Traveling Different Roads

Curiosity made me look at the home and away tables for both of Spurs' teams, and the difference in their respective forms is stark.

A point at Turf Moor from a relegation-bound Burnley team is not a good result in a vacuum, but in the context of Spurs Men's season, it was another vital draw. We've picked up 19 of our 28 points (67%) on the road, and would actually be 4th in the Premier League table if only away form counted (alas...). The home form is pretty appalling in contrast, only earning 9 points at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and putting us 19th in the home table—literal relegation form.

Now let's look at Spurs Women. Strong home form has buoyed us to 5th place in the overall Women's Super League table, but all the way up to 2nd in the home table. We've taken 16 points out of the 21 available at Brisbane Road (the main stadium games are coming up starting in the second weekend of February), and those points make up almost 70% of our total 23 points. The away form, on the other hand, has been much more mixed, with a 2-1-3 record. We've only taken seven points on the road and are 7th in the away form table. Liverpool's St. Helens Stadium has always been a tricky ground for us, and we will have to wait until next season to try to finally get our first win there after falling to defeat once again on Sunday.

In this issue: Burnley recap | Liverpool recap | Transfer talk | News from around the Lane

Both teams will have to deal with their less-favored fixture forms this weekend, with Spurs Men hosting Manchester City and Spurs Women visiting West Ham United for a derby.

But first, the Men's team have a midweek trip to Eintracht Frankfurt to close out the league phase of the Champions League. A win secures automatic qualification for the knockouts, a draw puts things up in the air, and a loss means likely participation in the playoff round—two additional games that we certainly don't need in our current injury-constrained state.

PL MD 23 | Burnley 2 - 2 Tottenham

Tuanzebe 45+1', Foster 76' | Van de Ven 38', Romero 90'

Burnley provided many ghosts from our past to haunt us:

• Two former Spurs players, Kyle Walker and Marcus Edwards
• A goal from former Manchester United and Aston Villa journeyman, Axel Tuanzebe
• A Player-of-the-Match-worthy performance in goal from Martin Dúbravka, formerly of Newcastle United

But honestly, on a day when Dúbravka wasn't playing at his top level (to the tune of nine saves), we probably do win this game; we certainly created enough chances and managed enough shots on target to skew the result in our favor. We just don't live in the universe where luck, let alone earned effort, seems to make a difference in Spurs Men's favor. Xavi Simons was particularly unlucky not to score despite having one of the best performances of the game, finding the woodwork with his strike.

So another Premier League draw it is, and although the newfound parity of the league this season means that we aren't all that far off the European qualification spots, we're also not far off the relegation zone. The board might not be panicking just yet, but they will surely be having tough conversations about whether to give Thomas Frank the rest of the season to turn things around or pull the plug now.

Well, not immediately now, because we know that Frank will at least still be in charge for the final Champions League game of the league phase. I do wonder if a loss, dropping us down into the playoff round rather than straight through to the knockouts, would change the calculus.

Notable & quotable:

• We picked up zero yellow cards in this match, the third time we've kept a clean discipline record in the league this season.

• Thomas Frank utilized all five available substitutions, but it was still too little too late for Pedro Porro, who picked up a hamstring injury and had to be taken off at halftime, and Micky van de Ven, who will miss at least one match.

• We're one of only four clubs without a win in the last five Premier League matchdays; the other three are Liverpool, Crystal Palace, and... Burnley. So they won't have been very satisfied with the draw either.

• We've stayed in 14th place for three matchdays in a row.

• The two goal-scorers for Spurs, Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, are joint-second in the team for PL goals, and joint-third for overall goal contributions in league play. They are also tied for goal contributions in all competitions with eight, though Van de Ven has the edge on goals.

• Wilson Odobert registered an assist for the second game in a row in all competitions.

• Thomas Frank admitted that Burnley's goal just before halftime changed the momentum of the match:

We should have, could have, got [a second goal], then I think we are, if not out of sight, we're definitely in an even better position. Then we concede a goal just before half-time—we can never, ever, concede that goal. That just brings a little bit of a bad feeling into the changing room.

WSL MD 13 | Liverpool 2 - 0 Tottenham

Enderby 90+4' • 90+5'

It was a small blessing that the power cut out here due to the winter storm just after the final whistle of the game, because I needed some time to stew, and hearing the post-game interviews probably wouldn't have helped—although I hear that Beth England was appropriately angry in hers.

But now that I have simmered down a bit from the disappointment, I can accept that we were due a poor result and a reminder not to get ahead of ourselves in terms of ambitions for this season. We haven't become a Champions League qualifying caliber team overnight, despite all the positive progress from earlier in the season, and there is still a lot of work to be done. That includes steeling the mentality of the squad to close out close games (such as this one, which did not go our way) and ensuring that we are always the team dictating the pace and flow of the match, not becoming passengers in what should be winnable games.

Truthfully, we lacked control and cohesion throughout this whole game and were simply outplayed by a motivated Liverpool team, who earned their first win of the Women's Super League season. Martin Ho was generous with his substitutions, but they were too little too late. We never really got a toehold in the game, and some of the gaps in the squad were exposed (like the lack of an adequate replacement for Eveliina Summanen, whose fatigue directly caused the second goal), as well as the lack of pace in the starting lineup.

The sky isn't falling, it's just a bit of rain. And thankfully, I have some hope of the clouds clearing quickly since this team under Ho has always made a concerted effort to bounce back after previous losses.

Notable & quotable:

• Sky Sports attributed the first goal as an own goal by Tōko Koga, but the club's match report says it was Mia Enderby's first goal of a brace, so I'm choosing to believe our beloved Tōko is innocent. Well, not innocent of lax defending, but that goes for every Spurs player in the dying minutes.

• Matilda Nildén and Julie Blakstad both made their Women's Super League debuts.

• Olga Ahtinen and Cathinka Tandberg made their returns from injury as substitutes; neither had played since November 23 in the League Cup.

• This was the team's first loss in WSL play in five games, since November 9 at London City Lionesses. It was only the fourth loss of the league campaign overall.

• It was only the third time we've been held scoreless in a league game, and the fourth time in all competitions.

• The series with Liverpool ends split, with both teams winning their home fixture.

• Martin Ho summed up the disappointing team performance with his usual brutal honesty:

In the first half, we didn’t really get going in the big moments. We had some spells on the ball where we got into good areas, particularly in the attacking third, but we didn’t show any cutting edge when we were there.

Defensively, we were off it... We were defending as individuals rather than as a collective team. The second half was better—we were more collective in how we defended... In the last two or three minutes, we defended really poorly. At this level, if you don’t defend well in those moments, you get punished—and we did today.

When you get to stoppage time at nil‑nil, you just want to see the game out. That’s the frustration – not seeing it out when Liverpool were putting the pressure on.

I’m disappointed that all we can do today is apologise [to the traveling fans] for the result because it’s not what we wanted.

Transfer talk

• From the Women's Academy, two players are going out on dual-registration loans in the National League:

• Blue Bartlett-Antwi at Hashtag United
• Grace Breen at Queens Park Rangers

News from around the Lane

• The date and kickoff time for Spurs Women's FA Cup Fifth Round tie at London City Lionesses has been confirmed. The match will take place on February 23 at 7:30 pm UK/2:30 pm ET.

Up next:

January 28 | Spurs Men @ Eintracht Frankfurt
Team news — Pedro Porro is out for four weeks with a hamstring injury; Micky van de Ven misses out with a minor issue; Randal Kolo Muani and Wilson Odobert are available for selection and okay after a car accident; João Palhinha is available after recovering from a knock; Pape Sarr is available after recovering from an illness picked up on AFCON duty

Perhaps one day soon, the Men's team will escape the strange twilight zone they're living in and stop picking up so many injuries. Until that day, we just have to deal with feeling like we're in purgatory. It is what it is.

COYS

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