Impatient and Imperfect

Impatient refers to the fanbase, imperfect refers to the team.

There are times when I suspect a certain subset of Spurs' fanbase will never be satisfied with anything less than perfection from the players and manager—an impossible ask, of course. Personally, I prefer to keep a more even keel and take the good with the bad. And we got a little of everything in the latest Men's team match.

In this issue: NLD recap | Previewing Men's League Cup Round 3 | News from around the Lane

There's a perfect opportunity to bounce back in our entrance to the League Cup... if Ange Postecoglou can get the balance of rotation right. I'm sure we all remember what happened in our first League Cup game last season. Probably a match we'd rather forget, but it's important to learn some lessons from such blunders. Let's hope Ange did.

PL Matchday 4 recap | Tottenham 0 - 1 Arsenal

Gabriel 64'

If we accept the assumption that Arsenal are one of the best teams in the league (much as it may rankle us), it would be fair to say that a one-goal loss isn't the worst result. We went toe-to-toe with a top team and were only bested by a dodgy set piece goal! Even the final xG count reflects the closeness of the game: 0.71 for Spurs vs 0.74 for Arsenal. Neither team looked particularly threatening in the attack, we were just the team that blinked first and made a crucial mistake (alongside a debatable foul by Arsenal, which I will touch on later).

But if we accept our emotional reactions to the game, it's also fair to say that it really sucked to lose to them, full stop. It doesn't help that this is the third home loss in a row in the NLD. The competitive balance of the fixture has been skewed in Arsenal's favor for too long.

It's impossible to put this game in proper context when it means so much to us as fans. However, we can't let it have an outsized effect on our outlook for the rest of the season.

Putting aside the first match against a newly promoted team, we have technically matched the results from the same fixtures last season. So in a literal sense, we haven't gotten worse; we're on pace to match last season's points total. But just a few games into the campaign, that doesn't feel like the most useful metric yet—performances are more telling. And in terms of pure possession and game control, we looked better in the last three games than in the equivalent fixtures last time around, even if two of those games still ended in losses for the second year running. Possession isn't everything, but it's certainly something to build on over the next 34 games.

Starting XI:

There were several changes from the previous starting lineup against Newcastle United. Wilson Odobert dropped to the bench for Brennan Johnson to replace him at right winger. Two-thirds of the midfield were swapped out, Yves Bissouma because of injury and Pape Sarr for tactical reasons. Kulusevski shifted back from striker to partner with James Maddison and Rodrigo Bentancur at the #6. And in defense, Cristian Romero was back to his preferred right side in the centerback duo since Micky van de Ven came back in for Radu Drăgușin.

Arsenal's rumored injury misses proved to be accurate, though they still had a fairly strong lineup. Our bench contained far more talent, but both teams ended up only using three substitutions, making the squad depth imbalance moot.

Key highlights and takeaways:

• Solanke was unable to capitalize on an extremely fortunate giveaway from Arsenal early in the game. He had a passing option with Johnson to the right, but he also had plenty of time and space to get a shot off of his own and should have done better with his movement. I'm not going to blame the lack of a Spurs goal in this game solely on him, though. He missed a decent chunk of time with his injury and these kinds of blunders happen when a player is searching for form. Solanke nearly put a looping header into the net on another play but it went just wide. We simply have to have faith that the goals are going to come for him. And hopefully the first one will be just the start of a prolific stretch for our new striker.

• I mentioned in my NLD preview that we should be fine with our usual level of midfield creativity since Arsenal wouldn't employ a low block in defense. I assumed that Mikel Arteta wouldn't compromise his attacking tactics even amid an injury crisis, much like Ange has largely refused to do so in the past. Well, I was wrong! And I suppose that at this point in their development, Arteta's Arsenal squad can afford to play a pragmatic game now and then. I don't think we could take the same strategy and get a result without it impacting the ongoing Angeball project—we're still firmly in the stage of prioritizing continuity (player availability allowing) and getting in reps, so to speak. Arsenal know what their identity is and can withstand straying from it for a game or two to secure results at the expense of actually playing good football.

It's also possible that Arsenal have been doing this all season and I just haven't noticed because I actively avoid watching them these days. I watched them pick up way too many egregiously lucky results last season to want to put myself through the frustration again this season.

• And you could argue (I will here) that they were fortunate to have their goal upheld. Romero was shoved in the back by Gabriel and thrown off his marking assignment, allowing Gabriel a free header. The other big issue on this goal concession was the way Arsenal used the grey area of the rules around fouling keepers to essentially force our own players into blocking Guglielmo Vicario—so much so that the first few times I watched the goal highlight back I was fully focused on the congestion right in front of him to even notice the foul on Romero. It was all but impossible for Vicario to react in time with his path (and view) impeded by a wall of grappling Arsenal and Spurs players. So while our defenders have taken on the responsibility of "protecting" Vicario from the opposition, that preoccupation has created a new problem. I'm not going to hear any harsh criticism of our keeper on this goal because he was in a lose-lose situation.

Regardless of all the nonsense going on in the box, it wasn't a great goal to concede. But I take a little encouragement from the fact that we have looked better on set piece defense in general this season and have been even better defending from open play. There will always be room for improvement, of course.

• The only other thing I want to focus in on is player fitness post-international break. It's occurred to me that our captain and one of his co-captains have some of the worst travel burdens among the international players in the squad when they go to play for their national teams. Son and Romero both looked off the pace and lacked concentration at key moments in the game. It's hard to justify rotating either of them out of the starting lineup for such a high-stakes game, however, so the timing of this home NLD was just super unfortunate.

Even beyond the most recent international break, these two players have racked up some of the highest minutes across club and country over the last couple of years, and I fear it's finally catching up to them. There aren't any easy solutions for players of their caliber. Ange acknowledged in his most recent press conference that the continual increase of matches in world football is "pushing the boundaries of what we're asking of players today if we want elite performances across the board." More players are starting to speak out against the strain of the fixture schedule, but the ball is in FIFA's court.

• There was also the controversy of Jurrien Timber escaping a second yellow sending-off, but why even bother complaining about officiating anymore? The referees continue on their merry way and we just waste our breath.

SAtP Player of the Match: Wilson Odobert

It's not ideal that I want to highlight a player who played under thirty minutes, but he did provide a much-needed spark in the second half. Odobert attempted some central runs and passes that didn't quite come off but at least gave Arsenal's defense a fresh challenge. I was also delighted with the pace and intensity he brought onto the pitch with him, especially when it came to his passing. The pace of the game had become far too slow in the second half (the first was much better in that regard) and we needed that injection of energy. It was too little too late in this case to help rescue a draw, but he made a strong argument for more minutes in the next match.

Notable and quotable:

• This was Dejan Kulusevski's 100th appearance for Spurs. I wish it could have been a better result to mark his milestone.

• All five of Spurs' yellow cards (there were eight total across both teams) came in the first half, two simultaneously in first-half stoppage time.

• Speaking of discipline, Rodrigo Bentancur has received a yellow booking in each of the three games he's played so far. Yikes.

• Ange was disappointed with the result but not wholly down on the team's stuttering start to the season:

We are a team that is progressing in many areas. With all that progress there are always new challenges and things you need to overcome. When I look at the four games in isolation this year, the football is probably more consistent and compelling than our first four games last year but obviously, our results don’t reflect that. So I think we have made progress in certain areas but there are other areas we need to improve on and that’s my job to fill those gaps as quickly as possible.

I don’t necessarily agree that the four games have been similar enough to truly compare and make across-the-board conclusions. There have been some common issues (defensive concentration, for one) but the foundational elements of the games (opponent strength, team selection/availability, etc.) have varied a lot and made other possible trends feel less compelling. Frankly, it's still too small of a sample size. And I'm tempted to throw out the NLD performance entirely in this already-limited data set due to the rivalry nature of the game.

I do think Ange needs to be more honest about what (and who) is working and what isn’t in the short term. He should stay the course with his tactics and overarching strategy but needs to be more willing to make tweaks in-game. In other words: man management! I'm continually baffled by the lateness and the number of his substitutions—only three in this game, all after the 67th minute. And as I alluded to before, he has to be honest about the need for more frequent rotation for players like the leadership trio who are already at risk of fatigue this early in the season due to their international commitments.

• Captain Sonny also weighed in on the match:

We dominated the game, the football was there, we just conceded from a set piece again. We did it last season and it is really frustrating. I am sure the fans are also very disappointed. We have to improve, 100%, it's a tough moment and we have to stick together. We are getting into the final third but the players have to take the responsibility to score. It is the hardest part of football, making the right decision and being clinical. We will bounce back strong, there is a long way to go.

I appreciated his acknowledgment that ultimately, this is sport and sport is difficult. It's supposed to be challenging to shoot at the right time, make the decisive pass, or hold tight to your marking assignment on a corner. The other team isn't passive in this battle for dominance, either.

But as Sonny said, there is still plenty of season left to get those key moments right and play up to the team's full potential. With the exception of Solanke, all of the starters in the NLD were frequent starters in our strong period to start last season, so we know exactly what they are capable of—that potency just needs to be unlocked again.

• On that note, is it glass half empty or glass half full? It's all about hindsight sometimes...

No, I'm not expecting this specific combination of manager and squad to turn things around into a title race, but this stat serves as proof that it's too soon to write the season off completely. There are still cup trophies to compete for, after all, and if we can hit our stride in time for the final stages of those competitions, who knows what could happen? I'm bringing #CouldWe back for the imminent start of the League Cup and Europa League.

Previewing Men's League Cup Round 3 — Coventry City

The League Cup is already in full swing, but Spurs are just now entering the fray due to being in European competition this season. While we didn't get the easiest draw possible for this round, Coventry City are still a lower-division opponent that we should be expecting to beat, even if Ange Postecoglou opts for significant changes to the starting lineup.

Yves Bissouma remains out with injury, and Ange has hinted at some rotation of the squad to rest players who haven't fully recovered from the Arsenal game, with another Premier League fixture coming up on Saturday against Brentford. He specifically mentioned young players like Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, Mikey Moore, and Wilson Odobert being "ready to play," in addition to more established squad players like Pape Sarr and Radu Drăgușin needing more minutes, too. I'm hoping Will Lankshear is also available for the matchday squad, though he may feature instead in the U21s game that's kicking off in just a couple of hours as of this writing.

Coventry don't have a ton of household names in their squad, but American striker Haji Wright is a strong threat in front of goal and has a penchant for big moments in big games.

I can understand the rationale for some fans not being as keen on prioritizing the League Cup compared to more prestigious competitions like the Europa League and the FA Cup. But with such a frustrating start to the season, advancing in this cup could be a useful morale boost to the squad—and the fanbase. Even if we see some less experienced faces in the lineup tomorrow, we should be able to make a good account of ourselves and progress to Round 4.

News from around the Lane

• Spurs Women wrapped up a perfect slate of pre-season results with a 1-0 win over Manchester United. Sure, it's not a competitive fixture, but it still feels good to get one over them in light of recent transfer events. Ahem.

Martha Thomas scored the decisive goal on an assist from Drew Spence, with new signing Anna Csiki also involved in the buildup. I'm sure Martha enjoyed scoring against her former club.

Plus, we got the first run-out for the new third kit. I have to say the green pairs beautifully with Becky Spencer's yellow keeper kit!

• Amy James-Turner was shortlisted for the Sport Positive Awards in the Report of the Year category for her recent paper on women's football and climate change. Good luck to Amy!

• I finally got a chance to tune in to the new Inside Spurs: Extra Time podcast on SpursPlay, and it's an engaging round-up of all the goings-on across the club, from the Men's team to Women's team to Academy sides. I am always here for more "one club" content. Thankfully they are also posting the episodes on actual podcast players a week after the SpursPlay debut, as they did the Off the Shelf series last season (haven't heard yet if that interview show will be returning this season or not). I always prefer audio content to video and will be adding this podcast to my regular rotation.

I noticed there were quite a few new member signups this week, so welcome to all the new readers! I'm glad to have you here.

I'm going to be reassessing my match recap format as we start to head into the two-game matchweeks. But in every issue, you can typically expect match recaps, previews of upcoming games, transfer & club news, and the occasional pub chat (my catch-all segment for rants, celebrations, special topics, etc.). I also do a few bumper specials every year, including my WSL season preview which will be out later this week.

And cheers to all of my longtime readers for sticking around for another season!

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 or click on the link below to support my work with a one-time tip. Your support keeps Spurs Across the Pond running and is much appreciated!

You can also find me on Twitter and podcasting at N17 Women and The Tottenham Depot.