To Dare is to Do

Tottenham 1 - 0 Manchester City | They dared, all right.

There are some matches that you just know you are going to remember for a long, long time. Tottenham's triumphant opening matchweek victory over Manchester City is sure to be one of them. Against the odds, and in the midst of a fraught transfer saga that threatened to distract the squad, the boys showed a remarkable amount of spirit, skill, and togetherness to beat the returning champions. I think we all felt a collective sense of pride in what Spurs achieved, and it gave us some renewed hope for the new season. This is a team that is not to be underestimated, with or without Harry Kane.

It just feels good to have some of that belief back. Even though Spurs had a strong pre-season, you never want to overreact to matches without real stakes. It remained to be seen whether Son could make up for Kane's goals if he wasn't in the lineup (to his credit, Son always has in the past), and whether the dismal defense from last season could be turned around. Would new manager Nuno Espírito Santo's tactics resonate with the Tottenham squad, or would we continue to be subjected to matches where it didn't look like there was any coherent plan at all?  There was also concern that less experienced players like Japhet Tanganga and Oliver Skipp would be overawed by the occasion of playing against the reigning title-holders on Sunday. And on the City side of things, they had a new record-signing who wears particularly short socks that would have to be dealt with--the player, not the socks, though something should be done about that nonsense.

I'm not going to lie and say I was overly confident before the match, but really, we shouldn't have worried. Spurs were playing with something to prove:  to themselves, to their wantaway striker, and to the league at large. And it's amazing what not having a borderline abusive boss can do for your productivity and confidence (good riddance, José). We had to take this chance to beat what I think of as City's A- team (Kevin de Bruyne came on late as a sub, while Kyle Walker and John Stones didn't end up featuring at all), especially with it being our home fixture, and we did.

There was much talk on the NBC broadcast about Nuno's unusual "Christmas tree" formation, but it proved to be pretty effective at both neutralizing City's attacking threat and creating counter-attack opportunities of our own. And there was a marked difference in the counter-attack strategy we saw against City compared to what we saw under Mourinho; less begging for scraps from opponent's errors and more pressing to force the turnovers. Nuno's tactical vision came through clearly, was executed well, and leaves room for growth. You could see what the victory meant to him, and while a few of his post-match press conference answers were a bit stiff (regarding Kane especially), he has obviously already formed a strong connection with the club and the players and has bought into the project wholeheartedly.

While it was a strong team performance overall, without a single weak link to pick out, there were a few players that really stood out for their efforts on the day. Man of the Match, Japhet Tanganga, for one. He shut down Grealish at every turn, although Grealish was still annoyingly adept at drawing foul calls from a sympathetic Anthony Taylor as ref--except at the very end of the match when I genuinely worried we were about to see an on-pitch scuffle because Grealish didn't get the call on Lucas that he wanted. But you can't blame him for being frustrated; he had definitely underperformed for his first PL match in a City shirt, and his disappointment had to go somewhere.

I also want to commend Eric Dier and Davinson Sánchez for their superb work as the center-back duo. These are two players who have weathered a lot of criticism from the media and the fanbase alike over the past season, and they managed to put it all behind them and start fresh. It remains to be seen whether they will both still be in a Tottenham shirt by the end of the transfer window, but I think it's important that we get behind them both as long as they're still here. We know they're capable of quality performances, and perhaps the addition of Cristian Romero and the belief of their new manager will be enough to encourage them on to a strong season. With Tanganga at right-back to help shore up the defense, and Reguilón at left-back in more of an attacking role (though he did well in his defensive duties against City too, to be fair), and Romero sure to be featuring in the starting center-back rotation soon, we could actually be turning the corner on the defensive woes from last season. As for Romero's brief PL debut near the end of the match, he didn't put a foot wrong. I'm excited to see more from him soon. Our Skipper Hugo Lloris didn't have much to do in this match, to be honest, only having to make four saves, but he made them well. Gollini will have quite a task ahead of him if he wants to overtake Lloris for the first keeper spot, but in the meantime, he'll be learning lots under the experienced Frenchman.

In the midfield, we saw a mix of youth and experience. Skipp did take about ten minutes to truly settle into the match, giving up a scary free-kick at the edge of the box early on due to a foul on Grealish, but he grew into the game and proved why he was given the chance to start against the title-holders. Højbjerg was his usual Viking self:  solid, dependable, and fierce. And for a player who was often painted as lazy by a certain former manager, Dele ended up registering the fastest speed and ran the farthest distance of any player on the pitch. We definitely need to see more tangible output from Dele in the form of goals and assists before we can definitively say that he's "back," but he was always in the mix and working hard against City. I also thought Lo Celso looked great in his 15 minutes as a sub.

And the forward line! Or triangle, or whatever we want to call it with the new formation. If anyone embodied the newfound belief of this 2021/22 Spurs squad in the City game, it was Lucas Moura. Hopefully he can expand on his strong end to last season and continue increasing his goal contributions. Bergwijn was also lively, and keeps getting into the right positions. Luckily, his missed shot didn't end up costing us. The goals are sure to come, and he did contribute the assist for Son's goal (even if Sonny did the lion's share of the work on that play).

Let me give Sonny a paragraph of his own, because I could write endless paragraphs about how much I love this man. And not just for what he's capable of doing on the pitch (blistering pace, superb finishing, and a real understanding of the team's motto as evidenced by his audacious shot selection), but also for his loyalty and love for Tottenham Hotspur football club. And you know that it's genuine--just watch the footage of him celebrating with fans after the final whistle. You can't fake that joy. And unlike Kane after his (possibly) last home match with Spurs, he didn't have to look at the fans with guilt in his eyes, because he has recommitted himself to the club with a new contract. Only time will tell if Spurs can win a trophy with the South Korean in the side, but at least he believes. At least he wants it just as much as the fans, and knows that it's actually in his power to help make it happen. I'm sure there are countless teams across Europe and beyond that would love to have Son in their team, and many of them are teams that could "guarantee" him trophies in his career (as much as any title is guaranteed, which is to say, none--football is by nature a cruel sport), but he has chosen not to take the easy route and attempt to win a trophy the more challenging, but infinitely more fulfilling way:  with the club that he loves.

Okay, one more paragraph on Sonny, because I should talk about his achievement in this match, a 55th-minute goal that ended up being the match-winner. After receiving the ball from Bergwijn out on the right wing, he took on Nathan Aké to open up the path for his shot just outside the box, and his strike was an absolute arrow under the body of a falling Rúben Dias (aka, last season's PL Player of the Year--mad as I am at Kane right now, we all know it should have been him winning that award). Kudos as well to Lucas, whose artful (one could say Dele-esque) flick connected with Bergwijn in the build-up to the goal. Since Son's goal did come from movement within his preferred space on the wing (albeit flipped on the pitch from his usual left), and not from a central spot, it didn't make any sort of statement about his ability to take over Kane's striker position, if Kane does indeed leave the club. We did see Son score a few goals from central positions in pre-season, though. I honestly think it's a good thing for the team to embrace playing with a little more fluidity of formation. We had already started moving away from the traditional #9 striker last season with Kane playing deeper and taking on more of a playmaker role (out of necessity), and frankly, it's best for Son to play to his own strengths when he's the focal point of the attack. There are still two weeks left in the transfer window, so I'd like to see the club bring in a striker who can play more of that target-man role when needed against certain teams. I mean, the only realistic way that we'll be scoring any headed goals this season without Kane is if Sonny's corners start connecting with the center-backs' or Tanganga's heads.

Those are the big takeaways I wanted to cover from the City match, but here are a few stray observations:

∙ Anthony Taylor summoning Lloris to talk to Tanganga was such a strange moment. I swear I've never seen that sort of disciplinary intervention during a match before. Is that not what yellow cards are for? A warning?

∙ We are perhaps lucky that KDB wasn't fit enough to start, because he definitely made more of an impact in his 10+ minutes than Grealish had all match. When he lined up to take that shot from outside the box, my heart was in my throat.

∙ We are also fortunate that City's finishing was absolutely atrocious, Ferran Torres and Riyad Mahrez especially.

∙ The defense is still conceding too many corners, but at least we defended them better than usual.

∙ I don't really have any qualms with Nuno's management for this first match, except that the subs came a little late for my liking.

∙ Doherty does appear to be improving and hasn't given me any heart attacks yet, but I still think Tanganga should be first choice for right-back.

∙ The home fans made such a difference in the match. When I can feel the atmosphere all the way through my TV at home in Texas, you know it's electric.

The Kane of it all

Ugh, yes. I do have to go there.

So Kane was out of the matchday squad for "fitness" reasons. I am sure that is both true and a convenient excuse. He hadn't trained with the team yet, so it would have put a wrench in the preparations for him to be included in the lineup so late. And it's probably for the best that he wasn't pitch-side like the other players who were dropped, because it would have been an unnecessary distraction in light of how tense the transfer saga has been... and yet. It was disappointing not to see a word of congratulations from Kane to his teammates after the match--publicly, at least.

From Tottenham's point of view, he's perhaps looking less than irreplaceable after this match (though Levy should still take the hardline on his transfer fee, because a replacement striker is a must with or without Son's goals, not to mention other areas of the lineup that could use bolstering with help from new funds). But the game certainly reinforced his potential value to City; they struggled without a designated striker for most of the match, and Gabriel Jesus was ineffective when he subbed in.

Sonny filled the leadership/media duties vacuum admirably in Kane's absence, with dignity, a humble attitude, and graciousness towards his potentially former teammate. I just wish that Kane could have shown his Spurs attacking partner more courtesy during this whole debacle.

This win over Manchester City showed that no single player is more important than the club. It's good to celebrate fantastic individual moments, like Sonny's goal and Sánchez's crucial slide tackle in stoppage time, but they win together as a team and celebrate together with the fans. City were not playing effectively as a team, and their individual efforts were not enough on the day to get them over the line. There were times when they looked overwhelmed by the deafening support from the home fans, which is probably an unusual occurrence at their own home stadium. The dedicated fanbase of Spurs is a huge asset for the club, just like it was for Brentford in their win over Arsenal on the opening day of the season. Players will come and go, some to be remembered more fondly than others, but the club lives on. Harry Kane should be worried about what he's doing to his legacy at Spurs. And if he's not here to celebrate the next trophy for Tottenham Hotspur, that's on him.

Thursday nights in Europe begin again

That would have been a nice dramatic note to end the newsletter on, but I suppose I should mention that we have our first-ever Europa Conference League match on Thursday. Yay? In all seriousness, Spurs should be winning this competition. The team should be taking every competition it's in seriously, including the ECL.

Here's the usual disclaimer that this early in the competition, I don't know anything about the teams we'll be playing. Haven't even heard of most of them! That includes Thursday's opponent for the first match of the two-legged Playoff Round, a Portuguese club called Paços de Ferreira. But this will be a great chance to give some of the youth players and new signings a runout. This helpful article from The Athletic explains the rationale behind Spurs' squad list for the ECL. Apparently, players born after January 1, 2001, like Skipp, don't have to be registered to the "List A" squad to be eligible to play, so fret not when you don't see his name on the list 😛.

The away leg in Portugal is up first, then the home leg next Thursday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (still no naming rights, huh?). The winner of the tie advances to the group stage, and barring any complacency from Tottenham, it should be Spurs.

Fingers crossed for a good season

How are y'all feeling after the first matchday? I don't want to get ahead of myself or make rash predictions based on one match, but I will say that I'm feeling heartened about our chances. The players are buying into Nuno's vision and once the Kane drama gets sorted, we might have a serious shot at winning some sort of silverware, or at least claw our way back into the Champions League next season.

Who are y'all most concerned by in the league so far? I think the popular answer is Chelsea because they have yet to add Lukaku into the mix, but I'm personally more worried about how much damage Manchester United can do if Pogba and Fernandes keep firing on all cylinders. Pogba was scary good on Saturday. And Liverpool can't be overlooked, considering that they managed to secure top 4 last season even with the worst injury trouble in the league (along with Wolves). And I guess there's City 😉

COYS