Hotspur HQ

Tottenham Hotspur were so much better against Atletico Madrid, and while they are knocked out of the Champions League Round of 16 anyway, the way they fought and won against one of European football's top sides can never be discounted. And the victory is far from a mere moral one, as Spurs can take a lot of important lessons and carry with them the big time performances and momentum into a must win Premier League relegation duel with Nottingham Forest this weekend.

Out of all the standout individual performances from Tottenham players against Atletico Madrid, unfortunately, a negative display cannot be lost in the shuffle. Radu Dragusin shows a lot of heart for this team, including in a draw with Liverpool last Premier League weekend when he showed clear basic deficiencies on the ball.

Well, there were little silver linings to take away from Dragusin as an individual against Atletico. Tottenham won the game but lost the war, and while Dragusin was not the reason for their elimination at the hands of Diego Simeone's side, it is always worth noting the players who do not stand out positively when the team plays very well because those tend to be the players who REALLY get exposed when things do not go as well.

Radu Dragusin is poor even when Tottenham are good

That has been the case for Dragusin this season. He has not played much and missed most of the early part of the season recovering from injury, but when he has played, he has looked so many cuts below the class of player Tottenham want that it is becoming obvious he has no future at the club.

A move back to Serie A, which was rumored in the winter transfer window, is the best case for Dragusin. He was a liability defensively against Atletico, scarcely ever winning possession for Spurs, which is supposed to be his best trait.

On the ball, Dragusin is untenable. His pass completion percentage of 68 percent was beyond woeful. Dragusin is unable to complete even simple passes, and Spurs fans can forget about him showing any range. He does not have the technical quality to get the ball over the top, which is really a basic enough skill anyway, especially at the Premier League level.

Tottenham inexplicably started Dragusin over Kevin Danso against Atleti, and that is a mistake that cannot happen again. Dragusin is clearly the fourth choice center back at Tottenham, and with both Kota Takai and Luka Vuskovic on loan in the Bundesliga as better players, Dragusin truly has no future left at the N17.

Tottenham Hotspur got back to winning ways, and while it did not mean anything competitively as the 3-2 victory over Atletico Madrid only meant that the aggregate loss in the Champions League Round of 16 was 7-5, the way Spurs played means a lot to them going forwrd in a tense Premier League relegation battle that will only heat up this weekend against Nottingham Forest.

There were so many positives for the home crowd to take home with them, including a master class from Xavi Simons and more brilliance from the rising duo of Archie Gray and Mathys Tel. But the fine work of Callum Olusesi off the bench should not be lost in all this.

Tottenham manager Igor Tudor may only carry the interim label, but he has already made some bold calls that have paid dividends, showing far more faith in the talented youth at the N17 than the mercifully deposed Thomas Frank ever did.

Callum Olusesi is a real part of the Tottenham squad now

Integrating Olusesi into the first team has been the boldest of these calls, and the highly talented prospect has only rewarded the Italian coach immensely. Even though he only played 10 minutes, Olusesi proved he can hang with one of the best midfields in the world, and when you juxtapose his performances and composure with that of veteran Premier League center midfielder Conor Gallagher, it really stands out how good Olusesi is for where he is.

Johan Lange and Vinai Venkatesham have been blasted heavily by the media and even Spurs fans for the Igor Tudor appointment, but Tudor has done so well with Olusesi that this positive alone is a bit of a vindication for Lange, Vinai, and the rest of the office selecting Tudor, whose track record in world football has honestly been pretty underwhelming.

Tudor deserves massive plaudits for believing in Olusesi. His cameo appearance to see the game off against Atleti was gargantuan and a clear indication that he merits more minutes. Olusesi was confident, composed, and willing to drive the ball forward. His work rate and efficacy were double that of Gallagher's and many of the experienced midfielders who have come through the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the last few seasons.

Tottenham Hotspur prevailed in the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16 against Atletico Madrid, taking down the Spanish giants 3-2 in their most impressive and comprehensive team display of the Igor Tudor era. Young stars Xavi Simons, Archie Gray, and Mathys Tel all clicked, finally playing at an elite level together.

But while the win was a cause for celebration for Spurs fans despite the ultimate result of an expected Champions League elimination, the feeling is ultimately bittersweet. Because as Tottenham supporters think about it for a second, based on how they played across both legs, they really should have won the tie.

It begins to set in, then, that the only real reason why Spurs ultiamtely did not prevail over Atletico Madrid was the slips and mistakes by young goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky. Of course, no rational Spurs fan holds ill will or truly blames Kinsky for the mistakes. He was thrown into the fire in a huge game under immense pressure by Igor Tudor, and he unfortunately slipped on an Atleti pitch that has cost so many victims across the 2025/26 La Liga, Champions League, and even Copa del Rey seaons, including blowing out Barcelona behind the dark arts of Diego Simeone's slick pitch.

Tottenham were better than Atletico Madrid

All the same, it does not make the realization any less crueler. Had Kinsky not made those errors and played as well as Guglielmo Vicario did between the sticks in the second leg of the Champions League tite, Tottenham Hotspur almost certainly would have made it through to the next round, as they were outplaying Atletico Madrid in open play.

None of that is a reason to ruminate and lash out at Antonin Kinsky for these unfortunate errors, and, if anything, the bitterness of the truth should ultimately be empowering for Tottenham - a positive message to keep in their hearts.

Because if it were not for those fluke mistakes by the young keeper making his first start in ages, Tottenham would have won precisely since they were the better team than Atleti. Yes, the Premier League side buried in a relegation battle were better than the consensus No. 3 team in Spanish football.

If that fact does not give Tottenham the confidence they need to blow out Nottingham Forest in an even more crucial weekend fixture in the Premier League, which is a true relegation six pointer, then it's hard to think of what else will.

For some odd reason, Johan Lange decided that spending 40 million euros on Conor Gallagher and no other established players in the winter transfer window would be exactly what Tottenham Hotspur needed. Fast forwar a couple of months later, and Spurs are in the relegation battle, with the lack of January reenforcements partially to blame for their predicament.

Meanwhile, Gallagher has done very little to help Spurs fortunes, but after watching Tottenham take care of business at home against Atletico Madrid with a 3-2 victory, two sentiments have set in. The first is that Gallagher is an even more useless signing than the cynics would have predicted at the time. But secondly, part of what makes him such a useless signing is actually the positive development for Spurs that Archie Gray and Callum Olusesi are better than expected.

Tottenham did give Gallagher a bit of a run around against his former employers, as he came on in the 80th minute and did his usual bit of nothingness to close out the game. As anyone could have told Lange and Spurs, Gallagher offers nothing creatively and is poor going forward, and even his defensive work is mediocre at best. Nothing in the last couple of weeks has changed these assertions on the former Atletico Madrid transfer flop's game.

Tottenham's young guns are better than Conor Gallagher

So the real reason Gallagher's transfer looks even worse is how unnecessary is looks in hindsight. Pape Matar Sarr was brilliant over the weekend against Liverpool and just as good this week against Atletico Madrid, too. Olusesi has come on strong as a real X-Factor from the youth phase, and he now has a real spot in the first team squad. And Lucas Bergvall returned from injuruy to make a second half mark for Spurs against Atleti as well.

Gray and Sarr are both starting caliber players for Tottenham, as they have proven in recent matches. Bergvall is as big of a gem as Gray, and both men are future superstars and building blocks for this team. Conor Gallagher should never be in front of them. And now with Olusesi, even thinking about Gallagher a top rotational option for Spurs is out of the window, especially since Rodrigo Bentancur should not be too far behind Bergvall in returning from injury either.

There has been a lot of criticism of Tottenham Hotspur's most expensive summer 2025 transfer, and while a significant amount of it has been both contrusctive and, quite frankly (no pun intended), deserved, Simons served a gentle reminder to the footballing world on Tuesday night against Atletico Madrid that he's a bona fide star in this game.

Simons has been a succes wherever he has gone. He was tremendous for PSV in both domestic and international compeition, and then he actually raised the bar further for RB Leipzig. So the fact that Simons has not been dominating as a No. 10 for Spurs is indeed a disappointment and a bit of step back, but in a week where Eberechi Eze scored a scorching volley for Arsenal, Simons, too, showed his world class quality.

The Tottenham youngster was unplayable, and even a top defense like Atletico Madrid could not cope with him. Simons was the most influential player in the 3-2 win for Spurs, scoring two goals while filling up the rest of the stat sheet. The Flying Dutchman led Spurs with five key passes, tying Maths Tel for the team lead with four dribbles completed, too. He won the penalty that he converted, but his first goal from beyond the blue was the real gem of the two.

Xavi Simons did it all for Tottenham

Even better, Xavi Simons proved that nothing should take him off the pitch by being the team's best defensive influence, too, leading the way with two tackles while adding two interceptions. And to top it all off, he completed a touch under 90 percent of his passes, pulling the string with accuracy, progresiveness, incisiveness, and real creative output.

Look, there can still be skepticism as to how well Simons translates to the Premier League, but this world class display in literally every single aspect of midfield play was a crystal clear message to world football that no matter how you spin it, Simons is a baller. He is a great player. And people can sit there and pick apart translating to the league, but if you can play as well as he did on a week night against Atletico de Madrid, then you can play up to anyone in English football.

Tottenham fans have to be coming away from the Champions League with at least this hugely positive feeling on Simons, who was the most important acquisition the club made in either the preceding summer or winter transfer periods.

It was almost two weeks to the day when a Tottenham Hotspur fanbase united in their belief that Premier League relegation was an apocalyptic potential. On Wednesday, we joined as one to appreciate what we've got in Archie Gray.

An aggregate defeat has never felt so morally blissful for Spurs. Ultimately, Antonín Kinsky's horrorshow in Madrid left Igor Tudor's side with too much to do in the return leg, but winning in N17 was crucial for maintaining the momentum built from Sunday's hard-fought and deserved point at Anfield.

This was a performance that certainly wasn't without error, but the bright sparks, without question, outweighed the nadirs. Mathys Tel made the wrong decision once or twice but was a hugely positive influence, while Xavi Simons reminded us why he has 'face of the franchise' potential after a difficult run of form.

Xavi struck twice and Tel created the other in a 3-2 victory, ensuring our remarkable unbeaten record at home in Europe extended to 25 games. However, these two were outshone by the recently-turned 20-year-old in the middle of the park.

Archie Gray is the future of Tottenham Hotspur

Gray entered the second leg with his lofty reputation still intact amid a woeful campaign for the Lilywhites. Still, there was perhaps a sense that while the versatile midfielder had held his own amid the difficulties, he hadn't yet shown himself to be the potentially game-changing addition some thought him to be when he beat out stiff competition for his signature two summers ago.

His performance on Wednesday didn't merely prove how special he could be, but how good Archie Gray already is.

The Englishman's ability to play pretty much anywhere has been exploited (out of necessity) by three managers in N17, but there's no doubting that his future lies in a midfield position. That's where he could blossom into a star.

Tudor, who's starting to turn things around ahead of the crucial six-pointer on Sunday, absolutely loves the kid. He's his favorite, for sure. The boss spoke about Gray like a proud father post-match.

“He's a guy, you know the positions he plays everywhere, so probably this position in the middle is, I believe, the best one for him. But he's playing continually in the right way, in a good way," he told reporters (via Spurs Army).

“It's a mix of quality, physically and mentally, to always make the right choices and be humble and have legs to do so. He needs to continue this, he's still young, so every day he needs to be a new confirmation."

Suddenly, Spurs have got something in the engine room with Gray starring alongside Pape Matar Sarr. We've got a couple of courageous footballers willing to get their foot on the ball, take risks, and get their team up the pitch. They may make costly mistakes, but their inhibition in possession will only serve to benefit this team, one that produced its most dazzling display of the season on Wednesday.

This is not merely a case of us supporters getting a little too excited over 81 minutes of Gray brilliance, attempting to atone for the months of hopelessness we've been subject to. The Spaniards watching on were taken aback, too. Atléti midfielder Marcos Llorente offered his appreciation after Gray was withdrawn, shaking the young Englishman's hand, while AS journalist Pablo Montaño provided an apt description.

"A proper all-round footballer."

Igor Tudor was not a popular figure around Tottenham Hotspur a week ago. After feeding Antonin Kinsky to the wolves and then hanging him out to dry after he frequently siipped on the notoriously slippery Atletico Madrid pitch, not even acknowledging the young goalkeeper, Tudor has recovered quite abruptly from the 5-2 demolition at the hands of Diego Simeone.

He patched things up with Kinsky and strongly hinted at him starting again. Then, he did something even better, taking a point off Arne Slot to hold the tide at bay in the intense Premier League relegation fight. And finally, he picked up his first win as Spurs manager, taking down Simeone's Atleti 3-2 in the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16.

Obviously, a 3-2 win in the second leg was too little, too late after losing 5-2 in the first leg, but how well Spurs played at home was a reminder of what they are capable of and that maybe, just maybe, Spurs would hae eliminated Atleti in shock fashion if they were not so unlucky with Atleti's comically horrid grounds.

Igor Tudor suddenly doesn't look incompetent

In the span of one week after reaching rock bottom with his treatment of Kinsky, Tudor is riding high, and Tottenham Hotspur fans are no longer cursing his name as a downgrade on Thomas Frank, but rather appreciating the fact that, contrary to media speculation, Tudor has the locker room fighting for him much more than Frank ever did.

Of course, the Tottenham dressing room is - and should be - fighting for a lot more than Tudor, but the positive changes are palpable. And Tudor is believing in young players like Spurs have not before. Archie Gray and Maths Tel are rapidly becoming untouchables for Tottenham, as they should be. Even the previously forgotten Callum Olusesi is impressing and playing an important role in the Tottenham midfield.

The narrative on Tudor has suddenly shifted from a blithering oaf who is inaccessible, unrelatable, and outright incompetent to a potential stabilizer. Tudor's tenure at Tottenham is necessarily going to be brief, and no Spurs supporter has illusions - or, rather, delusions - of him spending more time at the N17 than he needs to.

But with how well Spurs played against Atleti and how much more fire they displayed for the first time in months, perhaps Tudor's brief period at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium can ultimately prove to be a highly fruitful one in the short and even long term.

Yes, Tottenham Hotspur are knocked out of the Champions League, but that was already a foregone conclusion entering a second leg against a quality Atletico Madrid side with a 5-2 deficit. But for the first time in ages, Spurs looked like they were capable of building towards something real, giving the beleagured home fans something to cheer about with a 3-2 victory.

And it was young Mathys Tel who crucially opened things up. After nearly scoring, Tel broke the dead lock with an expertly weighted cross to an open Randal Kolo Muani, who fully obliged with another headed goal to the good.

Tel's cross for an assist had been a long, long time coming. Almost inexplicably, Tel has not assisted in the Premier League yet this season, though the explanation is truly two fold. The first is that he has been snubbed out of so many minutes by Thomas Frank. But the second is that his great crosses all season long have been snubbed by a host of disappointing strikers in front of goal.

Mathys Tel deserved his assist vs. Atletico Madrid

After Richarlison squandered multiple great crosses from Tel over the weekend against Liverpool before finally depositing a Randal Kolo Muani assist, the French countryman himself would not waste this golden opportunity from Tel's electric right boot.

Tel's assist was truly a long time coming. Tottenham Hotspur fans had been earmarking either this game or the weekend fixture vs. Nottingham Forest, which is actually even more important to Spurs than this Champions League knockout tie, as the time for Tel to register a goal or an assist.

Now, Tel could still yet get his goal against Nuno Espirito Santo's spirited bunch over the weekend, but he already has an impressive assist. And Tel was quality all night long against the vaunted Atletico Madrid defense, tearing them to bits with four dribbles completed as one of the three best players on the pitch - and that is finally a high compliment for a Spurs player, given how brilliant Xavi Simons and Archie Gray were, too.

Spurs supporters had been banging the drum for Tel for months as a future superstar, and even when Tottenham have been putrid, he and fellow young gun Gray have been fantastic. Tel finally got the bit of fortune he needed, though, in truth, his cross to Kolo Muani was a case of him making his own luck; there was no way Kolo Muani could have ever missed that sitter.

Tottenham Hotspur captain Cristian Romero is the most high profile player who could depart the club. He was already flirting with a Tottenham exit last summer transfer window, though Thomas Frank and the club were able to convince him to stay for another season despite intense transfer interest from Atletico Madrid - and even some links to Real Madrid.

But because he is so underrated, Romero was not fetching transfer offers Spurs were willing to even listen to anyway. After a difficult season and if Spurs are relegated, however, Tottenham may not have a choice in the summer 2026 transfer window if he wants out.

After the 3-2 win over potential transfer suitors Atletico Madrid, Cristian Romero addressed the Tottenham transfer rumors, and while he thankfully stated that he is still very much focused on Premier League survival No. 1 as Spurs captain, he, unfortunately, did not exactly 100 percent rule out a transfer out either.

Cristian Romero leaves his future open

Here is what Romero said about the situation, as relayed by Fabrizio Romano, My focus is on Spurs and try to help in this bad situation…this is the priority, then after we will see. But now I want to recover energy and help Spurs”.

Just like countryman Enzo Fernandez over at Chelsea, Romero is pulling the "we will see" card at Tottenham, and those three words are never a good sign. They show that Romero is at least open enough to leaving Spurs that even as captain in a difficult sign, he is already unwilling to commit. He does not even want the hint of commitment or to pretend that the rumors are not true.

Romero is not quite at the Micky van de Ven stage of contemplating a transfer out, but he has to be thinking about it. He has been treated pretty poorly in the media by the board with leaks against his character and the validity of succeeding the legendary Son Heung-min as Tottenham captain, but the fact that he is the most outspoken and fiery player is actually crucial for Spurs.

Tottenham Hotspur striker Dominic Solanke has endured some dreadful injury luck in the 2025/26 Premier League season, because after missing months with a foot injury that kept on getting aggravated despite surgery, Solanke's had to still miss more time in recent weeks with a throat infection and now some more nagging issues.

In between, Solanke has been very good when on the pitch, memorably destroying Borussia Dortmund in his first real game back from injury. He has cooled off a bit since, but a lot of that was the injury issues talking.

Solanke was not able to play in the most recent Tottenham victory, a somewhat meaningless but morally boosting 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid in the second leg of the Champions League. But after being held out for some more rest, Solanke is ready for an even bigger game.

Dominic Solanke is ready for Nottingham Forest

Tottenham Hotspur manager Igor Tudor informed fans, via The Spurs Web, that he thinks Dominic Solanke will be fit and ready to face Nottingham Forest this weekend in the Premier League. Spurs are only a couple of points ahead of Forest after drawing Liverpool last weekend, so this is, for all intents and purposes, a full on relegation six pointer for Tottenham and their biggest must win matchup of the 2025/26 Premier League season to date.

It is such a big game that Spurs fans were even looking past Atletico Madrid with eyes on Nottingham Forest. Solanke has not been as decisive in recent games and famous relegation fighter Richarlison has suddenly become more important, but every Spurs fan knows that on quality, especially in all around ability, Solanke is the best striker Tottenham have.

Even with Richarlison out there, Spurs are going to need Solanke to be healthy and at his best, so it is obviously excellent news that Tudor thinks he is going to be ready this weekend. His frame, hold up play, and creativity will be very, very important against a scrappy Forest defense that has some of the best defensive players in the Premier League, especially Big Six transfer target Murillo.

The 28 year old Tottenham No. 9 last played in a Premier League fixture for Spurs last weekend against Liverpool, getting a full 90 minutes while showing some nice all around play in terms of opening up chances for others. Tottenham are going to need that and more consistency in front of goal from a player who has scored in just two Premier League fixtures this season.