Fear-FUL Performance
Perhaps Igor Tudor would do well to get on the phone with Cristian Stellini and listen to some cautionary tales about what will get you sacked as an interim manager, because so far, he's not making a very good case for himself either.
Tudor seems to be handling the press conferences about as well as he is handling the tactics and team selection—tending towards making things worse rather than better. I'm sure it feels like a losing battle at the moment, trying to decide on a starting XI from such limited choices, but preemptively throwing the players under the bus to the media can't be helping matters.
Regardless, the substitutes in the Fulham game made a good case for getting minutes as starters since they nearly managed to turn the game around. But as usual, it was too little too late for the manager's changes, and we dropped the full three points for the fourth game straight in Premier League play. In a literal sense, we are in relegation form, but we were fortunate over the weekend that all of the teams below us dropped maximum points, too—well, except for Wolves, but they still occupy the 20th spot. Then the plot thickened with the first few midweek games bringing both Nottingham Forest and West Ham within one point of Spurs, though we obviously have a game in hand to play.
In this issue: Fulham recap | News from around the Lane
There's a chance to make things right quickly with the penultimate London derby of the season coming up tomorrow, as we host Crystal Palace. If we don't see significant changes to the lineup from the Fulham loss, it will confirm that we have another stubborn manager on our hands.
PL MD 28 | Fulham 2 - 1 Tottenham
Wilson 7', Iwobi 34' | Richarlison 66'
It's difficult to take any positives from the first half of this game. The team selection simply wasn't working, the defense in particular; Micky van de Ven and Radu Drăgușin are a complete mismatch in the centerback duo. Conor Gallagher had perhaps his worst performance since joining Spurs in January (he's started every Premier League game since), but his fellow midfielders weren't exactly pulling up trees. And the forward line... well, the stark contrast between the starters and the substitutes says it all. We didn't look capable of scoring a goal until the second-half changes.
It wasn't just the players who came up but the positions they took up that made the difference. In particular, Souza's addition to the game as a bona fide left fullback enabled Archie Gray to move up into the midfield (he'd been called upon to play at LB again due to Djed Spence's late injury absence), and both players were integral to the one goal we managed to score, along with Mathys Tel's intrepid work on the wing and Richarlison's eye for the net. The increased attacking intent also took pressure off the beleaguered defense. It's not rocket science, yet Igor Tudor (and Thomas Frank before him) seems determined to give the opposition a head start before setting Spurs up to compete.
Tudor has had a couple of games now to assess the team, and he has to get serious about working with the squad he has, constrained as it is by injuries. There are only so many truly winnable games remaining in the schedule, starting with Crystal Palace this week, and we can't afford to drop points in those games with our PL berth for 2026/27 on the line. 10 games remain, and we probably only need a handful of points to survive, but safety can't be taken for granted. Spurs are not, in fact, too big to fail.
Notable & quotable:
• This was Archie Gray's first Premier League assist.
• Dominic Solanke made just his fifth PL start of the season.
• Fulham completed the league double over Spurs.
• We are winless in our last 10 PL games... the last win was over our next opponent, Crystal Palace.
• Igor Tudor was blunt in his assessment of the game:
I'm not happy with the performance. Fulham were better. Second half, we started to push. In the end, there was desire to win, but not enough.
News from around the Lane
• UEFA has fined the club and given it a one-match suspension from selling away tickets (suspended for a probationary period of one year) after three Spurs fans were identified making a Nazi salute in the away end at the Eintracht Frankfurt game in January. The club has also given those three individuals an indefinite ban. Shameful behavior, and I honestly think the UEFA sanctions were too lenient.
• On a similar note, the International FA Board has announced that it will be cracking down on players covering their mouths with their kit when confronting an opponent, in light of the recent incident of abuse against Vinícius Júnior.
• At the same Ifab annual meeting, it was decided that VAR can intervene in cases of incorrect second yellow cards as well as incorrect corner kick decisions, though the latter will have optional implementation across different competitions. Goal kick decisions are not up for review. These new rules will first come into effect at the World Cup this summer.
• In the Women's Super League, there will be a trial of a new rule to discourage goalkeeper timeouts. If a keeper requires treatment on the pitch, their team will have to remove one outfield player for a full minute.
• The Men's Academy U18s have been knocked out of the Premier League Cup after a 0-1 loss to Crystal Palace in the semi-final.
• The simultaneous kickoff time for all the WSL closing day matches has been confirmed; Spurs Women will face Brighton away on May 16 with a 1 pm UK/8 am ET kickoff, though the location is still TBD.
• Not relevant to Spurs, but the WSL promotion-relegation playoff match will take place on May 23 at 12:30 pm UK/7:30 am ET, with the WSL 2 side having home-field advantage.
• I recommend reading this sobering article from Sam Lewis at The Guardian, which has a rundown of the serious challenges faced by many of the participating national teams in the Women's Asian Cup:
Samantha Lewis
The tournament’s “Dream Fearless” branding has no room for the realities faced by the players who are the heart and soul of these tournaments, and whose stories deserve respect and recognition. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) does not want you to peek behind the curtain at the human rights issues being played out on the stage they created.
• In Spurs alumni news, Robert Vilahamn has been appointed head coach of the Portland Thorns in the NWSL. Good luck to him, genuinely.
Up next:
March 5 | Spurs Men vs Crystal Palace
Team news — Djed Spence will miss out again with "soreness"; Cristian Romero is serving the last match of his four-game suspension.
That's all I've got for this midweek issue. Get your prayer candles ready for tomorrow.
COYS
Thank you for reading!
If you’re enjoying the newsletter, make sure to sign up for a free subscription to receive new issues in your inbox. You can also buy me a Ko-fi to support my writing with a one-time tip. Your support keeps Spurs Across the Pond running and is much appreciated!
You can also find me on Bluesky and podcasting at N17 Women and The Tottenham Depot.
Member discussion