Make It Work

Both Spurs teams have been depleted in numbers of late, but the managers aren't making any excuses—they're making it work.

The Men's team was able to equalize twice to salvage a result at Old Trafford, while the Women's team came back from 0-2 down against Sheffield United to advance in the FA Cup. And as more and more players continue to return to play after injuries and new additions get integrated, we should see a dominant period ahead, building on the early-season progress.

Speaking of new additions... the transfer window is still open and we can't rule out further moves for either team. Read on for an update on the latest deals, plus some bonus pub chat on one of Spurs Women's January signings.

In this issue: Sheffield United recap | Manchester United recap | Previewing West Ham United | Transfer talk | Pub chat

Women's FA Cup Round 4 Recap | Tottenham 3 - 2 Sheffield United

England 69' • (pen) 80', Ayane 90+6 | Hawyood 13', Sigsworth 51'

I was already frustrated about not being able to watch this game live (because it wasn't streaming anywhere) before the game, and that frustration only became more acute as we went down a goal... and then another. Getting an alert for a stoppage-time game-winning goal doesn't hit quite the same as actually seeing it happen. Alas! Until the FA decides to properly promote the Women's edition of the FA Cup, this is just a reality for all of us fans living outside of the N17 area.

It did make for an interesting rewatch (well, first watch) though. I am not normally the type to enjoy watching a game I already know the result of. But this match had plenty of intrigue beyond the scoreline, mostly to do with the experimental lineup choices Robert Vilahamn made.

Starting XI:

Although Robert sticks to his 4-2-3-1 formation from game to game (allowing for some flexibility within those roles), he made a few interesting personnel choices for the individual positions in this game. If I recall correctly, this is the first time we saw Zhang Linyan playing as the #10 (with Drew Spence still recovering from a hamstring injury and Grace Clinton out with illness); she would only end up playing the first half, so perhaps he prefers her performances at winger after all. Charli Grant was straight into the lineup for her Spurs debut after signing with the club during the winter break. She can play at either fullback position but lined up on the left side this time. The other new signing from prior to the game, Matilda Vinberg, did not start but would come on in the second half to play at left winger.

But perhaps most surprising of all in the starting selection was Eveliina Summanen's presence in the centerback duo alongside Molly Bartrip. I have certainly noted many times that Eveliina is stronger in the attack than when she tracks back on defense (remember those early-season penalty concessions?), so to see her starting in a defensive role was quite the shock! I don't think the experiment paid off, but Robert has hinted that Eveliina may see more minutes at centerback in the near future. This is partially due to the lack of available players for the central defense at the moment; Luana Bühler has been dealing with a persistent thigh issue, Amy Turner missed out on the cup match with a knock, and Shelina Zadorsky & Gracie Pearse are now out on loan.

The experimentation at the CB role didn't end with Eveliina. Ash Neville eventually shifted over to pair with Molly in the second half when Eveliina was subbed off (she is just coming back from an injury herself and couldn't play the full 90). It was another case of pros and cons, but you could at least see the vision since Ash has lots of experience within the defensive line, if not from the central position. I'm not sure the vision made sense for the next tweak to the back line, with Ellie Brazil slotting in at right fullback to replace Ash when she moved positions. Angharad James also subbed on at the same time, and although rightback isn't her preferred position either she's grown into the role as the season has gone on, so for her to slot into the midfield instead was a bit baffling.

Ellie is definitely a forward through and through—most often featuring centrally as a striker but at times on the left wing in her few appearances for Spurs so far—and she looked pretty lost in this makeshift assignment. Indeed, she was directly at fault in the buildup to Sheffield United's second goal, although in this kind of scenario, the true fault lies with the manager playing a forward out of her natural position.

I haven't had too much reason to fault Robert for his tactics so far this season, but I think there were some real misses with his selection decisions in this game. In fairness to him, however, we had a limited squad—not even filling out the whole bench. You could also argue that this is the kind of match—against a lower-division side—where it would be understandable to try out some new players and new ideas. You definitely don't want to see such risks taken in a WSL match where the margins between the teams are much closer. One of these gambles in isolation would have been fine, but it was a little too much change in one game to escape unscathed.

It was less than ideal to concede the first two goals to Sheffield United (the first came from poor set piece clearance—stop me if you've heard that one before), and we left the comeback quite late, not scoring our first until just over twenty minutes remained in regular time. On that note, even just forcing extra time would have been a good outcome after falling two goals behind. But captain Beth England scored a brace to allow for the chance of a last-gasp winner (the second a converted penalty, won by Jess Naz through some superb pressing), and an unlikely hero rose to the occasion.

The game-winning goal doesn't happen without the phenomenal through ball from Olga Ahtinen, newly returned from injury. She instantly improved the level of quality on the pitch for Spurs and didn't look like she'd ever suffered an MCL injury at all. It's reassuring that she already looks like her old self because we need her to continue to be a key performer in the second half of the season.

However, Rosella Ayane still had some work to do to finish the chance Olga set up. She gracefully set down the ball with her first touch, then chipped the keeper with her second. Sheffield United's keeper, Fran Stenson, did get a hand on the ball and nearly saved it, but there was just enough height on Ros' shot to send it sailing past her.

Rosella needed this moment of redemption after she missed the opportunity to score a similarly chipped goal at the very end of the North London Derby. We already had the lead in that game, of course, so the stakes weren't quite as high, but it would have been some much-welcome security for that result. There was some question of whether Ros would head out on loan (or even a permanent deal) in this mid-season transfer window, but now that she seems to be—tentatively—sticking around for the rest of the campaign, she will need to keep proving her game-changing potential from the bench as one of the most experienced squad players. This one such moment was the difference between playing another 30 minutes with little reinforcement available from the sparse bench and finishing the task in regulation time.

As fans, we could have done without the stressful comeback, but a win is a win, especially in a knockout competition. The 5th round draw happened the next day, and we will be hosting another Championship club, Charlton Athletic. That fixture won't be until mid-February though, so for now the focus returns to league play.

We do have to give massive credit to Sheffield United for their spirited performance in difficult circumstances. As the SpursPlay commentary noted, their admirable strategy to press high was never going to be sustainable for a Championship side's fitness levels vs a WSL team's, but they gave themselves a very good chance to progress by scoring two goals and preventing Spurs from taking the lead until almost the last second.

SAtP Player of the Match: Olga Ahtinen

It would be easy to single out one (or both) of the goal-scorers for their important efforts, but it was truly Olga's performance that turned the game around overall. We have missed her composure in the midfield greatly, as well as her penchant for a perfectly-placed pass. With her creativity back in the team and all of our forwards coming into form, it could be a very productive second half of the season from a goal-scoring standpoint.

Still though, a huge honorable mention for Beth and Ros for saving our bacon—and saving us from a whole lot of embarrassment with a cupset.

Notable and quotable:

• I didn't want to do a play-by-play for this game since the personnel/positional tweaks were much more interesting to get into, but new signing Matilda Vinberg deserves a lot of credit for her part in the build-up to Beth's first goal. She got the pre-assist for Angharad's actual assist and made her presence known throughout the second half. With Grace unlikely to be staying beyond her season-long loan, it was important that we sign another quality option for left winger to share the workload with Jess.

• Robert shared some of his reasoning behind trying Eveliina out at CB:

I wanted to check how that could work. We’re going to analyse this and see if she can be an option. It was the first try to see because Eveliina is very important to this team. I like to have her on the ball. If she plays centre-back, she can do stuff on the ball that I like. She needed to work on her jumping and working with the defence line, which could be key.

This line of thinking is consistent with his rationale behind playing Angharad at RB for most of the season; he focuses more on what skill sets the players have and achieving a better distribution of those skills across the pitch—getting as many of the best players as possible into the lineup, in other words, regardless of traditional ideas about what's required of the various positions. Angharad has adapted fairly well to her new role, but we'll see if Eveliina and Ash can potentially do the same.

He was also quick to praise Kit Graham for her progress in adapting to playing in the midfield pivot rather than her usual attacking midfielder role.

• The sickness bug that's been going around many a team played its part in the unconventional lineup and substitution decisions as well:

We had a week with a few players dropping off just because of sickness and a small feeling. I knew some of the players couldn’t play 90 minutes. It’s always hard when you’re going to compete with the squad and know you can’t play 90 minutes. I feel in the end the finishing level was really good. The starting 11 didn’t work for us but we looked better in the second half.

The many absences weren't used as an excuse, however.

If you look at top teams, they learn how to win. They want to win in a certain way, but sometimes it doesn’t work. You need to find ways to win those games, otherwise you’re not a top team and you’re not going to go far in the cup. I think this shows that they don’t give up. You can tell the players coming in were very determined to turn it around. They showed character and a winning culture. I love to see that.

PL Matchday 21 recap | Manchester United 2 - 2 Tottenham

Højlund 3', Rashford 40' | Richarlison 19', Bentancur 46'

Although this game also had a lot of goals, it seemed a lot more straightforward. Manchester United were playing ever so slightly closer to what their standard should be relative to the quality of their squad and were just able to compete with our mix of regular starters and starters out of necessity. I still think Spurs should have edged it in the end and taken all three points since we had the opportunities to find a winner, but United had plenty of their own barely-missed chances—including one right at the death from Scott McTominay that would have made for a very crushing defeat.

Whilst we have key players out at the Asian Cup and AFCON, I think the key is to pick up at least one point in each Premier League match. Looking at the fixture schedule for this time frame it's definitely doable. In that context, a draw away at Old Trafford feels like a good result, especially since the Men's team was also dealing with numerous injuries and illnesses of its own.

Starting XI:

There was a new signing debut in this match as well, with Timo Werner lining up at left winger in Son Heung-min's absence. Thankfully, Cristian Romero was fit to start and took up the captain's armband. He had his original CB partner from earlier in the season, Micky van de Ven, back in the lineup, too. We were already going to be missing a lot of bodies in the midfield depth chart with both Pape Sarr and Yves Bissouma away at AFCON, and the starting lineup calculus was made more complicated by Giovani Lo Celso picking up a knock in training. Therefore, we had a midfield of Rodrigo Bentancur, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, and Oliver Skipp. Skippy was often playing the furthest forward, but the midfield was more fluid overall than usual.

Thankfully, Richarlison had found his form this season just in time for Son's goals to be repurposed for South Korea's benefit. Richy came good with the first equalizing goal after Rasmus Højlund gave United the early lead, a header from a corner kick. We had been looking threatening with every set piece, and this was a perfect example of Pedro Porro's superb deliveries. Romero hit the crossbar with another header after a corner from the opposite side just before halftime, and it would have been nice to see another goal come from the numerous set piece opportunities that United coughed up.

Destiny Udogie had Alejandro Garnacho pocketed for most of the game on our defensive left flank, but Marcus Rashford caused bigger problems by frequently cutting into the central spaces and taking advantage of Cuti and Micky's rustiness from their long injury layoffs. He put United back in the lead just before halftime (and had also provided the backheel assist for their first goal, with Højlund returning the favor for his goal). Again, the back line was just looking a little out of sync even though this is inarguably our ideal back-4.

Lolo responded on the other side of halftime with our second equalizer. Timo received the ball out on the left and dribbled a few paces before cutting back and finding Rodrigo on his run into the box. He got past Jonny Evans with ease and fired past André Onana into the far corner of the net. Less than a minute after the restart, we were back on level terms.

The rest of the match saw us continue to dominate the game in terms of possession, but United had several dangerous counter-attacking opportunities. It's an interesting reflection of the two teams' relative statuses that we were able to reduce them to playing such reactive football at their own home ground, but it also speaks to the effectiveness of our respective managers in implementing a distinct style. Ange Postecoglou has undoubtedly done so at Spurs, while Erik ten Hag has United looking like an ever-changing chameleon.

We stand pat in the league for now, halfway through the matchday. Spurs are on a much-needed and much-deserved winter break this weekend while the remainder of the fixtures for Matchday 21 play out. Up next is an FA Cup match against the other side of Manchester, but that's not until next weekend.

SAtP Player of the Match: Rodrigo Bentancur

Rodrigo was all over the place in this match—in a good way. His willingness to pitch in on defense and in the attack mitigated the absence of Pape Sarr.

Plus, it was great to see Bentancur score his first goal of the season. He was dealt with a second injury to recover from after coming back from his ACL surgery, but hopefully he can now get a run of uninterrupted game time and solidify his place—and importance—in the starting XI.

Notable and quotable:

• A quick word on Timo Werner: he did have one of those hair-pulling-out moments that I warned y'all about, but he also got an assist on his debut, so I suppose it all evens out. And he really is winning me over with his positive attitude, as cheesy as that sounds.

• With his assist for Richarlison's goal, Pedro Porro reached seven assists total in the Premier League so far—the best tally for any Spurs defender in a PL campaign to date.

• Radu Drăgușin also made his debut just days after signing, as a substitute. I thought he showed a bit of nerves but didn't look out of place at the Premier League level. We'll see how much game time he gets initially.

• Echoing his compatriot on the Women's side, Ange noted the illness bug that swept through the Men's team, as well as the irregular starters, but didn't use those factors to justify the draw, rather to praise the efforts of the whole squad:

Kulusevski, he's struggled all week with it. Deki was so desperate to play, he trained yesterday but he just went downhill after that. Skippy, Destiny, two or three others have all struggled with it this week but it doesn't really matter. These guys are just not going to make excuses. If we didn't play well today or not got a result today, they wouldn't want me to come out here and make excuses, but the reality of it is when you consider guys who haven't played for quite a while and guys still with what they've had to deal with. Timo has had two training sessions with us, hasn't played a game in ages, I just thought Pierre coming in, Rodrigo and even Skippy, who haven't started games in quite a while, it took an enormous effort from the lads and credit to them.

• Ange also credited Ryan Mason for the work he's done in charge of offensive set pieces this season.

• We have now scored in 33 straight PL games going back to last season, a club record.

• An interesting observation:

Of course, we still have the dreaded Anfield away trip to deal with, as well as Stamford Bridge. But the beauty of Spurs under Ange is that every fixture feels like an opportunity to win this season. Bring it on.

Previewing WSL Matchday 11 — West Ham United

Not only is this a London derby, it's also the Kristie Mewis derby. I joke, but seriously, it still hurts a bit that she frequented our training ground so often and ended up signing for a local rival instead. Oh well.

West Ham have further strengthened with the signings of Katrina Gorry (Charli Grant's former teammate from Vittsjö GIK and current teammate with the Australia national team) and our beloved Shelina Zadorsky. Shelina won't be eligible to play against her parent club, however, so that threat is mooted. If you haven't yet heard about their fourth signing of the window, well... don't get excited.

They have an annoyingly good record against us in recent WSL history, beating us twice and drawing twice within the last four matchups.

I haven't heard anything about their squad availability (Dagný Brynjarsdóttir remains out on maternity leave, which is a relief since we have struggled with set piece defense), but we did get an injury update on our end. Martha Thomas (hamstring), Amy Turner (knock), and Grace Clinton (illness) could all be back in contention to play, while Wang Shuang and Luana Bühler both remain out with knocks. We will have to wait a little longer yet to see Shuang make her debut for Spurs. Drew Spence is also still out with her hamstring issue from before the winter break.

I don't think I would feel confident predicting a lineup right now after the surprises from the last one, but suffice it to say that there won't be as much patience for further experimentation if the defense looks as rough as it did at times in the cup game.

It would be great to build on the momentum of the historic NLD win and advancing in the FA Cup by closing out the first half of the WSL season with a decisive win. Keep an eye out for my Spurs Women mid-season review next week.

Transfer Talk

There wasn't quite as much action on the incoming front this week, but still plenty of loan moves.

The club got a lot of business done early in the window but isn't standing still, keeping options open for some late deals if opportunity knocks. I don't like to get into transfer rumors too much on this newsletter unless they really start to solidify. Just know that there are names being thrown around for the Men's team, mostly of the midfield variety, as well as a highly-promising young winger.

Women's team

• Amanda Nildén joins us from Juventus on a loan for the rest of the season, with an option to buy in the summer.

Contrary to initial reports that she was a centerback, she has confirmed that she plays most often at left fullback but with the potential to play further forward as well. I'm going to interpret that as her being a possible wingback candidate if we were ever to transition to a formation that uses them. The fullbacks are quite progressive in our current system anyway, so it's good that she has a penchant for getting involved in the attack. She's scored quite a few goals for a defender's standard.

The Sweden international is 25 years old, so she's another peak-age signing to bolster the squad. Amanda will provide competition for Charli Grant at the leftback position, but also free Charli up to play on the right side when needed.

Overall, this feels like a smart loan with a chance to make the move permanent if she meshes well with the squad and the system.

That being said, I kind of wish she was a centerback since we're suddenly a bit light at that position, what with current injuries and the recent outgoing loans.

Men's team

Here come the loans, all of them outgoing:

• Alfie Devine was recalled from his successful loan with League One side Port Vale and will be spending the second half of the season on loan with Championship club Plymouth Argyle. In addition to experiencing a step up in the pyramid, he'll be joining Ashley Phillips who is already there on loan. I kind of love this new trend of Spurs sending multiple players to the same club on loan, both from a camaraderie perspective and a development perspective. It also shows that we have a good relationship with the clubs in question and could possibly count on them to facilitate future loan moves. I also love the new loan announcement referring to Alfie and Ashley as "colleagues" at Spurs. So fancy.

Port Vale shared a nice interview clip of Alfie talking about his loan experience.

I'm afraid that's where the feel-good loan business ends...

• Sergio Reguilón is heading out on another Premier League-based loan, this time to Brentford. That club is just giving me bad vibes lately, not least because of the (in my opinion) extremely tacky hyping up of Ivan Toney's return from a suspension related to betting offenses, so I don't care for poor Sergio landing into that mess. I do hope he does well though and can finally get his career back on track, even if it looks unlikely to involve a future at Spurs.

• The same goes for Japhet Tanganga—complete with a less-than-desirable loan destination. I mean, it's Millwall. I'm not even from England and I still know about the reputation of that club (and its fanbase). But Japhet could sorely use a fresh start, so I suppose he has to take it any way he can get it. I also can't be too upset about him leaving my Bundesliga club's local rival. They didn't deserve him!

• And this is the one that really hurts. Ivan Perišić is heading on loan to HNK Hajduk Split for the remainder of the season to complete his rehab and hopefully earn a spot in Croatia's team for the upcoming Euros. I sincerely wish him good luck. I was so excited when we signed him and feel sad that we never got to see the best of him in a Spurs shirt—mostly because of Antonio Conte's horrible mismanagement of him, constantly playing Ivan out of his best position. This is yet another item on my long list of reasons to hold a grudge against Conte. Then his ACL injury earlier this season was just pure bad luck. Imagine what he and Ryan Mason could have cooked up together for set pieces! Sigh. We will never know what could have been. Go well, Ivan.

Academy teams

• Two players signed their first professional contracts with the club on the Men's side, Damola Ajayi and Calum Logan.

I'm not familiar with Logan, but apparently he's a left-footed CB/LB. Intriguing, but he's only playing at the U18 level so far.

Ajayi, on the other hand, should be a familiar name to anyone who kept tabs on the U17/U18 Cup double-winning team last season. He's also featured at U21 level in the current PL2 campaign.

Pub Chat: Charli Grant edition

Okay, I really brought the mood down with all that negative loan talk. So as a bonus segment, I'm going to share a couple of bookmarks about our new resident bundle of Australian sunshine, Charli Grant.

The first is a (fairly long) video interview from Optus Sport. H/t to @Hexagon_Sun on the A Bit Spursy discord for putting this one on my radar. That Discord is a really chill Spurs community, by the way. I highly recommend joining, and listening to Dan and Barney's hilarious podcast, too.

The second piece is an interview over on Impetus 71 that came out before her signing with Spurs was announced but does allude to her then-rumored move to Tottenham.

Charli Grant: A year of huge positives with an exciting new chapter ahead in 2024

Impetus 71’s Ben Gilby speaks to Matildas defender Charli Grant about a sensational year for both club and country, and the next chapter in her career…(2/1/24). Above: Charli Grant in a…

WordPress.combgilby2014

This interview focuses on her stint in the Damallsvenskan, her World Cup experience with Australia, and her excitement for a new chapter in the WSL.

The most interesting tidbit to me was the fact that she played quite a few games at rightback for Australia when Ellie Carpenter was injured; it's good to know that she's equally comfortable playing on that side of the pitch, even if she will primarily feature at leftback for Spurs. Charli also notes that her time at Vittsjö was important for building up her fitness but also improving her "decision-making in the final third." She had a lot of praise for the various Swedish managers she's played under at both club and country levels.

All right, enjoy your Saturdays! I'll be attending the USMNT friendly vs Slovenia at my local club's stadium. The usual starters won't be there since this isn't an official FIFA match window, but I'm still looking forward to it. This will only be my second-ever US national team match after watching the WNT last year in Austin.

On a newsletter programming note, I'll be back with a new issue early next week since the Women's team has a midweek game in the Conti Cup (at Southampton on Thursday). Until then,

COYS

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