Pratfall in Portugal

It's not just "the kids" who are to blame for the loss.

This is going to be a short(ish) newsletter, because there isn't a whole awful lot to say about Spurs' first Europa Conference League match, which was quite dull at times, frankly. Technically, we aren't even in the Conference League yet; this was the first leg of the "playoff round" that grants us passage to the group stage--if we win the two-legged tie. The 1-0 loss to Paços de Ferreira wasn't a positive start to the competition, but we still have a good shot of advancing with a stronger performance in the second leg next week. That is, if the club is actually taking this competition seriously. More on that later.

It probably should have been a warning sign that Paramount+ wasn't streaming the match in the US and we had to resort to less than scrupulous viewing methods to watch. The quality of the match really wasn't worth the extra effort to track it down, in the end.

Nuno made a complete change to the starting lineup and also overhauled the bench from Sunday's win over Manchester City, with only the three subs from that match carrying over into today's matchday squad. Everyone else who featured against City (along with the erstwhile Harry Kane) stayed in London. Nuno selected a mix of last season's fringe players and rounded out the starting XI with youth talent like Dane Scarlett, while also giving debuts to Pierluigi Gollini in goal and Bryan Gil in the attack. Romero also got his first start.

If players like Harry Winks and Cameron Carter-Vickers were trying to prove that they still belonged with the club, they failed miserably. Ryan Sessegnon at least looked like he cared about the result of the match, unlike many of his teammates on the day. Ben Davies wasn't terrible, but he was hampered by a (very unfairly given) early yellow card. And Matt Doherty... I just can't get a read on this guy. It's not that he's never shown moments of quality, but they've definitely been too far and between to warrant him starting over Tanganga at RB, that's for sure. I don't want to complain too much about the performances of the younger players, because the veteran players like Winks should have been able to make up for the youngsters' inexperience. They did not. Dane Scarlett was especially unlucky to have such poor service and didn't have much opportunity to impact the game. In fact, Spurs didn't register a single shot on target. Yikes. As for Gollini conceding a goal on his debut, he certainly could have done better to stop the shot, but I place more fault on the shoddy defense, as well as Winks' giveaway in the build-up.

So this leaves us with an important question:  are Spurs actually going to try to do well in this competition, or is this the sort of effort we can expect in the second leg and possibly further? I definitely think it's fair to call Nuno naive for fielding such a relatively young team that lacked on-pitch chemistry and individual quality, against a mid-table Portuguese team that was clearly very well-drilled and organized.  I'm tempted to say it was a disrespectful underestimation, even--and a rude wake-up call for some of our players who probably assumed they would walk all over this team. Either Nuno had more faith in this B-team lineup than is advisable, or he's been directed from above to prioritize the league at the expense of cup competitions (or at least this one).

I know there's an argument that focusing on a top-4 league finish is more important/valuable than winning a brand new, third-tier European competition. But it kind of offends my ideas about sportsmanship to so blatantly half-ass a game against a team whose players (and fans) were clearly up for it. I mean, forgive me for bringing him up, but even Mourinho brought along a few senior players for the bench against Marine in the FA Cup last season. I think it's arrogant to assume our reserves could never get themselves into a situation where more proven players were called for. This wasn't a mid-table team from Bulgaria. Portugal has a very respectable league! And really, Nuno should know that better than anyone, seeing as how he's from Portugal and half the Wolves squad are from his homeland. I'm just saying.

Maybe we finish in the top 4 this season and don't manage to win any of the cups. That would be fine! It would undoubtedly be a win for the club's finances, and hopefully could help us attract some high-caliber players in the transfer window to actually be able to compete in the CL. I just don't think we're in any position to be turning our noses up at a chance to win a trophy, even if it's less prestigious. Because news flash:  we're not in the Champions League. Harsh as it is, we're not at that level right now. Let's put some decent effort into the competition that we did qualify for. We don't have to bring every PL starter along for the road trips in the early rounds, but at least have a few ready to provide backup from the bench if things are going south. Let's face it:  the only thing more embarrassing than being stuck in this new competition would be getting knocked out before it had even properly begun.

A homecoming of sorts for Nuno

On Sunday we face Nuno's previous team, Wolverhampton, at their stadium. We know that our preferred starting XI players are well-rested, and I really don't see Wolves being much of a problem if we see more of the same solid defense and clinical counter-attacking from the City game. Wolves also have a fair few injuries, and Raúl Jiménez is still getting back to speed after returning from his head injury last season.

I made it through this newsletter only mentioning you-know-who once, so let's keep it that way. I'm looking forward to the end of the transfer window, one way or another. Though regardless of what happens with a certain someone, we still need another couple of reinforcements coming in--especially a striker.

A win against Wolves (and Watford next weekend) would be a crucial boost as Spurs get ready to head into a tough stretch of the season in September. Just because we upset the returning champs doesn't mean we can start taking other teams less seriously. All of our hopes and goals for this season are dependant upon more consistent performances than we saw last season. There's really no such thing as an easy matchup in the PL; all the clubs have something to offer in opposition, and we can only tackle each challenge as it comes and be ready for the next.

COYS