Spurs Women 2024/25 Mid-Season Review

Rather than kicking on after an encouraging first season under Robert Vilahamn, Spurs Women have been treading water in the league standings and struggling to raise their level of performance to match the top teams. I know I speak for many fans when I wonder if that gap between Spurs and the "top 4" will ever be closed.

The Leicester City match last weekend marked the official halfway point of the Women's Super League campaign, so it's time to assess and reflect on the first half of the season. After a quick recap of standings and notable stats, I'll cover the main takeaways, identify some areas for improvement, share some (kind of) 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 Women

2024/25 Mid-Season Review

Where we stand:

Women's Super League: 6th place, 14 points, 4-2-5 record
-7 GD (16 for, 23 against), 2 clean sheets
Top scorer: Beth England
Top assister: Eveliina Summanen
League Cup: Knocked out in quarter-final by West Ham United
FA Cup: Entering in Round 4 @ Everton (postponed to 1/29)

My ambivalence about writing this mid-season review should say it all. Spurs Women aren't good this season, nor bad; they're some disappointing third thing in between. Perhaps as lackluster as most of the passing has been?

I'm being harsh here, but only because I had heightened expectations after last season. The middling summer transfer business did temper that optimism a bit, but I still think the team is underperforming relative to potential (and past performance).

It doesn't help that many of those summer signings have barely gotten off the ground. Maitre Oroz, Hayley Raso, and Ella Morris have all missed significant game time through injury—with Morris still weeks away from a return—and haven't been truly influential in the majority of games they have played. Clare Hunt and Anna Csiki have both disappointed, although Csiki even seemed like a panic buy at the time and hasn't done much to alter that perception. I was excited about young players Lenna Gunning-Williams and Araya Dennis moving up to the senior team, but the former is only just now starting to get regular game time and the latter is going on loan for the second half of the season (which is important for her development, to be clear). Speaking of loans, Katelin Talbert only made one appearance in the League Cup before heading back to her parent club.

It's a funny quirk of the WSL that the winter transfer window opens before the first half of the season is complete, so we've already had a couple of new signings to supplement the summer incomings. Unfortunately, Olivia Holdt was still rehabbing an injury from the autumn and has yet to feature, while Lize Kop only got to make her league debut before having to sit out the League Cup quarter-final due to being cup-tied. So we won't truly be able to grasp their impact until the season has concluded in May.

But by and large, we still have most of the key players from last season's surprisingly strong cup run and top-half-of-the-table WSL finish (the Manchester United traitors aside), so it would stand to reason that we would at least not go backward this season. There have been times when it did appear to be going that way and, most worryingly, the gulf between our level and that of the top teams was restored to its previous imbalance. Although we seem safe from a relegation fight, there's no chance of breaching the European qualification spots this season (the supposed ambition of the club and Vilahamn).

Let's look back at the actual results that have caused this angst.

The opening match fueled the fire of optimism with a blow-out win over newly-promoted Crystal Palace, where the team looked to be replicating the fluid attack that had started to form last season. A draw with Aston Villa was disappointing but not too surprising considering that Villa had underperformed the prior season and were looking to return to form in the new campaign. A last-minute win in the League Cup at Charlton got the group stage off to a good start.

Then the first wobble began. A heaping dose of bad luck (and bad officiating) contributed to a narrow loss to Liverpool, followed by heavy defeats at Manchester United and Chelsea. We stemmed the bleeding with a 2-1 win over West Ham United, but then suffered two losses back-to-back against Manchester City and Arsenal without scoring a single goal.

An illness bug that swept through the team necessitated a goalkeeper change for the final few games of 2024. Eleanor Heeps (finally!) made her senior debut and kept clean sheets in both of the League Cup games to complete a perfect group stage, while the team picked up another win and a draw in league play ahead of the winter break.

The first game scheduled for the new year, an FA Cup match at Everton, was postponed due to a frozen pitch, so we resumed play in the league instead. It wasn't an inspiring win against Leicester—Spurs didn't have a single shot on target and only won thanks to an own goal by the Foxes' keeper. And in the most recent game, an early Martha Thomas goal was canceled out by two West Ham goals in five minutes, thus bringing an end to the League Cup campaign.

So we reach the mid-season point in the exact same position in the WSL table as last mid-season but with four fewer points (and three fewer goals), and have been knocked out of the League Cup in the quarter-final round once again. No progress lost, but no progress gained.

Key players from last season like Jess Naz and Martha Thomas have had a slow start and look short on confidence, while even club captain Beth England took a while to work her way into some form. Very few players could be said to have been consistent over the first half, and perhaps the most reliable player, Eveliina Summanen, is now facing an injury absence of several weeks. Overall there's been a lack of control in Spurs' performances, as well as a lack of intent.

I wish I could say I felt hopeful about Spurs making a leap in the second half of the season and getting back to the occasional statement win over an elite team, but it hasn't been a particularly promising transfer window for the club in that regard, while the strongest teams are only getting stronger. Manchester City have signed Brazilian talent Kerolin and Chelsea are reportedly signing my absolute favorite player in the world, Naomi Girma.

With that being said, I firmly believe there is more Robert Vilahamn could be getting out of the current Spurs squad. If he can recommit to his focus from last season on improving players and helping them to reach their full potential, we could at least regain our status as "best of the rest".

Areas for improvement

• Decision-making in the final third. Even as the midfield has seen a lot of fluctuation in personnel and varying quality, the biggest issue in the attack has been the finishing touch from the forwards. I've lost track of how many times I've said out loud "how did we not score there??" while watching a game. We know that all of the forwards in question have goals and assists in their lockers, so hopefully it's been more of a confidence issue than a genuine loss of form and we'll see a return to high-scoring ways soon.

• Defending shots from long range. This goes for the defense from open play and the keepers from free kicks. We've already conceded way too many goals this season that could reasonably be described by neutrals as "wonder goals." I just call them embarrassments.

• Utilizing the full bench. Robert Vilahamn tends to be stingy with his substitutions. It would be one thing if the starters were always getting the job done, but too often he's persisted with attacking combinations and defensive partnerships that simply aren't working. Signings like Charli Grant and Matilda Vinberg—while not miracle workers—are seeing shockingly little game time this season.

Fun facts (and some not-so-fun)

These are solely based on WSL play, no cup stats!

• The two clean sheets so far happened on the opening day and the last game of the first half of the season.

• We had the third-worst defense in the league over the first half of the season. Our scoring rank is in line with our table placement, in 6th place.

• We are the only team in the top half of the table with a negative goal difference.

• Less than half of the team's goals had an assist—including three opposition own goals.

• We've been held scoreless three times.

• We have dropped seven points total on the identical fixtures from last season (newly-promoted Crystal Palace not included).

• We haven't won a single away game and are just a point off relegation in the away form table; however, we'd be in 4th place in the home form table with a positive goal difference.

• There were three matches without a single yellow card for Spurs. There were zero red cards across the team.

• Clare Hunt picked up the most yellow cards with four.

• Beth England leads the team in goal contributions, followed by Eveliina Summanen.

• We've had seven distinct scorers in the league (honorable mention to own goal) and six distinct assisters.

• Amanda Nildén has the unhappy trifecta of one goal, one assist, and one own goal.

• England and Summanen have scored the only two penalties of the campaign.

• Not including the January signings or Rosella Ayane returning from loan in time for the last game, Katelin Talbert, Araya Dennis, and Wang Shuang were the only three players without a league appearance.

• Four players have started every WSL game: Molly Bartrip, Jess Naz, Drew Spence, and Ash Neville.

• Of players who have at least one appearance, only Amy James-Turner and Lenna Gunning-Williams are without a start.

Mid-season superlatives

• Biggest surprise—Eleanor Heeps
• Best new signing—Hayley Raso
• Best young player—Lenna Gunning-Williams
• Most valuable player—Beth England
• Most improved player—Lenna Gunning-Williams
• Ms. Tottenham—Ash Neville

Mid-season grade: C

Here's to buckling down and getting back on track for the second half of the season!

As always,

COYS

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