Spurs Men 2023/24 Mid-Season Review

Despite all of the setbacks the Men's team has suffered in the current Premier League season, it's been an enjoyable watch overall. New manager Ange Postecoglou has injected fresh energy and tactics into the squad and is already getting some remarkable results in his short tenure thus far, both in terms of table placement and individual player performances.

We passed the official halfway point of the campaign at the final whistle of the Brighton game, so it's time to take a look back at the first half of the season—I'll include stats as of the last PL game and FA Cup game too, just for simplicity's sake. After a quick recap of standings and notable stats, I'll cover the main takeaways, identify some areas for improvement, share some (mostly) fun facts, and give out mid-season superlatives. Finally, I'll assign a grade for the first half of the season taking all of these factors into account.

If you're curious how the team has progressed since mid-season last year, check out this post (which also includes the Women's team; I'll be sharing this year's Women's mid-season review after the next WSL game!). My, how things have changed.

Let's dig in!

Spurs Men

2023/24 Mid-Season Review

Where we stand:

Premier League: 5th place, 39 points, 12-3-5 record
+13 GD (42 for, 29 against), 5 clean sheets
Top scorer: Son Heung-min
Top assister: Pedro Porro
League Cup: Knocked out by Fulham on penalties
FA Cup: Into the 4th round after beating Burnley in Round 3

I don't think anyone could have predicted that we'd be just one point off top 4 and six points off 1st place at this juncture of the season with a new manager, new tactical system, and plenty of new players—not to mention the absurd number of injuries and suspensions we've had to deal with. Oh, and we sold the club's top goalscorer of all time the day before the season started. By any measure, it's been an overperformance of expectations.

A lot of credit must go to new captain and top scorer, Son Heung-min. Not only has he taken over the leadership mantle from the outgoing captain, Hugo Lloris, but he's also shouldered the attacking load for the team with 12 goals and 15 assists in the PL, leading many of us to ask "Harry who?". And he's done all of this while playing at two positions, winger and striker, sometimes both within the same game.

Some of his highlights this season include:

• the hat trick against Burnley
• a brace in the away NLD
• a brace of assists and a penalty against Newcastle
• two decisive game-winning goals

We know Sonny is capable of producing on any stage (he remains the talisman for South Korea as well), but we may not have been able to count on the rest of the squad to step up if it weren't for Ange Postecoglou's management. Ange has transformed the mentality of the squad in just six months, allowing us to weather a slew of injuries and suspensions (and hopefully, the upcoming stretch of absences during AFCON and the Asian Cup) and still be in with a shout for both European qualification and even the PL title.

Could we? Mate, we very well could.

Another big factor in the largely successful start is the way new signings have adapted right away and made important contributions. Sure, two of them (James Maddison and Micky van de Ven) got injured in the same disastrous Chelsea game and haven't played since early November, but the glimpses we got to see of them before that bodes well for the closing portion of the season. Once they are back fit and all players have returned from international duty, Ange can really get cooking.

In the meanwhile, goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario has been a consistent performer and kept us in many of the games during this period of squad depletion with his world-class saves and leadership for the backline. And in some ways, getting Rodrigo Bentancur back from his ACL injury—and then the Matty Cash-induced injury—has been like having a new signing. Pape Sarr and Destiny Udogie, although technically not new signings for this season, have likewise brought something new to the team that we didn't have before they became regular starters.

Overall, the quality of the starting XI has increased without signing any true "marquee" players—though Maddison is perhaps an exception thanks to his homegrown status and previous PL experience. The recruitment has been savvy rather than statement-making, and the team has instead made its statements on the pitch.

And if I had to sum up the main statement that Angeball is making, it would be: attacking football is back at Tottenham Hotspur. And thank god it is. After a few seasons of dreading what terrible performances we'd have to suffer through next under José Mourinho and Antonio Conte, we are finally enjoying the football again as fans. It's fluid, it's dynamic, and it's just plain watchable. Even the five-game winless streak that started with the Chelsea debacle couldn't dampen our enthusiasm for this new-look Spurs team. We're confident that we can get a result against any team in the league on our day, and most importantly, we're looking forward to the matches once more.

At the beginning of the season when the revamped Kane-less forward line was slow to get going, the defense held down the fort and even chipped in a few goals and assists. As we lost key players in the defense, the attack made up for the defensive errors borne from a lack of cohesion by doing their best to outscore the opponent. You get the sense that the players are truly playing for each other and for Ange, and there are many games where we would not have pulled off a result in similar circumstances last season. For the first time in a while, you can truthfully say the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

I don't think it can be overstated how important it was to pick up so many points early on in the season before the injury/suspension crisis hit. Not only have those points kept us in the conversation for the title—let alone top 4—but they've given Ange and the players a buffer against fan discontent. I think we're all feeling a lot more patient with the "project" because we got to see some early evidence of what Angeball looks like at its free-flowing best. We know that some of the players who have been filling in for missing teammates are not ideally suited to this new style of play, but this is only the first six months of the process. This January window and the following transfer windows will provide ample opportunity to overhaul the squad. The fact that the first signings of the Postecoglou era have been such a good fit should reassure us that the manager and the recruitment team are on the same page and working toward the same goal.

There's an overriding feeling of calm around the club at the moment, or perhaps I should say a lack of unnecessary drama, that has reduced the amount of outside pressure Ange and the squad have to deal with until the squad is back to full strength. They can move on quickly from losses, continue to play to our strengths whilst minimizing the temporary weaknesses, and approach each new game as a fresh opportunity to build upon previous progress.

Ange's unapologetic commitment to his tactics (like the infamous high line) has been a topic of debate amongst pundits, but it's allowed the squad to understand exactly what the expectations are and work towards meeting them with every training session and game. And on the topic of punditry, I think many of the pundits' expectations for Spurs this season were unfairly low because a lot of the players had already been written off (including Sonny!). There were definitely players who needed (and still need) to be moved on, and that winnowing has already begun, but those of us who follow the club closely knew that many of the players had merely been underutilized or misused by previous managers and are now returning to form in a tactical system that better suits them—and playing for a manager who believes in their abilities, most importantly.

Ange is rewriting the script at Spurs, and I'm looking forward to this season's conclusion.

Areas for improvement

• Better discipline across the whole team. It's not just the silly second yellow cards and rash reds that have cost us at times, but also careless penalties and even momentarily shutting off within the press. Angeball is certainly "high risk, high reward," but sometimes we put added risk upon ourselves that's unforced.

• Smarter in-game management to protect players' fitness. Ange himself has admitted that his first year at a new team is usually ridden with muscle injuries as players adjust to his tactics and training, but there are still strategies he could employ to prevent another full-blown injury crisis in the second half of the season. His reluctance to give game-time to younger players like Jamie Donley, Ashley Phillips, and Alejo Véliz (sadly now injured, but not because of over-use or fatigue) meant that he didn't feel comfortable utilizing them in close games when key players very much needed a substitution. Think of Ben Davies in the latest FA Cup game, for example. I would also argue for earlier subs in general, as we've seen the positive impact they can have in several games already this season.

• More actual centerbacks in the squad. I think this one is self-explanatory. The four fullbacks backline has been fascinating but also terrifying.

It's hard to find too much else to critique. We just need our best players back to full fitness!

Fun facts (and some not-so-fun)

• Compared to the identical fixtures last season we have gained four points, not including promoted teams (although we have beaten all three).

• We are tied for most red cards in the league (four) with Burnley and Liverpool.

• We have scored in every game, in all competitions.

• Son Heung-min and Guglielmo Vicario are the only two players to have played in and started every PL game.

• Ryan Sessegnon, Ashley Phillips, and Alfie Dorrington are the only non-goalkeeper players not to have made a PL appearance yet.

• Of the players who have made an appearance, only Bryan Gil, Eric Dier, and Jamie Donley are without a yellow card.

• We've had 13 distinct goalscorers and 11 distinct assisters in the PL so far.

Mid-season superlatives

• Biggest surprise—Guglielmo Vicario
• Best new signing—James Maddison
• Best young player—Micky van de Ven
• Most valuable player—Son Heung-min
• Most improved player—Pedro Porro
• Mr. Tottenham—Ben Davies

Mid-season grade: A-

Here's to more goals, more wins, and more joy as we aim to end the season strong. And maybe, just maybe, a trophy?

As ever,

COYS

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