Learning Curve

While neither of the results from the weekend were necessarily surprising, it's totally fair to feel some disappointment—though I lean toward thinking the Men's result was actually pretty valuable. But speaking of value, we continue to have to question just how much the club values the Women's team when season after season, we get no closer to bridging the gap to the top 4.

In this issue: Manchester City recap | Brighton & Hove Albion recap | News from around the Lane

I'm not going to go too in-depth with these recaps since we have midweek games kicking off (and overlapping) tomorrow.

Then there's some news to round up, including a peek at what our loan players have been up to.

WSL MD 3 | Tottenham 1 - 5 Manchester City

Holdt 87' | Fujino 23', Miedema 39', Casparij 43', Clinton 80', Coombs 90+5'

On the positive side: Bunny Shaw didn't score. In fact, Lize Kop denied her from the penalty spot. She did still register an assist, however.

Also, Olivia Holdt scored a fantastic goal, so it wasn't a total wash from the Tottenham perspective.

On the negative side: Five City players did get on the scoresheet, with goals ranging from impressive (Vivianne Miedema's perfectly placed header) to gratuitous (Grace Clinton sneaking one in from distance on her City debut).

The next time I express even a modicum of optimism about this fixture, please tell me to stop being foolish. It's simply not going to happen for Spurs against City until the club gets serious about investing in the squad with genuinely world-class players to match the caliber of players on the opposition. We aren't competing on equal footing as things stand.

That doesn't erase the encouraging signs from the first two games of the campaign, in which we looked to have raised our level from last season. We can reasonably have hopes of finishing solidly mid-table this season and not getting dragged into another embarrassing (and stressful) relegation scare. In that sense, we're still on track despite not nicking a point from this game. The two new signings are being integrated quickly, and even in the City game, the improvement in the press has been evident. So far, this is a better team than last season's, largely down to better coaching getting more out of the existing squad.

I can also understand the rationale behind Martin Ho holding back Olivia Holdt from the starting lineup, swapping out Josefine Rybrink for Charli Grant (though the marginal pace advantage didn't make a ton of difference), and opting for some early substitutions to preserve energy for the upcoming cup game. Ho is in the unenviable position of surely wanting to set the team up for a respectable performance, but knowing that, realistically, he has to prioritize the more winnable fixture in the matchweek (Aston Villa). And at this stage of the team's WSL journey, we're not competitive with the best sides and would receive more benefit in the short-term from going on a cup run—or dominating the League Cup group stage, rather, since it doesn't go to knockouts until after the winter break.

When are we ever going to get past this trade-off conversation? Again, not until the investment happens.

Notable & quotable:

• Matilda Vinberg and Martha Thomas made their first WSL appearances of the season from the bench.

• Olivia Holdt scored just her second Spurs goal to date, and first of the current campaign.

• Captain Beth England was blunt and apologetic in her post-game comments:

[It's] disappointment, anger and a lot of self-reflection. We know it wasn't good enough. I just said in the media to the fans, we're sorry for that performance. We've prided ourselves on a strong start.

We need to be stronger and realise that they can be punished, as we saw when we scored a cracking goal, they do concede. But on the day, we have to not be fearful. I don’t think we were fearful, but I do think we gave them far too much respect.

• Martin Ho reflected on the disappointing performance:

The most disappointing part for me was the performance, we didn’t show our true colours for large periods of the game. We have to make sure that as staff we review what we did, the players review what they did, but the accountability and responsibility lies with me. I pick the team and put the game plan in place. I have to make sure I give the players every opportunity to perform. When it doesn’t work, I have to try and fix those errors, make sure they don’t happen again.

Looking ahead to the next fixture in the cup, he promised a strong lineup.

It’s an opportunity to win, to put ourselves in a place where we complete for titles and honours, and that’s what I’m here for. I’m not here just to take part in the competition, flip the team, rotate it all… and not show any respect. That’s not me. We’re going out there with a team to try and make sure we win the fixture.

• To end this recap on a happier note, check out this lovely photo of representatives from the original Spurs Women team, when it was known as Broxbourne Ladies. The team celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, and the club honored the pioneers of our women's side, including co-founder Kay Lovelock and team patron Gary Mabbutt.

PL MD 5 | Brighton & Hove Albion 2 - 2 Tottenham

Minteh 8', Ayari 31' | Richarlison 43', Van Hecke (OG) 82'

In a similar vein of at least showing some improvement compared to last season, I feel like this is a game we would not have been able to come back to draw in the Ange Postecoglou era. We never stopped back then, as the motto went, but we did sometimes run ourselves into the ground and make a late rally seem almost impossible, especially in games that weren't perceived as particularly important in the grand scheme of the campaign.

It's still disappointing to drop points, but we ended the weekend in third place with a healthy goal difference, so how disgruntled could we possibly be? Let's keep some perspective.

There are a few players I want to highlight and then quickly move on from this match.

Mohammed Kudus kind of went under the radar in this game, but ended up with one official assist and one spiritual assist for forcing the own goal that equalized for Spurs. He's up to three actual assists, joking aside, in the PL to date, so clearly he hasn't needed much ramp-up time to get familiar with his teammates. We're still waiting on his first goal for the club, but I'm sure it'll happen soon.

I was also pleased to see Destiny Udogie looking fully up to speed for possibly the first time since he started getting that series of injuries. We've missed the deliberate but crafty angle he brings to the attack from the fullback position. I honestly felt a bit sad thinking about the linkups he used to manage with Son Heung-min. It was like they were two steps ahead of the opposition at all times. Anyway, Sonny is tearing it up in MLS (seriously, what a joy it was to watch him the other night in a rare televised game), but we still get to benefit from Udogie's keen intelligence on the left flank.

Finally, Richarlison hasn't had a flawless campaign so far, but you can't deny that he is producing from the striker role. He's up to three goals in the league now and has made it so that we've not missed Dominic Solanke nearly as much as we would have expected during the latter's injury spell to start the season. When Solanke gets back, there will be genuine competition for the spot.

Notable & quotable:

• This was the first Premier League start of the season for both Destiny Udogie and Wilson Odobert.

• Udogie commented on the comeback draw:

To be 2-0 down in an away game against a good team is never easy, so it is a good point today and we showed a strong character.

• Thomas Frank echoed Udogie's thoughts:

When you go away after a Champions League game, that demands everything from you - and then we decided to really test ourselves by getting down 2-0! 

I think the headline from me is "mentality". I said it to the players beforehand, a game like this is pure mentality. Of course, we need all the tactics, structure, details, all that, but to really want to achieve something, you need to be so strong here.

News from around the Lane

• In a late transfer update, three youngsters from the Women's Academy are heading out on dual registration loans.

• Kendra Brown is going to Dulwich Hamlet in the FAWNL Division One South East—and has already earned a Player of the Match honor in her first game!
• Cruz Fuller-Fagan and Ruby Gaitely are both going to Hashtag United FAWNL Southern Premier Division.

The dual registration loan agreements allow these players to train part-time with Spurs when they are not involved in matchday or training activities with their loan clubs.

• Time for a Spurs Men loan army update, since it was quite an eventful week in that regard.

• Luka Vušković scored his first Bundesliga goal and Hamburg's first in their league campaign as they beat Heidenheim 2-1.
• Tyrese Hall scored a brace off the bench in Notts County's decisive 4-0 routing of Crawley Town in League Two play; these were his first two goals of the season in all competitions.
• George Abbott continued the trend of first goals and scored his first for Wycombe Wanderers in their 2-0 win over Northampton Town in League One play, then followed that up in midweek with an assist as Wycombe advanced in the League Cup with a 0-2 win at Wigan.
• Alfie Devine scored the game-winner in Preston North End's 0-1 win at Derby County; it was his second goal of the season in the Championship.
• Will Lankshear is up to three goals now at Oxford United, though he didn't score in their most recent league fixture.
• It hasn't been the best few weeks for our players at Stoke City; Jamie Donley and Ashley Phillips have both been benched for the last three Championship games. Yang Min-hyeok hasn't featured for Portsmouth since August 12 in the League Cup. Mikey Moore is still waiting to earn his first goal contribution with Rangers in the Scottish Premiership. After a bright pre-season, Damola Ajayi has only scored one goal so far for Doncaster Rovers, in League Cup play. It's harder to judge a defender's performance from afar (at least when they aren't keen to score goals like Vušković), but at least Alfie Dorrington is getting plenty of gametime in his second stint at Aberdeen in the aforementioned Premiership.

• After the club clarified earlier this month that the club was not up for sale, there has nevertheless been a change in the minority ownership stake. Andrew Ashcroft has purchased shares estimated at around £100m total.

Up next:

September 24 | Spurs Women vs Aston Villa — League Cup Round 1
Team news — same squad availability as last game (Bartrip, Bühler, Morris all out)

September 24 | Spurs Men vs Doncaster Rovers — League Cup Round 3
Team news — Antonín Kinský already confirmed to start; same squad availability as last game (Davies, Kolo Muani out; Solanke and Takai training but won't play; Drăgușin, Kulusevski, Maddison out longer term)
• Damola Ajayai—on loan at Doncaster—will be eligible to play against his parent club.

Broadcast note: Frustratingly, there won't be a live stream of the Women's League Cup game, just audio commentary on SpursPlay. I truly don't understand how there isn't a proper broadcast deal for this competition in the year 2025. It clearly cannot be left up to the hosting clubs if this is the outcome. WSL Football, do something! This goes back to the bonus bookmark from last week about the WSL not seeming to care much about its non-domestic market.

And on that grumpy note,

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 to support my writing with a one-time tip. Your support keeps Spurs Across the Pond running and is much appreciated!

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