We're Staying Up

Yeah, the Men's team also played a game, but do we really have to talk about it?

Well, maybe briefly... and only because Harry Kane has once again broken a record (I really wish I had been keeping track of how many records he's broken this season alone).

In this issue:  Brentford recap | Reading recap | Final matchday previews

Tottenham 1 - 3 Brentford

The starting XI was a bit of a surprise, but the changes were mostly enforced by injuries to regular starters like Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and Eric Dier. Arnaut Danjuma got his first start in a Spurs shirt, and potentially his last depending on what the club decides to do with his loan. He didn't particularly impress in this match, sadly, and was forced off early with a knock in the 66th minute.

I think I speak for everyone when I say that I was shocked that Kane scored from a free kick. Of course, it didn't actually count as a direct free kick since Dejan Kulusevski took a touch just before Harry struck the ball, changing the angle just enough to throw off Brentford's wall and their keeper, David Raya. On the plus side, Deki gets credited with an assist!

Kudos also to Oliver Skipp for winning the free kick in the first place, as well as Ben Davies for preventing one of Brentford's players from blocking Kane's kick with some clever movement. This set piece routine had Gianni Vio's imprint all over it.

Oh, and the aforementioned record? Harry became the first player to score in 25 different games in a 38-match Premier League season. He is truly one of a kind.

Unfortunately, that would be Spurs' only goal of the match. Things looked very positive for the home side after going up in the 8th minute and finishing out the first half in full control, playing some beautiful football throughout. There were several moments when I wondered how we didn't score and double our lead. I definitely got my hopes up thinking that we had finally unlocked the secret to starting off a game well instead of the usual first-half sleepwalk.

In this case, the first half was the only good half and the second was an unmitigated disaster. Bryan Mbeumo was always going to be a threat, particularly with Ivan Toney suspended and the pressure largely falling on Mbeumo to score for the Bees. He scored his first just five minutes into the second half when Davies failed to close him down, and Clément Lenglet did not arrive in time for his own defensive efforts to make a difference. Mbeumo completed his brace in the 62nd minute when he sprinted past Davies on the wing (Ben had also kept him onside) and Lenglet's last-ditch tackle was unsuccessful. You could argue that Kane was fouled in the buildup, but VAR did not intervene to overrule the goal.

The key moment of the second half from a Spurs perspective was the decision by Ryan Mason (how much it was influenced by club leadership, we will never know) to sub on Lucas Moura for one last appearance at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. I know there were fans in the ground who were happy to have a chance to give him a proper sendoff, but it was a poor decision from a sporting sense. He completely failed to impact the game and reinforced exactly why his contract was not renewed.

Brentford put the nail in the coffin with an 87th-minute goal from Yoane Wissa. Skipp lost possession just outside Spurs' 18-yard box after receiving a throw-in from Pedro Porro, and Mbeumo (this time contributing an assist) was able to easily pass to Wissa in space for a clear shot past Fraser Forster. The entire Spurs defense looked out of position on this play—and out of motivation, if we're honest. I felt like the defense slightly let down the attack in this match, because although the forwards weren't as efficient as they should have been, you couldn't accuse them of lacking effort.

Richarlison, who had subbed on alongside Porro in the 75th minute, had two big chances to score off a header early on in the nine (9!) minutes of stoppage time, but Raya was alert to the danger both times. Raya is one of the (many) rumored goalkeeper targets for Spurs this summer with Hugo Lloris' future uncertain, and if this was an audition he certainly passed.

(Side note:  Brentford are rumored to be bringing in current SC Freiburg keeper Mark Flekken, so the likelihood of Raya actually leaving Brentford is high. H/t to Daphne on the 50 Plus Döner Discord for the tip.)

The players did their traditional lap of honor after the game before the end-of-season awards. Goal of the Season went to Sonny for his strike against Brighton, his 100th in the Premier League. Harry made a clean sweep of the three supporters club awards for Player of the Season. It's hard to argue with either of those!

I was disappointed to see just how many fans had left the stadium by this point, not just because I think the players still deserve recognition despite a tough season, but also because the second game of the double-header was still to come. While I think it's somewhat unfair for pundits to call the attendance for the Women's game of the double-header "embarrassing" (there were a lot of extenuating factors that made it impossible for some fans to stay for both games, and the club itself really dropped the ball with promoting such a last-minute event), I do think those fans who were able to yet made an active choice not to stay and support the Women's team need to take a good hard look at themselves. We are supposed to be "one club" under the crest, and too many fans seem to be forgetting that. What is actually embarrassing is how fully our North London rivals have embraced their Women's team while ours is too often treated as an afterthought by club and fans alike.  

(Obligatory caveat to acknowledge that this is all easy for me to say from across the pond. However, I do think it's fair to say that I do just about everything possible to support the Women's team from afar.)

Luckily, the bad vibes from the Men's result did not trickle over into the Women's match and the fans who did stay were treated to a great game of football.

Tottenham 4 - 1 Reading

I will admit that when I saw the starting XI, I wasn't necessarily filled with confidence—probably because I had spent so much time prior to the game thinking about what our "ideal" lineup would be. But I have to give credit to Vicky Jepson for her team selection, because the players who started certainly gave it their all. This was as close to a full team performance as we've seen this season outside of the eight-goal thrashing of Brighton.

Beth England was the standout once again, scoring a brace with a goal midway through each half. Her first goal, a header in the 29th minute, came from a set piece routine and was assisted by Molly Bartrip. Bartrip was honestly a good contender for Player of the Match alongside England; she went on to make another assist later in the match and also put in a top shift on the defensive end. But back to England, she was able to capitalize on a poor back pass by Reading's Easther Mayi Kith to engage in a one-on-one with the keeper, Grace Moloney, and finish with some style in the 62nd minute to put the result all but out of reach for our opponents.  

In between those goals, Celin Bizet scored her second goal of the WSL campaign off a superb team effort. Angharad James was heavily involved, with three touches, but the move also saw Ashleigh Neville and Drew Spence contribute to the passing network. Eveliina Summanen put in the final pass to assist Bizet. Summanen had a battling first half, including a bloody nose, and ended up being unable to continue past halftime. But that was all right, because Kit Graham was ready to step up.

Graham scored our fourth and final goal of the game, running onto an inch-perfect through ball from Bartrip (her second assist) to fire confidently past Moloney. I don't know if I've ever been more delighted by a goal celebration than I was at seeing Kit strut with her powerful muscles on display (Celin did the same celebration after her goal). Symbolically, it was huge to see our attacking midfielder back at her strongest; this marked her first goal since recovering from an ACL injury. Regardless of what happens in the last match, she's already built up some great momentum to carry her into the off-season and will be looking to start strong in the 2023/24 season.

Spurs were rolling in this game, and the only thing that put a slight damper on the evening was losing the clean sheet. Our set piece defense woes came back to haunt us as Justine Vanhaevermaet headed home a goal from a Reading corner. Becky Spencer, getting a surprise start over Tinni Korpela, probably could have done more to stop it but Vanhaevermaet has a distinct height advantage over all of our players who were on the pitch at that moment. We've been burned by headed corner goals many times in recent history, so perhaps bringing a defender with height into the mix should be a priority when building the squad for next season.

In addition to Kit's substitution, we also saw some much-needed minutes for Jess Naz and Ria Percival, as well as Nikola Karczewska. It may also have been one of Mana Iwabuchi's last appearances for the club if her loan isn't made permanent over the summer. In the bigger picture, it was just refreshing to have a full, quality bench for once. Jepson had even noted before the match that this was the first time this season that either she or Rehanne Skinner had needed to exclude a player from the matchday squad for selection purposes and not because of lack of availability.

Overall, I feel extremely proud of the whole team effort against Reading. The win secured our safety in the WSL for another season and we could even finish as high as 8th place now, depending on the result of the final match against West Ham United; a win would see us leapfrog them on goal difference. For the record, the lowest we can finish is in 10th place. Of course, this is still a massive underperformance to expectations at the beginning of the season, but considering all the obstacles we faced at various times in the campaign, I am content to at least finish the season with some positive momentum and a clearer idea of the strengths and weaknesses of the squad. Lots to discuss in the season recap post, that's for sure.

The final 90 (x2)

Both Spurs teams end their season this weekend. The Women are up first on Saturday at 2:30 pm UK time, then the Men play on Sunday at 4:30 pm UK time.

Spurs Women face local rivals (and it is indeed a rivalry) West Ham. The Hammers just broke a 10-game winless streak in all competitions by beating beleaguered Leicester City last weekend. But they have been struggling mightily to score goals, and only won that last match because of a Leicester own goal and a penalty.

Remember how I just mentioned our vulnerability to headers on set pieces? West Ham have two players who live for those opportunities, Dagný Brynjarsdóttir and Kate Longhurst. So never say never, but hopefully our defense will be alert to the threat.

Lineup-wise, we can expect Jepson to stick to her supposed stalwart 4-3-3 formation. I say "supposed" because to my eyes, the formation appeared a lot more fluid in a few of our recent games, but she noted that the 4-3-3 was the strategy in her press conference after the Reading game. I think she's vastly oversimplifying Summanen's hybrid role, for one example, but the squad does seem to have a better grasp of the game plan overall if the unified performance in the last match is anything to go by.

I'm really finding it hard to get excited about the last Men's game, not least because we are now mathematically out of the chase for Europa League qualification. It's difficult to see the Europa Conference League as a legitimate consolation prize—and even that is not assured, since we would need to better Aston Villa's result to qualify for ECL. But if y'all know me, you'll know I am incapable of rooting for a Spurs loss, so... Conference League ahoy, I guess?

The math for Leeds is also pretty simple. To avoid relegation, they need to beat Spurs and have Everton either a) lose or b) draw, and then beat Spurs themselves by at least three goals. I believe in that second scenario a three goal swing would be enough to finish above Everton on the "goals for" tie-breaker. It doesn't look great for Leeds, since they also need Leicester to drop points. Even if Everton did their part to give Leeds a chance, Leicester would relegate them both with a win since they have the goal difference edge. Everton's math is even simpler:  just win against Bournemouth to be safe.

Leeds also have a few key players out injured right now, including Tyler Adams, Rodrigo, and Patrick Bamford (inconsistent as he's been).

One Spurs player who will not a get a chance to impact the last game of the season is Eric Dier. The club announced that he will be missing the match after undergoing groin surgery. He might not have been selected anyway, but the defense has been so poor in general this season that it's a moot point.

That's basically all I've got for this game, besides perhaps a wish that Lucas gets zero minutes. And maybe one last chance for Danjuma to prove himself? Otherwise, there's always the longshot chance that Harry scores nine goals to nick the Golden Boot off Erling Haaland. Wouldn't that be something?

COYS  

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