Fixture Schedule Release & Transfer Updates

Analysis of the 2022/23 Men's schedule | Transfer news for both Spurs teams

This Emergency Summer Issue of the newsletter has just two agenda items:  the Men's fixture schedule, released on Thursday, and a couple of transfer updates for both of our Tottenham teams. Read on for a quick rundown of what's happening in the world of Spurs.

An unprecedented schedule

Not only is the 2022/23 Premier League season beginning earlier than usual, there will also be an extended winter break to accommodate the  World Cup. Since it cannot be said often enough:  screw FIFA for necessitating these changes just to hold the World Cup in Qatar. Much has already been written about the toll that recent seasons' condensed schedules (caused by the pandemic) have taken on footballers' bodies, and I'm seriously dreading the consequences of this decision to hold the tournament mid-club-season. Not everyone is going to escape the season unscathed.

Now that that important caveat is out of the way, let's take a look at the fixtures.

My immediate thought was that, despite the obvious physical pressures of playing such a condensed schedule, the actual order of the fixtures is not quite as brutal as last season's was. True, we have another all-derbies month to deal with in January, but the Fulham fixture is not exactly at the same level of notoriety as Crystal Palace or Arsenal. February will be a difficult month, too, although Leicester City are always a wild card and could end up being a welcome reprieve in that period. I also have my eye on the second half of April as being another difficult stretch, but after that, we have a fairly smooth run-in to the end of the season.

Southampton at home is a decent fixture for opening day, especially since the team will certainly be wanting revenge after last year's frustrating matches against the Saints. And if I were the visitors, I wouldn't be looking forward to facing the Tottenham home crowd on opening day. Remember what happened to Manchester City last season?

I always like to see who we're playing on Boxing Day, and Brentford is a nice matchup. It's technically a derby, but not one of the more high-stakes ones. I think it's very responsible of the league to do away with the December 28 matchday to account for post-World Cup fatigue. Frankly, that's always been a ridiculous turnaround between the 26th and 28th. I know tradition is important to a lot of fans, but sometimes things just have to give for the sake of player welfare.

Of course, we have to remember that this snapshot of the schedule doesn't include the domestic cups and Champions League matches. The sheer number of matches the club has to play in October is daunting. But hopefully, the squad will be in a much better place depth-wise by the end of the summer transfer window.

Some transfers are hard to stomach

This brings me to a topic that has generated a lot of mixed opinions within the fanbase:  the singing of Yves Bissouma from Brighton. I have basically said all I want to say about his signing in a Twitter thread and on the latest Tottenham Depot podcast, so I will link to both and move on.

The Women's team also made a transfer announcement on the first day of the summer window being open, an announcement about which I have much more straightforward feelings. Maéva Clemaron is leaving the club (despite her contract being renewed for another season just weeks ago) to ply her trade at Servette in the Swiss Super League, and also pursue her other trade of architecture. My first response is simply to say good for Maéva, and I wish her all the best in both regards. But it's undoubtedly a blow for Spurs that she won't be holding down the fort in the midfield anymore. She was a huge part of our defensive stability last season, setting the tone from the midfield with her physicality and ball-winning. Au revoir, Maéva.

We've already been heavily linked with one midfielder, Drew Spence from Chelsea, but will surely need some additional reinforcement now that Clemaron has left and Ria Percival is still on the mend from her ACL injury. In other transfer rumor news, I had half-jokingly said a couple of weeks ago that I wished Spurs would go in for Ebony Salmon since she was being wasted at Racing Louisville, and it turns out I'm not the only one to have expressed that idea. She would be a great addition to our attack! Fingers crossed that rumor has some legs to it.

I'm also keeping an eye on Amy Turner now that her contract has been bought out by the Orlando Pride (in shady circumstances, unfortunately--the Pride's head coach and her assistant are currently under investigation for potential retaliation in violation of the new NWSL CBA). She had only been in Orlando for one full season after leaving Manchester United, so there's a good chance she'll be heading back to the Red Devils to play under Mark Skinner again, but you never know.  Defense is not a huge area of concern for the club at the moment, but having some extra depth at the center back position would not be unwelcome.

Coming soon

Later this weekend, I will finally be able to share a new project with y'all, a podcast focused exclusively on the Women's team. I'm collaborating with some great people on this podcast and can't wait for y'all to hear it. Keep an eye out on Twitter for the announcement!

That's all I have for y'all today, so enjoy the rest of the weekend!

COYS