Troubled When Traveling

Spurs Men faced some familiar issues away in Europe | Previewing the first full weekend of Spurs fixtures, finally!

I'm going to keep this week's Champions League recap pretty brief because let's face it—that was a match we would all rather forget about quickly.

Sporting 2 - 0 Tottenham

This was a frustrating game. It felt like we had at least done enough for a point (which is not the end of the world for an away match in European competition), but then the last five minutes happened. It was a pretty dramatic lapse in concentration from the entire team that allowed Sporting to score two goals in quick succession, the first coming just before the end of regulation and the second in the third minute of stoppage time. Oh, and just before all of that went down we nearly saw the deadlock broken by none other than former Spurs academy kid Marcus Edwards, and only a superb save from Hugo Lloris kept his mazy run into the box from paying dividends. It's honestly a shame that we collapsed after that moment, because Hugo's performance deserved a clean sheet.

I won't go into an extensive play-by-play this time, but these were the major talking points from my perspective:

Kane and Son lackluster

Now, Harry Kane is perhaps allowed a bad game since he'd been playing very well this season up until Tuesday, but it becomes a big problem when he and Son Heung-min are both struggling, as Son has been for some time now. Son has had a few bright moments this season (the Southampton, Fulham, and even Marseille games come to mind), but it's fair to say that he has been far from his best overall. I suspect that for Kane this was just a blip, but we're at the point with Son where the strategy to let him play his way into form just isn't working, and is keeping one of Richarlison or Dejan Kulusevski (both of whom are in form) out of the side. I think it's time for him to get a rest so he can get his head straight; you could practically see him overthinking every move he made in the Sporting game. In many ways, his situation right now reminds me of what Leroy Sané has gone through at times at Bayern, and Sané has tended to perform better after a short break on the bench. It's nice to see some loyalty from Conte towards Son, but there's a limit. And for me—a self-avowed Sonny super fan—to say this, you know it's beyond overdue! We can also hope that he has a successful international break with South Korea to boost his confidence.

Conte refuses to use all his subs

This has been annoying me for quite a while, even going back to last season—but especially now that five substitutions are allowed. I won't retread old ground from previous matches this season when additional subs were needed, but just to focus on this game, I would have liked to see Emerson Royal replaced by Matt Doherty, and it would have been nice to see Yves Bissoum or Oliver Skipp given a chance to breathe some new life into the midfield. With Son and Kane both underperforming, it wouldn't have hurt to see Bryan Gil brought on at the same time as Kulusevski and to have Richarlison shift into the striker role.

Conte has proven extremely stubborn and resistant to in-game tactical changes, and I think it's a shame that he seemed so willing to settle for a point in a winnable game—only for us to go and drop all three points in the last few minutes. It's no secret that Conte tends to prioritize the domestic league over the Champions League in his managerial history, but I had hoped we would at least make a stronger showing during the group stage, if not the knockout rounds. (Truthfully, I don't think any of our recent managers post-Pochettino have had a serious intention of progressing in European competition.) I also think his reluctance to make a lot of in-game changes is due to his preference for automations; he picked his starting XI for a reason, and I get that he doesn't want to tweak that lineup any more than he has to, but sometimes you just need that little bit of spark off the bench to make things happen when nothing is happening. It's a major weakness in his managerial style. As I have noted many times, when everyone is firing on all cylinders Conte's system works like a charm, but when one key player or even multiple players are having an off day, the overall team performance can go flat pretty fast.

The sky isn't falling

All that being said, it's pretty annoying to see the usual fanbase overreaction happening like clockwork. As much as I would like to see us do well in the CL, the domestic league does have to be the priority, so if we were going to have a poor performance, I'd rather it have been this one than the upcoming PL match. Since we've tended to underestimate our European opponents, especially in away matches, I don't think we actually learned all that much from this loss. But seriously:  let's all take a deep breath. We're still second in the group and have some time to refocus before the next match away at Eintracht Frankfurt.

While it was disappointing to see an uncharacteristic (at least under Conte) lapse in mentality to close out the game, we have been pretty good about bouncing back after a poor performance. And our next PL opponent makes for a favorable matchup to do so.

Languishing Leicester

We've had a very good record against Leicester in recent seasons, and I can only assume that trend will continue now that they don't even have Kasper Schmeichel to make things relatively difficult for our forwards.

Leicester are currently dead last in the PL table, having only picked up a single point from the first six matches (a 2-2 draw with Brentford on opening day). They also barely survived the second round of the League Cup, going to a penalty shootout against Stockport County. They have managed to score at least one goal in all but one of their PL matches so far, but haven't seen much consistency as far as who is scoring—only James Maddison has two goals this season. Funnily, Jamie Vardy hasn't scored yet but leads the team in assists with two. Spurs have had a strong defense so far, tied for the second-best defense in the league, so this should be a match where we're able to increase Hugo's clean sheet tally.

On the other end of the pitch, this is a great opportunity to boost our goal difference with a decisive win. I do think Son should start on the bench, but a substitute appearance would not be unwelcome to allow him to finally get on the scoresheet this season. Royal has racked up a lot of minutes already (only Lloris, Dier, and Højbjerg have played more in the PL), so I would like to see him rested and either have Doherty start or have Ivan Perišić shift to the right wingback spot and have Ryan Sessegnon start on the left side. If we are able to get an early and decisive lead, I would like to see Skipp make his first appearance of the season—the longer he is out, the more I start to worry that his injuries are going to have long-term effects.

It's rare that we get to be the bogey team for an opponent instead of the other way around, so we might as well take advantage.

Leicester, part two

The Women's team also faces Leicester this weekend, in what is now the season opener thanks to last weekend's postponement. Like their Men's team, Leicester Women are already getting early predictions to get relegated this year. They didn't do much in the transfer window, and just barely survived the drop last season. Their most notable incoming transfer, at least to Spurs fans, was the addition of Josie Green. She proved in her last couple of appearances for Spurs that she can still provide an important offensive spark, and I hope that she will do well at Leicester—just not on Sunday.

Speaking of offense, Leicester are pretty light in that area of the roster at the moment, with three of their forwards still rehabbing from long-term injuries picked up last season. So if their starting XI isn't able to find a goal, they won't have many options on the bench to switch up their strategy.

Leicester are one of the few WSL teams to play all their fixtures at the club's main stadium (King Power), so it will be interesting to see what kind of attendance they draw for this fixture. Since we are away again next weekend at Arsenal, Spurs fans will have to wait all the way until October 16 for the first match at the new home ground.

Keeping that upcoming fixture against Arsenal in mind, I wouldn't read too much into our starting lineup for the Leicester match, since I suspect Rehanne Skinner may choose to hold some fire for that important derby—and considering that Leicester are not the toughest opponent. I also think it will be difficult to predict the starting XI for the first few matches in general, since we don't have enough insight yet on how the new signings fit into Rehanne's plans for the team. She may choose to rely more on experienced players to get the season started, but some of our new signings are quite experienced (like Drew Spence, Amy Turner, and Angharad James), including experience playing in the WSL previously. Nikola Karczewska is also a shoo-in for the starting XI as she is undoubtedly our strongest striker option.

A decisive win this weekend would put other teams on notice and show that Spurs Women are capable of building on last season's historic successes and truly compete near the top of the table.

Late loan moves

Speaking of the need for experience, two Spurs Women players are heading back out on loan to gain valuable game time. Goalkeeper Eleanor Heeps and defender Esther Morgan are both joining Coventry United for the season, presumably with the option to be recalled mid-season if needed—more so in the case of Morgan, who was already on the cusp of playing regularly with Spurs' first team. Interestingly, Coventry United are in our Conti Cup group. It's an added bonus that Eleanor and Esther will be playing together on their loan spells. I just worry that with Esther especially, we are going to be left a little short on depth in defense. However, the decision to send the two of them out on loan could signal an intention to bring in a player or two soon to bolster our own squad. Keep an eye out, especially as the NWSL season wraps up next month and some of the players in that league become free to move.

Spurs x culture

I was so pleased to be a guest on the Hometown Glory podcast this week to talk about the Sporting result and preview Spurs Women's WSL season. I also shared my culture picks, as is tradition on their pod. Give it a listen!

Here's hoping for two quality wins against Leicester this weekend to close off the Men's PL campaign before the international break and to get the Women's team off to a strong start.

COYS

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