New Year's Bumper Special

Spurs Men kick off the new year with a 0-1 away win at Watford | Previewing Chelsea in the League Cup | Mid-Season Superlatives!

We were very close to witnessing a Spursy start to 2022, but a stoppage-time winner from *check's notes* Davinson Sánchez spared our blushes. Apparently, it's the latest Spurs have ever scored a goal since they started recording that data with exact goal times. Fun!

For me, scoring such a perfectly executed goal made up for the frustrating 95 minutes that preceded. This Watford team clearly had no intention of playing on the front foot, despite it being their home fixture, content to let Spurs dominate possession and dictate the flow of the match. That was the lowest of low blocks that I've seen in a while (besides Real Madrid vs Cadiz the other day in La Liga--talk about painful). I was helping my mom get our New Year's chicken prepared in the crockpot during halftime, so I never heard why Emmanuel Dennis was subbed out at the start of the second half, but he and Josh King were the only real attacking threats for Watford, and they only managed four shots on target together as a team. They were playing for a draw and almost got their wish. Enter:  Big Dav.

Actually, first enter Son Heung-min with another timely drawn foul just outside the box. He won the penalty that Kane converted last match, and this time he got to deliver an exquisite assist for Sánchez's headed goal. And that's why you don't sub him out when he's having a "quiet" match (quiet in this case included a couple of decent chances). Son is also our joint assist leader now, so I just think his contributions should be appreciated for what they have been. A match is 90 minutes; sometimes a player maxes out with a hat trick or a brace of assists, and in other games they might only manage one goal contribution. Either way, these stats add up over the course of the season. Son has been contributing in a variety of ways this year, from edge-of-the-box bangers to corner kick assists and even that one free kick goal. If this is Son having a quiet season, I will only start to worry if he becomes silent.

Sonny delivered the perfect cross, and Sánchez couldn't have taken his header any better. His strong performances this season are starting to feel less and less flukey and more like his new standard under Conte. He happens to have the same number of goals as PEH and Lucas, unbelievably.

However, it did take that moment of brilliance to rescue the result--because frankly, a draw would not have been good enough. Pretty much every player across the team needs to improve their sharpness in tight situations in the box, and also need to be reliably found in the box. Our wingbacks both struggled with their final passes, but it didn't help that there often wasn't anyone there to receive them. They needed more options. I don't want to be too harsh on Royal and Reguilón because they were clearly following Conte's gameplan, it was just a matter of execution on the day. Dealing with teams that play a low block will continue to be a challenge until we start utilizing our more creative players in midfield--or bring in some new faces. It was a big show of confidence from Conte that he brought Winks in as his first attempt at finding the difference-maker.

We're also learning about Conte that he rarely allows a player on a yellow card to stay in the game. Perhaps he just doesn't have that level of trust with his new squad yet and doesn't expect them to stay disciplined. Either way, it was a bummer to see Skipp go off since he was certainly our best player up until the point of his substitution.

And now it is time for my obligatory shoutout for the skipper, Hugo "Clean Sheet" Lloris, who was once again immense for us between the sticks. He definitely earned that clean sheet against Watford with his fingertips save on Josh King's best effort as well as a timely interception later on. He's honestly just playing at a different level this season, and I am here for it. If we don't win a trophy this year (possibly his last with Spurs unless the board gets their act together and extends his contract!) it will be an absolute shame. He deserves to win one with the club for all the years of consistent service and leadership he's put in.

I don't recall ever seeing this ref (Robert Jones) officiating a match before, but let's be honest, he was appalling towards both teams. Luckily there weren't any decisions that overtly affected the result, unlike in the Southampton match.

Last note on personnel:  Højbjerg needs a rest. It would be great to see Winks given a chance to work with Skipp for a game or two, or even Lo Celso if Conte feels so inclined. Luckily, we spent most of the match in Watford's defensive third, so there shouldn't be too much wear and tear on the players for the upcoming League Cup match against Chelsea. Skipp will be especially fresh thanks to his early substitution.

Chelsea, round one

I already feel exhausted thinking about how many times we have to play Chelsea this month (three, four if you count the Women's WSL match). But hey, we did beat them in the same competition last season... in completely different circumstances... under different managers... Ahem.

I guess in the grand scheme of this season, this is a much better time to be facing them than earlier in the campaign when they looked borderline untouchable (and we did not touch them in our previous encounter). Their form in the PL has been shaky of late, with several draws in December. They've also suffered a few injury blows, with Ben Chilwell likely out for the rest of the season and Reece James picking up a hamstring injury against Brighton that will keep him out for around two months, by the conservative estimate. Andreas Christensen and Thiago Silva could also be misses, and Timo Werner is still recovering from COVID. Chelsea's first-choice keeper, Edouard Mendy, is participating in the African Cup of Nations and will miss at least the two legs of the League Cup semi-final, and possibly the matchup in the PL if Senegal advances out of the group stage. Finally, it would appear that the Chelsea squad is experiencing some dressing room tensions, with Romelu Lukaku making public his unhappiness with his manager's tactics. Awkward.

They still pose plenty of a threat to Tottenham, though, including the disgruntled Lukaku. Kepa might not be Chelsea's first choice, but he's proven himself to be an asset in a penalty shootout if it comes to that. Antonio Rüdiger has been very consistent at center-back for the Blues this season--but many teams have him on their transfer target list, so he might not be there for long. And, I don't know, Jorginho? Supposedly one of the top three players in the world? Sure. Whatever. He's making his penalties this season, anyway--his only goals so far in the PL. Elsewhere in the midfield, Kanté is recently returned from injury. Mason Mount and Kai Havertz (just returned from COVID absence) will also be key in Chelsea's attack, along with the in-form Hakim Ziyech.

We both have the benefit of playing a weak side in the FA Cup between our League Cup fixtures, but Tottenham will have more quality options available on the bench to actually take advantage of rotation. We also won't have to worry about Chelsea playing a low block and frustrating us like Watford and Southampton both did. Chelsea's defenders have been scoring a lot of goals this season though, so minimizing their set-piece opportunities will be an important factor.

Regardless of who ends up being available for Chelsea, this match, and the reverse fixture at Tottenham Hotspur stadium, and the away match in the PL, are all going to be fraught and anxiety-inducing affairs for us fans. Buckle up.

Mid-Season Superlatives

It's that time of year to look back on the season in progress and take stock of how things are trending at Tottenham Hotspur. I know a lot of people like to look back at the whole calendar year of football, but frankly, let's just leave last season in the past where it belongs.

I'm keeping things positive with only awards of praise, not any negative standouts. I also decided to add a Mr./Ms. Tottenham award simply because Sonny and Ash both deserved an award, and they were just edged out by other players in all the other categories. I also considered performances from PL and WSL matches primarily, because a few of the Women's cup matches weren't streamable.

Men's Team

Biggest surprise:  Eric Dier

Best new signing:  Cristian Romero

Best young player:  Oliver Skipp

Best goal:  Lucas Moura against Norwich City

Most valuable player:  Hugo Lloris

Most improved player:  Davinson Sánchez

Mr. Tottenham:  Son Heung-min

Women's Team

Biggest surprise:  Chioma Ubogagu

Best new signing:  Tinja-Riikka Korpela

Best young player:  Angela Addison

Best goal:  Jessica Naz against Everton

Most valuable player:  Rachel Williams

Most improved player:  Kit Graham

Ms. Tottenham:  Ashleigh Neville

Who else would y'all nominate for these categories? It was very hard to choose for some of them, believe me!

I also have to give a sincere shoutout to both Antonio Conte and Rehanne Skinner for the fabulous jobs they've been doing in management. It's hard to imagine either of our beloved Spurs teams doing as well without these managers (and indeed, we suffered through the Nuno era for a while there). I was wary when Conte was brought in, just because of how our last dalliance with a "proven winner" went, but he's shown himself to be different from Mourinho in all the important ways. And while Rehanne was a bit of an unknown quantity last season, she's found her footing now and led the team through its most successful season ever--and we're only halfway through.

Now please, can the Tottenham board back them both in the transfer window?

COYS