it's like home.

• And Robert's perspective on the final game:

We spoke about before the game to finish on a high. I knew that the players were quite tired, third game in seven days... The fans were amazing, we played some really good football, and in the end we scored some beautiful goals as well, and ending that with the Drew Spence goal was amazing.

It's also nice to see them so happy afterwards with the fans. That's the most important thing in my leadership to make sure we have a group that wants to spend time together and work together because it's so much more fun than just having an un-fun environment [where] you score for the win. I want them to do both. I want to win and have a great environment.

PL Matchday 38 | Sheffield United 0 - 3 Tottenham

Kulusevski 14' • 65', Porro 59'

Miracles can happen: we got another clean sheet!

And it's not that Sheffield United put up zero fight; we had to withstand a couple of early chances from Ben Brereton Díaz before Dejan Kulusevski found our opener. But the match was decided quickly in the second half with a trademark goal from Pedro Porro and Kulusevski's second in the 65th minute. Despite the dominant scoreline, United's keeper Wes Foderingham put in another strong performance against us, registering six saves to Guglielmo Vicario's one.

Starting XI:

Ange Postecoglou opted for the same backline that played against Manchester City midweek, with Micky van de Ven at left fullback and Radu Drǎgușin in Micky's usual left centerback role. The difference between Van de Ven and, say, Emerson Royal at LB is like night and day when it comes to attacking ability, so I wasn't mad to see him get another opportunity on the flank. Drǎgușin has really taken his opportunity for more starts at the end of the season and ran with it, barely putting a foot wrong. Cristian Romero and Pedro Porro have provided some much-needed consistency on the right side of the defense and have been much more attack-minded of late.

Farther up the pitch, Ange dealt with the dilemma of choosing between Kulusevski and Brennan Johnson for right winger by playing Kulusevski at striker instead. It's not exactly Deki's preferred role, but his strong holdup play makes him a decent enough fit for the position in Richarlison's absence. And hey, his eventual brace speaks for itself.

It was also nice to see Son Heung-min and Johnson play in their best positions, Sonny in particular. He looked revitalized after a difficult second half of the season, with so much flux around him in the forward line and a lack of quality delivery from the midfield at times. Much like with the Women's team, the Men's midfield makeup is also up for grabs and there could be some shakeups in the summer transfer window.

Top Three Things:

1. Kulusevski makes a case - It's no secret that Dejan Kulusevski is one of the players on the bubble of the squad in the new "Angeball" system, but he made a strong argument in this match that he can still contribute even if he's not a natural fit for the tactics. His technical ability is nearly unparalleled amongst his teammates, and he has some of the most ambitious shot selection as well—to the point that I was shocked when his first goal ricocheted in off the post. Consistency is the only element he truly needs to add to his game to feel secure in his place at Spurs. We'll see if he gets another season to try, or if he signed off with a farewell brace.
2. Return of the Maddi-Son connection - the linkup between our #10 and #7 led directly to two of the three goals, and indirectly to the other—Porro's screamer, assisted by Johnson after Maddison couldn't capitalize on a pass into the box from Son. I don't want to get too carried away, but Son's pre-assist to Maddison for the third goal had shades of the Kane-Son magic we got to witness for so many years. More of that next season, please.
3. Pedro Porro only scores bangers - Enough said!

SAtP Player of the Match: Son Heung-min

Maybe this is unfair to Kulusevski since he finished two of the chances we scored from, but I truly felt like Son was running the game. Although he only got on the scoresheet once with a direct assist he was everywhere in the blueprint of the attack.

Either way, I'll give Deki a very honorable mention for playing like his place in the squad depended on it. I was just personally way more pleased to see Son silence the fans(?) who have been suggesting his previous form is irretrievable at this stage of his career. He may be one of the oldest players in the squad, but his career is far from over, and it's an objective fact that he was our most valuable goal contributor this season. Argue with the stats, not me.

Notable & quotable:

• On that note, Son and Johnson both hit double digits for assists in the PL with their efforts in this game. Son also finished with double-digit goals, a combination of feats only matched by five other players in PL history. Additionally, only two players had more assists than Son and Johnson in the PL this season (Ollie Watkins with 13 and Cole Palmer with 11).

• Dane Scarlett and Mikey Moore came on as subs for their 4th and 2nd PL appearances this season, respectively.

• Postecoglou became the first Spurs manager to complete a full season since Mauricio Pochettino did so in the 2018/19 campaign.

• An interesting factoid from @hotspur_szn on Twitter: Vicario becomes the first Spurs #1 keeper to end a season without an error leading to a goal since 2006/07.

• With the win against Sheffield United, Spurs secured fifth place in the PL table and qualification for the Europa League group stage next season.

• The entire Premier League set a record for most goals in a single season across the competition, with 1,223.

• Ange's comments to wrap up the season:

It's been good, it's been eventful, it's had a bit of everything. I am obviously not delighted with the way we finished the season but in fairness to the players and staff we have been in the top five all season.

In a year where there was a fair bit of upheaval, we finished eighth last year, player turnover, different football, different way of training, it is not easy to maintain a level when you are trying to do that.

Even in our tough periods this year we have still been competitive for the most part. I think I have got maximum effort, which is all a manager can ask for.

That friendly that should never have happened

I'm not going to talk in any depth about Spurs' 1-1 draw and loss on penalties to Newcastle United in Melbourne, because I still think it's absurd that it was played in the first place just three days after the PL season ended, on another continent no less. Also, I didn't watch it. It was a 4:45 am kickoff where I live!

But there were some funny quotes that came out of the postgame that I wanted to share.

• Sonny on his varying positional duties this season:

Any position, I will be ready. If the gaffer makes me the keeper then I will play keeper.

Let's hope it never comes to that, for all of our sakes!

• And Ange's response:

I need three Sonny's. As two wings and as a striker. That would solve all our problems!

It's that simple, Daniel Levy—just acquire some cloning technology and we're good to go.

Joking, obviously. Sonny is one of a kind!

• It's also worth noting that Romero didn't make the trip due to "personal reasons" which meant he flew back to Argentina instead.

• And Tyrese Hall made his first senior appearance for Spurs, albeit in a friendly.

News from around the Lane

• The Academy players who made the trip down to Australia had a tight turnaround for the upcoming PL2 playoffs final against Sunderland on Sunday. Hopefully everyone is able to shake off their jetlag somehow and bring a top performance to win the club's only trophy of the season. The match is taking place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, so get out there to support the young lads if you can!

• Will Lankshear was named PL2 Player of the Season. Congrats, Will!

• The club has a rundown of all the players from Spurs Women participating in the upcoming international window. Fingers crossed that Jess Naz makes it off the standby list and into the England squad proper!

• Speaking of Jess, she just signed a new contract keeping her at the club until 2027. Well deserved, and I can't wait to see what she does in the coming seasons.

• Ben Davies and Beth England were given PFA Community Champion awards for their community work this season.

I'll be back sometime next week with a full wrap-up of the 2023/24 season for both senior Spurs teams. Until then, good luck to the U21s in their final!

COYS

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