Saved by a Strong Start

Well, it wasn't the most inspired second half against Everton, but the Men's team was able to hang onto a win and enter the festive period in the top 4 (albeit thanks to a postponed Manchester City fixture). Two games against south coast teams will wrap up the calendar year, with the exact midway point of the season falling in between.

In this issue: Everton recap | Previewing the Brighton and Bournemouth games

PL Matchday 18 recap | Tottenham 2 - 1 Everton

Richarlison 9', Son 18' | Gomes 82'

Even though this wasn't our best performance of the season by a long shot, it was still a more enjoyable game to watch than we've experienced lately because our opponents were playing actual football, not just fouling us to excess. I don't have any beef with Everton in general and hope they manage to stay up despite their points deduction (appeal pending). Richarlison still has some love for his old teammates too, as seen after the final whistle.

Starting XI:

Either I had more faith in Giovani Lo Celso than Ange does or he simply wasn't fit enough to start, because Oliver Skipp started in the midfield pivot next to Pape Sarr instead. This is far from our best midfielder pairing (certainly when it comes to defensive cover), but with the injury and suspension situation what it is there wasn't much alternative. I think our eventual goal concession had more to do with Cristian Romero's injury substitution than the midfield's deficiencies, however.

Emerson Royal replaced Destiny Udogie as expected in the only other change to the lineup from the Nottingham Forest game.

Unless you factor in Brennan Johnson's forced early exit from the previous game due to injury, we've seen the same attacking quartet in the last three matches. They are starting to build up strong partnerships, with at least one goal combination between the four of them in each of those games. Richarlison especially has benefited from having consistent service in the striker role.

Johnson contributed the assist for Richarlison's goal—an effortless cross following a line-breaking through ball from Sarr—and also indirectly led to Son's goal, seeing his shot from a corner routine saved by Jordan Pickford but rebounded right into Son's path. If there's one thing Brennan needs to add to his game it's more clinical finishing on his own shots; he missed a sitter not long after Richarlison's opening goal.

Unfortunately, Cristian Romero may have tweaked his hamstring making a recovery run in the first half, and did not come out for the second. Eric Dier replaced him and, well, we immediately looked less solid defensively. Again, it is what it is.

Fortunately, Everton had a goal ruled out in the 51st minute due to a foul in the buildup on Emerson Royal. He received a pass from Guglielmo Vicario (with plenty of space and time to handle it, I must add) and dawdled on the ball long enough for André Gomes to clumsily approach and foul him. It really was fortunate that VAR chalked off the goal because Ben Davies had completely switched off after he saw what he judged to be a foul on Royal. I was surprised to see such a seasoned professional like Davies make a basic mistake like that—always, always play to the whistle. But he and Royal were both bailed out this time.

This was another game where Vicario got a chance to shine. He made one truly outrageous save on a long-range shot from former Spurs player Arnaut Danjuma (pictured below). He also saved another attempt from Danjuma at the death in stoppage time, putting a block in with his shin (or maybe thigh? I can't seem to find a conclusive replay) that kept the ball from going across the line completely after ricocheting down from the crossbar. Thank god for goal-line technology, since he very well might have been onside upon VAR review.

Speaking of Vicario, this was my expression for most of the second half:

The one goal that Everton did manage to score came from a bit of botched set-piece defense. It looked like three separate Spurs players all rose to head away a corner delivery and they all failed to properly clear it, allowing Gomes to retrieve the loose ball completely unmarked and leather the ball into the net. Skipp spotted the danger and tried to put a block in, barely missing the ball with his shin— leaving Vicario unsighted as a result.

Considering the existing spate of injuries (possibly increasing after this game due to Romero's hamstring concern and a knock to Richarlison's back) and the two suspensions, I'm honestly okay with a narrow win to an in-form team in the league—though a clean sheet would have been nice. It's still a positive sign that we've only conceded two goals in the last three games, all of which were wins. And thanks to Manchester City's matchday 18 game being postponed due to their involvement in the Club World Cup final, we got to end the weekend in 4th place. The more points we can accrue during this period with a thin squad, the better positioned we are to capitalize on a (nearly) full squad in a couple of months post-AFCON and Asian Cup.

SAtP Player of the Match: Guglielmo Vicario

Those two major saves were true game-winners. Look at the evidence!

With our current lack of depth in the defense from all the injuries, getting consistent saves like these from Vicario will be key to continuing to pick up points.

Notable and quotable:

• We are the only club to have scored in every game this season, and in fact have scored in our last 30 Premier League games stretching back to the previous season.

• This match marked Romero's 200th game at club level.

• This quote from Ange is a long one, but very important and well worth reading in full:

Everyone thinks their own burden is greater than anyone else's but that's why I am really respectful of every manager. Because even the ones who you think have had things all their own way I'm sure they have had their own challenges. Once you accept and embrace that you understand that it is part of your role that irrespective of what club you are at or what situation you are in there are always going to be challenges. Some are seen, some are unseen, some people don't know about - and if you clutch at those for a reason not to be successful they will always be there. What strong leaders do is that they don't use them as a crutch. I'm not going to do that here. We have had some adversity already this season and had some adversity before the season started. In my mind that shouldn't stop us from making the progress we need to make.

In other words, we can acknowledge obstacles without using them as excuses. What matters in the end is the progress made along the journey, and the team has undoubtedly progressed already under Ange.

• And a feel-good quote from Captain Sonny:

I’m very grateful, very lucky to play in a Spurs shirt and I’m the luckiest man in the world to have this support behind me.

I will now preview the next two Premier League matchdays since I won't be able to post a new issue between them. I will recap both matches together as well, after the new year. Hopefully this will be a good end to 2023 for the Men's team!

Previewing PL Matchday 19 — Brighton

After the first few matches of the next round, which crucially included an Aston Villa loss to Manchester United, we have a slight chance to go up to 3rd place in the table with a decisive win over Brighton—but only with a three-goal margin or more.

Whereas Everton were very much a team hitting their stride, Brighton have had an inconsistent season so far. They only have two wins in their last six games in all competitions, and both of those wins were by a single goal. Most recently they drew 1-1 at Crystal Palace.

João Pedro has been their most consistent attacker after Evan Ferguson's early season spark has started to fizzle out. Kaoru Mitoma only has four PL goals so far, though he has also contributed four assists.

However, I think Brighton's poor defense will be a bigger boon to Spurs than their up-and-down attack. All of their clean sheets so far this season have come in the Europa League; every Premier League opponent has managed to score against them.

We will have Destiny Udogie available again after his one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation, so expect to see him starting again while Emerson Royal drops to the bench. As of this writing, the injury update hasn't been shared yet, so it's unclear if Cristian Romero and Richarlison will be fit to start. Eric Dier is the only realistic option to fill in for Romero (Royal is much better out wide than in a centerback pairing) since Ashley Phillips has just returned from injury and is yet to even make a PL appearance. A Richarlison injury would likely be accommodated by Son Heung-min moving back into the striker role, Brennan Johnson shifting to the left wing, Dejan Kulusevski returning to the right wing, and Giovani Lo Celso replacing Deki at the #10; if Gio isn't fit to start, Bryan Gil could replace Son on the left wing so Johnson can stay on the right. There is a slight chance Ange might give Aléjo Veliz his first PL start, but that feels unlikely.

I think that's all the possible lineup permutations to consider... besides Yves Bissouma's continuing red card suspension, which gives Ange a selection choice between (probably) Oliver Skipp or Pierre-Emile Højbjerg. He seems to prefer Lo Celso in the attacking midfield role, which I largely agree with, though Kulusevski has the edge in that position at the moment until James Maddison returns from injury.

Even though Brighton have struggled to match their strong form of the last few seasons, they're not a team to be underestimated—especially when we could further consolidate our standing in the European qualification spots with a win.

Previewing PL Matchday 20 — Bournemouth

It would obviously be pointless to speculate too much about player availability since we still have the Brighton game to play first (Bournemouth had a decisive 3-0 win against Fulham in matchday 19, putting them in the top half of the table), so let's just look at our opponent's recent form. I will note that the one player we definitely won't see feature for Bournemouth is a bummer for my fellow Americans: Tyler Adams. He's been out with a hamstring injury since his first match for the club, whom he just signed with this season after departing Leeds United.

Although Bournemouth had a really tough start to the season, only picking up wins in the League Cup until their first PL win against Burnley in late October, they have been undefeated since their 6-1 away loss to Manchester City on November 4. Perhaps more impressive is the fact that they've had clean sheets in three of their last four games (the match against Luton was sadly postponed due to Tom Lockyer's cardiac event).

A fun fact from their last game: they were awarded a penalty for the first time in 66 games. 66 games! And we thought we had it bad going so long this season without a penalty.

Dominic Solanke has been on a real tear this season, leading his team with 13 goals. He's currently 2nd in the Golden Boot race and just two goals behind league leader Erling Haaland (and two goals above our own Son Heung-min). Last weekend he scored his first PL hat trick against Nottingham Forest. In other words, he's going to be a problem, particularly aerially. For that reason, I hope that Cuti is fit to play in this match if not against Brighton as well.

Also of interest is the recent emergence of Alex Scott. He was a new signing for Bournemouth this summer, having been linked with Tottenham as well, though his start with the Cherries was delayed by an existing injury from before the start of the campaign. He was supposed to have been sidelined until after the new year with a more recent MCL injury but was able to return early, appearing in their last two matches. Scott was integral to the first goal in Bournemouth's win against Fulham, making a marauding run in midfield for the assist. He had also notched an assist in the League Cup in early November but has yet to score a goal for Bournemouth in any competition.

Luckily this is a home match for Spurs, so Bournemouth won't have the support of their full, latterly invigorated fanbase. I'm sure our fanbase will make it a lively occasion for this New Year's Eve match.

After watching that match in the morning local time I will be going to see my hometown San Antonio Spurs in the evening. I hope it will be a winning day all around. Enjoy your celebrations and have a Happy New Year!

COYS

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