Slipping into Despair

One thing is for sure: we have to stop saying Spurs Men have hit rock bottom. There is always a lower low! And at this rate, we'll wind up accidentally manifesting relegation.

So instead, I will merely say that this was the worst I have felt emotionally about a game this season... so far. Our luck in the Champions League finally ran out with the start of the knockouts, to the tune of a 5-2 loss at Atlético de Madrid, a disastrous CL debut for Antonín Kinský, and a pair of concussions.

In this issue: Atlético de Madrid recap | News from around the Lane

Igor Tudor has at least one more game in charge, and it's the always-dreaded away trip to Liverpool. He'll have to manage a defense with only one senior centerback available.

But first, Spurs Women kick things off on Sunday with their return from international break—though still without the three players who are away at the Asian Cup (an update on which you can find below in the news segment). They will take on Everton at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the second of the three currently scheduled fixtures at the club's main stadium.

Champions League Round of 16 | Atlético de Madrid 5 - 2 Tottenham

Llorente 6', Griezmann 14', Álvarez 15' • 55', Le Normand 22' | Porro 26', Solanke 76'

There's no getting around it, so let's talk about the goalkeeping of it all first.

Igor Tudor shocked everyone by starting Antonín Kinský, who made just his third start of the season and first-ever in the Champions League. And while he had mixed performances in his two League Cup appearances earlier in the season, I don't think anyone would have expected it to go this poorly for him against Atlético. The slippery pitch at the Metropolitano didn't help, and it caused issues for the defenders in front of him as well. There's no coming back from conceding three goals in fifteen minutes, and Tudor made the decision to sub him off after the third went in.

I can understand the impulse to pull Kinský off before further damage could be done—for the team's sake as much as his—but it was a brutal embarrassment for the young keeper, who may have escaped the onslaught of media criticism if he'd remained in the game and Spurs recovered to make the scoreline more respectable. He wasn't given that chance, and Tudor failed to even acknowledge him as he came off the pitch. It was poor team selection in the first place to bench Guglielmo Vicario, who was the CL Golden Glove leader heading into the match, but it was even worse man management to neglect to comfort Kinský as he headed to the tunnel. As far as I'm concerned, that should have been the final nail in the coffin for Tudor's interim stint at Spurs.

Vicario, of course, had already been set up to fail, though the first goal he conceded wasn't really on him; he made a decent initial save and would have hoped for the defense to clear the ball, but Pape Sarr nearly headed it into the net himself. It was unclear if Atlético's Robin Le Normand had scored at first, but goal line technology confirmed the ball had crossed the line (it was very obvious on replay).

The first half wasn't a total wash, as Pedro Porro was able to get one back in the 26th minute off a cut-back assist from Richarlison.

To add insult to injury, an Atlético fan was spotted on the broadcast assembling sandwiches without a care in the world thanks to the favorable scoreline for his team. I have so many questions about this... How did he smuggle the ingredients into the stadium? Is this a tradition, since no stewards seem to step in to confiscate his deli wares? And what does this say about the quality of the concessions provided at the stadium that he felt he had to take halftime refreshment into his own hands? It was a nice distraction from the on-pitch disappointment, anyway.

Tudor kept the bold substitution decisions coming with a double swap at halftime, taking off Mathys Tel and Randal Kolo Muani in favor of Conor Gallagher and Dominic Solanke.

It only took ten minutes for further calamity to strike, as Richarlison's header was saved by Jan Oblak and immediately turned into a counterattack, culminating in a goal for Julián Alvarez, his second of the game.

Atlético's keeper fell prey to the slippery grass himself for Spurs' second and final goal, effectively passing the ball straight to Porro rather than one of his own teammates, who then assisted Dominic Solanke for the striker's third goal of the CL campaign. At 76 minutes, there was still time to at least reduce the aggregate deficit heading into the home leg, but we couldn't manage another goal.

There's been a lot of discourse around the condition of the ground, but all this talk of a slippery pitch reminded me of the debate around slippery ice at the men's figure skating event in the Olympics. Everyone has to compete on the same surface, so I don't think it's fair to say mistakes made are solely down to the conditions. The mental factor cannot be overlooked, and let's face it: Spurs' mentality has been found lacking on many occasions this season, not just on this rainy night in Madrid. Plus, the Metropolitano is well-known for having a poor surface, and Spurs should have made preparations to compensate for it and not make excuses after the fact.

Nothing could have been worse than that initial flurry of goal concessions, but the universe certainly did its best to offer a contender. In a case of friendly fire typical of our luck this season, Cristian Romero and João Palhinha knocked heads, hard, and both ended up needing to leave the pitch. Palhinha was ordered off by the medical staff, while Romero initially stayed in the game but chose to take himself out after it became apparent he couldn't continue. This, of course, has triggered concussion protocol and they're both already ruled out for the Liverpool game.

This match was a complete and utter debacle, even if we had already resigned ourselves as a fanbase to needing to sacrifice the Champions League dream to put full effort into Premier League survival. Still, it wasn't supposed to be this demoralizing. And for as much as many of the players deserve legitimate criticism for their performances this season, I can't imagine how difficult it has been for them to weather obstacle after obstacle as a team. We've had far more than our fair share of misfortune. Whoever the next permanent manager ends up being, they're going to have the unenviable task of not only turning around the tactics but also rallying a beleaguered squad.

Notable & quotable:

• Pedro Porro had a goal and an assist, while Richarlison made his first assist in the CL this season.

• Former Spurs keeper Joe Hart said it best about the Antonín Kinský surprise start and early substitution:

Even the stadium is feeling sorry for him. Tudor doesn’t even acknowledge his goalie. If that’s man management, then I’m flabbergasted. He’s acting like that isn’t the 14th minute. That doesn’t happen at any level. Not even Sunday League.

Not being looked after, he’ll feel so unwelcome in that club. He’ll certainly feel unwelcome as far as the management is involved. You’ve got to be treated like a human.

Another former Spurs keeper, Paul Robinson, also weighed in:

It is selfish from the manager—he knows he will not be here for long. I have never seen that in my whole career. It is clearly for self-preservation and with no consideration for the young goalkeeper.

• Igor Tudor was baffled by the way the match played out:

I need to apologise to the fans, to everyone. It’s incredibly difficult to explain, at least for the first 20 minutes, I've never seen in my life, things like this. It’s very strange to explain.

News from around the Lane

• Let's start with a Women's Asian Cup roundup:

• Australia defeated North Korea 2-1 in their quarter-final, advancing to a semi-final against China.
• Former Spurs player Alanna Kennedy has already scored five goals in the tournament, including two braces.
• Clare Hunt helped her team to keep two clean sheets in the group stage. We won't speak of the other game.
• Japan also reached the quarter-final stage, but will not play that fixture with the Philippines until tomorrow. If they advance, they will take on South Korea in the other semi-final, potentially setting up a very Spurs-relevant final on March 21 if they meet Australia there!
• Maika Hamano scored her first goal of the tournament in Japan's third group stage game against Vietnam.

• The fixture details for Spurs Women's FA Cup quarter-final match at Chelsea have been confirmed for April 6 at 1:30 pm UK/8:30 am ET. It's unclear so far if/where there is going to be a US broadcast, but I will keep an eye out for an announcement.

• Sophie Jackson, who has featured on the bench for several senior Spurs Women games this season, had a standout performance in the U19s' latest PGA league game, which went to penalty kicks for the extra point. Jackson saved London City Lionesses' first three penalty attempts while Spurs converted all of ours to win the shootout 3-0.

• Dominic Solanke earned two Premier League awards for February for his scorpion kick goal against Manchester City: Goal of the Month and the new "Adobe Express Creative Moment of the Month". Sure!

Up next:

March 15 | Spurs Women vs Everton
Team news — Drew Spence is available for selection after serving a three-match suspension; Ella Morris is back in full-team training but will not be available for this match; Clare Hunt, Tōko Koga, and Maika Hamano are all still at the Asian Cup; and as a reminder after the long international break, Maite Oroz, Jess Naz, and Luana Bühler are the long-term injury absences.

September 20 | Spurs Men @ Liverpool
Team news — Micky van de Ven is suspended; Cristian Romero and João Palihniha will miss out due to concussion protocol; Yves Bissouma is unavailable with a "muscular problem"; Destiny Udogie is questionable; Conor Gallagher is expected to be available after recovering from an illness earlier this week.

All right, everyone. Deep breaths. This will probably be the last time we have to suffer under Igor Tudor, and we can reasonably expect Spurs Women to give us something to smile about. I really can't wait to see them back in action; it was a long (almost) three weeks without them!

I'll close with some encouraging words from Martin Ho, reflecting on a first campaign in charge where he has aimed to "[build] foundations" to push for a top 3 spot in the coming seasons:

We’ve done well. We've pushed boundaries that maybe we didn't think we could. We have to make the players believe.

COYS

Thank you for reading!

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