Robert's (Ry)brinksmanship

Well, we broke the losing streak, so there's that.

Spurs Women finally picked up a point in WSL play for the first time in weeks—and a player not named Beth England scored a league goal from open play for the first time in months. I would feel a lot better about both of these facts if we hadn't squandered multiple opportunities to win the game.

In this issue: Leicester City recap | Previewing Chelsea | News from around the Lane

There's lots of club news to cover after the usual recap and preview business, so let's get right to it.

WSL Matchday 18 recap | Leicester City 1 - 1 Tottenham

Rybrink (OG) 55' | Spence 62'

Although the attacking performance showed some signs of improvement (or at least an approximation of our previous free-flowing style of play), there were still some worrying indicators underneath. And sadly, it all feels like a bit of a moot point since the season is well past salvaging, from a league standings perspective.

Starting XI:

It seemed obvious that Josefine Rybrink would fail to impress in her second straight start, but even the most pessimistic fan wouldn't have expected her to score a second straight own goal. The football gods were being very on-the-nose with their script this week. But unlucky or not, we're fortunate she's only on a six-month contract. Her positioning and understanding (or lack thereof) with her new teammates have left a lot to be desired.

I would have preferred to see Rybrink dropped and Luana Bühelr reinstated in the centerback partnership alongside Molly Bartrip. Instead, the only change we saw from the previous lineup against West Ham United was Jess Naz replacing Charli Grant at left winger. It turned out to be a fruitful decision, as Naz provided the assist for our only goal off a cutback cross. I was happy to see her played on her more favorable left side than where she's played most of her minutes this season on the right flank.

Vilahamn's in-game management was a letdown, however. Rather than giving the starting lineup a chance to capitalize on their momentum after the equalizer, he made a triple substitution almost immediately—taking off three of the top performers up until that point, including Naz. And although it was good to see Ash Neville and Olga Ahtinen brought back in from the cold (after much speculation about why they were being frozen out to begin with), it made far less sense to see Rosella Ayane—almost certainly leaving the club in the summer—given extended game time over a promising young talent like Lenna Gunning-Williams. Vilahamn opting to bring Clare Hunt on as a forward in the dying minutes, as we were actively chasing the win, was even more egregious.

In the spirit of looking for some positives, we created far more chances than we have in many, many games and that dominance surely would have translated to three points if it weren't for Leicester's keeper, Janina Leitzig, having a superb game as she always seems to do against us; she made 10 saves in all. I was also heartened to see Maite Oroz linking up several times with Naz in the final third, including the pre-assist for the goal. I'm not sure putting Olivia Holdt out on the right wing is the best use of her skillset, but she still provided more spark from that position than many of her teammates have lately. Ella Morris' powerful overlapping runs enabled Holdt to move inside the box and provide another outlet for Spence. And once again, Lize Kop had a strong game and was hard done by with the own goal.

It could have been worse, but that own goal was the difference between staying in 9th place or moving up to 7th. And while it was good to see some key players looking closer to their best, there's still a sense that the team lacks cohesion—and the manager is not helping matters much.

SAtP Player of the Match: Jess Naz

This was the first match in quite a while where Naz seemed to be playing with purpose. It probably has something to do with being dropped from the latest England squad, but we'll take the motivation wherever she can find it.

I do think it's interesting that this strong performance came on the wing. During her best stretch last season, she was primarily featuring at striker, but it's worth noting that a lot of the games where she scored came in the cups. Consistency has always been the issue with Jess, and it's not a coincidence that she often thrives in one-off matches. To feel like Naz is fully reaching her potential we'll need to see more production from her in the weekly grind of the league.

Notable & quotable:

• Drew Spence scored on her 50th WSL appearance for Spurs.

• It was her second goal of the campaign and first since the season opener against Crystal Palace.

• This was the first point Spurs picked up in WSL play since matchday 12, a win at Crystal Palace.

• We have now conceded more own goals (4) than forced own goals (3).

• This was the seventh WSL game in a row without a clean sheet.

• We finished the WSL series with Leicester with identical results to the same fixtures last season.

• Beth England and Eveliina Summanen are still the only players in the squad with more than two goal contributions in league play.

• Ella Morris, who was awarded the official Player of the Match award, gave her verdict on the performance:

I think you can see what we’ve been working on in training, we’ve built better connections now and it’s just about having that clinical edge again. It was a great finish from Drew, great cut back from Jess, and those are the areas we’ve been working on, so it’s good to show that has paid off.

Previewing PL Matchday 30 — Chelsea

I'll start with the good news: all of the teams around us in the (bottom of the) table have already played this midweek round and all dropped points, so we will at least start the matchday at the status quo of 14th place.

The bad news is that I don't feel particularly hopeful about gaining three points and leapfrogging Manchester United on goal difference. Let's be honest, it's always difficult to take points off Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the best of circumstances, and the conditions are far from ideal this time around. It's no secret that the club (and therefore Ange Postecoglou as well) are prioritizing the Europa League over the Premier League. Postecoglou will want to get his preferred starting XI game time in this post-international break match, but don't expect them to be going full throttle.

It's unfortunate to have such a cynyical mindset going into a derby match, but it is what it is. The moral victory of taking points off Chelsea won't trump the chance to secure Champions League qualification with a Europa League title.

Either way, Ange can't win when it comes to this next stretch of games and his team selection & rotation decisions. He has indicated that the team won't be fully throwing the match because they recognize the importance of building some momentum ahead of the Europa League resuming.

What we can do is perform against a tough opponent tomorrow and try to gain some momentum leading into an important part of the season for us. That is where our focus and the players' focus has been.

It would be nice to at least have the full roster of players for in-game rotation purposes, but Dejan Kulusevski and Kevin Danso are still a couple of weeks away from returning. Richarlison is back in training but the club was coy on when he could be back in the matchday squad—Ange was a little more forthcoming and said Richy could be involved as early as Sunday. But in positive team news, everyone made it back from the international break unscathed; Lucas Bergvall had missed both of Sweden's games with an illness but is now recovered.

Unfortunately, Chelsea are getting a boost with the return of Noni Madueke, Nicolas Jackson, and Cole Palmer.

Prior to the international break, Chelsea had a string of wins, including knocking FC København out of the Europa Conference League over two legs. But their last result before the break was a narrow 1-0 loss at Chelsea. Our results had been decidedly more mixed in recent weeks, so Chelsea have the form (and morale) advantage heading into our matchup.

If we do somehow manage to defy expectations and take a lead, it's going to take some shrewd game management to preserve some energy for the weekend fixture against Southampton ahead of the all-important first leg against Eintracht Frankfurt next Thursday.

News from around the Lane

• Sticking with the Premier League, we learned that semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) will be implemented starting on matchday 32. I personally think it goes against sporting integrity to change the officiating protocols more than halfway through the season, but the decision has been made and we'll have to live with it. A further controversial point: the PL won't be using the match balls with chip technology to determine the starting point of an assisting pass; instead, cameras will be used to determine when to start the offside check.

• Several Spurs figures were honored by the Football Black List for 2025, including Richarlison, staff from the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, and Spurs Woman alumna Renée Hector.

• Son Heung-min was named Men's Player of the Year by the Korea Football Association—for a record eighth time! Yang Min-hyeok was awarded Men's Young Player of the Year.

• Speaking of Yang Min-hyeok, he scored his first goal in English football over the weekend during his loan with Queens Park Rangers. Alfie Dorrington scored his first senior goal on his own loan with Aberdeen.

• Because the club is terrible at PR, they have proudly announced a friendly with Arsenal in Hong Kong on July 31, billed as "the first north London derby outside the UK." And when something is the first, it is implied not to be the last...

The problem here isn't catering to Spurs fans outside of the UK (that would be quite hypocritical of me to criticize since I am really hoping they'll come back to the US for another pre-season tour soon!), it's taking a fixture that is such a poignant part of our Premier League tradition as a rivalry and suggesting that it should be played outside of that competition more often. I don't think it's a good thing, in the long run, to dilute the stakes and tension of the NLD by playing it regularly as a friendly, and you can't blame folks for feeling nervous about this specific instance when the PL has openly entertained the idea of playing actual league fixtures outside of the UK. Hopefully we can all agree that the idea of a mid-season PL match taking place in, say, New York City is a terrible idea and a slippery slope to further neglecting the lifeblood of English football, the matchgoing fans.

There's also the environmental concern; why travel all the way to another continent just to play a club we're already going to play twice a season at minimum on home soil? At least make the carbon output somewhat worthwhile by taking on a club we rarely get to see Spurs compete against. I'm sure it's more meaningful for fans in other countries to see Spurs play a local team they may also have a connection to. To use a personal example, I had a blast watching my San Antonio SAFC play Sunderland AFC a couple of summers ago in the inaugural "SAFC derby". Such matchups benefit the local football ecosystem much more than two out-of-town clubs just renting a neutral stadium. Again, make the trip worth it as much as possible.

• And in other tone-deaf news, I give you Daniel Levy's statement in this year's financial results disclosure. I generally try not to let these kinds of things get me upset, but even I found this bit galling:

I often read calls for us to spend more, given that we are ranked as the ninth richest club in the world. However, a closer examination of today’s financial figures reveals that such spending must be sustainable in the long term and within our operating revenues.

Translation: I understand that this club has the financial ability to invest more, but I'm going to gaslight you into thinking we don't.

Are we the ninth richest club in the world or are we not?

And to be honest, as I say every time this topic comes up: the true underinvestment is on the Women's side of the club—which got very short shrift in this financial update. You can't recruit new players with FA Cup final memories.

I genuinely have to stop writing about this topic now or I will get too worked up to finish the issue. So let's move on.

• I'll be honest, I don't plan to watch much football over the women's international break outside of USWNT games because my eyeballs need much less screen time this week after being glued to the figure skating world championships last week. But the club has a rundown of all the fixtures with Spurs players involved if your eyes are better rested than mine.

• And finally, two Academy players signed new contracts this week:

• a first pro contract for Miracle Adewole, a versatile player with the U18s who has featured at both right winger and right fullback
• a new contract for Callum Olusesi, captain and central midfielder for the U21s, just over a year after signing his first pro contract with the club and after making his senior debut in the Europa League in January

Congrats to the youngsters!

There, we ended on a positive note. It took some effort! See y'all on the other side of the Men's derby.

COYS

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