Last Gasp at Kingsmeadow
Spurs Women played what could be their last matchup against Chelsea at their current ground, and unfortunately, we didn't manage to secure a first (and last) win at Kingsmeadow. That meant exiting the FA Cup at the quarter-final stage. No more dreaming of Wembley this season, or indeed, about any trophy or meaningful milestone (unless you count the potential of earning our best-ever WSL points total, which is still possible). There has been some measure of improvement under Martin Ho, but this is still a team that hasn't figured out how to get over the most difficult hurdles just yet.
In this issue: Chelsea recap | News from around the Lane | Pub chat
I was slightly encouraged by the performance, though—at least in comparison to the previous two league games, both away defeats that ended in identical 5-2 scoreline. The toughest stretch of the season is nearly done, with one more marquee matchup against Manchester United to survive. It's also the final Women's match at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for 2025/26.
There are a few news items to round up, and some bonus bookmarks to enjoy (well, maybe enjoy isn't the right word...) in the rest of the international break.
If you missed the previous issue, you can read it here to understand why I'm not writing about the Men's team at the moment.
Women's FA Cup Quarter-final | Chelsea 2 - 1 Tottenham
Kerr 40', Buurman 86' | Summanen 52'
Some of the concerns around the lineup from the Arsenal game were resolved, with Beth England and Eveliina Summanen restored to the starting XI, but Martin Ho raised eyebrows with a couple of other decisions. It was puzzling to see one of the three currently fit centerbacks (if we're counting Josefine Rybrink in that positional group), Molly Bartrip, benched for a crucial cup game, and it's never encouraging to see Olivia Holdt on the bench. With Bartrip out of the lineup, Amanda Nildén replaced her in the centerback duo with Tōko Koga, and Julie Blakstad came in at left fullback. The shuffling in the forward line meant that Signe Gaupset was lined up at right winger, far from ideal.
Lack of defensive line consistency has caused many issues in the defense this season, but this defensive line (which also included relative WSL newcomer Hanna Wijk at right fullback) did surprisingly well in the circumstances. That was largely down to Koga containing Sam Kerr for as long as she could—which was only until just before halftime, as it happened. Chelsea had scored at the exact same time (40') in the previous league fixture.
As has been the trend, we had a better showing in the second half, which made conceding just before halftime all the more troublesome. If we could do a better job of staving off these top-4 opponents early on, we could grow into the games and perhaps have more hope of a result. And there was some hope in this one after Eveliina Summanen scored what has become a trademark goal of sorts for her, a free kick from a slightly improbable angle/range—none of which she ever cops to "meaning" to score, of course.
There was definitely potential to try to push Chelsea to extra time and maybe even penalties—though I think Chelsea would have had the advantage in an additional period thanks to their deeper bench, regardless of Spurs' rest advantage from not playing midweek—but it wasn't to be. Substitute Veerle Buurman scored a belter from the edge of the box, a type of goal we have become uncomfortably used to conceding (see also: that 40' shot from Keira Walsh in the home league matchup with Chelsea).
So what positives can we take out of the match, despite being knocked out of the cup?
- After two difficult back-to-back losses by three-goal margins, it was encouraging to see the team minimize the damage in this one and make a decent account of themselves on the attacking end—even though we didn't have a goal from open play to show for it.
- Summanen had a strong individual showing and proved why she is so integral to the best version of this team. Hopefully the games she didn't start were down to fitness concerns and not just Ho being stubborn about experimenting.
- Ella Morris made her long-awaited return from an ACL injury to make her first appearance of the season. There were noticeable signs of rust in her timing and positioning, but her fearless approach to the game was still in evidence. It's too late for her to be able to make a meaningful impact on this season's outcomes, now that we're knocked out of all cup competitions and all but mathematically eliminated from a historic top-3 berth. But the remainder of the league campaign can be used to restart her development and adjust to the new manager's tactics ahead of fighting to get her starting spot back next season.
The result was disappointing, and I don't think the in-game management was geared towards attempting to win a cup match. But at least we are still learning things about this team that can be acted on during pre-season—especially when it comes to bolstering the defensive depth chart.
Notable & quotable:
• Ella Morris made her return from injury 314 days after suffering her ACL tear.
It's been something that's felt like a long time coming, so I’m just delighted to get back out there with the girls. I wasn't necessarily expecting to get any minutes, so to hear my name being called was good, especially with the state of the game, so I was excited to get on to try and push for a win for us. Unfortunately, it fell short, but delighted for me. But now it's about pushing on with the girls and getting more results and pushing on, developing as we are.
Morris also credited by name the staff who supported her during her injury rehab.
• Although Martin Ho was pleased with the effort of the players, he cautioned against becoming complacent in the final stretch of the season:
I want to see the same intent, the same fight, whether there's competition in terms of the Cup to play for, there are still three games that we need to win. We need to go into those games because the way we finish the season will be the way we start the next one.
We need to build on that momentum. This really shows the character in the group and the kind of professionalism of us as a team on how we approach these next three games because the season is not finished until the middle of May and we can't just sit back now because we're not in these Cup competitions.
• Eveliina Summanen reflected on the difficult period the team has been in with regard to results:
It's been tough. We've also played good teams, but we have high ambitions and we need to perform better as well if we want to reach the gap between us and the top teams. I think you need to take every single game as a part of the journey and we're still doing the right things. We're still playing the way I like, exciting football, and we want to improve all the time. Like today, it could have gone either way at the end of the day and I think that's what's exciting for the future as well.
We want to bounce back from these tough couple of weeks and just end the season on a high. Just give a little bit to our fans as well because they've shown a great support for the past few weeks and we obviously want to give back a little bit as well.
News from around the Lane
• Starting with the most exciting news first, Spurs Women have been selected to participate in the upcoming all-WSL edition of the World Sevens Football tournament, from May 28-30. The bad news for me is that I'm out of town that weekend for my niece and nephew's graduation, so I probably won't be able to provide much coverage here on the newsletter, but I definitely recommend watching or even attending if you're local to the London area. I watched quite a bit of the first edition, which Bayern Frauen won.
• Spurs Women's goalkeeping coach Chris Williams has departed the club for a new opportunity.
• The Women's Academy U19s are in the Capital Cup semi-final on Sunday at Fulham. Go out and support them if you can!
• In the Men's Academy, there were several contract updates over the last few weeks:
• Ashley Phillips, who is on loan at Stoke City this season, has been nominated for the Championship's Young Player of the Season award.
Pub chat: Bonus bookmarks
I shared these first two links on Bluesky already, but they're worth another signal boost.
• Kate Mason wrote in The Athletic about the inadequacy of Roberto De Zerbi's so-called apology and the unfair bind that Spurs fans are being put in when it comes to honoring our values and supporting our football club:
Kate Mason
How much better would it be if there was no need for wilful ignorance, for the suspension of morality? We can and must move towards zero tolerance on this.
• The ever-eloquent Chris Paouros wrote in The Guardian about the need for true accountability in football:
Chris Paouros
Genuine ownership requires three things: naming what was wrong with what was said, not what feelings it caused but what it communicated; accepting that impact exists independently of intent; and saying clearly, without qualification, that it will not happen again.
• This headline didn't shock me, but it still disappointed me. I don't have much faith that the club who appointed a rape apologist to a lucrative five-year management contract has any intention of meaningfully addressing the gender investment gap in football.
Tom Garry
Despite a notable increase in investment in the women’s team, that total wage bill figure was lower than several of the other Women’s Super League clubs.
• On that note, Spurs are not alone in the WSL in terms of holding back their Women's team:
Matt Hughes
Numerous international investors have held talks with WSL clubs over the past few years, but there is a feeling among some would-be buyers that the primary focus of many owners is using the women’s team as a means of complying with profitability and sustainability regulations.
• I'll end on a slightly fluffier note with this interview of Martin Ho from Suzy Wrack at The Guardian.
Suzanne Wrack
If the season finished now, I’d say it’s been a success. From where the team was to where it is now, internally we’ve achieved a lot of what we set out to do. We’re not where we ultimately want to be, but it’s good for this first season in terms of foundation building, growth, and stability.
He expanded on what that rebuilding process has looked like:
There was a lot of rebuilding psychologically because of the disappointment of [last] season. I said to the players, we have to look forward. We can’t go back.
We asked them to play a totally different way, to be brave with the ball, build up and press higher. That comes with mistakes and adversity, but internally we knew what we were doing. Ultimately, to have success, you have to fail at times and we did a lot of work in pre-season on togetherness, unity, and mentality.
Spurs Women aren't back in action until the 26th due to the long international break, so I'll be back next week with another issue to preview the Manchester United game. Until then,
COYS
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