One Club, One Result

It was a lively return for Spurs Women in many ways, and we were mere minutes away from a heartening comeback draw. But the end result was sadly familiar: another Women's Super League loss, the eleventh such outcome of the campaign. For every bright spot (like the steady development of Ella Morris), there has been another cruel reminder that this is simply not going to be our season.

I had to laugh when I saw a social post that said Spurs Men were "back to losing ways," but basically, that is the way things are trending this Premier League season. We currently have more losses than wins and draws combined, and it's been that way off and on for the last few months. It seems clear that Ange Postecoglou decided to sacrifice our league position to focus on the Europa League, but unfortunately, we're dangerously close to making club-specific history of the bad kind with our table standing and points total. Two more losses and we'll have reached a record number of PL defeats, and could also suffer our worst-ever points total in the league if we don't pick up at least eight more points from the five remaining fixtures. Oh, and any finish lower than 15th will also be a Spurs record for lowest table standing in the PL era. And one more... the overall PL record for most losses without a team being relegated is 21, which is sadly still a possibility for Spurs. It's frankly absurd to be in this situation in the league at the same time as we're challenging for a European title, but here we are.

In this issue: Aston Villa recap | Nottingham Forest recap

So naturally, the club has a doubleheader in Liverpool on Sunday to further test our spirits. Spurs Women have only faced Liverpool away twice since both teams have been in the WSL, and we lost both. And Spurs Men at Anfield? I don't think I need to elaborate on that fraught fixture history.

This all sounds very doom and gloom, I'm aware, but I promise I have a few silver linings to point out in amongst the storm clouds.

The consensus from my Bluesky poll (cheers to Nate and Adam for recommending the polling app!) was to post these match recaps sooner rather than later while they're fresh, so keep an eye out for another issue near the weekend with previews of the Liverpool fixtures. I generally post everything at the end of the week after all the relevant team news has come out, but this issue was already getting quite long even without the previews, so dig into the recaps, and we can put off our collective anxiety over Liverpool for now.

WSL Matchday 19 recap | Tottenham 2 - 3 Aston Villa

Naz 65', Morris 70' | Patten 30', Salmon 56', Hanson 90+1'

Being disappointed about a failed comeback attempt is at least preferable to resigned ambivalence—the predominant emotion around Spurs Women over the last few months. It really looked like momentum had swung in our favor after equalizing at 2-2, and a winning goal seemed possible, but Aston Villa's Kirsty Hanson delivered a dagger at the death off the bench. Another WSL game, another loss.

There were some silver linings, however. Bethany England returned from injury (albeit only as a substitute), Jess Naz capitalized on a set piece, and Ella Morris ensured her breakout season would not end without a goal.

Starting XI:

Considering the injury absences (and England having been unlikely to start), this team selection from Robert Vilahamn made sense—although it does suggest that Clare Hunt has fallen fully down the centerback pecking order. Ash Neville regained her starting spot, with Amanda Nildén dropping to the bench.

There were two appearance milestones, one for a starter and one for a substitute:

• Martha Thomas made her 50th Spurs appearance
• Rosella Ayane made her 100th WSL appearance

Top three things:

1. Slow starts. Throughout our eight-game winless streak, we've conceded at least one goal in the first half of each of those games—and all of those were first goals of their respective games as well. There seems to be a crisis of team morale that isn't being helped by constantly needing to mount a comeback. At least in the last couple of fixtures, that ability to rally has improved, but the fact remains that we aren't doing ourselves any favors in terms of game state.
2. It starts from the back. It's also worth noting that we haven't been able to keep a clean sheet since the very first game of 2025, the 1-0 win over Leicester City, which was Lize Kop's first game between the sticks since signing for the club. I have often felt that many of the goals we've conceded were not down to Kop, but she has not made much of a difference almost as often. She definitely played a part in the opening goal concession to Aston Villa, failing to react to the ball coming back down into play after ricocheting up off the crossbar. Only time will tell if she can develop into a true #1 keeper, but for the time being, it seems we have signed a keeper who is still hovering around backup caliber—at least for the level of team we claim to be aspiring to become.
3. Improved wing play. More so for Naz, but Olivia Holdt grew into the game (I'm still not sure putting her out on the wing is the best use of her skills, but there's Vilahamn and his experimentation for you). We also saw some savvy overlapping runs from Morris, and Ash Neville was doing Ash Neville things (complimentary), so the fullbacks were also getting in on the action. There have been so many games this season where the wingers in particular seemed anonymous, so to see some signs of life on the flanks was a relief.

SAtP Player of the Match: Ella Morris

It could only be Morris. In addition to scoring her first goal for Spurs and first goal in the WSL, she was involved in the set piece rebound that eventually fell to Naz to tap in, flicking it on with her head to fall at the feet of the Villa defender who could only deflect it into space in front of Naz. But her goal was the big statement play of the game. Receiving an arching through ball from Eveliina Summanen, she dribbled into the final third, rounded the keeper, and placed her shot perfectly from a tough, wide angle. I actually cheered!

I've been seeing a lot of chatter in Spurs spaces about Morris being a Player of the Season contender for Spurs Women, and I can't say I totally disagree. I'm still tempted to nominate England since the proof is in the pudding; we struggle to get a result in games without her, whether she scores or not—her presence and leadership on the pitch make a huge difference to the overall team effort. You can make a similar argument for Summanen as well. But there's no denying that Morris is the future of the team and is overperforming expectations for her first season. I waxed lyrical about her on the latest Tottenham Depot episode if you'd like to hear more about why I'm so hyped on Ella's potential, and why the club needs to ensure she stays committed to the club for many seasons to come.

Notable & quotable:

• This was the last home game of the season at Brisbane Road; the remaining home fixture will be played at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium against Chelsea.

• Though this was only Naz's second goal of the WSL campaign, she now has the third-most goal contributions in league play for the team, with three.

• Lenna Gunning-Williams reached double-digit WSL appearances this season with her substitution into the game.

• Eveliina will not be making an appearance in the next match, as she earned a one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation.

• Vilahamn summed up the performance and the result:

You look at the character we had, not giving up, and we found some good energy. Aston Villa made it hard for us as they went, almost, player-to-player marking all over the pitch, they were aggressive, so they made it difficult for us. But we still created a lot of chances, we still scored two goals, we still have most of the possession, so the main thing is if you look at the performance, we’re looking like we want to but we need to get better in both boxes, and we need to make sure we can find wins in these games… it’s tough to lose this one.

• Morris remarked on her first goal:

It was obviously bittersweet to have not gone on to get the win from it, but I was just very grateful to have had the opportunity to be on the pitch and score my first goal for the Club. As a defender, I have never been that goal-driven but it’s always nice to get that goal when those rare moments happen, but hopefully it will be the first of many.

I would not say that she looks like a player who's shy of goal, personally, because this milestone has been a long time coming, but this modest attitude does seem typical of her based on previous interviews.

PL Matchday 33 recap | Tottenham 1 - 2 Nottingham Forest

Richarlison 87' | Anderson 5', Wood 16'

Even before kicking off for this game, we knew we were finally mathematically safe from relegation due to Ipswich Town's loss to Arsenal.

So with that relief taken care of, we could proceed with the match.

Unfortunately, that seemed to manifest as complacency rather than a sense of freedom in the early stages of the game. Our bad habit of conceding early goals struck again twice, and it could have been thrice if not for Chris Wood being offside for his first successful strike.

We did pick up the tempo after that, but Nottingham Forest are a team well-suited to bunkering in and defending with their lives. You only have to look at the heroic goal-line clearance by Harry Toffolo and Matt Selz's four saves to get a sense of how committed this Forest team is to securing Champions League qualification. Indeed, this win took them up to 3rd in the table, three points above Chelsea in the Europa League spot.

I do think Ange Postecoglou tailored his team selection with Forest's defensive organization in mind, so let's take a look at the lineup.

Starting XI:

We were going to need strong crossers of the ball as well as attackers who can take on a defender capably, and we got that with this forward line. Richarlison was an excellent target man for this strategy and had plenty of header attempts, though he only converted one in the end.

I was expecting more rotation in the back line, but I suppose it makes sense to give the majority of the starters another run-out and then bring them off the bench in the Liverpool game so they aren't too rusty or too overworked ahead of the first leg against Bodø/Glimt. Destiny Udogie is clearly being given the "wrapped in cotton wool" treatment, which is probably smart, knowing his injury history. Likewise for James Maddison and Son Heung-min, though Maddison was at least present on the bench. Dejan Kulusevski started at the #10 in his place as Postecoglou aims to ease the versatile Swede back in post-injury.

As for the in-game management, the big call was making a halftime double centerback substitution (a planned move), bringing on Ben Davies and Kevin Danso. They both got the job done in the second half, preventing Forest from adding to their goal tally—though they weren't exactly trying to press their advantage.

The Men's team also had a major milestone to celebrate; Pedro Porro made his 100th appearance for the club. I'm honestly surprised he wasn't there already, because he's felt ever-present over the last few seasons.

Top three things:

1. Tel a viable Son successor. I know, it sounds wild to suggest such a thing about a 19-year-old loan player and one of our club legends. But I think we've seen enough evidence from this mini-run of games from Mathys Tel to agree that he's playing at (or even sometimes better) than Son's current form—which itself has a major asterisk now that we know he'd been playing through an injury, much like during his hernia-affected season.
2. Suboptimal midfield. The midfield trio we started with for this game is far too vibes-based for my liking (but again, the rotation was intentional from Postecoglou). Kulusevski is also not a like-for-like replacement for Maddison, despite all of his positive qualities when playing in the #10. The midfield wasn't a huge issue attack-wise since we had opted for winger-reliant tactics against Forest, but I certainly wouldn't want to see this particular permutation of midfielders for a crucial game.
3. Vicario feeling the crunch. Time for some more of my armchair psychology. I suspect that Guglielmo Vicario is the most vulnerable to dropping the ball in terms of focus when it comes to the league games. It was all but explicitly stated when he broke his leg that the goal was to get far enough into the Europa League without him that he could return and help the team win it. His performances in the Premier League and the Europa League have been like night and day. It's completely understandable, and we all know the league is a moot point with safety secured, but it's never enjoyable to see a keeper give up such an easy goal as the second one conceded to Forest. Those mistakes don't happen to a keeper of his talent if he's fully locked in.

SAtP Player of the Match: Pedro Porro

Hey, it's his milestone game. And the cross for Richarlison's goal really was a thing of beauty. Porro is definitely not one of those players whose mentality I ever doubt—just his defense, on occasion.

Notable & quotable:

• I was curious about something, so I added a couple of new columns to my Spurs spreadsheet: goals per game and goals per start (focusing solely on the Premier League for these individual player stats, as usual). Sure enough, Richarlison just barely trails Brennan Johnson in goals/game and leads the team in goals/start—he actually has more goals than league starts. Of course, since he missed so many games through injury, he only has five goal contributions total, making him joint-7th in the team alongside Pape Sarr.

• We have now lost a third of our PL matches so far. This is also the eighth home loss, a record for Spurs in a 38-match season.

• This was the 15th game lost by a one-goal margin this season in the league (h/t SAtP reader James Feldman).

• We completed the league double over Nottingham Forest in the first two years they were back in the top flight, but this season they got the honor.

• A magnanimous quote from the man, the myth, the legend, Nuno Espírito Santo:

I am not that kind of person [who likes proving Spurs wrong about sacking me]. I was honoured to be managing Tottenham. A huge, big club. I wish them the best.

• Ange Postecoglou used all five of his subs. I repeat: Ange Postecoglou used all five of his subs! Miracles can happen.

• Postecoglou commented on the defensive lapses at the start of the game:

It's the finer details... concentration, focus, understanding the threats the opposition have. They're only going to hurt us on transition and counter-attacks, and I thought we handled that really well, with set pieces, so the fact we conceded two from those kind of situations is poor, because on Thursday night [against Eintracht Frankfurt] those kind of things we were doing. Put that to one side and see the way we play, and you are frustrated you lost another game.

• We learned from Dejan Kulusevski's post-match interview on the Review Show that he had a stress fracture, causing further concern over just what is going on with the team's medical and strength & conditioning departments. He also expressed that he was "very angry" about the result:

You gotta respect the game, you've gotta do everything right every second, every day. It's not enough doing it against Frankfurt. It was important to get a win, but we can't come out and concede these goals that we did now, and everyone [has] to take responsibility for that, every player, every [coach], it can't happen. And then we lose points, points that we should not lose, so it's very frustrating. It's been like this for this season, so it's a lot to learn from.

I was also struck by his honesty in the quotes from this article in the Standard about how Spurs aren't well-equipped to compete in multiple competitions:

[The top clubs have] been doing it many years. They know exactly what they're doing. They're bringing in a lot of players that are ready to play both competitions. And they are prepared for it. This year we cannot say that we're prepared for it because we had so many injuries and we did a lot of things wrong from the beginning of the season and we're paying for it right now.

It's worth noting that the task of balancing the Europa League with the PL—as well as the domestic cups—was made more difficult this season with the additional two league phase games (as opposed to the former group stage format) prior to advancing to the knockout stage. But I do wonder if Postecoglou's inability to thread that needle this season will preclude him from leading them team into another campaign of competing on multiple fronts—assuming, of course, that we win the Europa League. That's still a big if.

Nevertheless, the task for the remainder of the season hasn't changed: we must win the Europa League to salvage the 2024/25 campaign. No easy feat.

I do have one further concern to bring up, on that note. There's always the caveat that a severe injury crisis changed the outcome of this season in mysterious ways (like a negative deus ex machina), but the fact remains that there are several players in the squad who either underperform or fail to meaningfully impact matches on a consistent basis. The club cannot and should not feel confident about going into next season with minimal changes, especially if we do the unexpected and win the Europa League, qualifying for the Champions League in the process. Let me rephrase it this way: I will not feel good about competing in the European top-tier tournament with this exact combination of manager and playing squad.

Premier League side note:

Although Ipswich Town are not mathematically relegated yet, they will be with any combination of dropped points by themselves or gained points by West Ham United on matchday 34 and beyond. So it's all but certain that they will be joining Southampton and Leicester City (officially relegated this matchday by their loss to Liverpool) in the Championship next season. Meanwhile, Burnley and Leeds United clinched promotion to the Premier League on Monday with their respective wins over Stoke City and Sheffield United (whose own promotion path is in danger now that they are stuck in the playoff route).

You may have seen Archie Gray's younger brother, Harry, make his senior debut for Leeds in that win against Stoke. Here's some recommended reading on the promising youngster, including a link with former Spurs player Aaron Lennon

Harry Gray is training with Leeds’ first team at 16 – how exciting is Archie’s younger brother?

Teenager Gray has started training with Leeds’ Premier League promotion chasers. This is what some of his former coaches say about him…

The AthleticBeren Cross

Perhaps Archie and Aaron can flex their recruiting sway? It would be fun to have brothers at Spurs, especially two as talented as the Grays.

Ko-fi goal reached!

Just wanted to extend another thanks to everyone who has left a tip on Ko-fi to help me reach my goal of funding the hosting costs for the newsletter for another year. Y'all are stuck with me! I had genuinely been considering putting SAtP on a hiatus after this season concludes, but lately I've discovered a second wind and have hit my newsletter writing stride again. So here's to more jubilation and commiseration—hopefully more of the former next season.

With that, I will bring this extraordinarily long issue to a close. I hope y'all got something out of it, because I know that writing it made me reconsider some topics in a new way. And even though both teams are in a concerning place with the league form, I'm still intrigued about how next season will go, perhaps with some personnel and/or managerial changes. We shall see! Till then, we can only try to keep positive and manifest a Europa League title for Spurs Men.

COYS

Thank you for reading!

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