Starting Strong

Well, one Spurs team was actually ready for the season to begin!

Spurs Women got off to a flying start in the Women's Super League, especially new signing Kirsty Hanson, who scored a brace on her debut. In an opening weekend with plenty of intrigue across the league, Spurs showed that they are poised to challenge the top 4 status quo.

In this issue: Nottingham Forest recap | West Ham United recap | News from around the Lane

Spurs Men, on the other hand, continue to falter in the Premier League and still have yet to score a goal. They'll have three chances in the span of just over a week to rectify that dearth of attacking output before the international break brings domestic football to a (longer than usual) pause.

I'll stick with chronological order for today's recaps even though I'm raring to talk about the Women's win. Then there are just a few club news items to round up.

PL MD 3 | Nottingham Forest 0 - 0 Tottenham

We did see some improvement to the defense in this game (largely off the back of a determined performance from new team captain Micky van de Ven), but the dysfunctional attack remains concerning. It will not have helped that we once again saw a different starting XI for the fourth competitive match in a row, but we're at least getting closer to an ideal attacking lineup as player fitness improves. Nevertheless, Mateus Fernandes started another game from the bench, and Mohammed Kudus is being eased back in after his lengthy injury layoff.

Nottingham Forest didn't look any more potent in attack than Spurs, so the stalemate at halftime extended to the final result.

I mentioned Van de Ven as a key factor in the clean sheet already, but the entire backline (plus keeper Antonín Kinský) did well to neutralize the opposition's forward line. Morgan Gibbs-White was practically a non-entity compared to previous games where his failed transfer to Spurs came back to haunt us. I also think it makes a difference having Destiny Udogie at left fullback rather than Andy Robertson, though we then miss Robertson's strong crossing ability in the attack. This Spurs Men squad is unfortunately full of such trade-offs at the moment.

I don't think there's a lot else of note to say about this game, except that this away fixture has been a tricky one for Spurs in recent seasons, so we probably shouldn't take the point earned for granted.

Notable & quotable:

• This was Spurs Men's first point earned away at Nottingham Forest since the 0-2 win in December 2023.

• Antonín Kinský kept his first clean sheet of the season in any competition.

• Sávio made his first Premier League appearance for Spurs.

• Mykhailo Mudryk made his loan debut for Spurs and his first competitive appearance in 646 days after serving a suspension for doping, but has already picked up a knock.

WSL MD 1 | Tottenham 3 - 1 West Ham United

Gaupset 18', Hanson 30' • 74' | Asseyi 90+3'

It's hard to ask for too much more from the first game of the season.

Sure, we may end up ruing that stoppage-time consolation goal from West Ham if we end up missing out on a Champions League spot on goal difference at the end of the season, but that seems unlikely, so for now let's celebrate the multi-goal derby win.

There were encouraging signs for the season ahead all across Spurs' first starting XI:

• Lize Kop retained her place in goal from the previous campaign and was moments away from an opening day clean sheet, if not for that late lapse in concentration (which started further up the pitch, to be fair to her).

• There was a second-half injury concern for young star centerback Tōko Koga (which thankfully has been downplayed since), but new signing Caitlin Dijkstra showcased her versatility by switching from her original right fullback position to cover for Koga in the CB duo alongside Amanda Nildén—who was technically playing out of her usual position, as well. Julie Blakstad is nominally a defender, but was extremely active in the attack and even registered an assist. Before her early exit from the game, Koga reminded everyone why she's one of the most exciting CBs in the league despite only being in her second season in England.

• WSL veterans Eveliina Summanen and Drew Spence held down the fort in the midfield and barely put a foot wrong.

• Signe Gaupset ran the show from the attacking midfield spot, contributing the first goal and an assist.

• Kirsty Hanson put in a debut performance for the ages, scoring her first two goals for the club, one in each half of the game.

• Matilda Vinberg had a quieter game on the other wing, but did add an assist.

• Cathinka Tandberg likewise will have wished she got onto the scoreline, but impacted the game in other ways—like her crafty nutmeg pass and dummy run that led to one of Hanson's goals.

• Lest I neglect to mention the substitutes, Shekiera Martinez was an offside call away from also scoring on her debut, and Matilda Nildén looked much improved after a full pre-season with the club. Ella Morris and Olivia Holdt picked up where they left off, while Victoria Pelova got her first competitive action in a Spurs shirt.

I also have to shout out manager Martin Ho for his game management; in addition to taking no chances with Koga's injury scare, he also replaced the entire front line to ensure they stay fresh once the result looked secure. His decision to start Dijkstra and Nildén out of their preferred positions raised some eyebrows pre-game, but worked out pretty well in the end, especially when it came to having flexibility later in the match.

The versatility of this squad is going to be an asset over the course of the season as it will be difficult for opposition to predict our starting lineups. Also, players showing unexpected versatility is basically Spurs Women heritage at this point (think Summanen popping up at centerback or Angharad James-Turner suddenly transitioning from a midfielder into a fullback).

There was a variety to the attacking buildup and a robustness in managing the game state that hopefully will continue throughout the season. West Ham was not the most difficult matchup we could have faced to kick off the WSL campaign, but the important thing is that we're already seeing production from the forward line. Our next opponent, Liverpool, also had a high-scoring first game out, so it will be intriguing to see how that match plays out. Certainly it will be a better test of both teams' defenses.

Notable & quotable:

• Kirsty Hanson became just the 15th Spurs Women player since 2011 to score on her debut—and the only Spurs player to score a brace on her WSL debut for the club.

• She also earned the official Player of the Match award.

• Drew Spence achieved the milestone of being the only player to feature in every WSL season to date.

• Jhanaie Pierre, who just signed her first pro contract with the club earlier this month, was named to the matchday squad but stayed on the bench.

• Martin Ho was pleased with the opening day effort:

Delighted for the players, really happy with the three points and large parts of the performance. We’ll be disappointed as a group because we wanted to keep a clean sheet, so that goal at the end maybe takes that little bit of icing off it. But I couldn’t have asked for anymore. They gave me everything.

In these games, especially the first game, it’s going to be frantic and end-to-end. It’s more about how we defend and the way we defend. I know we have the quality going the other way to hurt teams, so it’s just making sure we’re defensively good. I thought in the first part we were, apart from the odd set play and some moments, but once we got a grip of the game, I thought we had full control.

• Hanson was very humble in her post-game comments:

I'm harsh on myself, I didn't have the best game. I was just happy to see the two goals go in but it was all thanks to the teammates around me. They put in really good balls for me. Signe [Gaupset], so happy to play with her, she's such a good player and she deserved that goal as well, but hopefully we can build on that as a team and obviously thanks to the fans for coming.

News from around the Lane

• Four inductees were named to the newly relaunched Tottenham Hotspur Hall of Fame:

• Bobby Buckle (club co-founder)
• Jenna Schillaci (former Spurs Women captain)
• Chris Hughton (former player and assistant manager)
• Ledley King (former Spurs Men captain)

Warm congratulations to all of these Spurs legends on their inductions to the Hall of Fame!

• Lucas Bergvall has signed a new long-term contract with the club.

This is a bit of a surprising development after he nearly transferred out of the club this summer. But at only 20 years old, he still has a lot of developing to do and a lot of potential, and we would obviously prefer for him to live up to that potential at Spurs.

• Erin Radbourne is going on a dual-registration loan to MK Dons in the National League Division One South East

• In Spurs alumni news, Molly Bartrip made her 150th WSL appearance; a whopping 9o of them were during her time at Spurs, where she played all 22 league games in three out of her five seasons with the club. Congrats to Molly on this big milestone!

Up next:

September 12 | Spurs Men vs Everton
Team news — Mykhailo Mudryk is unavailable; Dejan Kulusevski had been approaching a return to play but has suffered a new setback; James Maddison has recovered from his shoulder issue and is available to feature; Mohammed Kudus is unlikely to start but still available

September 13 | Spurs Women @ Liverpool
Team news — Alice Sombath is questionable to play but has been in training; no mention of Tōko Koga in the team news, so perhaps we should assume she's available

Let's take this energy from Kirsty Hanson with us into the weekend's games!

COYS

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