Second Half Sweep

I thought about making a harsh joke about breaking Crystal (as in Palace), but after seeing Molly Bartrip look so devastated at full time, it doesn't feel as funny. It's always bittersweet facing a former player, especially one as beloved as Molly. Hopefully she knows that her stalwart first-half defense was greatly admired, and no one really expected that Crystal Palace could hold out playing practically the entire game down a player. The result was a foregone conclusion.

But Spurs Women still deserve to get their flowers for such a dominant performance—even if it took them until the second half to finally get started on scoring. Once they did, the floodgates opened, and we not only got treated to an Olivia Holdt hat trick, but also a brace for Victoria Pelova on her first start for the club. Shekiera Martinez also scored her first goal, and the seven-goal victory was rounded out by Amanda Nildén (who scored while featuring in her second position of the game).

In this issue: Aston Villa recap | Crystal Palace recap | News from around the Lane

We're going to save the best for last today (and stick to the traditional chronological order), so first I'll touch on Spurs Men's frustrating loss to Aston Villa.

Then there's a bit of club news to round up and a perrenial rant to let loose (hint: broadcast rights gone missing).

PL MD 5 | Tottenham 2 - 3 Aston Villa

Gallagher 86', Van Hecke 90+8' | Manzambi 45+4', Jackson 67', Buendía 79'

Finally, Spurs contribute to the scoreline!

That scoreline is somehow simultaneously generous and harsh as a reflection of the actual performance. The stats certainly suggest that we should have been on the right side of the narrow result; Spurs dominated possession, took plenty of shots, and even outdid Villa on xG. We also generated 11 set-piece opportunities compared to Villa's sole set-piece chance, one of which we converted (a header from Jan Paul van Hecke, his first goal for the club).

But it's worthwhile to note that this attack is still wasteful and lacks the clinical final touch needed to win games. It did not help that Villa's new keeper, Zion Suzuki, had a Player of the Match-worthy performance in goal, nor did it help that Pedro Porro exited the game with an early injury (on which we have yet to receive a substantial update, besides this concerning missive on Porro's own Instagram and a vague reference to an ongoing hamstring concern from RDZ).

Although Van Hecke did get the important second goal to limit the goal difference damage (no, it is not too early to be fretting about that!), he struggled in his defensive duties. Micky van de Ven put in a heroic shift at times (and had a bloody cheek to prove it), and it's probably not a coincidence that we conceded the first goal to Villa when he was temporarily held out of the game after receiving treatment. The timing was not ideal, with the goal happening just before halftime.

The short-sided goal concession was just one of many unlucky moments in the game. There was a potential handball against Aaron Wan-Bissaka that was dismissed by VAR, as well as an offside goal for Mohammed Kudus that would have drawn Spurs level at 1-1.

But the players should be commended for not dropping their heads when down 0-3. They fought back to reduce the deficit to just one goal. Conor Gallagher scored first for Spurs, in a move that was started with a bit of tenacity from Archie Gray to win back the ball, followed by some nice interplay between Kudus and Omar Marmoush. All but Marmoush in that sequence had come on as substitutes (Gray early on in the game for Porro), so perhaps we had needed the fresh legs and fresh perspective. I would like to give Van Hecke more credit for his goal, but to be honest, Villa seemed to have let their concentration slip in the dying moments of the match, and the marking (or lack thereof) from Tyrone Mings was very poor.

So despite limiting the damage, Spurs still ended up dead last in the Premier League table heading into the lengthy international break. I think there are still more questions than answers when it comes to team selection, tactics, and morale, but we'll have to wait three weeks to jump back into the fray.

Notable & quotable:

• Conor Gallagher scored for the second game in a row across all competitions.

• Jan Paul van Hecke scored his first goal for Spurs in any competition.

• Andy Robertson notched his first assist for Spurs in any competition on Van Hecke's goal.

• Spurs Men have failed to win any of their last 48 games when conceding first in all competitions.

WSL MD 3 | Crystal Palace 0 - 7 Tottenham

Holdt 49' • 61' • 73', Pelova 76' • 90', Martinez 79', A. Nildén 86'

Martin Ho told the team in his pre-game talk to "put on a show with the way we that we play with the ball," and the players certainly delivered on that objective... though it took until the second half to see the fruits of their labor.

I think we have to acknowledge that Crystal Palace were hard done by with the red card decision on Fuka Tsunoda in just the 7th minute of the match; it completely changed the trajectory of the game as Palace could only withstand playing down a player for so long (the entire first half, as it happened). Still, you could see evidence of what their defense can do at its best—especially with the efforts of loanee goalkeeper Pauline Peyraud-Magnin and former Spurs player Molly Bartrip—and why they were able to keep clean sheets in their first two games.

After halftime, Palace finally ran out of steam, and Spurs decided to stop playing around and start scoring.

Olivia Holdt has entered the league Golden Boot race with her 24-minute hat trick and did it all with her trademark playfulness. Some players tell you they love the game; Olivia shows that love on the pitch in her creative, inspiring performances. Her enthusiasm is infectious, and I'm not sure there's another player I currently enjoy watching more, from any team! (Okay, honorable mention to Tōko Koga, because technically gifted defenders need appreciation, too).

Let's quickly recap Holdt's three goals:

• a volleyed shot at the edge of the 6-yard box off an assist from Victoria Pelova, which was itself a volley right on the goal line (this was also technically a set-piece goal, as Pelova let a throw-in bounce a couple of times before taking her touch)
• a curling shot from the edge of the 18-yard box after a close-range pass from Signe Gaupset
• an even longer-range shot that caught Peyraud-Magnin off guard since Gaupset had pulled off an interception to get ahold of the ball for the assist; the Palace keeper got hands to the ball but couldn't keep it out

The rest of the team then decided to get in on the goals once Holdt's hat trick was complete (no chance of her managing a fourth since she was subbed off straightaway after her third goal).

Pelova, who had played provider to spark Holdt's scoring run, was able to quickly turn and shoot on an assist from Drew Spence for her first goal for the club. Peyraud-Magnin seemed to be unsighted for the shot as she was frozen in place.

Gaupset would have had another close-range assist on Shekiera Martinez's goal, if not for the initial shot being saved. Martinez cleaned up on her own rebound to score Spurs' fifth of the match. No offside call to take away her first Spurs goal this time!

Amanda Nildén then got her reward for a strong overall performance, not to mention being denied by the keeper and the woodwork earlier in the first half. She moved from playing in the centerback duo with Koga to replace Julie Blakstad at left fullback midway through the second half. Nildén's shot was assisted by her national teammate Matilda Vinberg.

Oh, and the moment we had all been waiting for, the club debut of Alice Sombath, finally happened in the 75th minute. Sombath didn't have much to do since Palace were barely trying to attack by that point, but she did get a chance to show off a nice bit of skill on the ball.

One moment that I think we were all half-expecting did not end up coming to pass, as Bethany England was subbed off before she could score a goal against her former team. Koga had shut down her most promising attempt in the first half, forcing England to shoot well wide of the net under pressure.

Honestly, the only disappointment from the game (it almost feels greedy to suggest there could be a disappointing factor in such a blowout win!) was that Tinka Tandberg didn't get in on the goal-fest. Hopefully she can finally get off the mark in the cup game midweek; she didn't play even 7o minutes in this match, so she should be fresh enough to start again on Wednesday or at least make an extended cameo as a substitute. Spence also had several decent attempts on goal but couldn't find the back of the net either.

Notable and quotable:

• This was the first clean sheet of the season for Lize Kop and Spurs; Kop only needed to make 16 touches in the whole game (h/t Rachel).

• On the flip side, Spurs broke Crystal Palace's streak of two clean sheets to start the season.

• Seven goals across four players is just one goal away from the team's record win margin in the WSL (a 0-8 win at Brighton & Hove Albion in the 2022/23 season); that result featured five distinct goal-scorers (one of whom was Molly Bartrip, as it happened).

• Victoria Pelova scored her first two goals for the club, and Shekiera Martinez scored her first goal as well.

• Olivia Holdt made her first start of the season. She scored just the second-ever hat trick for Spurs in the WSL (the first was Martha Thomas' hat trick against Aston Villa in October 2023).

• Victoria Pelova also made her first start and ended the game with three total goal contributions (two goals, one assist).

• Signe Gaupset had a brace of assists (both for Holdt).

• Amanda Nildén scored her first goal for Spurs since October 19, 2025 (in the League Cup against Birmingham City)

• There were only three players for Spurs (starters and substitutes) who did not take a shot: Kop, Matilda Nildén, and Alice Sombath.

• Eveliina Summanen was an unused substitute, perhaps suggesting that she was being rested for the midweek game.

• Spurs end the matchday in 2nd place and with the best goal difference in the league.

• Spurs are 2-for-2 in London derbies so far this season, with another midweek (albeit in a different competition).

• Martin Ho revealed what he said to the team at halftime when it was still scoreless:

I just said to the group as a whole that I needed to see more of us wanting to get on the end of the chances, wanting to score, wanting to be in the right positions and wanting to win the game.

Throughout the first half, it was more of us trying to force the chance to score or individually trying to do things. When we put it together as a collective, we’re more dynamic, we get into the right positions, we deliver with good quality and we finish with good quality. It makes a difference.

• After admitting that it was a relief to get past the pressure of scoring her first goal for the club, Pelova emphasized how important it was to keep the goals flowing across the team:

We now have two tough weeks, with a lot of games, and I know at the end of the season, goals matter, it always matters, so I think it's good that we scored seven goals.

News from around the Lane

• Yang Min-hyeok, who is off on loan again this season, got an early start to the international break since he's involved in the South Korea U23s' Asian Games campaign. South Korea have reached the quarter-finals of the competition.

• As part of the newly relaunched club Hall of Fame, a new wall installation has been unveiled at the stadium.

The class of 2026 inductees were joined by previous inductees for a formal ceremony.

• Xavi Simons surprised everyone, not least the members of Boston Spurs, by showing up to the OSC's watch party for the Aston Villa game.

I had my share of frustrations with him pre-ACL injury last season, but he does seem like a sincerely lovely person off the pitch and already has a strong affinity with the club—like, going-to-a-supporters-bar-to-watch-a-game-at-7:30-am strong. And what a cool moment for those fans, though I do wonder if it was slightly awkward to watch the game with him considering the recent struggles of the Men's team. A penny for your thoughts, Xavi?

Apparently he was in town for a training camp as he continues his ACL rehab. He's already been to Baltimore and will be headed to Santa Monica next. So you know, if you're in the area, don't miss the next watch party!

Up next:

September 23 | Spurs Women vs West Ham United (Subway Players Cup)
Team news — No changes to the availability from the Crystal Palace game

Martin Ho did note, however, that he wants to "continue having a healthy group and full availability," which suggests we should see some rotation to the starting lineup, as well as proactive substitutions during the game. I will be curious to see if Alice Sombath gets her first start for the club.

A reminder that if the result is a draw at the end of full time, there will be a penalty shootout for an extra point, but no extra time.

The match is only streaming here on SpursPlay.

I think it's a shame that WSL Football have gone to all the trouble of updating the format of the competition and making it de facto more competitive with the absence of the Champions League teams (who dominated the former League Cup format), but haven't found a proper broadcast arrangement for the league phase. Once again, it's up to clubs to provide a broadcast for most of the ties (only one is being shown on the WSL's YouTube channel this matchday).

It's especially disappointing in the case of Spurs Women, who are coming off a dominant win in WSL play and would surely have had new fans tuning in for this midweek game if it was more accessible. This is the kind of deterrant that turns potential fans off and makes them give up just as they are starting to get invested. How frustrating to not be able to build on that momentum.

I just don't understand the priorities of the people supposedly in charge of growing this league and the profile of the rebranded Players Cup.

Anyway, with that sadly evergreen rant over, let's get behind the team as they hopefully get off to a perfect start in the competition!

COYS

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