Remember the Name

Harry Kane matched the Tottenham goals record on a milestone appearance, rescuing three points for Spurs in an otherwise lackluster team performance. Meanwhile, Spurs Women have yet another match postponed due to a frozen pitch.

In this issue:  Fulham recap | Transfer grapevine | Contract News | Previewing the Women's League Cup quarter-final match vs Chelsea

I feel like all of the Spurs Across the Pond issues since I moved the newsletter over to Ghost have been quite lengthy, so I'm going to try to keep it brief today, at least by my standards—also in the interest of getting out the Chelsea preview for the Conti Cup in time to be read before the match tomorrow!

Speaking of the Women's team, the first Spurs match of the past weekend ended up being postponed due to another frozen pitch situation at Brisbane Road. It's a pity, not just from a lost momentum perspective, but also because we've hardly had any home games so far this season for various reasons (including the Queen's death), which is frustrating for fans and the team alike. I have some more thoughts to share about this persistent problem, which I will include in this month's bonus issue for paid members, coming later this week. There will also be some thoughts on ENIC/Levy, so upgrade to a monthly membership now if you'd like to read the bonus issue!

Right then, on to the football.

Fulham 0 - 1 Tottenham

Harry Kane scored a classic Harry Kane goal and won us the game. That's it. That's the game.

Okay, there was a little more to it, but not much, and most of it had to do with the significance of Harry's goal. On his 300th appearance for the club, he tied Jimmy Greaves' record for goals in all competitions with Spurs. If you, like me, are far too recent of a Tottenham fan to know much about Greaves or have seen him play, this video Spurs shared about him is a nice snapshot. It seems like a minor miracle that he didn't have the same ankle issues that Harry has had, considering the state of the pitches he had to play on.

For Harry to have equaled the goals total of a club legend is a huge achievement, and there was a nice symmetry to it happening on a milestone appearance.

Unfortunately, that was just about the only moment of excitement during the match, bar a scary moment from Hugo Lloris in goal. In fact, writing just a day later, I struggle to remember any other specific plays from the game. Nothing that happened led me to believe that Conte has solved any of the team's ongoing issues, nor that his own morale has improved—he looked absolutely miserable almost every time the camera panned to him on the touchline. Spurs' football was directionless and toothless. The only reason we secured all three points, rather than playing out a scoreless draw, is because Harry took the game by the scruff of the neck and scored off a belter of a shot, as only a player of his class and caliber can do.  

It's worth noting that Son Heung-min got the assist for the goal but was otherwise lacking in impact, frequently overwhelmed in possession and strangely reluctant to take shots of his own. Dejan Kulusevski still doesn't appear to be quite up to full fitness yet after returning from injury a couple of matches previously. Interestingly, Emerson Royal had the better performance out of the wingbacks, but that's not saying much in the case of this game. Our midfield continues to be insufficient for the task no matter who is starting in the duo and doesn't control the tempo of the match. In credit to the defense, they kept a clean sheet (only the sixth of the PL season) and didn't have an abundance of overt mistakes. However, Fulham largely kept us pinned back in our own defensive third, which is not what you want to see from a team like Spurs with such attacking firepower (in theory, form notwithstanding).

It can be difficult to tell if the team is overthinking or just short of ideas—but both possibilities lead back to Conte. Of course, the club was never going to sack Conte after a win, albeit a narrow one, but questions persist about Conte's fit and long-term viability, at least from my perspective. Although there were reports that Kane is open to signing a new contract, we still don't have any indication that Conte will (Gianluca Di Marzio has indicated that Conte is not planning on renewing his contract), and therefore nothing has been clarified around the overall direction of the club. This brings me to the next topic...

Transfer Grapevine

So naturally, the first concrete transfer rumor of the January window (on the Men's side, that is) would happen the next day. We've learned from credible sources that Spurs have reportedly hijacked Everton's top transfer target, Arnaut Danjuma of Villareal, for a loan until the end of the season. The 25-year-old forward has been influential for his club team (less so this year than in his first season) but missed out on the Netherlands national team squad for the World Cup. He's also played in England previously in a stint with AFC Bournemouth while they were still in the Championship.

The trouble is, he has primarily played at the left winger role, and that's not exactly a position of need for Spurs—until you consider the Conte factor. Conte doesn't seem keen to play Richarlison ahead of Son, despite the latter's downturn in form this season, and he has played both Richarlison and Bryan Gil at right winger more often than on their preferred left side. You can also make the argument that Richarlison sees himself as more of a striker these days (with plenty of evidence to support that from his performances with Brazil), but we all know that Conte is reluctant to ever bench Kane, even for rest, so Richy won't be getting many minutes at striker either. Ivan Perišić is also capable of playing on either wing. So where does Danjuma fit in—surplus to requirements, or another solution to a problem that wouldn't exist if not for Conte's stubbornness?

There's also the possibility that it's a signing the club likes rather than Conte (much like Djed Spence), which would suggest Conte's days as manager could still be numbered despite the win against Fulham. It's hard to say either way with any certainty because neither party has been very forthcoming about their future plans. The endless cycle continues!  

Technically the Danjuma loan is not a done deal yet, so all of this concern could be for naught. But from my perspective, it will be a little disappointing to have the first (and potentially only) signing for the Men's team this January window be one that is more of a want than a need. A center-back or a wingback would have been much more welcome.

On the Women's side, there haven't been any more concrete rumors just yet, but by all accounts we are still keeping the door open for the right player, but not just any player. I vastly prefer that strategy to whatever's happening on the Men's side again and again.

There is one bit of significant news from Spurs Women on the roster front:  Ria Percival signed a new contract keeping her with the club until June 2025.

We haven't had the privilege of seeing Ria play yet this season, as she's still recuperating from an ACL injury suffered on international duty last spring, but Rehanne has indicate that her recovery is a bit ahead of schedule, and with any luck we will see her back in the matchday squad before the end of this season. Regardless of whether her return happens late this season or early next season, I'm delighted that she's staying at Tottenham. We have missed her box-to-box performances in the midfield, and her passing vision most of all. She also brings a lot of experience to her game that I think has the effect of settling the players around her through her calm and confident movement.

There are quite a few more players whose contracts are up at the end of this season, so expect to see more updates from the club soon on their statuses... or not, as may be the case for a few players whose contracts they're willing to let run out. I'm glad Ria is one of the players they decided to hold on to.

Okay, let's try this again. I'm going to preview the next Women's match in hopes that it actually goes ahead this time. There's a pitch inspection planned for 2 pm UK time at Brisbane Road, so keep an eye on Spurs Women's socials around that time for updates.

Now, ideally we would have had a match against a "lesser" opponent (honestly, not a given with Leicester right now for the reasons I mentioned in the previous issue) to ease into the more challenging fixture coming up tomorrow:  Chelsea in the Conti Cup quarter-final.

The one benefit to the postponement of the Leicester match is that Ash Neville can now serve her last match suspension out of three in the Conti Cup rather than in WSL competition. Of course, that doesn't help our chances of making a good showing in the quarter-final, but it does mean she'll get to play in the Leicester match whenever it is rescheduled. I think we can probably all agree that the league has to be the priority this season, since too much ground was lost in the first half of the campaign. If we do happen to make a deeper run in either of the cups, great! But I want to see our WSL table position improve first and foremost, because that's more important in the long-term.

On a positive note, Chelsea will also be keeping a close eye on their own league campaign, because they currently trail Manchester United on goal difference. So we could potentially see some rotation from our London rivals for this cup fixture. The problem with that is that even with Beth England swapping sides, they still have an enviably deep bench of talent, not to mention a couple of new signings who will be eager for some game time. No matter who lines up for Chelsea, it's going to be a steep challenge.

This is Chelsea's first cup game of the season, since they were granted a bye into the quarter-finals due to being in Champions League competition during the group stage.

I was curious if Beth England would be cup-tied for this game, but the couple of other match previews I've read seem to suggest she is eligible to play, so have at it, Beth! I'm not sure if the same goes for Mana Iwabuchi, since she is on loan, but she doesn't appear to have featured for Arsenal in the Conti Cup this year so I would think she'd be eligible anyway. This would be an ideal game to get her some minutes in the second half to help her build up her fitness, as Rehanne has already implied she is not ready to start a game just yet.

If we want to have a hope of eliminating Chelsea from the competition, we will need to get off to a strong start, unlike in our previous league match.

Ideally there will be some changes to the starting XI from the Aston Villa game; I would like to see Kerys Harrop starting at left-back and Asmita Ale at right-back, and also have Celin Bizet swap in for Rosella Ayane. I was tempted to say switch Rosella Ayane to the left and have Chioma Ubogagu be the player to drop to the bench instead but, we've seen that Kerys and Chi have a pretty good partnership on the left side, so let's give them a go. (This assumes that Jess Naz, even if she is back in the matchday squad, will not be fit enough to start.) I'm not sure Cho So-hyun did enough to keep her starting spot either, and Eveliina Summanen would be the first choice after making a bright sub appearance in the second half of the Villa game.

Personally, I would prefer to see Becky Spencer in goal because I think we need her ability to play out from the back against a team like Chelsea (and we need her to do that well, of course, which hasn't exactly been the case in some recent appearances). Tinni Korpela's one major weakness is her vulnerability to long-range shots, and we saw that bear out in our last matchup with Chelsea when Erin Cuthbert scored her goal. Either way, I think it's fair to say that both of our keepers could stand to improve on their form in this season so far, and I hope they both do, because we need to get back to the clean sheet mentality from last season.

Luckily the FA Cup match on the weekend is against Championship opposition and will undoubtedly be a more favorable matchup than the perennial WSL title-winners Chelsea. I'll preview that match in the Thursday issue, as well as the Men's team's FA Cup match against Preston North End.

COYS

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