Forster in the Forest

Spurs Men are knocked out of the League Cup | Previewing the Leeds match

I'm firing this issue off quickly ahead of a busy weekend (seeing a favorite band from my high school years finally and then watching my local team hopefully hoist the USL championship trophy!), so I'm afraid it's another short one. Hopefully, Twitter doesn't spontaneously combust and Revue along with it. I would really hate to lose this newsletter.

But enough doom and gloom, let's talk about Tottenham. Oh, wait...

Nottingham Forest 2 - 0 Tottenham

Selection decisions were certainly made. I don't think they were the right ones, for the most part. Starting Fraser Forster in goal was totally fine; Hugo could use a rest and when else are you going to do that than in a cup game? I wish there had been more rotation across the rest of the starting XI though. Davinson Sánchez came in for Ben Davies and shifted Clément Lenglet and Eric Dier to the left along the back-three line, while Matt Doherty and Oliver Skipp came in for Emerson Royal and Rodrigo Bentancur. Otherwise, it was the same players from the Liverpool match. This was a golden opportunity for Bryan Gil, Djed Spence, and even Japhet Tanganga to get a start in a lower-stakes environment, but Conte wasn't interested.

Unfortunately, the relatively strong lineup didn't translate to a strong performance, and we threw the game away anyway. After getting to halftime unscathed (but definitely not looking good), Forest scored two goals within seven minutes that went unanswered—despite Spurs having the man advantage for the final fifteen minutes of the game thanks to Orel Mangala's second yellow card sending off. Conte used all five of his subs by the 65th-minute mark, so you have to wonder what the point was in putting minutes under those players' legs when most of them are already at the point of fatigue. He even admitted afterward that fatigue was a factor for Kane—though, without a true backup striker available on the bench, I sympathize with him for having limited options. But there were alternatives in other positions (nice to see Richarlison back on the pitch, by the way, although of course he wasn't prepared to start the match), and if he wasn't going to throw everything into staying in this competition, why do it halfheartedly? You can't complain about fixture pile-up and lack of rest and then not take advantage of a clear opportunity to rotate heavily.

I am not that bothered about Spurs getting knocked out of the League Cup, personally. It reduces fixture congestion in the second half of the season, and if we put in a decent run in the CL and the FA Cup all will be forgotten. Plus, it doesn't look like many of the other PL teams were taking the competition seriously this year, either. All of the London teams are out, and the Manchester teams and Liverpool are the only true heavy-hitters left standing (I refuse to put Newcastle in this category yet).

The big concern is that it feels like the players who are going to the World Cup have already checked out, and while it was fine in the grand scheme of things to lose this cup match, you can't say the same of the weekend PL fixture. Those three points are valuable—and against a team like Leeds, very attainable. I just question if we're going to have the personnel to pull it off, whether physically or mentally.

There's really not much more to say about this game, unless to pretend that Djed lit the world on fire when he came on in the 65th minute (he really didn't, y'all, I'm sorry; he was fine). The few remaining locked-on starting XI players still in the match at the end looked super frustrated with the outcome and picked up a flurry of yellow cards, and that was how it ended. Spurs are out of the cup, and good riddance, to be honest. Let's not speak of it again.

World Cup send off at White Hart Lane

Now the focus shifts to the last game before the World Cup, a home match against Leeds. Thank god it isn't at Elland Road—I don't think the team would be able to find the level of motivation needed to get an away win right now, frankly.

Leeds don't have as many players involved in the World Cup as Spurs (just Brenden Aaronson, Tyler Adams, and Rasmus Kristensen if I'm not mistaken), but they do have some injury concerns, with Patrick Bamford doubtful to play and a few other players out with longer-term injuries. Injury-wise for Spurs, I believe Cristian Romero and Son Heung-min are the only misses.

As for Leeds' recent form, they've been a funny little club of late. They almost went the entire month of October without a win... then beat Liverpool 1-2 at Anfield with a last-minute winner from Cryscencio Summerville. Remember that name, because he also sealed the win for Leeds in their next match, a 4-3 thriller against Bournemouth at home. But they were also knocked out of the League Cup midweek, by Wolves, admittedly with a heavily rotated side (see, Conte?).

It feels so important to end this first part of the season before the World Cup with a win. Despite some poor results recently, we're still in a really good spot by the most important metrics: strong domestic league table standing (4th) and advancing to the CL knockout stages. And considering that Leeds are only three points out of the relegation zone (albeit in 12th place, it is busy down there, y'all!), this is a team we must be beating, no excuses. I just... fear... there may be excuses.

Nevertheless,

COYS

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