Impact Signings (and Lack Thereof)

Now, I'm not going to pretend that Spurs Women have had a flawless January transfer window. There's definitely room for improvement (gestures at NWSL talent), but as we've seen with Spurs Men, something is literally better than nothing. Sometimes you just need bodies to keep the ones who have been playing heavy minutes healthy and injury-free—or at least slightly less downtrodden.

In this issue: Leicester City recap | Crystal Palace recap | Previewing the midweek cup games | Transfer talk

I'm going to be perfectly candid: these constant midweek games are really putting a strain on my newsletter writing energy. Perhaps I need a substitute... But in lieu of that, I have to do what's best for myself as a one-person outlet and manage the game load as best I can. For today's issue, that means slightly truncated match recaps.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I would welcome an international break at this point. It's not like many of our Men's team players would be going off on duty anyway!

PL Matchday 23 recap | Tottenham 1 - 2 Leicester City

Richarlison 33' | Vardy 46', El Khannouss 50'

I know a lot of Spurs fans have said they never held any hope of us winning this fixture, considering the player availability situation, but I actually did think we could pull off a narrow win. Leicester have not been good this season. But it turned out all of the cynics were correct in assuming there wasn't enough energy left in the squad to put in a full 90 performance. They managed to play one-half of decent football, including a very nice Richarlison goal, before everything fell apart in the second half. We don't have to like it, but we have to accept that a positive result was a bridge too far for this depleted team.

As I mentioned on the latest Tottenham Depot episode, I don't think the players are throwing the league games by any means, but they do seem to be more motivated to succeed in the cups. With the Premier League campaign going from bad to worse in recent weeks, I can't say I blame them for focusing on the competitions where they still have a chance of silverware, and the massive effort they're putting into winning those cup games with a limited squad has naturally led to a drop-off in the league games.

Starting XI:

Usually, the bad injury news is limited to team news updates a day or two before the game, but this time we got a nasty surprise just before the lineup came out that James Maddison was a late scratch. In his place, a noticeably fatigued Pape Sarr had to start instead, but couldn't make it to the final whistle and was himself substituted after just 54 minutes. Yves Bissouma made the bench in a similar capacity but was spared seeing the pitch. Otherwise, Sergio Reguilón was the only true "senior" player available on the bench; he did indeed come on in the second half alongside Mikey Moore, with Will Lankshear a late entrant just before stoppage time.

Top three things:

1. Jamie Vardy's vendetta against Spurs continues. But to be fair, our defenders' tired legs didn't make it very difficult for him to score Leicester's equalizer.
2. A slow start to the second half scuppered the result. After Vardy's goal, it only took Leicester four more minutes to find the go-ahead goal and eventual game-winner. While I do think Antonín Kinský has done a pretty decent job in his first few appearances for the club, Bilal El Khannouss' shot was savable, and Guglielmo Vicario will be feeling confident that he can regain his starting spot upon return from injury thanks to his superior shot-stopping skills. I would back him to save that shot nine times out of ten.
3. Wrap Richarlision up in cotton wool between games. It's truly unfortunate that our pigeon man is so injury-prone; almost every time he gets a chance to play he shows his quality. This was his second goal in three games, both coming in Premier League play. He provides a different dimension to the striker role with his nimble athletic ability as a target man compared to Dominic Solanke, whose hold-up play has admittedly been missed. In a perfect world, they'd both be fit and available as different options for different opponents.

SAtP Player of the Match: Pedro Porro

I can't lie and say that Porro has been strong defensively during this tough stretch, but as far as the attack goes, he's been key to adjusting to a more direct style of play to mitigate the fatigue factor. His pinpoint pass over the Leicester defense to Richarlison was just what the doctor ordered.

Notable & quotable:

• We're now on a seven-game winless streak in the league since the blowout win against Southampton.

• Despite the bad run of form, we're still hanging onto our positive goal difference.

• We are still eight points above the relegation zone, so I don't think it's time for full panic yet. Yet...

• For a fun fact, we've only picked up one yellow card in six of the last seven PL games (and only two in the outlier game during that stretch). So at least the tired legs aren't leading to too many rash tackles.

WSL Matchday 12 recap | Crystal Palace 2 - 3 Tottenham

Stengel 48', Weerden 65' | England 15' • 23', Holdt 90+4'

Ah, nothing satisfies quite like typing out that stoppage-goal time stamp.

I was feeling pretty down about this fixture in general up until that miraculous free-kick game-winner. Not only was the YouTube stream nearly unwatchable because of all the rain on the camera lens (WSL, please get your act together, I beg!), but our performance in the second half was similarly frustrating. It looked like poor game management was about to blow another result. Enter: Olivia Holdt. Our first January signing but the second to actually make her debut, she stepped up in the literal sense of stepping up to take the free kick. Anna Csiki was also angling to take it, but said in her post-game interview that Holdt had assured her she would score, so she deferred to the Dane. It was the right choice, and it salvaged what would have been a very disappointing outcome in a winnable game.

Starting XI:

Lize Kop was back into the starting lineup after being ineligible to play in the previous League Cup game (she was cup-tied). Matilda Vinberg got a rare start while Jess Naz dropped to the bench, although she would end up making an impact as a substitute by winning the free kick that Holdt scored. With Drew Spence missing out due to a knock, Anna Csiki was handed her first WSL start.

Top three things:

1. Set piece improvement. We've scored two headers from corner kicks in the last two games in all competitions. Martha Thomas' in the League Cup match was probably the more impressive of the two because of the angle required, but Beth England's header relied on pure power.
2. A brace of form. Speaking of England, she's on a hot streak of late. Stretching back before the winter break, she's scored five goals in the last four WSL games—including two braces.
3. Wingers still underperforming. Between the three players who have started most often at winger in WSL play—Hayley Raso, Jess Naz, and Matilda Vinberg—they have scored just two goals and provided zero assists. The goal each for Raso and Naz also came in the opening day fixture, the reverse of this away match against Crystal Palace. The increase in goals from set pieces has helped mitigate the wingers' slow start to the season, but they need to start contributing soon.

SAtP Player of the Match: Beth England

Although Holdt won us the game, England gets the nod with a full 90 and two crucial goals. She nearly had a hat trick but was called offside for her third goal. The simple truth is that the skipper is carrying the team once again and she needs more support in the goal-scoring department.

Notable & quotable:

• Beth England became the first player in WSL history to score against every team that has featured in the competition. She also drew level with Bunny Shaw for most headed goals in WSL play and is just three behind Vivianne Miedema for most goals overall.

• Anna Csiki contributed an assist on her first WSL start.

• This was the team's first two-game win streak of the season in the WSL.

• We did the league double over Crystal Palace in addition to beating them in the League Cup group stage, with an aggregate scoreline of 9-2 across the two competitions; this was the only match against Palace where we didn't keep a clean sheet.

• We are now joint-5th in the league table, behind Brighton on goal difference by three goals.

Previewing Women's FA Cup Round 4 — Everton

This would have been our first match back from the winter break but it was postponed due to a frozen pitch at Walton Hall Park. It's here now!

Everton haven't kept a clean sheet in their last six matches across all competitions. But perhaps more worrying for the Toffees is the fact that they've been shut out themselves in three matches of that same stretch.

One of those recent fixtures was our league matchup back in December, which saw Spurs win 2-1 at home thanks to a Beth England brace.

Drew Spence is expected to be back in contention for the cup matchday squad. The bad news is that our two newest signings, Lize Kop and Josefine Rybrink, are ineligible to play since they joined too late to be registered before the original fixture date. This means we'll likely see Eleanor Heeps back between the sticks and will have to wait for Rybrink's debut.

From Robert Vilahamn's press conference, it doesn't sound like he's willing to throw full effort into this match, team selection-wise, because it's our fourth game in the span of two weeks and he's worried about player fitness ahead of the marquee matchup against Manchester United at Tottenham Hotspur stadium. To which I say, fine, but don't blame casual fans when they check out for the season with zero chance of a trophy at the end of it. Us diehards will still be watching, of course, but I hope we get at least one more round out of the FA Cup experience, if not another special run to the final.

The match is being streamed on SpursPlay only.

Previewing Europa League Matchday 8 — Elfsborg

At last, the Europa Leaguephase is almost over and I can retire my silly insistence on calling it that.

Hopefully we manage to hold onto automatic qualification to the knockout rounds and avoid the playoff, but it's not guaranteed with our current points total. A win would obviously keep us top eight, but a draw might not be enough depending on how other results go. I guess there are probably some slim situations in which we might scrape by despite losing, but I'm not in the mood to do the math.

There is an article from the club explaining the different draw scenarios based on whether we go through the playoff or go straight into the knockouts, but even that is pretty convoluted. I maintain that the new Europa League format is unnecessarily complicated and not worth the extra games (I mean, clearly, in Tottenham's case—we definitely can't afford the two-legged playoff tie based on player availability).

Anyway, Elfsborg. That's our opponent. They are Swedish. That is the extent of my knowledge.

Normally I would say it's an advantage to Spurs that Elfsborg are currently out of season, but frankly, the advantage probably goes to Elfsborg right now despite their rust. At least they should have the benefit of a full squad and full energy. We can't say the same for Spurs.

On that note, I don't have the latest team news update yet since I'm publishing this issue in time for the Spurs Women match, which is a day earlier. But we've already heard rumblings that James Maddison will be out for a few games, and Richarlison and Pape Sarr must also be doubts after coming off early against Leicester with knocks. Although Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven are both back in team training, we can't feel confident about either of them getting game time yet.

Ange Postecoglou is maintaining some optimism in the face of the squad challenges:

I can’t get away from the fact that these players are giving everything they can. They’ll get some help soon. In the next 10 days, two weeks we’ll get some significant players back, and that will give a boost to the whole group. As I keep saying to the players and the staff, there are still great opportunities to make this season a special one for us, we need to dig deep and focus on that.

I also appreciated Son Heung-min's remarks after the previous Europa League game:

The senior players are taking ownership, and the young lads are handling big responsibility. It’s been a difficult moment, but the way to get right is to play right. Next up. Let’s go.

It's unfortunate that Maddison almost certainly won't be one of those senior players lifting the team, but there's an opportunity for other players to step up.

Transfer talk

Both transfer updates this week come from Spurs Women:

• Arriving on a short-term six-month deal, defender Josefine Rybrink joins us from BK Häcken (surprise, surprise).

This will be the 27-year-old's first time playing outside of her native Sweden. She was assistant captain for Häcken during Robert Vilahamn's management tenure at the club. Although she describes herself as a "modern centerback" who likes to play between the lines, Vilahamn sometimes employed her in the #6 position. With the team in need of a temporary replacement for Eveliina Summanen (whom she once played with, coincidentally) in the DM role, we're likely to see her feature in the midfield before she lines up in the defense. That being said, I personally still feel ambivalent about our centerback partnership options so there's definitely room for her to compete for a CB spot later in the season.

The bigger question than what position she'll play is whether or not she'll sign another contract at the end of the season to stay at Tottenham. The second half of the season will be a trial both for her assessment of the club as a fit for her career as well as the club's long-term interest in her services.

• Academy goalkeeper Erin Radbourne will be going on a dual-registration loan at Chesham United in the National League Division One South East.

• As a side note, the WSL transfer window is open for two more days while the PL window is open for three more. We'll see if either team makes another signing, but I imagine there would have to be some outgoings to facilitate any incoming moves. Hopefully I'll be rounding up some positive transfer news in the next issue.

It's another high-stakes midweek of fixtures for the club, so keep your fingers crossed. And as always,

COYS

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