Same Ol' Spurs*

*Some Europa League exceptions apply.

Remember how excited I was to write about last weekend's games right away, because I thought we had learned some interesting things from them? Not so this week. The status quo was largely maintained (despite Spurs Women earning a rare point), and the game management from both managers continues to range from baffling to outright concerning. I'm not going to rule out the possibility that either or both of them could remain in their posts through to next season and even go on to improve the outlook for our senior teams with time and proper squad investment, but I'm long past the point of actively hoping for them to stay at the club. I have to speak my truth!

In this issue: Liverpool recap | Another Liverpool recap | Previewing Bodø/Glimt | News from around the Lane | Pub chat

We know Ange Postecoglou's job is at least safe unless/until Spurs Men are knocked out of the Europa League in the semi-final. The home leg is up first tomorrow. Let's hope they get the business done and set up a good chance of surviving the away leg so that we can punt the Postecoglou question til the end of the season.

I'm opting for condensed recaps this week in the interest of time. I'm also taking the "quotable" portion out of the "notable & quotable" section since nobody needs that right now. I haven't actually listened to Robert Vilahamn's post-game presser, but if he didn't say "taking steps" at least once, I would be amazed—although I did see that Clare Hunt offered a variation on the theme in her post-game comments.

And after no real club news last week, there are plenty of stories to round up this week, including an interesting look at the club's financial health and challenges.

WSL Matchday 20 recap | Liverpool 2 - 2 Tottenham

Haug 12' • 51' | Laws (OG) 25', Hunt 31'

I didn't realize until we started discussing this match on N17 Women that there were a lot of parallels between this game and the reverse fixture (which Liverpool won 2-3). There was a Liverpool own goal (goalkeeper Rachel Laws this time, Taylor Hinds back in October) and a Clare Hunt goal in our favor, and in both games, we took the lead only to drop points. We haven't managed a WSL win against Liverpool since October 2022.

But on a positive note, Spurs Women are officially safe from relegation. Huzzah.

Starting XI:

This team selection solidified my hunch that Olga Ahtinen and Anna Csiki have both fallen out of favor with Robert Vilahamn (if Csiki was ever even in favor). He preferred to push Josefine Rybrink up into the DM role from centerback (giving Clare Hunt her first start since February 16 to partner with Molly Bartrip in the back line) and let Olivia Holdt out of winger purgatory to play in her optimal #10 role. At least Beth England was fit to start; she contributed to forcing the Liverpool own goal.

SAtP Player of the Match: Maite Oroz

With Drew Spence and Eveliina Summanen both absent due to suspension, Oroz got a chance to shine in the midfield. As her match fitness has increased (this was her first full 90 in several weeks), so too has the team's ability to progress the ball through the center of the park.

Although it has taken her some time to adjust to life at Spurs and gain familiarity with her teammates, she is finally looking closer to the player we thought we'd signed in the summer. She's not quite the Grace Clinton replacement we were hoping for, but she can definitely serve an important role in this squad.

Notable:

• We had two goalkeepers on the bench, including Erin Radbourne, who earned her first inclusion in a WSL matchday squad.

• Although the bench wasn't ideal, Robert Vilahamn still left some capable outfield players out of the game, opting for only three substitutions.

• Though we're still winless since the January 26 victory over Crystal Palace, we have picked up two draws in the last three games and were just a stoppage-time concession away from a third last week.

• Clare Hunt scored her second WSL goal of the campaign, both of which came against Liverpool. She is now tied on WSL goals for the season with Jess Naz, Drew Spence, and Eveliina Summanen.

PL Matchday 34 recap | Liverpool 5 - 1 Tottenham

Díaz 16', Mac Allister 24', Gakpo 34', Salah 63', Udogie (OG) 69' | Solanke 12'

It's an incredibly cruel twist of fate that the fixture schedule served up a match at Anfield—just at the moment Liverpool could clinch the Premier League title—and have that be the game preceding the all-important Europa League semi-final home leg. These were unfortunate circumstances. At the same time, champion-caliber teams manage such scenarios and go on to prove their worth through a combination of grit, shrewd squad rotation, and self-belief.

I'm not sure we saw any of that from Spurs against Liverpool. I still have major doubts about how a team looking this shorn of confidence can rebound in knockout tie after knockout tie to reach a European final, let alone win it. But it all remains to be seen. We could look back on this embarrassing loss in the summer and be able to laugh about it as just an obstacle on the way to a trophy—if indeed we can put it behind us in the present and regain focus for the Europa League.

Starting XI:

I am far from the first person to share this opinion, but I did not like the way Archie Gray was offered up as the sacrificial lamb by Postecoglou. To start Gray at the #6 (a role he has barely had any gametime in this season) against arguably the best team in the world and with a second-choice centerback pairing behind him, on the heels of not featuring at all for the last two games? That's nasty work, Ange.

The performances were pretty poor across the board, unfortunately, perhaps with the exception of James Maddison. His assist for Dominic Solanke's opening goal was superb. It was all downhill after that, and the centerback duo of Ben Davies and Kevin Danso (making just his 5th start since joining in January) had a particularly rough time against the most formidable attack in the league.

SAtP Player of the Match: Dominic Solanke

Statistically, it's clearly Maddison who deserves the honors, but I want to give Solanke a shoutout for scoring his second goal in three games across all competitions. We really need him to be hitting some form right now, and he gave me some much-needed hope. And for those brief few minutes before Luis Díaz equalized, we got to enjoy a lead.

Notable:

• We have now tied our club record for most defeats in a PL season at 19.

• We're on a three-game losing streak in the league.

• The much-clung-to (for morale's sake) goal difference is in the single digits for the first time since matchday 23 and the lowest it's been since matchday 7.

• Liverpool have become the 5th team to do the PL double on us this season. In addition, they put up a 15-5 aggregate score across all competitions (including the two-legged League Cup semi-final tie). Bleak.

Previewing Europa League Semi-final Home Leg — Bodø/Glimt

The good news is that our Norwegian opponents have never beaten an English team in European competition. The bad news is that they've only faced two English teams (including possible final opponents Manchester United), so it's a small sample size.

That being said, they won't go down without a fight, having taken Lazio to penalties in the quarter-final.

Ange Postecoglou does have experience facing them as a manager, and it didn't go well; they knocked his Celtic team out of the Europa Conference League in 2022 in the Round of 32 on a 5-1 aggregate score.

Gaining an aggregate advantage in this home leg will be crucial. In an effort to get the home crowd fully behind the team, the club is encouraging supporters to wear lilywhite in a show of unity.

Although Bodø/Glimt have scored in all of their knockout games so far this Europa League campaign, they've also lost each away leg.

We'll have a distinct advantage in the squad availability department (despite still being without Son Heung-min) because they have several players either injured or suspended for the first leg—including their captain and top performer, Patrick Berg.

After such a listless performance against Liverpool and factoring in the heavy rotation to the starting lineup, we really have no excuse not to approach this home leg with full effort and intent to win by a healthy goal margin.

News from around the Lane

• There was some further fallout from the Liverpool game: several Spurs fans have been issued indefinite club bans and lost their season tickets for reselling away tickets.

• On a more positive ticketing note, One Hotspur Membership renewals are now open and the price has been frozen at last season's price.

• The club has requested to have the fixture date for our Premier League matchup with Aston Villa preemptively moved to avoid a clash if we reach the Europa League final, but so far, no such change has been made.

• In Academy-related news, George Abbott has won EFL Goal of the Season while on loan with League Two team Notts County, his first campaign in senior football. Congrats to George! He was also shortlisted for League Two Young Player of the season but did not take home the award.

• And in the best news of the week, Lucas Bergvall has extended his contract at the club until 2031. What a relief! Although he hasn't yet completed his first full season playing for Spurs, he's already shown a lot of growth and development and has become a key midfielder for Spurs Men. Hopefully this new deal includes a hefty release clause so we can feel assured that he'll be in lilywhite for many seasons to come.

Lucas acknowledged that he has had a lot to learn, not just on the pitch but off it as well, during his early tenure at Spurs:

I’ve learned a lot. Coming to a new country, a new culture, of course I had Deki (Dejan Kulusevski) helping me a lot in the beginning but still, living on your own, making food and everything... it’s not only to be a footballer to train every day, it’s everything around it. You have to take care of the car, the house or apartment... everything really, so I think I’ve developed a lot as a person as well as a player.

Pub chat: Club finances

Finally, I wanted to share a bonus bookmark, a thorough analysis of Spurs' recent financial disclosures by Chris Weatherspoon at The Athletic.

The BookKeeper – Exploring Tottenham Hotspur’s finances and their reduced spending power

Spurs’ finances suggest the summer budget is unlikely to match that of recent seasons

The AthleticChris Weatherspoon

I highly recommend reading the full article, but here are my key takeaways:

• The club's PSR position is stable.
• There is some truth to the “need” for higher ticket prices, RE higher operating costs; the ethical argument for season-over-season increases is obviously a different matter.
• We’ve tended to overperform in the Premier League standings relative to our wage spending, but are now trailing behind more clubs in terms of total wage spend than ever before (Aston Villa and Newcastle have pipped us).
• We had the lowest wage spend amongst elite European clubs—though not too far behind AC Milan and Real Madrid, interestingly.
• We're carrying large amounts of debt, mostly to do with the stadium, but at least at favorable interest rates that minimize the strain.
• The article confirms we have made significant transfer spend over recent seasons; last season was a club record of £272.2m (only City and Chelsea have ever spent more in a single season), and we have also doubled transfer spending over the last ten years.
• FCF (free cash flow) is “underwater” because of heavy transfer spend.
• We're carrying the highest transfer debt in the league currently.
• We rank low in outgoing transfer income historically, with a few notable exceptions (Gareth Bale, Kyle Walker, Harry Kane).
• The importance of participation in the Champions League (for broadcasting revenue) was highlighted.

And a couple of interesting quotes from Weatherspoon:

In a feat of either supreme business intelligence or parsimony, and naturally there’s no in-between thinking allowed here, Spurs have been cash-positive at the operating level every year under ENIC and Levy. On a day-to-day business before any transfer activity, the club has generated sufficient cash to run of its own accord. If that sounds like something every sensible business should be doing — which it is — then football’s nonsensical nature is made abundantly clear when we consider the only other club who can claim the same in that timeframe are Manchester United.

The paradox of Tottenham Hotspur lies in how[,] at the point the transfer spending taps were finally opened, results haven’t flowed.

Essentially, we need this young roster to come good because there won’t be much funding available for transfers in the short term, barring a significant player sale (possibly Cristian Romero?).

I do have a hunch that the recent improvements to the Men's Academy setup will help in terms of player sales as well as mitigating the need for transfer spend (for example, Mikey Moore and Jamie Donley are real talents that could contribute meaningfully soon).

In the meantime, "sustainability" is still the buzzword and the expectation from ENIC.

All right, everybody, strap in for tomorrow's Europa League showdown. Hopefully I'll be writing the next issue in a jubilant mood and not mentally starting a list of available managers for the summer.

COYS

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