West Ham Back to Being Little Brother

Spurs advance to the League Cup semi-final after beating West Ham 2-1

I'll start by saying that it's so refreshing to not go into a cup tie dreading what's going to happen. I feel so much more confident about our chances now under Conte, no matter who the opponent is. This Carabao Cup match against West Ham was another confirmation of our new manager's superb in-game management and tactical flexibility.

The home crowd also gave Spurs a big boost. We won't have that advantage in the first leg of the semi-final (I say first leg, but there's a lot of pressure on the powers-that-be to trim the semi-final down to a one-leg tie), because Chelsea was pulled first in the draw. But any team that has Declan Rice in it isn't going to just roll over and get knocked out of a cup competition without a fight, so the lads definitely needed the home support to get them over the line. Hopefully, we can also win our PL home fixture against them in March, too.

We also had an advantage on the lineup side of things, since Michail Antonio was not in the West Ham squad at all. David Moyes had mentioned in his pre-game press conference that they had a couple of COVID cases in the squad, so we can probably assume that Antonio tested positive. Get well soon, Antonio.

Our starting XI was also difficult to predict, with Højbjerg just getting back from his spell with COVID, and other players who had recently recovered needing some extra rest after an intense matchup with Liverpool on the weekend. It was nice to see Son getting a rest and beginning the match on the bench, along with Royal (though that could have been more of a tactical decision). Reguilón returned to the starting lineup since Sessegnon picked up a muscular injury that will have him out for potentially over a week, and Doherty replaced Royal on the other side of the pitch. We also saw the return of the Skipp/Højbjerg midfield partnership. Perhaps the biggest surprise was seeing Bergwijn get the start, but as this is officially the week for fringe player redemption, he took his chance and ran with it.

Bergwijn certainly earned his Man of the Match honor, notching a goal and an assist for Lucas (though unofficially for the latter). He reminded us of the qualities that brought Spurs to sign him in the first place:  scrappy, fearlessness in the box, and a knack for being in the right place at the right time. It's not so far-fetched that he could play as a second striker alongside Kane.

The only other true standout performer on the day was Lloris, and what a game he had! I know I'm not the only one who had nightmare visions of a Lanzini game-winner when I saw Gollini featured on the matchday program. Seeing Lloris on the starting lineup graphic was such a relief. He came through with several world-class saves to limit West Ham to just one goal (which came courtesy of a now-rare Dier mistake). Once again, I implore the club:  give Hugo a new contract!

After all three goals in the match (for both teams) were scored in the space of five minutes in the first half, the second half was just a big ol' nerves fest. We did appear to be trying for a third goal for most of the half, bringing on Son, Winks, and Dele to add freshness to the attack, but Conte did eventually decide to shut up shop in the 83rd minute with a couple of defensive subs in Royal and Tanganga. Considering how long it had been since we fans had to suffer through anything even remotely approaching "parking the bus," I was okay with that. West Ham definitely had fewer high-quality chances in the second half.

Boxing Day Derby

It feels like we have a London derby every other week this season (and we quite literally will in January thanks to drawing Chelsea in the semi-final, and already having PL fixtures against them and Arsenal). But the first time around didn't go well for any of them except Brentford, so we have lots of opportunities for revenge motivation.

The Crystal Palace loss might have been the most frustrating of all the derby blunders, particularly because of Odsonne Édouard's super-sub two-goal dagger. Fun fact:  Édouard has three goals this season, two of them coming from that game. Only Tottenham...

Since Palace were already knocked out of the League Cup and had their last PL match postponed, they haven't played since they drew with Southampton on the 15th(!). Conte did a great job with man-management over the last two games, so I think this will give Spurs the edge on sharpness. And as far as I've heard we haven't had any new additions to the injury list, so we'll still just be without Sessegnon, Romero, and possibly Gil with illness recovery.

Selection-wise, I vote that we don't give Zaha the opportunity to needle Tanganga into another red card. It does feel like right-back (or right-wing-back as it usually these days with Conte's preferred formations) is still a weak spot in the squad. Royal is a little better defensively than Doherty, but Doherty offers more going forward (I'm trying to say this was a straight face since he was actually pretty decent in the cup match).

We're likely to see Gollini feature in one of these next two games, since they're happening in the space of three days, and I would expect to see him start for the Southampton match rather than Crystal Palace. Does anyone want to see Gollini trying to save a long-range screamer from Conor Gallagher? Absolutely not.

I think it's going to get tougher to predict lineups going forward, now that Conte is getting to know the players better and feels more comfortable making tweaks from game to game. But like I said at the beginning of the post:  I trust Conte. It's nice to have that feeling about the manager again.

No matter who lines up for both teams, it's sure to be an entertaining holiday fixture. Let's hope we can get the job done quickly and save some energy for Southampton.

Elsewhere in the COYS universe

My second Spurs Women update for the Tottenham Depot podcast is out now! Check it out and let me know what y'all think. Got any listener questions for the next update?

Jessica Naz is nominated for WSL player of the month and Rehanne Skinner is nominated for manager of the month (her second nomination of the season), so go vote! I'm glad Naz is getting some well-deserved recognition--a player on the rise!

It's great to see some players from the Men's side encouraging fans to get their booster shot. We're all in this together, whichever side of the pond you're on.

If you're celebrating Christmas, have a very merry holiday and enjoy the Boxing Day match!

COYS