Raising the Stakes

The good news is that Spurs Men advanced to the next round of the League Cup with a 5-1 win over Charlton Athletic.

The bad news is that we will travel to Anfield for the third round. Liverpool might be far from full strength at the moment, but they're still not who I would have wanted for such an early cup round matchup.

Thankfully, we have three Premier League games before that cup tie to continue building on the foundations of what feels like almost an entirely new squad at the moment. One more player was added to the mix this week, and the window is still open for a few more days.

In this issue: Charlton Athletic recap | Transfer talk | News from around the Lane

The first of those three upcoming PL games is a home match against Newcastle United. This has not been a good fixture for us in recent seasons; we haven't beaten them since December 2023. Newcastle have a new manager (Matthias Jaissle), signed a new goalkeeper, and lost Anthony Gordon to Barcelona and Bruno Guimarães to Arsenal over the summer. Oh, and Sandro Tonali swapped sides. So it will be interesting to see how different Newcastle look in the post-Eddie Howe era.

Spurs Women have one last friendly this Sunday. Sadly, this one isn't being streamed either, so we'll just have to comb over the match report for hints as to how prepared the team is for the season opener on September 6.

Men's League Cup Round 2 | Tottenham 5 - 1 Charlton Athletic

Moore 41', Solanke 45', Danso 67', Sávio 82', Davies 85' | Jones 87'

I don't want to overanalyze this cup win since it was against a heavily rotated Championship side. But the hope is that regardless of the quality of the opposition, the dominant scoreline will have boosted the confidence of Spurs' squad—especially after being shut out entirely in our Premier League opener.

It was nice for Mikey Moore, in particular, to get on the scoresheet after missing a couple of big chances in the Brentford game. Moore then turned provider for Dominic Solanke, who also had a bit of a point to prove with another striker coming into the squad. The two quickfire goals helped put the game in Spurs' control just before halftime.

I was kind of surprised that this was Kevin Danso's first goal for the club, but as is typical for him, he had to put his body on the line to make it happen. It was a just reward for a player who never shows anything less than full commitment in his often limited game time.

But the big storyline from the match was, of course, Sávio scoring on his debut. Talk about full commitment, because he was bound and determined to double his goal tally just a few minutes later, and would have done so if the shot hadn't deflected off Ben Davies, crediting the goal to the centerback instead. Davies, bless his heart, did his best to avoid letting the ball touch him so his teammate could claim the goal.

Still, a goal and an assist wasn't a bad return for Sávio's club debut. His quality and composure in and around the box were on full display. And his joyful goal celebration scenes guaranteed that he's going to be a fast fan favorite.

The collective focus seemed to drop after the two practically back-to-back goal celebrations, and we lost the clean sheet. But it was merely a consolation goal for Charlton, who never really recovered from suffering two early injuries.

Other positives from the match included Mateus Fernandes making his first competitive start for Spurs and notching an assist, Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro both getting their first minutes of the season, and a cameo off the bench from youngster Luca Williams-Barnett. I was also pleased to see Destiny Udogie looking fit and firing. Neither of the first two matches this season have been anywhere close to featuring our ideal starting XI, but as we've learned from several injury-ridden seasons in a row, you need the full squad to be ready to play and in some semblance of form to make it through the long season—regardless of this being a campaign without involvement in European competition.

Notable & quotable:

• Mikey Moore's goal was just his second for the club and the first in League Cup play.

• Dominic Solanke scored his first goal since March 10.

• Kevin Danso scored his first goal for the club.

• Luca Williams-Barnett came off the bench to make his second senior appearance for the club; his first also came in the League Cup.

• Making his first competitive appearance since January, Ben Davies became Spurs Men's 25th all-time appearance maker, passing Jermain Defoe. And he scored on his milestone game, even if it was a bit of a technicality.

Transfer talk

Spurs Men

• Omar Marmoush is joining on loan from Manchester City, with an obligation for Spurs to make the deal permanent at the end of the season.

As a Bundesliga watcher, I was very envious when City signed him two seasons ago, and then felt sympathetic to him for being the second choice to arguably the best striker in world football. At Spurs, he has a real chance of claiming the starting striker spot and thriving. Hopefully this will be the season he returns to his double-digit goalscoring form.

Men's Academy

• Jacob Knightbridge joins the U21s as a new goalkeeper (and boyhood Spurs fan).

News from around the Lane

• Tōko Koga was named in the PFA WSL Team of the Year. Congrats to Tōko, and let's look forward to more of those impressive performances this season!

• As mentioned above, Spurs Men were drawn away at Liverpool for the Third Round of the League Cup. The match will take place on September 16.

• The club has released a Fan Engagement Plan, which you can find linked at the bottom of this article.

I was struck by the honesty around the lack of care shown towards Spurs Women in the past:

We know the women’s team has not always had the level of focus and investment it deserves. That needs to change, and our ambition is to build a team that can compete consistently at the top end ofthe WSL, and to build a bigger, stronger and more connected fanbase around it.

I'm glad that the attitudes within the club towards the Women's team seem to be changing, but the proof will be in the pudding. Progress on the pitch needs to be met with equal ambition off the pitch, including fanbase growth. And if the club wants to "make the most" of its digital channels, it could start by actually having a presence on Bluesky, a social media network that has a significant (and currently underserved) Spurs Women fan community.

Up next:

August 29 | Spurs Men vs Newcastle United
Team news — Both of this week's signings, Sávio and Omar Marmoush, will be available to start, as well as Micky van de Ven; Mohammed Kudus could make his season debut, but only off the bench; James Maddison is considered doubtful to feature

Opposition note: Newcastle have several injuries, but most notably to Spurs fans who carry a grudge, Joelinton won't be available; their new signing, Nico González, could make his debut for the Magpies

I have a couple of Spurs Women-related bonus bookmarks to share, but haven't actually read/watched them yet myself, so stay tuned for them in the next issue.

Until then, let's get behind Spurs Men as they aim to get back on track in the Premier League.

COYS

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