Spurs Men 2024/25 Mid-Season Review

Ange Postecoglou's second season in charge of Spurs Men has not quite gone to plan—although the team is still alive in both cup competitions they've played in so far, with the FA Cup journey about to start next weekend. Heavy injuries (and some unfortunate suspensions) have played a factor in the decline in results, as has the strain of playing in European competition with a squad still lacking full depth.

The Wolves match last weekend marked the official halfway point of the Premier League campaign. After a quick recap of standings and notable stats, I'll cover the main takeaways, identify some areas for improvement, share some (mostly) fun facts, and give out mid-season superlatives. Finally, I'll assign a grade for the first half of the season taking all of these factors into account.

If you're curious about how the team was faring at mid-season last year, check out this post.

Let's dig in!

Spurs Men

2024/25 Mid-Season Review

Where we stand:

Premier League: 11th place, 24 points, 7-3-9 record
+13 GD (41 for, 28 against), 4 clean sheets
Top scorer: James Maddison
Top assister: Son Heung-min
Europa League: Still in league phase, 9th place
League Cup: Upcoming semi-final with Liverpool
FA Cup: Entering in the next round at Tamworth

To put it bluntly, this season has been a disappointment so far—at least relevant to expectations. "Angeball" had stuttered a bit after the quick start last season, but it still seemed like the squad should have been able to kick on with the new campaign and build on the progress of the improved playing style. All the necessary key players had returned for another year, we signed a proven Premier League striker for a club-record fee, and the squad received a youthful boost from the other new additions.

It would be negligent not to point out that injuries have been the biggest obstacle. Most notably, the defense has suffered significant losses with our first-choice keeper and both starting centerbacks missing significant time. But no area of the lineup has been safe from the injury bug, with both starters and backups spending spells on the bench and limiting Postecoglou's ability to rotate the squad. Still, scoring goals has rarely been the problem for this team; defensive vulnerability is the biggest weakness.

Several games have been drawn or lost from winning positions (the opener against Leicester City, away at Brighton, and Roma in the Europa League immediately come to mind), and the Chelsea game was the usual debacle—including a demoralizing return from injury for Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven that resulted in them immediately getting injured again.

The season hasn't been without its bright spots, however. Dejan Kulusevski has emerged as a creative option in the attacking midfield, where he actually prefers to play compared to his previous right winger role. He's also been one of the most durable players in the squad—one of only five to have featured in every PL game. Then there's the rapid emergence of Archie Gray as a versatile squad option. In his first season with the club, he's played in multiple positions across the various competitions but has spent the most time at centerback recently. It's not his preferred position by any means, but he's quickly developing his skills and plugging the injury gap, all while earning the trust of Postecoglou. I'm also counting Djed Spence returning to the fold as a small win since he looked all but certain to be leaving the club with hardly any appearances to his name before he proved in the pre-season friendlies that he could contribute.

There were also some statement results, including the late comeback win against Coventry City in the League Cup, the 4-1 win against Aston Villa, and the general routing of the Manchester teams in multiple competitions. I almost hesitate to mention the 0-5 win at Southampton since all of the goals happened in the first half, but that was a satisfying half of football, for sure.

It's also worth noting the curious case of James Maddison. Although he's been in and out of the squad all season, sometimes seemingly for rest and sometimes for selection reasons, he has somehow become the top scorer and top goal contributor by the midway point. As one of the co-captains of the team, it's less than ideal that he's not been a consistent starter, but he's managed to make the most of the strange situation. In many ways, his individual season reflects the team's overall: stop and start, the moments of brilliance mixed in with moments of futility. You get the sense that both Maddison and Spurs could be truly great if they could only be more consistent.

I wrote in last season's mid-season review that the fast start under Postecoglou had given him a buffer against fan discontent later in the season when results started to decline. I think most of that buffer has now eroded in his second season, although my personal stance is to remain patient with the project. There's a conversation to be had about just how much his tactics are contributing to the injury crisis, but it seems fair to say that we'd be having a very different season if some of those key players had been available for more games than not. As they come back into the fold during the second half of the campaign, Ange will be under immense pressure to salvage the season with a cup trophy even if the league is looking increasingly like a write-off.

Areas for improvement

Genuinely, I could have just kept the same points from the last mid-season review, but in the interest of keeping things fresh, I will try to highlight some new concerns.

• A return to full-squad commitment. Although we've seen that team spirit used to great effect in a few games this season (particularly the hard-fought 2-1 win to knock Manchester City out of the League Cup), there have also been many matches where players left their teammates out to dry in critical situations, especially on defense. Too many times it has felt like a group of individuals on the pitch rather than a collective bought into the same purpose. Angeball, so to speak, cannot work if everyone is mentally on an island.

• Embrace game management. We all appreciate a full-out attacking performance when the squad is in peak health, but that's not the situation we're in right now—and for the foreseeable future. It's not so much that Postecoglou needs to make wholesale changes to his tactical approach, just some shrewd tweaks. We've already seen some evidence of willingness to adapt in recent games. This team is perfectly capable of scoring goals, they just need to find ways to see out games and preserve some fitness for future matches.

• Goalkeeping. Do I even need to elaborate? Fraser Forster has been an admirable servant to the club, but he simply isn't cut out for Angeball. It's not fair to him or the team to continue relying on him as the #2. There's a chance to remedy this, even if only temporarily with a loan, in the January transfer window. But long-term, the club needs to get serious about bolstering the goalkeeping ranks in the summer window.

It also seems clear that the medical department could use some improvement, but that's not an area that we as fans are really privy to.

Fun facts (and some not-so-fun)

• Compared to the identical fixtures last season we have lost three points total, not including promoted teams (against which our record is 1-1-1).

• We enter the new year with a losing record.

• We have conceded the fewest number of away goals in the league.

• We have scored the second-most goals in the league.

• We have been held scoreless just four times this season, all 1-0 losses.

• No player has started all 19 league games so far; five players (Maddison, Kulusevski, Johnson, Porro, and Sarr) have made an appearance in all 19.

• As of the 19th game, all players in the senior squad have made an appearance except for the goalkeepers (Austin and Whiteman).

• We were only awarded one penalty in the first half of the season; Son missed the PK.

• We've only had one red card, which was technically a second yellow.

• We've had 10 distinct goalscorers and 12 distinct assisters in the PL so far.

Mid-season superlatives

• Biggest surprise—Djed Spence
• Best new signing—Dominic Solanke
• Best young player—Archie Gray
• Most valuable player—Dejan Kulusevski
• Most improved player—Brennan Johnson
• Mr. Tottenham—Guglielmo Vicario

Mid-season grade: C+

Here's to breaking the trophy drought, continuing the youth development, and ending the season on a high note!

As ever,

COYS

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