Not Giving Up

I felt like giving up on writing this issue because I've been feeling so poorly, but if Beth and Sonny and their teams can push through their exhaustion to try to end the season strong, so can I.

So I guess that's a bit of a spoiler that I wasn't disappointed with the performances in these past two senior games, even if the results were (somewhat expected) losses. To me, these don't look like teams that are short of ideas or effort, they're just dealing with a lot of mental & physical fatigue—not uncommon for most teams at this stage of the season, I would argue, unless you have the kind of squad depth funded by oil money.

Even though we are limping into the final matchday and don't have much to play for besides club pride, I still expect to see both teams end on a high note.

In this issue: Manchester City recap | Chelsea recap | Pub chat | Previewing the weekend fixtures | News from around the Lane

I'm bringing back the Pub Chat segment for the first time in a while because I have a lot of feelings about the two fan discourses that have roiled the Tottenham fanbase this week. This is one of the rare times when it feels important to reiterate that this newsletter is written from an American Spurs fan perspective. And in the tradition of my (not always great) country, I won't be mincing words when it comes to questioning British tradition. Y'all have been warned!

Right, let's get to it.

PL Matchday 37 recap | Tottenham 0 - 2 Manchester City

Haaland 51', 90+1' (pen)

I don't want to get too much into the controversial mood around the game here because that's the topic of my later discussion, but I think it's fair to say that the conflicted expectations of the fanbase did not affect the players' performance in the slightest. You only have to look at the scoreline and the timing of Erling Haaland's two goals to see that Spurs were truly not out of the game until the very end. But let's focus strictly on the game itself for now, not the implications.

Starting XI:

I got a little creative here with my lineup graphic, but only because it was hard to pin down the actual formation that Ange Postecoglou employed. It was a bit of a statement from a manager who's been criticized at times this season for his reluctance to switch things up. At times I've thought that criticism was a little overblown because we have seen some pretty crucial mid-game tactical changes from Ange that won us quite a few points, but it is true that for the most part, he's employed a 4-2-3-1 formation to start with players typically in their preferred roles (Son Heung-min is a kind of complicated exception).

Anyway, the lineup pictured above was only a loose guideline, not a rigid expectation. As we tend to see from an Ange side, the players were given license to play freely and move fluidly between roles. The midfield was especially dynamic—refreshingly so, I would say, after several weeks of inert and ineffective midfield performances. And the presence of Micky van de Ven at left fullback was notable on a player level, not least because Ange had indicated in a recent press conference that he was wary of starting him at such a physically demanding position so soon after his injury rehab. The upshot was that Radu Drǎgușin made just his third start since joining the club in January, featuring at left centerback once again.

We were starting without a player in the traditional striker role, but let's be honest: it's been that way for more than half of our league games regardless of what the formation looked like on paper. Son did an admirable job finding ways to score from a more central role at times this season, particularly in the first half of the campaign, but it doesn't make sense to judge him by the strictest standards of a striker because he was always a stopgap solution in Richarlison's injury absence. You can definitely make a case that the club could have been more aggressive in its attempts to recruit another striker in January, but realistically that's business best suited to the summer window.

So this striker-less formation seemed to me like Ange finally embracing the current squad's limitations and taking advantage of the one thing we do have a surplus of: midfielders. It made sense to maximize the number of creative outlets to provide Son and Brennan Johnson with deliveries in the counter-attacking setup.

On to the game itself: we started surprisingly well! Rather than looking tentative in a new formation, the players instead looked energized and up for the challenge. By nature of the quality of the opposition, we still had to do a lot of defending and had very little margin for error. I thought Drǎgușin especially rose to the occasion and made a strong case to be trusted with more minutes next season (when we will be juggling more than one competition for large parts of the season). Guglielmo Vicario also shone in the goal, making several big saves and interceptions reminiscent of his confident run of form at the start of the season.

Rodrigo Bentancur was a big talking point in the game. He had perhaps our best chance of the first half but also picked up a yellow card about ten minutes before halftime. Sensing that Bentancur was on the verge of a second yellow sending-off, Ange pulled him in the 55th minute and brought on Dejan Kulusevski. Lolo wasn't pleased:

Normally this kind of behavior would make me roll my eyes, but for some reason, it didn't bother me in this situation. He did shake hands with Ange upon coming off the pitch, so I don't think it was anger that made him lash out at the poor chair. I interpreted it as pure disappointment with himself that he hadn't done enough (or restrained himself enough) to warrant staying on the pitch. I thought it showed his competitive spirit, that he was devastated at not getting to have a further say in such a high-pressure match. Somehow this fixture always seems to bring out the extremes in players—remember Haaland's tantrum at the Etihad, and on the flip side, Grealish's short-lived gloating? In a game where some were questioning if the players would give it their all, Bentancur undoubtedly did. It was just a little too much for what Ange was trying to accomplish.

I'm sure the fact that we had conceded just four minutes prior contributed to those feelings of frustration. We had defended with such focus and dedication up until that point, so the switch-off in intensity was quite a letdown. You simply can't give a player like Haaland that quality of chance to finish—he always will. And Kevin De Bruyne doesn't have his reputation as a pin-point passer for nothing.

We did well to stay in the game up until the stoppage time penalty from Haaland completed his brace and iced the result for City. Kulusevski looked very bright in his substitute appearance, as you would probably suspect from a player rumored to be on the cusp of a transfer exit. The fresh legs from Oliver Skipp and Giovani Lo Celso also helped.

There were two somewhat questionable refereeing decisions for fouls on City players. Pape Sarr could have seen red on another day for his late challenge on De Bruyne, and as bad as Ederson's injury outcome was, the actual challenge from Cristian Romero was fair game and not reckless in my opinion. What was reckless was Pep Guardiola's decision to keep Ederson on the pitch for seven more minutes until the point when he apparently lost vision in the affected eye and had no choice but to exit the match. De Bruyne was also subbed off at the same time.

Unfortunately for Spurs, City's backup keeper Stefan Ortega seized his moment and made a massive save on Son's 86th-minute breakaway shot to preserve their clean sheet. As many have said, that's a chance that Sonny finishes 99 times out of 100, but this was the one time he didn't.

The ten minutes of stoppage time allotted felt like a potential lifeline, but Haaland put the game out of reach before it had barely begun. Let's just say the penalty was cleverly won by Jérémy Doku, but it was indeed a penalty by the letter of the law.

The only other major talking point from the game was the senior debut of Mikey Moore. Becoming the 883rd player in Spurs Men's competitive history, he is also the youngest-ever player to feature for the team in the PL at 16 years, nine months, and three days old.

Although we fell short of a result, the spirited performance and the adaptability shown by the players were much appreciated.

SAtP Player of the Match: Everyone

Sure, this is a bit of a cop-out, but I genuinely found it hard to choose. And with the weird atmosphere in the stadium, I think every player deserves some flowers for keeping the focus where it belonged and putting in the best performance they could against difficult opposition—perhaps the most difficult, in light of the fact that City will almost certainly go on to win the title now.

The tactical changeups for this match were not insignificant, either, so the players deserve some kudos for taking them in stride and adjusting to the new formation relatively seamlessly.

Notable & quotable:

• This was the first time we escaped the first half without conceding a goal since the 0-4 clean sheet at Aston Villa.

• Tyrese Hall was involved in the matchday squad for the first time at the senior level. No PL debut yet, but he's one to watch.

• Maddison remarked on the unforgiving nature of a game against such a high-powered opponent:

We felt we had a foothold in the game but they took their big moments which won the game for them. That’s the difference at this level.

• Son took responsibility for his saved shot near the end of the game:

I’m also human. The keeper made a really good decision and made himself really big. But I take the responsibility not to score that big chance for the team, because the team was working really hard and trying to get a good result.

• Young Mikey's thoughts on his debut:

As a young player coming through the Academy you want to make your debut, it’s probably the best feeling I’ve ever had.

He also reflected on the pace of the game taking him by surprise. Understandable at his age!

• I have much more to say on Ange's comments from the immediate post-game presser, but this follow-up from today confirmed my hunch that his frustration around the fan/media narrative of throwing the game was largely about concern for his integrity:

I don't know how many times the man has to tell us that he only cares about getting the team to play good football and build toward success before we believe him. But again, I'll have much more on that below after the Women's match recap.

WSL Matchday 21 recap | Tottenham 0 - 1 Chelsea

Hamano 37'

I'm not going to dwell as long on this game, mostly because by this point in the week my cold had gotten worse and it took everything in me not to fall asleep during the match. My memory of it is not very strong, needless to say. And unlike with the Men's match, there literally was nothing to fight for in terms of table placement, so it lacked the same high-stakes feel—for Spurs, that is. Chelsea were highly motivated to win the match and put the WSL title race into their own hands for the final matchday; they now have the edge over Manchester City on goal difference.

Starting XI:

While the Women's formation was not quite as fluid as the one we saw from the Men's team, there was still some movement between positions, particularly with Beth England and Jess Naz switching places at times. It was still surprising to see England line up at left winger. She's now played across every position of the forward line since her return from injury. Otherwise, it was as expected for the starting lineup, including Barbora Votíková replacing Becky Spencer in goal as the latter was unavailable for this match.

Top Three Things:

1. Chelsea find a way - They just do, particularly with a league title on the line. There will come a day when Spurs are better able to compete with the wealth of talent in the Chelsea squad, but today was not that day—especially not with the opposition squad's rest advantage for the midweek fixture. Still, I thought our performance was not bad in the circumstances and reflected the progress we've made this season in terms of defensive improvement. Holding Chelsea to just one goal is not as exciting as earning a shock result, but a hard-fought achievement nevertheless. We kept our organizational shape and defended well for the majority of the game, even if we struggled to get much going in the attack.
2. Questionable lack of rotation - I think Robert Vilahamn is coming up against a similar obstacle as his compatriot Ange is on the Men's side, in that both managers know which players they trust at this point in the season and are increasingly reluctant to play some of the others who are unlikely to be at the club next season. As a result, there were a few players who started this match who probably would have benefited more from a rest after putting in tough shifts in the FA Cup final. One of them I'll get to next, but others like Eveliina Summanen, Drew Spence, Jess Naz, and even captain Beth England come to mind. Some, unfortunately, don't have realistic cover to be able to miss a match, like Ash Neville and both centerbacks (with Molly Bartrip ruled out for the matchday squad). The fact that Vilahamn only used four out of an available five subs in the second game of a three-game matchweek is suboptimal any way you look at it. I get that he might not have much desire to see more from Rosella Ayane or Ramona Petzelberger, but surely Olga Ahtinen or Wang Shuang could have made a contribution. We can only hope recovery went well for these starters and that we can still put in a respectable performance on the final day.
3. Early injury to Amanda Nildén - Nildén's premature exit put a real dampener on the game. It wasn't what I would call a contact injury necessarily, so that was concerning, and it's never good when a player has to be stretchered off the pitch. Thankfully, we have since learned that although Nildén will be out of action for 4-6 weeks, her ankle injury won't require surgery. In the injury update from the club, Vilahamn said it would be several weeks "before we can have her back," which could be a hint that Spurs are still committed to converting her loan contract into a permanent deal.

SAtP Player of the Match: Jess Naz

Candidly, I don't remember anyone standing out to a noticeable degree, but I admired Jess' resilience in the aftermath of being subbed out of a cup final early in the game. That couldn't have been an easy pill to swallow, but she's handled herself like a complete professional and got straight back to doing typical Jess Naz things in this game, undaunted.

She was also under some pressure to impress the England manager, Sarina Wiegman, who was in attendance to watch her latest call-up to the Lionesses. Wiegman will have seen that Jess can hold her own even against the top players in the league. Here's to hoping she makes it off the standby list and gets her England debut over the next two months!

Notable & quotable:

• Celin's thoughts on the performance from a squad with weary legs:

I think there's been a lot of games lately and obviously, people are tired at the end of the season. I'm just proud of the girls, fighting from minute one to minute 90.

• Robert was asked how close he feels to the fans:

I knew that Tottenham was a big club, but every week I hear more songs, more people... I hear them sing my name, it's like 'what happened here?' It's for real here... you also feel like we are doing it together. Winning and losing, we are going to stick together and we're gonna make sure we do this journey together.

I can guarantee you that in two or three years we're gonna have full stadiums and we're gonna play there in the Champions League and [for] the title. They're gonna help us with that and we're gonna make sure we do it for them. So I'm very, very pleased with the fanbase and how we have the connection.

Pub Chat: Notes on rivalry and fandom

There are two fan discourses I want to comment on this week, one surrounding the Men's team and one related to the Women's team. I have a lot to say, so buckle in. Or skip ahead to the match previews if you're not interested!

I think two things can be true about Ange Postecoglou's controversial quotes after the Manchester City game: he could have delivered them in a less provocative manner, but he was right to say them. I also think his comments have been misinterpreted and misunderstood in a few frustrating ways.

The quote that's getting the most attention is his response to whether he'd seen evidence of a good foundation for future improvement around the last fixture:

No, I think the last 48 hours has revealed to me that the foundations are fairly fragile mate.

When pressed on whether his concerns had to do with figures inside or outside the club, he replied: "Outside, inside, everywhere." Many have interpreted the "outside" part of his response to indicate Tottenham fans, but it could also (or instead) mean the media.

Firstly, I don't think he was "telling fans what to do" or "how to feel," as I've seen many folks claim. He even went out of his way to acknowledge that he can only control his own words & actions:

I want to be successful at this football club. It’s why I was brought in. So other people, how they want to feel and what their priorities are, are of zero interest to me... I can’t dictate what people do.

Ange was filmed getting into a verbal altercation with a fan behind the dugout during the City game, with varying accounts of just what was said by that fan to prompt his anger. Asked more specifically in the press conference about the behavior of fans at matches and if it affects the performance, he responded:

They’re allowed to express themselves any way they want. But yeah, when we’ve got late winners in games it’s because the crowd’s helped us.

Frankly, there's been a lot of projection on Ange's words from fans who seem a little embarrassed after the fact to have rooted for a Spurs loss to help scupper Arasenal's title challenge. I don't think anything he said was meant as a dismissal of fans' very real emotions around the rivalry with Arsenal, which he has acknowledged, but rather a disappointment that the conflict some fans felt prevented them from getting fully behind the team in the stadium (as well as on social media, it must be said). Having vocal support from the fans has made a difference in many games this season, so naturally it would be disappointing to have lacked it in a match against such a difficult opponent.

There was also a suggestion from many local fans that those of us who are outsiders and newcomers to supporting Tottenham—or managing the Men's team, in Ange's case—cannot truly understand the North London rivalry. I'm of two minds on this topic. On the one hand, it's true that many of us don't have personal experience of such an intense rivalry; for example, my NBA team's closest rivalry is a three-hour drive away on the interstate. Sometimes I engage in light banter with a Rockets fan if I encounter them (and there are lots of transplants between San Antonio and Houston, trust me), but it's totally fair to say that I'm not immersed in a culture of rivalry. If the Rockets were to win the NBA title next year I wouldn't be made miserable by constantly having that fact shoved in my face in the weeks to follow. I get that most Spurs fans want to avoid experiencing that kind of gloating from Arsenal fans if at all possible. On the other hand, to suggest that we have somehow failed to notice the intensity of the rivalry from afar is not accurate or fair. And we , feel it to some degree, even if we don't have to suffer the worst consequences of it. Usually when my Arsenal-supporting best friend (who is also American) visits we talk about football incessantly, but when I saw her a few weeks back we didn't talk about it once. Why? Because of the current Tottenham-Arsenal tension, obviously! She didn't want to jinx their possible title win, and I didn't want to dwell on the possibility. Everyone experiences the rivalry differently, but we all feel the emotions—just to different degrees.

This is where I'm going to possibly upset some of you reading this. I would like to posit that letting a rivalry prevent you from rooting for your own team is letting the rival win. And we don't want to let Arsenal win when it comes to our own hearts and feelings, right? Personally, I am always of the mindset that supporting a team means cheering for them and hoping for their success above all else. I believe in this so strongly that when I'm at a game for a team I love, I don't even boo the opposition because I would rather be vocal in support of my team.

And the thing that struck me so strangely about this City game is that the players really gave us something to cheer for in their performance, yet there were still home fans singing anti-Arsenal songs instead, or jokingly (maybe not so jokingly?) doing the City fans' goal celebration with them. I mean, as Ange said, you do you—but that would never feel like a satisfying demonstration of fandom to me. If it's not active support of my team, it's not support. That's just my opinion and I understand if anyone disagrees, but perhaps consider that you'd be less miserable as a fan if you focused on the positives. I've seen a lot of misery in this Spurs fanbase over the past few years, and from my perspective, too much of it is self-inflicted. It's not that dire now, the team is on a positive path forward, and we shouldn't let the success of our rivals (which may be temporary for all we know) get in the way of enjoying our own team playing much-improved football.

And it was good football, with a depleted squad no less! Even though I am only human and could have accepted the loss more easily knowing that it hurt Arsenal's chances at the title, from the moment the game kicked off I was only focused on hoping for a win. And the team gave me more hope in the way they played. I was whooping at every block Drǎgușin made, every ball Vicario came out to claim, and every chance the midfield created. It was thrilling to watch the team adapt to a new tactical formation and go toe-to-toe with the best team in the league (it's not Arsenal!). Isn't this what we were pining for during the terrible Mourinho/Nuno/Conte era? I was enjoying the spectacle and the tension of not knowing how the game would turn out. That means so much more to me than any impact on the league table ever could. We become fans of a sport because we want to be entertained, and I became a fan of this team because it had players and a style that entertained me. Now that we finally have that spirit back, under a manager who fully believes in it, there's no way I'm going to wish for them to turn their backs on the progress made just to satisfy a petty rivalry.

This wasn't the only match that influenced the title race, regardless. It's a 38-game season. If we truly wanted to thwart Arsenal in their title attempt we should have beaten them a few weeks ago when it mattered. But to be fair to the team, they did try. It's revisionist history to pretend that we were never in that game, as well as to erase the strong second-half performance against Liverpool. A lot of fans who have been critical of Ange this week have accused him of not caring enough during the four-game losing streak. I just don't think that's fair to him. Both teams can't win, and sometimes you end up on the wrong side of the equation despite your best efforts. That was definitely the case in a couple of those losses. And to anyone who thinks Ange wasn't "animated" enough on the sidelines during that stretch, did we not all see the clip of him shouting at the team to stop passing backward? Again, it's revisionist history because some people can't handle being called out for their disloyalty. At the end of the day, hoping for your team to lose a match is disloyal in the most basic sense. You can try to qualify it after the fact and say the ends justified the means, but that's the truth.

And this is where I may truly lose some of y'all, because I actually think it was good for Ange to force this reckoning in the fanbase. As I said before, I don't actually think Ange was aiming his comments directly at the fans, but it's not a bad thing for the message to have been received in a roundabout way. Ange believes there are figures at the club who need to reassess their priorities and fully commit to the process of becoming a winning club, and there are many fans who need to do so as well. Isn't it tiring to always be so laser-focused on a rival instead of appreciating the journey our team is on? Wouldn't you rather feel gratitude for the progress we've already seen in Ange's first year than lament the success of a rival team that's many years further down the road of change?

That brings me to my final note on the Ange controversy. I saw a lot of fans saying that he was being inconsistent because he had said in the past that he didn't want Champions League next season. But that's a twisting of his prior words; he was insisting that individual results are less important in the grand scheme of things than ensuring constant, steady progress. In other words, it wouldn't do any use to qualify for the CL if we did it playing lackluster football that wasn't sustainable—like, say, Antonio Conte did. Ange is trying to build something for the future that can continue to grow. He was never suggesting that CL qualification was in and of itself a bad thing, or not a target for this Spurs team. It was still a possibility going into the City game and I guarantee that he and the players were all fighting to keep that possibility alive. They were just going to try to do it the Tottenham way, with some style.

There is a stark contrast in Ange's attitude to Conte's own rant last season, when he couldn't have made it more clear that he thought Tottenham was a hopeless, irredeemable club that would never catch up to its rivals. Ange actually believes that we can, and he is determined to help us get there.

With that framing in mind, you can easily understand why he bristled at any suggestion that the team might throw a game to hurt a rival. None of that matters to Ange. He cares about keeping the players on the path to progress. Even if he had been sympathetic to the view of some fans that it was important to give up the points for the sake of rivalry, he could never have allowed it under his principle of treating every match as an opportunity to get better.

So if rivalries are that integral to your sense of football culture, I would humbly suggest that your football culture needs a reset. I tend to agree with Ange that what matters most is watching attractive football, and staying true to the club's identity in order to so. It's much more enjoyable to base one's fandom around these values than to dwell in negativity. Of course it's okay to take stock in rivalries, and there will always be teams you dislike, but perhaps question yourself from time to time if you're letting that dislike get out of hand with no actual benefit to your happiness and well-being.

On a similar note, there was another controversy brewing adjacent to Spurs fandom, but on the Women's side of the game. Charli Grant's friend and national teammate Kyra Cooney-Cross, who plays for Arsenal, came to the FA Cup final to support Charli and was photographed wearing a Spurs scarf. Naturally, Arsenal fans had a meltdown, and she was receiving a lot of abuse online about it—some of it from Spurs fans, too. Charli put out a statement in support of her friend asking for people to "treat everyone the way you want to be treated." Not an unreasonable ask, to be fair.

I was disappointed to see so many Spurs fans push back against her post, despite it receiving re-tweets and approval from many of Charli's Spurs teammates. You know, the players we support. If they're asking us to cool it, we should probably cool it. And while I agree that it was unwise of Cooney-Cross to allow herself to be photographed in a rival team's gear, it doesn't excuse abuse. Period. Too many people have tried to suggest that it's an exception, and it's not. We can be adults about this and recognize that a rivalry is never that serious that you should be harassing a player, especially not one who's playing in a foreign country and was just being a supportive friend. If I can put a stronger point on it: get a grip!

If you're thinking to yourself, "Oh, well, I would never send a player abuse over something like this" then that's great. I'm not talking about you. But every time we waffle over situations like this and say things like "Well, she was wearing the scarf..." it emboldens the people who don't have the same moral compass. It's better to agree with Charli that the abuse is uncalled for, no caveats necessary.

And to be quite honest, it would make a lot of us in the Tottenham world hypocrites because we got over it pretty quickly when Beth England wore a Sophie Ingle shirt to the last FA Cup final. Why is it only okay for Beth because she had played for Chelsea previously? All of these players are professionals at the end of the day and there should never be any implication that they aren't fully committed to the clubs they're playing for just because they had a reason to have a rooting interest in a neutral game—like it being a previous club or having a friend play there. As fans we sometimes "root" for a team we care nothing about just because we hate them slightly less than the opponent. That's football. It's way more fun when we lighten up and try to enjoy the sport for itself.

To close the loop on this exhausting few days of in-fighting and overblown angst, here are a few follow-up reads:

• Son did his captain's duty and spoke out to ask for everyone surrounding the team, from supporters to club staff, to unite behind Ange.

Exclusive: ‘All in’ Son calls on Spurs fans to unite behind Postecoglou

Spurs captain issues new rallying cry after fractious fallout from Manchester City defeat

Evening StandardDan Kilpatrick

Everybody — the club, the players, also the fans — everybody has to step up, because we have to be all together in this. He’s definitely shown he can bring success to the club.

• This is a useful compilation of quotes from Ange's presser today.

• And I would add this snippet as a standalone as well:

All I can say is offer my opinion of what you need to be successful and for me, you can't be successful if your motivations change depending on the contest.

Well said, Ange.

Previewing WSL Matchday 22 — West Ham United

All right, let's get back to some less fraught territory. Oh wait... it's a London derby.

This is definitely an understrength West Ham team we'll be facing, though. Katrina Gorry and Kristie Mewis are both out, along with Abbey-Leigh Stringer. They will also be without the services of Shelina Zadorsky since she can't play against her parent club. But apparently, Dagný Brynjarsdóttir is back! I didn't realize she had returned from maternity leave already.

For Spurs, Becky Spencer and Molly Bartrip are both back in contention for the final game, but Amanda Nildén will miss out with her season-ending ankle injury. At least season-ending only meant one game in this case.

We already know we're finishing in 6th place, and West Ham are safe from relegation (much to Rehanne Skinner's relief, I am sure), so this game doesn't have any real stakes to it. But I feel confident that Robert Vilahamn and the squad will want to finish the campaign strong, especially playing at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Take it from Robert:

The players are using all the energy they have left to make sure we have a good game tomorrow.

Previewing PL Matchday 38 — Sheffield United

In the Men's game, our opponent has nothing left to play for but we still need at least a point to secure Europa League qualification for next season. That seems very doable in light of the strong performance in the last game against a much more formidable opponent in Manchester City.

Still, you can never take a Premier League game for granted. Remember the reverse fixture against Sheffield United, when we had to make a stoppage-time comeback to win all three points? That was fun after the fact, but the preceding 90 minutes were decidedly not fun. Let's hope for a more dominant performance this time around, less leaving it late.

The only new addition to the (already extensive) injury list is Giovani Lo Celso, who had reportedly taken a "knock to the knee" in the previous game. But since we'll be facing a very different tactical setup for this game, I wouldn't expect to see the same formation from the City game. Would it be absurd to suggest that Dane Scarlett should start? This feels like a game that needs a true striker.

United have a few key injuries (including my personal nemesis, Ollie McBurnie), so I doubt they will be able to mount too much of a fight anyway. That's assuming they're not already mentally on the beach to begin with.

All I ask for is a positive end to the season. And no, I'm not counting the friendly on Wednesday, which I still think is a terrible idea. I shan't be previewing it, either.

News from around the Lane

It's a total grab bag this week, so in no particular order:

• The Men's U21s lost 4-0 at Fulham in the Premier League Cup final. The injury absence of Alfie Dorrington didn't do the backline any favors, but I also think fatigue caught up with the team as a whole. They've had a lot of games and still have the PL2 playoffs semi-final against Chelsea on Sunday, hopefully reaching another final in which they can showcase their true talent. Manager Wayne Burnett said it well in this clip from SpursPlay.

They were hurting, but it tells me how much it means to these players. And I was hurting for them because they didn’t give a true reflection of themselves.

Here's to a better showing this weekend to give them another chance at a trophy.

• On a positive Academy note, three players from the team were shortlisted for the PL2 Player of the Season award: Will Lankshear, Jude Soonsup-Bell, and Jamie Donley. It's hard to argue with Lankshear's goal tally, but for all-around play, Donley would be a fitting winner.

• Premier League clubs will be voting on a proposal to scrap VAR beginning with the 2024/25 season. The proposal was put forward by Wolves and will need the approval of at least 14 out of 20 clubs to pass. For what it's worth, I would prefer to see improvements to the process and the training that officials receive, amongst other changes, rather than a full abandonment of VAR. Thankfully for Wolves, it is not up to me!

• Son Heung-min has once again won the Best Footballer in Asia award for 2023. Having watched his main competition, Kim Min-jae, struggle all season at Bayern I am unsurprised!

• The club published a couple of nice articles about Jess Naz to celebrate her first senior call-up to England (albeit on standby).

Naz on Lionesses call-up: “I was in shock as I was not expecting a call”

Jess Naz reflected on the ‘proud’ moment when Sarina Wiegman named in her first senior England call-up this week ahead of the international break in the summer.

@SpursOfficialTottenham Hotspur

I loved this quote from Jess about her achievement:

I have just been knuckling down and waiting for my opportunity and, when it came, it was about grabbing it with two hands, showcasing what I can and I just worked on everything. The main goal was to remain injury free, and this season has definitely helped me to build momentum.

I'm not going to jinx it by pulling out the stat I'm thinking of right now, but suffice it to say it's been a healthy year for Jess and I'm glad she's been able to capitalize on her fitness to reach the level we always knew she could.

Jess Naz inspires students on return to former school

After being placed on standby for England in her first senior call-up earlier this week, Jess Naz returned to where it all began for her today at Oasis Academy Enfield.

@SpursOfficialTottenham Hotspur

When I was at this school there weren’t many girls playing football, so to see a whole group of girls is brilliant, and they were all playing with smiles on their faces. I used to be the only girl on this pitch playing against the boys!

Simply heartwarming!

Okay, I have to cut myself off from writing anymore because Spurs Women play in just over nine hours! It's time for our last weekend of Spurs senior football until the 24/25 season rolls around. I'll be back sometime next week with recaps of the final fixtures, then keep an eye out for a full season review issue later on.

Good luck to our teams, and enjoy the games!

COYS

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