Tradeoffs and Travesties

All right, this should be the last post for a while where my recap is affected by having not been able to watch the match all that closely. I watched the first half of Tottenham vs Bournemouth stealthily on my phone at my nephew's soccer game (he wasn't real thrilled to be there himself, so I feel less bad about it) then watched the second half when we got back to my sister's house. Unfortunately, that meant I had a full view of the debacle that was the second half.

In this issue:  Bournemouth recap | Weekend match previews | News from around the Lane

Tottenham 2 - 3 Bournemouth

I mentioned tradeoffs in the title because I think there were a few glimmers of hope to cling onto alongside the more disastrous elements of the game. The offense is slowly but surely starting to improve—although I'm not sure how much Cristian Stellini has had to do with it, versus how much of it is just players like Son Heung-min taking matters into their own hands—while the defense seems to get worse with every game, if that's even possible.

The starting lineup was unchanged from the team that narrowly beat Brighton the previous weekend. With the current crop of injuries in the squad, there weren't a whole lot of possible swaps for Stellini to make, though it could have been refreshing to see one of Richarlison or Arnaut Danjuma get a start. Unfortunately, the injury crisis worsened during this game, but more on that in a bit.

The aforementioned Son opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a finish that could only be described as casually confident. Just what you like to be seeing from Son at this stage of the campaign, in other words. I think he may be firmly back in undroppable territory, but I suppose he already was in the eyes of our risk-averse interim manager and Antonio Conte before him. Either way, he has five goals and one assist in his last seven games for club and country. Form has finally found him. Also encouragingly, he nearly registered an assist for Harry Kane and their connection seems close to being restored as well.

As for the goal itself, it came from a strong run by Ivan Perišić to run onto a through ball from Clément Lenglet, then a cutback pass to Son arriving in the box. Son's shot was lightly deflected but always going in. This was Son's 101st goal in the PL and put him joint-6th in overall goals for Spurs with Jermaine Defoe at 143 goals. He's just 16 goals away from joint-5th with Cliff Jones, so something to keep in mind for next season.

It looked like we might cruise to a victory until the injury bug struck again in the 35th minute. Clément Lenglet was forced to leave the match and Davinson Sánchez came on to take his place, although he actually went to the RCB spot while Cristian Romero shifted over to LCB where Lenglet had been. This is where we get to the travesty part of the title. I don't care how out of form a player is (and Sánchez undoubtedly has been), it doesn't do any good to boo a player before they even enter the pitch. I personally don't think it's ever right to boo a player while they're playing either, but it seems like the pre-emptive booing is something we should all be able to agree is counterproductive. Sánchez did look quite unconfident as a result of the cold welcome he received, and almost immediately was involved in conceding Spurs' first goal in the 38th minute by being out of position after a Pedro Porro giveaway. So I hope the fans who booed him were happy with the consequences of their actions.  

Sánchez's substitute appearance was cut short in the 58th minute for what Stellini later claimed were purely tactical reasons but was arguably an admission that he'd made a mistake. By that point, we had conceded a second goal in the 51st minute that also involved errors from Porro and Sánchez, leading me to believe it's not so much either of them being individually vulernable that's the biggest problem but rather something about their defensive partnership (or lack thereof) that is simply not working. And teams obviously know to target us on that flank when they are playing together. Since we were down a goal and needed to chase the game, it made sense to bring on an attacker instead.

Arnaut Danjuma replaced Sánchez to make a rare appearance and almost immediately made an impact, registering a shot on target after just a few minutes on the pitch. Richarlison was also added to the mix in the 77th minute for more attacking firepower and had a goal disallowed for an offside call in the buildup. It's almost comical how many times we've thought he had his first PL goal only to have it taken away by VAR. You have to feel for him, but I think it's a mark of his mentality that he's continued to put in spirited performances and stay involved despite his bad luck.

Thankfully, the VAR luck did go our way in the 88th minute when Danjuma got his own (legitimate) first PL goal for Spurs. VAR checked for a potential offside obstruction of Bournemouth's keeper by Kane, but decided in favor of letting the goal stand. The goal came from a long throw-in by Perišić into the box, where Richarlison was unable to win his aerial duel but the Bournemouth player inadvertently flicked it on right into Danjuma's path. His low rocket of a shot gave Neto no chance to make a save. Coming so late in the game, it appeared that Spurs had at least salvaged a draw and could even go on to win it with the momentum arguably swinging our way at that juncture in the match. Richarlison missed a huge header opportunity in the fourth out of six minutes of stoppage time.

Unfortunately, Stellini's tactical decision to have the team go all out on offense left the defense out of position and outnumbered. The Cherries found their winning goal in the fifth minute of stoppage, capitalizing on another giveaway by Porro to find Dango Ouattara in acres of space in the box. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg attempted to step up to him and put in a block but was put off balance, leaving Ouattara with an open shot at net. It was, naturally, Ouattara's first PL goal.

It would be unfair not to stress the effect Lenglet's injury had on Spurs' control of the game, but I honestly think Stellini's mismanagement was the primary reason for the loss. If Daniel Levy and the board had any real intention of bringing in a permanent manager before the end of the season I think it would have already happened by now, so unfortunately, it appears we are stuck with this interim situation that's serving no one well.

On current form, I'm starting to become concerned about Aston Villa or even Brighton pipping us to 5th, and I'm well past feeling any remaining hope for securing 4th. If we lose the next game it becomes almost a certainty—if not mathematically then at least from a confidence standpoint. So let's just get into that upcoming fixture now.

Crunch time at St. James' Park

If there is going to be a chance of clawing our way back into the Champions League spots, the next game away at Newcastle feels like a must-win. Were we to lose, Newcastle would be six points clear with a game in hand. It's hard to say who has the more difficult remaining schedule, but Newcastle definitely have the form advantage despite losing their most recent fixture.

It's unlikely that we'll see any of the injured players return for this fixture, and now Lenglet is added to the long list of absences. This puts Stellini a real pickle when it comes to the startling lineup. I would certainly hope that realizes he cannot under any circumstances start Sánchez, but I'm not sure Japhet Tanganga is any stronger of an option for a back-3. But do we really have the personnel for a functional back-4 either? After seeing Porro's defensive performance against Bournemouth and knowing that Perišić is also weak on defense, I shudder to think of them shifting back into fullback roles. In short:  it's a lose-lose situation.

So we're probably going to need a lot of output from the attack to negate the inevitable goal(s) we will concede. If I was going to make changes to the front line, it would be to either swap Dejan Kulusevski out and bring Danjuma in (probably necessitating a move for Sonny from left to right wing) or to give Deki a chance at attacking midfielder in a back-4 formation. There's also the possibility of having Kane fall back into a false nine role and bringing Richy in as a true striker. Whatever Stellini decides, it's going to be a big adjustment from what the team has been used to.

Alexander Isak is the player to watch for Newcastle. The Swedish striker missed a large portion of the season due to injury and took a while to ramp up in this second half, but now has five goals in his last six PL appearances. Former Tottenham player Kieran Trippier has contributed six assists already this season from the right-back position.

In the reverse fixture at home, one of Spurs' slow starts that was so typical of the first half of the season led to conceding two first-half goals, only to mount an unsuccessful comeback in the second half and lose 1-2. Thankfully, we have at least improved in that regard recently and will be looking to attack from minute one this time.

The return of Spurs Women

At long last, the Women's team is finally back in action. An international break coupled with the FA Cup semi-finals means that it will have been three weeks since the last game when we take on Aston Villa at home on Sunday.

Annoyingly, this game is happening simultaneously with the Men's match, so it's going to be a two-screen morning for me. We'll see how well I manage to focus on either game since they are both so important!

While the Men struggle to regain a foothold at the top of the table, the Women are still trying to get out of the relegation battle. A win over Aston Villa would go a long way in that endeavor, but it won't be easy. Villa narrowly lost 0-1 to Chelsea in the FA Cup after losing to them prior to the international break in WSL play, so they will be looking to bounce back against poor old Tottenham. And besides that motivation, they've had an excellent season overall under Carla Ward and beat Spurs 2-1 in the reverse fixture.

In positive news, it looks like Shelina Zadorsky is going to be back in the matchday squad for "managed minutes." So perhaps not starting just yet, but it would be good to see her make a substitute appearance and start getting back to match fitness after recovering from her recent health struggles. I will feel a lot better about the defense once she's back in it.

More on another imminent returnee in the news section next...

Speaking of managed minutes though, Kit Graham has been given a gradual ramp-up since she returned from her ACL injury and it would be nice to see her get some starts under her belt soon. Maybe Sunday?

I've been saying that four points should be enough to keep Spurs up this season, and if we could gain even just a point from this fixture I would be more than happy. It would take some pressure off the squad and reduce the likelihood of going to West Ham on the last day of the season needing a result (lowkey a nightmare scenario, in my opinion).  

News from around the Lane

Okay, I already teased it, so let's start with the most exciting news:  Ria Percival is nearly back!

Tom Garry reported that Vicky Jepson has said Percival will be available for "managed minutes" as soon as the April 29 fixture against Brighton. She will also be playing in a practice game this Saturday to get some much-needed match time after being out for a year with an ACL injury. We have sorely missed Ria's presence in the midfield and could really benefit from her playmaking in the final few games.

Kyah Simon and Ellie Brazil are both back on the grass in their own ACL recovery journies, and it was also recently shared that Ramona Petzelberger is back in team training (though we still have no idea what her injury was). It's unclear if Petzelberger could be involved in these last few games or if she is another one we'll have to wait to see next season like Simon and Brazil.  

In other exciting Spurs Women news, Molly Bartrip has signed a new contract keeping her at the club through 2025.

Although it's been a more difficult season for Bartrip—not helped by her CB partner Zadorsky missing so many games—she's still been one of our most reliable players and even scored her first goal for the club earlier this season. I have no doubt that with a couple of new additions to the defensive line (and/or the development of Esther Morgan and Gracie Pearse), Molly can be an integral part of an improved defense next season. She was top of my list for contract renewals, so I greeted this news with a lot of personal excitement.

I neglected to mention the news last week that Spurs have appointed Scott Munn as Chief Football Officer. He will be overseeing all football departments, which I can only assume includes the Women's team as well. Friend-of-the-newsletter Dakota informed me that this is probably a positive development as far as Spurs Women are concerned, because during his time with City Group he helped start and found Melbourne City Women, whose alumni include Arsenal's Steph Catley, OL Reign's Jess Fishlock (who was apparently a player-manager?!) and Tottenham's own Kyah Simon and former Spurs player Alanna Kennedy. There were a lot more names I could have listed, so the point is that Melbourne City FC have clearly been a great club for recruiting and developing talent, and if Munn can bring that forward-looking approach to Tottenham then I am all for it.

Someone has to care about driving the Women's team forward, because it doesn't sound like Levy does. H/t to another friend-of-the-newsletter, Andrew, for grabbing this relevant timestamp from Levy's interview with Cambridge Union. I haven't watched the whole interview yet, but this snippet alone was enough to make me realize that actually, I am #LevyOut after all.

That's everything for this week! Thanks for being patient while I recovered from another whirlwind weekend of soccer-related travel. We should be back to regularly scheduled newsletter business from here on out for the rest of the season.

And thanks for all the lovely feedback on my Julian Nageslmann explainer bonus post. I'm glad y'all enjoyed it! Friendly reminder that you can upgrade to a paid monthly membership to receive more bonus posts of that nature.

COYS

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