Rookies and Returns

The story of the Men's team's away win at Selhurst Park was all about the impact off the bench—both for the scoresheet and for morale. Not that we're starving for good vibes at the moment with another week atop the Premier League table and the goals continuing to stack up for star striker Son Heung-min. The squad will need to hold onto that momentum ahead of a big grudge match against Mauricio Pochettino's Chelsea. But before that nerve-wracking derby, the Women's team will be back in action after the international break.

In this issue: Crystal Palace recap | Previewing the weekend(ish) matches | News from Around the Lane

PL Matchday 10 recap | Crystal Palace 1 - 2 Tottenham

Ayew 90+4', Ward (OG) 53', Son 66'

The problem with having the Friday game is that by the time I get around to writing this recap, a lot of the finer details have already escaped my memory. I seem to recall that it was a bit of a slow start for Spurs and we didn't take the game by the scruff of the neck until the second half; some key substitutions helped. A lapse of focus lost us the clean sheet in stoppage time, but the end result was another three points on the board, which gave us a very comfortable weekend as Spurs fans since no team could overtake our then five-point advantage.

Starting XI:

Destiny Udogie got a much-needed rest for this game, not even sitting on the bench, which meant that Ben Davies got his first PL start of the season. He himself only lasted the first half due to picking up a knock, so Emerson Royal also got significant gametime at left fullback. Otherwise, it was the usual starting XI for PL games, with Yves Bissouma returning to the lineup after his one-game suspension. However, he was clearly wary of picking up a yellow card and receiving another suspension ahead of the Chelsea match, so he also made a fairly early exit, subbing out in the 64th minute. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg replaced him and put in another solid shift in the midfield alongside Pape Sarr.

On the flipside, Sonny played the entire match and James Maddison wasn't relieved until the 89th minute. I wonder if Ange wanted to see if we could close out a game better with the stars still on the pitch than we have in recent matches when they've gone off early. And by close out, I don't necessarily mean maintaining the scoreline but trying to add to it from our side. Either way, we still got the scoring done fairly early in the match.

The early stages of the game saw Guglielmo Vicario called upon to make some key saves, including one particularly difficult save on a shot by Odsonne Édouard in just the 7th minute.

We also saw very strong performances from the centerback duo once again, with Micky van de Ven getting a chance to show off his unrivaled pace when he cut off a counterattack by Will Hughes. There was a scary moment when he looked like he may have picked up a knee energy, but on the next play he was back to sprinting at full speed, so no harm done.

It was a pretty physical game in the first half especially, although head official Andrew Madley didn't seem to notice. He didn't give out a single card before halftime and in fact didn't find his yellow card in his pocket until stoppage time of the second half.

Our best chance of the first half came from Richarlison using his head to keep a cross from Dejan Kulusevski in play on the goal line, but Maddison couldn't keep his shot down. Richarlison got a chance to shoot shortly after but it went well wide.

Luckily, we got onto the scoresheet early in the second half. Well, kind of. The 53rd minute shot was actually an own goal by Palace's captain Joel Ward, but it was well forced by a dangerous cross by Maddison, presumably hoping to find Richarlison as he was arriving at the back post.

I suppose this match was a good example of the duality of Tottenham Hotspur this season. We've been pretty canny about capitalizing on weaknesses in the opposition and forcing mistakes like that own goal, but we've also been capable of scoring some extremely impressive team goals as well. Son's 66th-minute game-winner was a perfect example. Brennan Johnson, who had just subbed into the game two minutes earlier, displayed his dynamism by heading on a switched ball from Pape Sarr, connecting with Maddison in a give-and-go before finding Son at the edge of the six-yard box. Thats five goals and one assist for Son in the last five games, by the way. I won't mention his name, but we really haven't missed a certain former striker—yet, anyway.

Johnson is going to cause some real problems this season—both for opposition defenders and for Ange in terms of a selection dilemma. While I don't think Richarlison's efforts have been totally without redeeming moments (he does have assists three assists and a goal in the PL), it's undeniable that young Brennan provides a different variety of threats. His movement to create the assist for Son was one of the best moments of attacking skill we've seen across the whole team this season. Let me put it this way: if I were Ange, I'd be starting Brennan over Richy sooner rather than later.

The creative quality of the second goal was a stark contrast to the mental lapse from the defense on Crystal Palace's stoppage-time goal. A throw in was quickly crossed into the box by Joachim Andersen, and Pedro Porro completely mistimed his attempt to clear it with a header, allowing the ball to fall directly in front of Ayew. He took a touch to settle it then shot past Vicario. Now, there is some controversy over whether that initial touch was with his arm or not, but VAR ultimately let the goal stand.

Porro made up for his earlier error by putting in a crucial block deep into the extended stoppage time. An uncharacteristically misplaced pass by Cristian Romero had been intercepted by Palace and eventually the ball made its way to the Eagles' substitute, Matheus Franca, for the shot which Porro slid in to stop. James Maddison was all of us at that nervy moment:

It was a tense last few (extra, thanks to the lengthy VAR review) minutes of stoppage, but Spurs held on for the 1-2 away win. But the three points earned were almost overshadowed in significance by the highly anticipated substitutions that happened just before stoppage time began. Not only did Bryan Gil get his first minutes of the season after picking up an injury in pre-season, we also got to see the much-awaited return of Rodrigo Bentancur after his lengthy ACL injury absence.

Besides one stray touch from Bentancur in the buildup to that blocked shot by Porro, the two of them put in nearly flawless shifts, however short. I'm sure it'll be a while yet before either is knocking at the door of the starting XI, but it's still good to see them involved again.

I don't think it can be overstated just how good the vibes are around the club right now. Bentancur got the captain's push this post-game, being presented to the away fans by Son to get the warm welcome he deserved. It was lovely to hear his song being sung again.

Despite the late conceded goal, I think the combination of scoring such a fabulous team goal along with the players returning from injury gives us some solid momentum heading into the upcoming derby match.

SAtP Player of the Match: the rookies

Okay, this is slightly cheating. But I genuinely found it hard to pick this week, so I'm just giving it collectively to the Tottenham rookies who really shone in this match: Vicario, Van de Ven, and Johnson. And Maddison too, I suppose, though it feels weird to call a player who has so many years of Premier League experience—albeit with another team—a rookie. Vicario and Van de Ven are total newcomers to the PL, while Johnson only had one year under his belt with Nottingham Forest. All three have proven themselves to be utterly undaunted by the pressure of playing for Spurs and continue to make game-changing (or saving) contributions each week.

(Side note for my UK-based readers: is the concept of a rookie even a thing over there? Please report back in the comments.)

Notable and quotable

• Son didn't hit eight goals (his current total for 23/24) until mid-April of the previous campaign (h/t Rob Daly).

• And another great shout from friend-of-the-newsletter Dak:

• Not a quote relevant to this game, specifically, but this anecdote from Vicario's recent BBC interview is still delightful:

In my first experience as a professional at Venezia, one [nickname] was given to me by the fans, Tegoina. In Venetian dialect it indicates the green bean, a long, narrow vegetable. I was tall and wiry and I wore green during the match.

If I knew how to pronounce "Tegoina" I would immediately adopt this alternative nickname for Venom, you best believe.

•And finally, a delicious bit of shade:

Previewing WSL Matchday 5 — Everton

The Women's team will be back in action on Sunday for a home match against Everton.

Historically this has been a tough matchup for us; we've only beaten Everton once since gaining promotion to the WSL, a 1-0 win in the 21/22 season. They beat us in both fixtures last season. On the positive side, the player who scored the stoppage time game-winning goal in the last matchup, Aggie Beever-Jones is no longer on loan at Everton.

Everton have had a poor start to the season, losing all but one game in the WSL (a narrow 0-1 win in the away Merseyside derby) and also losing their first group stage game in the Conti Cup. Perhaps more troubling for the Toffees is that they've only scored two goals in the league, both by Megan Finnigan. It's undoubtedly an underperforming season so far considering some of the talent in their squad, including international standouts like Hanna Bennison, Justine Vanhaevermaet, and new signing Martina Piemonte.

The plan for Spurs will be to keep building upon the attacking foundation laid in the first few games. With that goal, it's probably best not to implement too many changes to the starting XI over this initial stretch of the season, but Robert Vilahamn will need to continue using his substitutions proactively to keep the squad fresh.

It's important to gain maximum points in the next few fixtures ahead of a difficult run-in to the winter break.

A few storylines to keep an eye on:

• Can Martha Thomas keep her goal-scoring streak going? Well, I wouldn't bet against her!

• It would be great to see Becky Spencer get her first clean sheet of the season, which is very feasible with Everton struggling in front of the net so far.

• Celin Bizet has yet to get onto the scoresheet whether as scorer or assister. She'll need to start adding some end product to her game soon or risk a challenge from the other wingers in the squad for her starting spot.

Previewing PL Matchday 11 — Chelsea

I honestly don't know how to feel about this match.

Sure, Chelsea had slightly improved their form after a disastrous start to the season, but then they just lost 0-2 to Brentford at home—and even during their winning streak they didn't always look convincing. They certainly don't seem to have a cohesive team identity the way Spurs already do under Ange.

But there's so much emotion wrapped up in this fixture that it's hard to feel like form is even going to matter much in the end. There's the return of Pochettino to the Lane, this time managing another team—and not just any team, but one of our London rivals. There's the baseline level of drama that this derby always seems to bring. And then there's the fact that we're riding high at the top of the table (with lots of pressure coming from the teams beneath us) while Chelse are desperate to move up in the standings (they're still in the bottom half of the table, but only just).

It is worth noting that this is Chelsea's third London derby in a row—but let's face it, it's probably the one they're most motivated to win. It won't have bothered them hugely that they blew a 2-0 lead to draw with Arsenal, and they seem to view Brentford as something of a bogey team. Our matchup is the one that really matters.

This will be another big test of Ange's in-game management. This fixture never seems to go as planned, so he'll need to be on top of the ball (no pun intended) with his substitutions.

Like I said before, I really would like to see Johnson get the start, even though Richarlison undoubtedly has more "big game" experience. It just feels like Richy could use a rest, both mentally and physically, and Johnson is hungry.

Hopefully Udogie will be fit to start, because we definitely need him in the defense.

I won't even try to predict the outcome of this match, but I will say that if we do win, the fans shouldn't hold back from a rousing rendition of "I'm loving Big Ange instead," Poch's feelings be damned.

News from around the Lane

A couple of loan updates first:

• Alfie Devine scored Port Vale's sole goal in their 0-1 away win in the League Cup against Mansfield Town. Port Vale will now compete in the quarter-finals of the competition for the first time in club history.

• Lenna Gunning-Williams opened the scoring in Ipswich Town's recent 1-6 away win over Chatham Town (yes, this should have been in last week's roundup, but it's here now!) with an absolute banger of a goal.

And an update on the Academy U21s:

• The team took on League One side Peterborough United away in their second game of the EFL Trophy group stage, falling 3-1. The first half was a more even affair with the opposition fielding a rotated side, but the addition of a few first-teamers in the second half gave the home side the advantage to take all three points. Jude Soonsup-Bell had a pretty quiet game for his standards. But on a positive note, Alejo Véliz scored his first goal in a Spurs shirt off a lovely cross from Jamie Donley, with Yago Santiago also making a big contribution with the hockey assist.

I haven't been paying as much attention to the women's international break as usual (to be honest, it's just fatigue—and if I feel fatigued, imagine how the players feel), but here are a few key highlights that I can recall:

• Eveliina Summanen has been a standout for Finland, including scoring a brace in their most recent match against Croatia (one goal of which was assisted by her new Spurs teammate, Olga Ahtinen).

• Angharad James notched an assist in Wales' eventual 5-1 loss to Germany. It was such a beautiful team goal that it's worth highlighting despite the disappointing result.

• Jess Naz scored a goal for England's U23s in a 2-0 win over Portugal.

• Shelina Zadorsky got her first start in quite a while for Canada.

Check out the club's post for a full recap of the international break so far.

Since I'm publishing this issue early in the week for once I don't have the pre-match press conferences to draw from, so fingers crossed we don't get any terrible injury updates between now and the weekend.

Happy Halloween!

COYS

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