Haunted by Celin

We just can't seem to break the Manchester United curse. Our WSL enemies to the north had the extra advantage of two former Spurs Women players on their side this time around. Grace Clinton and Celin Bizet both played key roles in their side's victory over the Lilywhites, with the latter registering two assists in back-to-back first-half goals. To put it mildly, that hurt to watch.

In this issue: Manchester United recap | Previewing the weekend matches | News from around the Lane

I'm going to have to do a speed-run version of the newsletter this week because I have family arriving for a visit in less than an hour. But I couldn't let this game pass without talking about it, painful as it is to revisit.

Then there are two games coming up this weekend. The Women's team has one last fixture before the international break, against Chelsea at Kingsmeadow on Sunday. But first, the Men's team is back from their own international break to take on West Ham United at home on Saturday. Just a totally chill derby weekend!

Plus, a quick news roundup, including a surprising contract extension!

WSL Matchday 4 recap | Manchester United 3 - 0 Tottenham

Terland 44' • 45+4', Le Tissier (Pen) 59'

In the stereotypical game of fine margins, Spurs Women got theirs all wrong in the latest iteration of the Manchester United rivalry (I think we can officially describe it as such by this point). We got off to a dominant start with crisp passing, tricky patterns of play, and a strong press. But it was all for naught when none of the forward line managed to convert and United struck quickly with two near-identical goals just before halftime. Another unfortunate penalty concession sealed the deal in the second half.

Starting XI:

We were dealt some unwelcome injury news just before the match. Not only would Amanda Nildén (one of the top performers of the season so far) and Hayley Raso be missing out in the short term, but Maite Oroz is going to be out for several weeks. Meanwhile, none of the other existing injuries had cleared up, which meant we couldn't fill out the full bench even with two goalkeepers.

As a result of all those absences, Charli Grant, Olga Ahtinen, and Beth England all made their first starts of the WSL campaign. To facilitate the Finnish midfield pivot, Drew Spence moved up into the #10 role, while Martha Thomas shifted out to right winger to accommodate captain England at striker. Jess Naz remained on the left wing for another game and has yet to feature at striker in WSL play this season.

Top three things:

1. Injury crisis right on schedule. These early-season injuries do seem to arrive just like clockwork every year. It's particularly frustrating this time around when it's (mostly) new players being sidelined right when we're most excited to see what they can do. Even the January signings of Nildén and Wang Shuang have seen large portions of the still-nascent Spurs careers curtailed by injury. And we haven't been able to assess Ella Morris' potential at all, as she has yet to make her competitive debut. Although it seemed like we had done enough savvy business to have cover at every position but goalkeeper going into the season, this spate of injuries (plus Kit Graham's season-ending ACL) have left us short in many key positions and unable to properly fill out the bench, let alone have reliable game-changing options for substitutions. So as critical as I sometimes am of Robert Vilahamn's in-game management, I must acknowledge that his hands are somewhat tied at the moment.
2. Marking assignments gone awry. That being said about the dearth of subs, Vilahamn still failed to address a very obvious defensive weakness in the team that led to the first goal, and United were able to exploit it again just minutes later. Grant looked positive going forward in her first start of the season, but her defensive game has never been as strong and she struggled to deal with Bizet. Jess Naz was tracking back but too narrowly, and there seemed to be a lack of communication between her and Grant. For Bizet to have been allowed to make the same play twice in short succession was pretty unforgivable from a coaching standpoint. There was also a breakdown in the marking for the second goal, with Ash Neville seemingly torn between tracking Leah Galton and Elisabeth Terland, scorer of United's first-half brace. Part of the issue is that United do tend to utilize the physicality of players like Galton or Melvine Malard (absent for this game, small blessings) to free up their more technical shooters like new-signing Terland.
3. A tale of two goalkeepers. Actually, that makes it sound like one of the keepers in the match was far superior to the other one, and I don't actually think that was the case. For all I've been critical of Becky Spencer in the first few games (and concerned about her fitness from an injury-scare standpoint), she really stepped it up in this match and didn't deserve the heavy scoreline tilt. Her distribution was on point, she looked braver in coming out to claim balls, and made a couple of saves that could have made a difference in the result had the attack been more effective on the other end of the pitch. I'm not putting any of the conceded goals on her. For United, American keeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce has taken up the first keeper spot in the wake of Mary Earps' departure and looked very confident and capable. Too many of Spurs' shots were tame or sent straight at her, but she did make a few impressive saves to withstand our early onslaught of chances. To be honest, she's the kind of keeper I would have liked Spurs to sign as Spencer's succession plan.

The good news is that most of the other results across the league went in our favor (with the exception of rising Brighton getting another three-point haul) and we stayed in 7th place to end matchday 4. Interestingly, we're just one point behind Arsenal. Any other season that would probably have been seen as a good sign at this early juncture, but their manager, Jonas Eidevall, just resigned. So clearly they aren't having the best start to the new campaign, either. I suppose we've been hoping for more parity in the WSL, but you know what they say: be careful what you wish for.

SAtP Player of the Match: Drew Spence

I have to say I prefer seeing Spence in the more advanced midfield role because she does provide a keen goal threat when she's on form. She had the best chances of any Spurs player except for one superb effort from Thomas, which was only kept out by a quick reaction leg save from Tullis-Joyce. Having the defensively solid duo of Ahtinen and Summanen behind her freed up Spence to be at her creative best.

Previewing PL Matchday 8 — West Ham United

I have come to really dread this fixture because bad things tend to happen in it. Just once it would be nice to turn the chaos around on West Ham instead. My heart never fully recovered from the Lanzini equalizer, and that was four years ago today! Since that game, we've only beaten them three times across all competitions.

West Ham have a new manager, Julen Lopetegui, and are still adjusting to the new tactics. They've had an up-and-down start to the PL campaign just as Spurs have, though they're scoring less and conceding more than us. It does feel like we could achieve a comfortable lead if we play up to our potential, but as we saw in the Brighton game before the break, that's not a given.

Although we seemed to have more players out on international break than usual, everyone seems to have returned unscathed and we'll even have the fitness boost of Son Heung-min and Richarlison being available for selection again. On Richarlison, Ange Postecoglou shared:

We’ve taken our time with Richy and we have taken time to build his fitness base up. He has worked hard, trimmed down and looks lean now. He's good to go now.

Ange also confirmed that Lucas Bergvall had picked up a knock playing with Sweden, but it wasn't anything serious enough to keep him out of training at the end of this week. The only player who remains out is Wilson Odobert, but he could be back in training by next week.

It looks like West Ham's only notable injury is Niclas Füllkrug, though he's had an underwhelming start with the Hammers, not scoring in his first three appearances. I will save my Germany-related thoughts on him for the reverse fixture, assuming he's fit then.

Frustratingly, our frequent nemesis Jarrod Bowen is available to play. I hope Cuti & co. have a plan for him this time.

We have a mid-week fixture in the Europa League after this, but it's not until Thursday, so I expect full focus on this derby. The team has to show a response after the Brighton disappointment—and I trust them to deliver.

Previewing WLS Matchday 5 — Chelsea

This is definitely not the ideal fixture in which to bounce back from a disappointing loss, but it's the hand we've been dealt. And in fairness, we do tend to play well against our London neighbors, holding them to tight results of only one- or two-goal deficits over the last four games—although Chelsea came out the winners on each occasion. We have yet to earn any points off Chelsea in the WSL.

We could have a bit of a lucky break in terms of Chelsea's injury situation—not that it's helped any of their opponents so far; they have a perfect record across all competitions. Mia Fishel, Sam Kerr, Niamh Charles, Sophie Ingle, and Aniek Nowen are all out, while Lauren James is a gameday decision for a foot concern.

On Spurs side, Amanda Nildén will be assessed ahead of the match for a possible return, and Ella Morris could also be in contention. But otherwise, our injury list remains the same, and it's been confirmed that Maite Oroz is expected to be out for six to eight weeks with a quad injury.

Hayley Raso might be the biggest miss out of the players who are definitely being held out of the game. Her absence limits Robert Vilahamn's ability to tinker with the forward line. I still think we need to see some sort of change though, and my preferred swap would be to shift Jess Naz to striker and bring in Matilda Vinberg for the left wing, bringing added pace to the attack—crucial for counterattacking in a game where we can expect to have less possession. That leaves Vilahamn with a dilemma of which striker to place on the right wing instead, Martha Thomas or Beth England. I might give the nod to Thomas, but only because we know England can be a powerful impact sub.

I get the sense that some of the fanbase is starting to have concerns about Vilahamn. While I do have some questions of my own when it comes to his in-game management, I still think he has quite a bit of credit in the bank after transforming the side to such a dramatic extent last season. He's having a similar issue as Ange Postecoglou has on the Men's side: there have been plenty of stretches of strong performance across the first few games of the season, but they aren't always translating into favorable results. I think it's going to even out eventually, but there's no denying that we're in a tough stretch of the fixture schedule and opportunities to pick up points will be limited.

This game against Chelsea is therefore something of a free hit, in context, but the game against West Ham United after the international break is even more of a must-win than it was before, knowing we have Manchester City and Arsenal coming up in quick succession.

For what it's worth, we've won four of our last six London derbies (h/t WSL).

News from around the Lane

• Guglielmo Vicario made his competitive debut for Italy in the Nations League earlier this week. You will not be surprised to hear that his first opportunity for a clean sheet was foiled by obstruction on a corner kick. Sigh. Well done anyway, Vic!

• Radu Drăgușin scored his first goal for Romania against Cyprus!

• Lenna Gunning-Williams got her first call-up to the England U23s, while Araya Dennis was called up to the U19s.

On the senior side of things, we saw a lot of the usual international call-ups (with Jess Naz once again making the cut for the Lionesses), and it appears Becky Spencer and Drew Spence are back in the Jamaica fold after sitting out a few cycles due to issues with their federation.

• On the Men's Academy side, Jun'ai Byfield, Malachi Hardy, and Luca Williams-Barnett were all called up to the England squad for the U17s Euro qualifiers.

• Djed Spence has signed a new contract keeping him at the club until 2028. Considering that he was nearly out the door at several points over the last couple of seasons, this is an exciting development for him. Now please, let's make sure he gets added to the Europa League squad after the league phase!

Ange's thoughts on the new contract for the young fullback:

With Djed, it could have been easy for to go out on loan again. But when he came into pre-season, he was determined to make a career for himself here at Tottenham rather than wait to be loaned out. He did everything right in training, his attitude was great. He's a good footballer, I think the way we play suits him and he's knuckled down to that. And he's earned himself a spot on the roster in our squad. The rest is up to him again. Because it's an easy decision for me to make when I see that.

• Despite a 4-2 win over Southampton, the Women's U21s will still be spending phase two of the PGA in division two. They enter the second phase of the league with some positive momentum and big performances from key players like Persis Oteng, who scored a hat trick in the most recent game.

• Molly Bartrip read from her piece "Ana" at the book launch of the Players' Tribune anthology I've Got a Story to Tell. Big love to Molly as always for her important advocacy around mental health and eating disorder awareness.

• If you read one thing this week (besides this newsletter, of course), make it Chris Paouros' piece on how sexism & violence against women in football should be addressed. Hint: it doesn't involve further restrictions of women's freedoms and access to the game we all love. Bravo, Chris.

To all men who love football: stand up against game-day ‘banter’ and sexual violence | Chris Paouros

Too often we see male bystanders laugh off abhorrent behaviour towards women. The time for a culture shift is now

The GuardianChris Paouros

There are a lot of men who need to hear this message, so please share it far and wide.

I know I threatened to include my thoughts on Mauricio Pochettino's first games in charge of the USMNT, but to be honest, I don't have many so far! I was very distracted during the first friendly against Panama because my USL Championship team was doing a madness (in the positive sense), and then the Mexico friendly wasn't a true test because so many of the regular starters were either injured or released back to their club teams early for load management reasons. So my verdict on Poch's Eagles will have to wait.

All right, brace yourselves for a tense weekend of fixtures! If you're in the States, find the Men's game on USA and the Women's on ESPN+.

COYS

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