Tottenham Hotspur Women pulled off a second half comeback against West Ham away from home. Olivia Holdt and Matilda Vinberg scored stunning outside-the-box strikes in the victory, which saw Spurs move level on points with Arsenal (although Arsenal have a game in hand).
Martin Ho made a few changes to the starting lineup that lost to Liverpool. Matilda Vinberg came in for Maika Hamano on the right wing, and Julie Blakstad got the start over Amanda Nildén.
Spurs opened the first half with a flurry of activity, but West Ham struck early and first. Olivia Holdt lost the ball in West Ham’s third, and Vivianne Asseyi took advantage of Tōko Koga’s unfortunate slip out wide and found her wide open teammate on the opposite wing. Martinez rushed into the center of our box unmarked to finish the resulting cross. West Ham continued to look dangerous on the counter, even forcing a goal line clearance out of Koga in the 20th minute. Spurs dominated possession for the rest of the half, but struggled to turn it into quality shots, and went into the half deservedly 1-0 down.
The second half began much the same. Spurs finally managed to turn all that possession into an equalizer after ten minutes when Matilda Vinberg unleashed a speculative yet stunning shot from range. Amanda Nildén replaced Julie Blakstad in the 60th minute, and Tinka Tandberg replaced Beth England in the 70th minute as Spurs searched for a winner. That winner came in the 73rd minute, again from outside the box. This time, Tuva Hansen mislaid a clearance that fell directly to Olivia Holdt just outside the box. Holdt made no mistake in threading the ball into the back of the net.
Despite a late flurry of activity, Spurs saw out the win pretty comfortably. In the end, only a straight red card to Drew Spence for a high challenge marred the occasion. Spurs will now be without Spence for a run of games including our next fixture at Chelsea.
Thoughts
Getting cooked on the wings is kind of becoming a theme with Ho-ball. That first goal was particularly unfortunate – Tōko Koga doesn’t usually make mistakes like that (she accounted for it later with a few clutch clearances), and probably 9/10 times she cleans up and the goal is avoided. But Spurs were in such a state of disarray after Olivia Holdt lost the ball that Koga’s slip became disastrous. I’d love to see a better plan for turnovers, especially since we commit so many players forward and don’t have much speed across the back line.
We didn’t see too much more of our new signings in this game, though obviously we got a good look at Signe Gaupset and Julie Blakstad. Gaupset continued to look bright, although she seems more frustrated than anyone that she hasn’t scored yet. Blakstad had a few moments of quality but didn’t particularly shine. In general, I am mildly curious about the fact that both our goals in this game came from outside the box. It makes sense because West Ham were super compact in this game and it was difficult to find space to shoot inside the box. But I would’ve expected players like Gaupset and Holdt to be able to unlock sides that sit back like that. It’s another thing I’ll be watching going forward (although I don’t think we’ll face another side who parks the bus like that for a while).
Looking Ahead
Spurs take on Chelsea at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next. This is not the title-winning Chelsea side of old. Spurs are only one point off them, and they’ve recently suffered a fate we are all too familiar with (a heavy defeat at the hands of Bunny Shaw and Kerolin). It may be the best chance we’ve ever had to take points off them, but don’t be fooled – this Chelsea side is still stacked. It’s still one of the most challenging games on the calendar, and we’ll be without Drew Spence (suspension) and Maika Hamano (who is on loan to us from Chelsea). Tune in on Sunday, February 8th at 9:25 ET/2:25 UK time if you’re as curious as I am to see what happens!!