New Competition, New Lineup
In the spirit of the newly rebranded and reformatted Subway Players Cup, Martin Ho opted for heavy lineup rotation from the side that scored seven league goals on the weekend. This fresh lineup... did not score seven goals (or any goals, for that matter), but did earn a point to kick off the cup campaign, falling short of gaining the extra penalty shootout point.
In this issue: West Ham United recap | News from around the Lane
It's a short issue today with Spurs Men on international break—a phrase which never fails to sound like a cruel oxymoron, since quite a few of the players aren't getting a break at all. But Spurs Women will be keeping us busy with three more matches until they return. They're back in Women's Super League play on Sunday.
Players Cup MD 1 | Tottenham 0(3) - 0(4) West Ham United
West Ham wins the penalty shootout point
We probably should have seen this scoreless draw coming since we'd just faced West Ham three games prior. Such a close turnaround means that both teams were well-prepared tactically for the opposition, and that tends to lead to more conservative play and a stalemate score.
It's not that Spurs were holding back, per se, but the heavy rotation to the starting lineup led to some stilted chemistry that blunted the attack. The decision-making in the final third was not as strong as we'd seen against Crystal Palace in the previous league game. The midfield was very solid, however, and neutralized West Ham's counterattacking threat.
We also got our first glimpse of Selma Panengstuen in goal—and she saw some added action with the penalty shootout. During the game, she showcased some impressive shot-stopping skills, but had one dicey moment on an attempted cross capture that Alice Sombath had to clear away. I don't think this performance allowed us to form any definitive opinions on whether she should supplant Lize Kop for the WSL starting spot, but she showed enough to likely earn more cup starts for the time being.
Martin Ho was swift to make substitutions and ensure most of the outfield players saw game time (and stayed fresh for another busy week ahead), but this did leave us light on experienced penalty takers for the resulting shootout. Although Panengstuen was able to make one save and even things up after Caitlin Dijkstra had missed our second penalty attempt, Shekiera Martinez sent her penalty kick over the goal and missed the chance to force sudden death. Her former team took the extra PKs point.
About half of the teams in the Players Cup haven't played their first match yet, so our current 9th-place status won't last. By the time we play our next game on Wednesday, some of those teams still won't have played, so you really can't read anything into the table standings at this point of the competition. But it's worth noting that this was one of three WSL matchups we will face in the league phase. If you want the glass-half-full perspective, we at least gained a point against one of our tougher cup fixtures. If you're looking at things glass-half-empty, we failed to win one of our three home ties. Hopefully we do not end up rueing missing out on the extra penalties point.
Notable & quotable:
• Spurs remain unbeaten across our first four games of the season in all competitions.
• This was the first game we have been held scoreless...
• ...but we earned our second clean sheet of the season.
• Selma Panengstuen made her Spurs debut and first start.
• Alice Sombath made her first start for Spurs in any competition, as did Shekiera Martinez and Matilda Nildén.
• Hanna Wijk made her first appearance and start of the season after returning from injury.
• Ella Morris and Olga Ahtinen also made their first starts of the season in any competition.
News from around the Lane
• Martin Ho, his coaching staff, and the squad received the League Managers Association (LMA) Performance of the Week award for the 0-7 win at Crystal Palace.
• An update on last week's loan watch, international break edition:
• Elsewhere amongst our young player ranks, Tyrese Hall is nominated for PL2 Player of the Month for September.
• Blake Irow has signed a new contract with the club.
Up next:
September 27 | Spurs Women vs Aston Villa
Team news — No new injuries; Lenna Gunning-Williams is back in full team training but not yet available for selection
Aston Villa have had an uneven start to the season, so this is a home league game we absolutely need to be winning. I feel pretty confident that the players will want to put the disappointment of being held scoreless in the cup game behind them, and this has been a reliably high-scoring fixture for Spurs in the past.
There were a few players who made a good argument for a start in their midweek performance; Ella Morris and Matilda Nildén come to mind, though I suspect the latter will continue to be used as an impact sub in WSL games for now as she continues developing. It would also be nice to see Alice Sombath get her first WSL start alongside Tōko Koga, who was rested for the cup game.
That's all for today! I'll be back again early next week to recap the WSL game and look ahead to another Players Cup encounter.
COYS
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