The New York Times

Cristian Romero charged up the pitch with one objective.

In Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-0 defeat by Fulham in March, the 26-year-old left his centre-back partner Ben Davies alone and tracked Raul Jimenez deep into Fulham territory before clattering into him on the touchline. Jimenez hobbled in pain while Romero jogged back into position, facial expression unchanged.

When Tottenham faced AZ in the second leg of the Europa League round of 16 tie, Romero shoulder-barged his opponents and screamed in the face of his former team-mate Troy Parrott. The Argentina international is unrelenting in aggressively pursuing opponents.

The problem is that drama follows him in the same way.

After losing Arsenal goalscorer Gabriel at a corner in September’s 1-0 north London derby defeat, Argentinian media reported that Romero was unhappy with his travel arrangements after representing his country twice in World Cup qualifiers. Romero arrived at Gatwick Airport on Thursday and had only a couple of days to train before facing Arsenal.

In December, Romero came off injured after 10 minutes during Tottenham’s defeat by Chelsea and appeared to criticise chairman Daniel Levy in an interview with Spanish broadcaster Telemundo Deportes.

“You have to realise that something is going wrong,” Romero said. “Hopefully they (club board) realise who the true responsible ones are and we move forward because it’s a beautiful club that, with the structure it has, could easily be competing for the title every year.” Head coach Ange Postecoglou revealed a few days later that Romero apologised for his comments.

At the beginning of March, after making his comeback from the quad issue he suffered against Chelsea, Romero only thanked Argentina’s medical staff for their help with his recovery, which hinted at dissatisfaction with Spurs.

Romero has only made three appearances in all competitions since he returned from injury, but speculation is growing around his long-term future. Tottenham’s vice-captain has a contract until 2027 but has been linked with Real Madrid, and it has emerged that he is a target for their city neighbours Atletico. What does the future hold?

Romero has made high-profile errors this season, with the latest example coming in Argentina’s 4-1 victory over Brazil in March. On the ball in his own half, he took a loose touch, which allowed Matheus Cunha to pinch it before firing a shot past Emiliano Martinez.

In August at Leicester City, he left Jamie Vardy unmarked for the equaliser in a 1-1 draw. A few weeks later, Romero stepped up when the rest of Tottenham’s defence dropped off in the build-up to Alexander Isak’s strike in a 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United. He left Danny Welbeck unmarked when the forward scored a header in a 3-2 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion. In the 2-2 draw with Bournemouth on March 9 — the defender’s first appearance since December — an erratic left-footed pass in the opening minute was nearly punished by Evanilson.

Romero won the Copa America with Argentina last summer and had less than three weeks off before he reported for pre-season. He started the first 11 league games but would have benefited from being slowly reintegrated.

In a report from FIFPRO on player workload, Romero travelled more than any other player during 2023-24, covering a distance of 162,978 kilometres. The next highest was his international team-mate Julian Alvarez, with 153,869km. Constantly travelling must be physically, emotionally and mentally draining and it is not surprising that it can negatively impact him.

Since the group stage of the 2022 World Cup, which he helped his country to win, Romero has started 27 out of 32 matches (84 per cent), including friendlies.

But Romero’s fitness struggles suggest it has not always been the right decision to travel to Argentina to play under Lionel Scaloni.

A toe injury sustained in a reckless challenge on Morgan Rogers in Tottenham’s 4-1 victory over Aston Villa in November became a repeat issue when he started for Argentina against Paraguay 12 days later, with him being taken off at half-time due to discomfort.

He did not play again until Spurs hosted Chelsea on December 8 and lasted 15 minutes. The Athletic reported in January that Romero only had a couple of training sessions before then and, suffering a quad injury, raised questions about his rehab work. The club said that this sort of injury is impossible to predict and this speculation is hindsight.

There have been 143 top-flight games since Romero joined Spurs in August 2021, initially on loan from Italian side Atalanta before the move became permanent for £42.5million. He has started 94 of them (65 per cent). He has only appeared in more than 30 league games in a season once for Spurs across four years.

Romero has barely missed a game for Argentina over the past few years, but his poor availability for Spurs is concerning.

Romero can be erratic, but Tottenham have missed his quality and leadership this season. He has won multiple trophies with Argentina. He has a good relationship with Postecoglou, who appointed him as vice-captain last season. He is the voice of the Spanish-speaking and South American contingent in Spurs’ dressing room, which includes Rodrigo Bentancur, Pedro Porro and Sergio Reguilon. He still occasionally defends in a wild manner but does not concede as many fouls or receive bookings like he used to. The defender’s experience would have been invaluable in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup defeats away at Aston Villa and Liverpool respectively.

Romero is brave in possession and excellent at playing line-breaking passes. When Radu Dragusin partnered Archie Gray at centre-back between December and January, he looked nervous on the ball. Dragusin was guilty of turning away from strikers and passing back to the goalkeeper, which slowed down Tottenham’s attacks.

It is rare to see Romero looking flustered in those situations. Romero’s aggressive, front-footed approach to defending complements Micky van de Ven, who has the recovery speed to sweep up any loose balls played in behind. They will be crucial to Spurs’ chances of reaching the Europa League final in Bilbao on May 21.

After Spurs beat AZ 3-2 on aggregate last month, Romero and Van de Ven were reunited for the first time in three months. “For the first 60 minutes, it was as solid as we’ve been all year,” Postecoglou said. “They had one shot off a set piece and they didn’t threaten us at all. Central defensive partnerships are important and both with and without the ball, they gave us good options.

“With the ball, Micky is a great outlet for us because he can run with it, having a left-footed defender helps and (Romero’s) passing range is ridiculous.”

There are similarities between Romero and Kevin Danso, who joined Spurs in January on loan from French side Lens with an obligation to buy for €25m. Danso, who has been capped over 20 times by Austria, is only five months younger than Romero.

Danso’s arrival means Postecoglou has four centre-backs, although Dragusin is recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury he suffered in January, along with Gray and Davies, who can cover the position. Davies is the established backup, but it is unclear who Postecoglou would select when everybody is fit.

Van de Ven’s contract runs until 2029, while Dragusin and Danso’s deals expire 12 months later. Romero only has two years left on his contract and if he leaves, Spurs already have a right-footed replacement who likes to battle strikers and is comfortable carrying the ball forward in Danso. If Romero does not sign a new contract, the upcoming transfer window is the best time to sell him for a significant fee.

It is easy to see the appeal that Atletico might hold for Romero. It would give him the opportunity to work under an Argentinian coach in Diego Simeone and to play regularly with several international team-mates, including Alvarez, Rodrigo De Paul, Giuliano Simeone and Nahuel Molina.

Spurs will miss out on European football for the second time in three years unless they win the Europa League. At Atletico, Romero would join a team fighting for the title, compared to Spurs, who have taken a step backwards in Postecoglou’s second year in charge. His long-term future is in serious doubt, while Simeone has been in charge of Atletico for over a decade.

Maybe Romero will help Spurs win a trophy for the first time since 2008 and will line up alongside Van de Ven in the Champions League next season. Tottenham’s squad is packed with young talent, including Gray and Lucas Bergvall, so Romero might be determined to keep leading them along with Son Heung-min.

Whatever happens next, do not expect the noise and drama surrounding Romero to quieten down anytime soon.

(Top photo: Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

Ange Postecoglou has said that Tottenham Hotspur have suffered “enormous setbacks” this season and he believes their problems can be traced back to how they approached the start of the 2024-25 campaign in the “wrong” way.

Tottenham are 14th in the Premier League table and have lost more than half of their games. They finished fifth in Postecoglou’s first season in charge and it now looks like they will not even be able to secure a top 10 finish in his second year. Tottenham are 15 points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, who they face on Thursday evening.

Spurs were eliminated by Aston Villa in the fourth round of the FA Cup and were thrashed by Liverpool in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final. Their only chance of lifting silverware this season, and qualifying for the Champions League, is by winning the Europa League. The Athletic reported last week that Postecoglou’s future is in serious doubt due to their bad results.

Postecoglou has had to deal with an injury crisis this term with key players Guglielmo Vicario, Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Dominic Solanke and Destiny Udogie all unavailable for long periods of time. Van de Ven has only made four appearances since October while Romero missed three months with a quad injury. When Spurs beat Elfsborg 3-0 in the Europa League on January 30, Postecoglou named two goalkeepers and five academy players on the bench due to their lack of senior options.

The Australian said that Spurs have shown “glimpses” of their quality but they have been “nowhere near it” in the league and it has been a “disappointing season”.

“My inkling is we probably got the start of the year wrong,” Postecoglou said in an interview with Australian broadcaster Optus Sport. “It is becoming increasingly challenging for footballers these days. They don’t get a traditional break and I just think we went into the season really hard. We probably underestimated the challenges of Europe this year with your two extra games and having a deep cup run. All those kinds of things and you add to the mix that we lost key players early on.

“From my perspective, it feels like we have been chasing our tails ever since. We haven’t been able to get ahead of the challenge. Every time we try to get steady ground something else happens that shifts. A lot of that goes back to the start of the year and we maybe would have taken a different approach knowing the season we had ahead.”

Postecoglou then said that the football schedule is “too demanding” when he was asked about the benefits of a potential winter break by former Australia international Mark Schwarzer.

“It’s not just on the continent they have a winter break but most of them only have one domestic cup competition,” he said. “Most of them give the teams in Europe a break before European games. Most of them have less than 20 teams in their top leagues. Then you add in the international schedule. There will become a breaking point.”

Tottenham take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Thursday and then host Southampton this weekend before playing Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final next week.

(Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

There’s not much we haven’t seen in the north London Derby down the years — but the next time they clash will represent a first for the fixture.

On July 31, Tottenham and Arsenal will face off at the 50,000-seater Kai Tak Stadium in Hong Kong, 6,000 miles from London, the first time the game will be played overseas.

“There are few bigger occasions in English football than a north London derby and to play this fixture in Hong Kong will be a huge occasion for our passionate fanbase across Asia, as well as providing ideal preparation for the team ahead of the new season,” Ryan Norys, Tottenham’s chief revenue officer, said in a statement to the club’s website.

“As is tour tradition, the club will be involved in so much more than the match itself when we visit, supporting charitable causes, celebrating local culture, delivering football clinics for young people and engaging with fans and partners. We cannot wait to visit such a beautiful place once again.”

Arsenal’s managing director Richard Garlick described it as a “great experience for both teams and supporters” and that the club “cannot wait to connect with our Hong Kong supporters in this wonderful part of the world”.

Here, The Athletic explains why they’re doing it, and what people think.

Why are Arsenal and Spurs playing in Hong Kong?

Naturally, money is a significant factor in this decision.

Tottenham are regular visitors to Asia in pre-season and spent last summer in South Korea and Japan. It will be Arsenal’s first visit to Hong Kong since 2012, when they drew 2-2 with local side Kitchee SC in the Hong Kong Stadium. Pre-season tours are big money spinners for Europe’s biggest clubs, with the most prominent clubs demanding millions for individual matches.

A source, kept anonymous to protect relationships, told The Athletic in 2022 that Europe’s premier clubs can demand fees of over £2million ($2.6m) per game. Given that this is the first north London derby to take place on foreign soil, it would not be a surprise for Arsenal and Spurs to demand a comparable figure.

Tottenham sit 14th in the Premier League and will likely not qualify for Europe through their league position. They are in the quarter-final of the Europa League and could still enter next season’s Champions League by winning that tournament. But the extra revenue earned through pre-season friendlies may help to make up for the potential lost income.

Spurs released their accounts for 2023-24 on Monday, a season in which they were not in European competition. Their total revenue decreased by four per cent to £528.2million from 2022-23, with the money earned from UEFA competition dropping from £56.2m to £1.3m.

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy noted how a varied “income strategy” will help the club compete in the transfer market in the absence of the added European competition prize money.

“Our capacity to generate recurring revenues determines our spending power,” he said in a statement on the club’s website. “We cannot spend what we do not have, and we will not compromise the financial stability of this club — indeed, our off-pitch revenues have significantly supplemented the lower football revenues this year, testament to our diversified income strategy.”

In contrast, Arsenal posted record revenues of £616.6 million for 2023/24, an increase of around £150m from the season before. Mikel Arteta’s side appears set to qualify for Europe’s premier competition again next season and have a Champions League quarter-final tie against Real Madrid on the horizon.

Long-term, pre-season tours and high-profile spectacle fixtures may help to grow the international fanbase. Which, of course, means more merchandise sold, lucrative broadcast deals and increased revenues for the Premier League and its clubs.

Where is the game being played?

Kai Tak Stadium, which opened officially on March 1, will host the fixture as part of its inaugural Hong Kong football festival.

It opened its doors to the public with the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament last weekend, attracting over 110,000 fans over three days, according to World Rugby. It will also be the venue for several major concerts between now and the pre-season north London derby, including four dates of Coldplay’s ‘Music of the Spheres’ world tour this month.

On July 26, five days before Spurs and Arsenal are scheduled to play, Liverpool and their 2005 and 2007 Champions League final opponents AC Milan will play the first football match in the stadium.

According to reports in China, the Kai Tak Sports Park, including the stadium, cost around HK$30billion ($3.8bn; £2.9bn) to build. With a capacity of 50,000 in the main stadium and 10,000 in the indoor arena, it is Hong Kong’s largest sports venue.

If you plan to follow Spurs to Hong Kong, there’s plenty to do around the park. There’s an on-site mall with over 200 stores and a 40-lane 10-pin bowling alley. There are also more than 60 food and drink vendors.

What’s the history of these two playing friendlies?

Arsenal and Tottenham have a long and well-documented history in various competitions, but their first meeting was actually a friendly.

Tottenham hosted the amateur club Royal Arsenal, as they were known then, on November 19 1887, on the Tottenham Marshes. The home side were 2-1 ahead, when the game was abandoned in the 75th minute due to bad light. By then, Tottenham Hotspur were five years old and playing competitively in the London Association Cup. Arsenal, in contrast, were in their second season, playing at the Sportsman Ground on the Plumstead Marshes in south-east London.

While it’s technically a competitive fixture, some may count their 1991 Charity Shield meeting as a friendly. To emphasise the “friendliness” of the occasion, Arsenal and Spurs played out a 0-0 draw with no extra time or penalties to decide the winner, and both sides held the trophy for six months each. It was the last time the Charity Shield trophy was shared, with new regulations brought in the following season to go to extra time and, subsequently, penalties should the scores be level after 90 minutes.

Their most recent friendly match was in August 2021, with Spurs beating Arsenal 1-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Weeks after the Euro 2020 final, the home fans gave an ovation to Bukayo Saka, who missed a penalty in the shootout defeat to Italy, with the England and Arsenal forward acknowledging the support with his own applause.

What do UK-based fans think?

Dom N, Arsenal season ticket holder

“I wasn’t particularly surprised by the news, but I was surprised that we hadn’t played Tottenham in a friendly (abroad) before. I hadn’t thought about it but the environmental point is a little crazy, but we’ve seen Barcelona vs Real Madrid, and Arsenal vs Manchester United and Liverpool abroad, so what’s the big deal? It’s nothing particularly different to what we’ve done with previous friendlies.

“As a match-going fan, everyone deserves the chance to experience Arsenal live. We have a huge worldwide fanbase, so I don’t see any issue with us playing Tottenham in Hong Kong or just abroad. If we are going to make a few million, which means money towards more signings and potentially subsidising costs for members and season ticket holders, it would be interesting to know whether that was something they were thinking about.

“It’s a friendly and we’re playing Tottenham. Maybe that’s not a ‘friendly’ but there will be a needle in that game even if it is a friendly. Arsenal aren’t going to want to lose to Tottenham, regardless of where it is. I personally don’t see any issue with it.”

Adam N, Tottenham season ticket holder

“It’s obviously not the absolute end of the world, there are plenty of worse things that go on in football, but as a “legacy fan”, as Spurs have dubbed us, it’s sad to see something like this happening.

“Football needs to try and reach new horizons, which is totally understandable, but it does feel like they push and push. It’s a little tweak here and try something else there. You look at Spain, and they have their Super Cup now happening in Saudi Arabia. People are talking about the Champions League final one day happening in America. Things like this friendly don’t directly lead to it, but it feels like they’re trying to push the boundaries and make that sort of thing gradually more acceptable to fans.

“Obviously these kind of prestige friendlies are great for fans across the world, but for the ‘bread and butter’ supporter who has been going for years, it’s not particularly palatable. I don’t think many people who have been born and bred in London and have been going to Spurs forever would be very happy to see this. It kind of feels like a precursor to the 39th game and setting the table for stuff going forward. That does have more of a serious effect on the league and how we support our clubs in competitive games.

“Ultimately, if this revenue gives the club the opportunity to bring in top talent, who are we to argue…?”

What do Hong Kong fan groups think?

Billy Ip, Tottenham Hong Kong supporters’ club committee member

“Regardless of what opponents they are playing, every time Spurs go to Hong Kong, it is meaningful. It means everything to the Spurs fans in Hong Kong and Asia. Fan groups from different parts of southeast Asia, like Singapore, Japan, and Korea, will come and have a great time there.

“The last time Spurs came to Hong Kong was seven or eight years ago. The supporters’ club had a great night with (Mauricio) Pochettino in a bar. It was a great occasion; he sat with us for maybe an hour and a half and answered our questions. After that, we sang together and drank together.

“For every Spurs fan, it’s extra special that it will be a north London Derby. It’s a dream for every fan to watch it in person. It’s a great opportunity for fans in Asia to get to watch it with their own eyes. We expect people from Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, mainland China — even Macau, the Philippines, and Malaysia. We will feel the importance of it, and I hope we take no prisoners. We will go and defeat them. We say Hong Kong is white, not red.

“Hong Kong is not famous in a football sense, but we have a great passion for football. So, with the new stadium, and everything that it brings, and inviting big clubs to play, there will be a big boost to Hong Kong’s prestige in Asia. The people in Hong Kong love football. They may not do so well in football, but we love our teams and the sport.

Adam Ng, Arsenal Hong Kong supporters’ club committee member

“It is our honour to be the first country hosting the north London derby. We are so excited and looking forward as most fans will never have the opportunity to watch this game at the Emirates Stadium or watch Arsenal. I think the last time Arsenal came to Hong Kong was in 2012.

“It is a milestone for our new stadium. The north London derby is a special game; it’s not a normal friendly or exhibition game. We have more than 500 people in our (supporters’) club and, so long as the game is played before midnight, we organise a party for every game to watch together.

“When you talk about international matches, well, the MLB and the NBA started bringing international games over years ago. They get great feedback from the new audience. It’s a very good opportunity to promote the game in different countries — I see the positive side. Most overseas fans expect we will only get exhibition football games, we don’t expect a competitive game like the Champions League final. But if there’s a chance to watch a league game over here, maybe the first game of the season, that would be something else for us.”

But are there environmental ramifications?

Freddie Daley, from the Cool Down Sport for Climate Action Network

“Pre-season tours to far-flung places are becoming the norm in the Premier League. These fixtures create a growing tension between clubs’ attempts to grapple with their emissions and a desire to expand their fanbase. A north London derby, set to take place in Hong Kong, is a glaring example of the contradictions at the heart of football’s sustainability efforts.

“Spurs and Arsenal have publicly pledged to cut their emissions and reach net zero, yet pre-season tours that require vast amounts of air travel are deemed permissible or even necessary. This suggests both a failure to acknowledge the scale of climate challenge for football and a lack of leadership from clubs that are purported pioneers on this issue.

Frank Huisingh from Fossil Free Football

“This is a terrible idea. Players are exhausted from the crazy number of matches already and, at the same time, the climate crisis is getting worse fast and hurting people around the world. More long-haul flights are the opposite of what we need.

“There are so many alternatives: a longer local pre-season tour with amateur clubs, a match in London between the two teams or a small tournament with clubs at train distance, including PSG and Ajax, for example.”

(Top photo: Stuart MacFarlane/Getty Images)

For a sign of what a difficult year it has been at Tottenham Hotspur, a year in which the vibes have shifted profoundly from good to bad, you can compare Daniel Levy’s ‘Chairman’s Statements’ from the end of the announcement of the club’s financial results.

The 2022-23 results were published on 3 April last year, when there was still hope throughout Spursworld about the Ange Postecoglou era. Levy’s statement was brimming with optimism and positivity about the new era. He hailed the “return of exciting, attacking football, even when faced with significant player injuries”. He looked forward to the return of European football to Tottenham. He concluded by revelling in the “excitement of matchdays” and wrote that “credit must be given to our Head Coaches, Ange and Robert (Vilahamn).”

This year’s message, released with the financial results on Monday afternoon, strikes a very different tone. The ‘Chairman’s Statement’ section is one-tenth as long as it was last year (2,469 words then, 249 words now). The only mentions of Postecoglou, contained above Levy’s own message, referred to Spurs finishing fifth last season and Postecoglou attending a Fans Forum in September 2023.

It is not hard to guess what has changed. Spurs have played 37 games (one short of a full season) since the last set of financial results were announced. From those games, they have taken just 43 points. In the season to date, they have lost 15 of their 29 league games. Levy, in Monday’s statement, is kind enough to euphemise this as “a highly challenging season on the pitch”. He points to the ongoing Europa League campaign, urges everyone to “do everything we can to support the team” over the last two months of the season, and finishes with a pledge to “finish the season as strongly as we can”.

Even though Levy’s comments are brief, it does not mean that they are devoid of content. The most eye-catching part comes when he issued a passionate defence of the club’s operating model, hitting back at the argument that Tottenham should simply start shovelling money at the transfer market if they are to make progress on the pitch. This has been a constant criticism of Levy, not least earlier this season when thousands of fans marched in protest against him before the 1-0 win against Manchester United on February 16. “Profit before glory” has become one of the most widespread criticisms of the way the club is run.

Tottenham are certainly attuned to this point: Levy makes clear in Monday’s message that in the six years since the new stadium opened, the club “have invested over £700m net in player acquisitions”. And it is certainly true that Tottenham have committed more big fees on players in the past few years than they ever used to: Tanguy Ndombele, Cristian Romero, Pedro Porro, James Maddison, Archie Gray, and Dominic Solanke all joined for fees of at least £40million ($51.8m). Some of those fees are still being paid.

But fees are one thing and salaries are another. When Deloitte published its latest Football Money League report in January this year, it revealed that Tottenham spent just 42 per cent of their revenue on wages last season. According to Deloitte, Tottenham’s wage bill came down from £251m for the 2022-23 season to £222m for 2023-24. (We will have to wait for the publication of the full accounts to see how this tallies with the club’s own numbers.)

This means there is no more ‘Big Six’ when it comes to wages in the Premier League. In fact, Tottenham ranked seventh last season, behind Aston Villa, close to Newcastle United. Arsenal, who used to be close to Spurs, spent over £100m more on wages last season. For many fans, this is where they want the club to be bolder, especially given the way teams like Aston Villa and Newcastle are overtaking Tottenham.

The key message from Levy here was to double down on the club’s strategy. It might have been politically easier for him to promise to push the boat out, to start relaxing the wage structure and aim higher in the market, but he did nothing of the sort. The promise here is just the same strategy, but executed better: “Smart purchases within our financial means”.

And if you wanted to be optimistic about Spurs’ recruitment, you could say that the signings of Gray, Antonin Kinsky, Lucas Bergvall and Wilson Odobert show that Johan Lange’s talent identification of young players is very good. Whether you think the policy of going for teenagers when the squad lacks depth and experience in key areas is another matter.

Most revealingly, Levy admits he is aware of the criticism of the club’s parsimony in the market. “I often read calls for us to spend more”, he says, “given that we are ranked as the ninth-richest club in the world. However, a closer examination of today’s financial figures reveals that such spending must be sustainable in the long term and within our operating revenues.”

That does not sound like a man about to rip up his spending plans for the summer. Of course, what the example of Tottenham demonstrates is that PSR headroom (of which Spurs have a lot) is not the same thing as cash to burn. Spurs’ revenues are strong but came down last season (from £549.6m to £528.2m) because of no European football. (Their operating profit climbed slightly from £138.7m to £144.9m, and their loss after player trading, in the season they sold Harry Kane, came down from £86.8m to £26.2m.) This season’s Europa League campaign is still ongoing, but it is more likely than not that they will be out of Europe again next season. If so, belts may have to be tightened accordingly.

This is why the non-football revenues are so important. The plan was always to reduce the risk that comes with over-reliance on what happens on the pitch. “Our capacity to generate recurring revenues determines our spending power,” writes Levy. “We cannot spend what we do not have, and we will not compromise the financial stability of this club — indeed, our off-pitch revenues have significantly supplemented the lower football revenues this year, testament to our diversified income strategy.”

So fans frustrated by concerts or NFL or go-karting or whatever else is held at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when there is no football on will just have to get used to it. The more inconsistent the men’s first team is, the more important these revenue streams will become.

All of this means Tottenham are not going to spend their way out of this year’s malaise. The current strategy — relying on the stadium to increase revenues, spending within their means, trying to be clever in the market — is here to stay. The only option if they want to avoid a repeat of this season is to find a way to do it better.

(Top photo: Daniel Levy ahead of an NFL match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2024; by Zac Goodwin/PA Images via Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy has described the 2024-25 season as “highly challenging” in a statement accompanying their annual financial results.

Spurs released their accounts for 2023-24 on Monday, which showed their total revenue decreased by four per cent to £528.2million ($683.4m). That season was Ange Postecoglou’s first as head coach after Antonio Conte was sacked in March 2023. It covers a period when Spurs signed several players in the transfer market for large fees, including James Maddison, Micky van de Ven and Brennan Johnson, but sold Harry Kane to Bayern Munich for €100m.

Tottenham did not participate in any European competition during that season after they finished eighth in the Premier League in 2022-23, which means the money they earned from UEFA dropped from £56.2m to £1.3m. Postecoglou then guided the team to fifth place and qualified for the Europa League, despite overseeing a large amount of squad turnover, while the women’s side reached the FA Cup final.

Postecoglou’s second year in north London has been far more difficult. Spurs have been disrupted by an injury crisis and have lost more than half of their games in the top-flight. They are 14th in the table and are closer to the relegation zone than the top four. They reached the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup but were thrashed in the second leg by Liverpool at Anfield. Their only hope of success now rests on winning the Europa League and they face Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-finals. Failure to win that competition would mean missing out on playing in Europe for the second time in three years.

The women’s side have also taken a step backwards. Robert Vilahamn guided them to a sixth-place finish in the 2023-24 campaign but they are on a seven-game winless run across all competitions and are ninth out of 12 teams in the Women’s Super League (WSL) with only four fixtures remaining.

Levy addressed criticism in his statement that Spurs do not spend enough money on signing new players.

“Since opening our new stadium in April 2019, we have invested over £700 million net in player acquisitions,” he said in a statement on Spurs’ website. “Recruitment remains a key focus, and we must ensure that we make smart purchases within our financial means.

“I often read calls for us to spend more, given that we are ranked as the ninth richest club in the world. However, a closer examination of today’s financial figures reveals that such spending must be sustainable in the long term and within our operating revenues.

“Our capacity to generate recurring revenues determines our spending power. We cannot spend what we do not have, and we will not compromise the financial stability of this club — indeed, our off-pitch revenues have significantly supplemented the lower football revenues this year, testament to our diversified income strategy.”

Spurs’ next game is against Chelsea in the league on Thursday before they host Southampton on Sunday. The first leg of their Europa League quarter-final with Eintracht Frankfurt is on April 10. Vilahamn’s side’s next game is against Aston Villa on April 20.

(Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

Djed Spence has become invaluable for Tottenham Hotspur this season. It is a scenario that seemed implausible a few months ago.

At the beginning of December, Spence had not started a game for Spurs. He joined from Middlesbrough in July 2022 following a successful loan spell with Nottingham Forest, with whom he helped win the Championship play-off final.

The full-back had a difficult couple of years with Spurs and was sent out on loan three times. The 24-year-old made his first tentative steps forward in December’s 5-0 victory over Southampton, shackled Mohamed Salah in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final against Liverpool, and won back-to-back Premier League player of the match awards in victories over Brentford and Manchester United. He is outperforming his positional rivals, Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie.

In an interview with former Manchester United and England centre-back Rio Ferdinand and broadcaster Joel Beya, which was released on Monday, Spence reflected on how he turned his career around. He spoke about Antonio Conte, shut down the online rumour that he took part in a charity match last year organised by YouTube collective the Beta Squad, and touched on his ambition of representing England.

Here, The Athletic analyses the main talking points.

“I gave too much respect to the players and the surroundings at Spurs”

Tottenham finished fourth in the Premier League in the 2021-22 season, reached the semi-finals of the EFL Cup and were eliminated from the Europa League at the group stage. They spent over £100million on transfers that summer as they prepared for their first full campaign under then head coach Conte.

Spence was thrust into a squad that included the captains of England, France and South Korea under a manager who had won trophies in multiple countries. It was a huge step up for the defender, who had never played at a higher level than England’s second tier.

“I came from Forest, I’m going to the Premier League, a top six club, and I thought, ‘This is big’,” Spence said. “I was a bit too humble with everything.

“When I went there I’m seeing big names like Harry Kane, Son (Heung-min) and I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes. That was probably my biggest mistake — not expressing myself how I should have.”

“That man wasn’t happy about anything”

Spence’s adaptation was not helped by comments made by Conte just a few weeks after his arrival from Middlesbrough. “Spence is an investment of the club,” the Italian said. “The club wanted to do it. I said, ‘OK, this player is young, but he showed he can become a good, important player for us’. The club decided to buy him.”

Spence made four substitute appearances in the league under Conte, for a grand total of five minutes, and came off the bench twice in cup competitions. He moved to French side Rennes on loan in January 2023 and when he returned six months later, Conte had been sacked.

“I felt like whatever I did, that man wasn’t happy about anything,” Spence said. “Even if you did the right things, (you would think) ‘Did I do the right things?’ He is not really a complimenting guy.”

Spence revealed he probably only had “one conversation” with Conte and that his comments had a negative impact on his mood. “It wasn’t a nice feeling, to be honest. I was coming into the club on a high, I was confident, I was buzzing, I had a great season. Just won promotion with my club. When I came in, I just ran into a brick wall really. It shattered my confidence a bit. I’m young as well, so it’s not nice to hear.”

“Football is not fair”

Spence struggled during his loan spell in France. He lived in a hotel for three months and then moved into an Airbnb due to a lack of available accommodation while his family remained in London.

“It’s a new manager, you think everyone is going to get a chance, but with me, I don’t think that was really the case,” he said. “It’s part of the game. Football is not fair. That’s when I went to Leeds.

“I have always known I was good enough. People say, ‘It was good to see him get a second chance and he is doing well’. I never really got the first chance. This is my first chance and I’m taking it. I’m happy for myself. I worked hard and stayed consistent and made sure I was ready.”

“We will never get in trouble for playing Postecoglou’s way”

Postecoglou decided to keep Spence in his squad for this campaign after he impressed on the pre-season tour to Japan and South Korea. He came off the bench and scored in a 2-1 victory over Coventry City in the Carabao Cup before he signed a new contract until 2028 in October.

“When he came into pre-season, he was determined to make a career for himself here at Tottenham rather than wait to be loaned out,” Postecoglou said after the deal was announced. “He did everything right in training, his attitude was great. He’s a good footballer, I think the way we play suits him and he’s knuckled down to that. And he’s earned himself a spot on the roster in our squad. The rest is up to him again because it’s an easy decision for me to make when I see that.”

Spence broke into the starting XI over December and January when Udogie was recovering from a hamstring injury. He is naturally right-footed but seamlessly adapted to left-back. He has started 11 of their last 14 top-flight games — missing one through suspension and another through injury.

Postecoglou encourages his full-backs to push forward and Spence has four direct goal contributions in all competitions. It is a system that he flourishes in, no matter what side he plays on, while training is more engaging than under Conte.

“The players enjoy it,” Spence said. “It’s a fun way of playing, it’s attacking. I get to go forward a lot and come inside into the middle of the pitch where all the commotion is.

“We have players who can, not come out of the system, but have that little bit of freedom like (James) Maddison. He plays the system but has his own quality to produce a bit of magic.

“That is the method. That is the way. To be fair to the manager, we will never get in trouble for playing his way even if we are under pressure. If we play his way, he takes it on himself.

“With Conte (training) was very repetitive. We would do the same session every day. With Ange, it’s a bit different. We do certain drills every day but there might be a different passing drill or different attacks that we do. He switches it up quite a bit.”

“James Maddison is there for me”

Spence has a great relationship with Udogie as they both share similar tastes in music and fashion. They attended a concert together by the Nigerian artist Asake at the O2 Arena last year while Spence forged a strong bond with Brennan Johnson when they previously played together at Forest.

Spence said that one of the other players he is closest to is Maddison. The England international is part of Tottenham’s leadership group along with Son, Cristian Romero and Guglielmo Vicario.

“(Maddison) is there for me and makes sure I’m ready before games,” Spence said. “He will text me, if he is not in the squad through injury, and say, ‘Djed you know what to do today’ or, ‘I want to see this from you’. Madders supports me a lot.”

Maddison has struggled for consistency this season, but it is encouraging to hear how he positively influences the dressing room.

“Doubters, haters, managers…”

Spence worked with Neil Warnock at Middlesbrough but it was a rocky relationship. Warnock sanctioned the defender’s loan move to Forest where he was named in the 2021-22 Championship team of the season for his efforts in helping them to earn promotion. Warnock famously said that Spence “needed to sort himself out” and that he could “go to the top or non-League” when asked to explain his decision on radio station talkSport. Spence had a lot of conversations with Warnock and admitted he did not immediately take that advice.

“You have to prove people wrong,” Spence said. “Doubters, haters, managers (but) I don’t think that’s what drives me. I don’t hold certain comments to a high regard. What fuels me is not just to prove people wrong but I want to improve every day and improve as a person. I want to be the best.”

(Top photo: Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images)

Anderlecht captain and former Tottenham Hotspur defender Jan Vertonghen has confirmed he is retiring from professional football at the end of the 2024-25 season.

Vertonghen, 37, said it was becoming “more difficult” to physically prepare for matches and “show myself as the player I want to be”.

He retired from international football last year, having made a national record 157 senior appearances for Belgium across 17 years.

“In recent weeks it has become clear to me that these will be my last games,” Vertonghen told Anderlecht’s official club website. “This is by no means an easy decision, but it is the right one.

“I have noticed that it is becoming more and more difficult to prepare myself physically for training sessions and matches and to show myself as the player I want to be. That is why I will be stopping after this season.”

Vertonghen made 315 appearances for Spurs between 2012 and 2020, helping the club reach the Champions League final in 2019.

The defender has played for Anderlecht in his native Belgium since leaving Benfica in 2022, but has made just five first-team appearances this campaign due to injury.

“I’m going to give it my all for the last eleven games and hopefully experience a few more great moments with the fans and my team mates,” he continued.

“I am very proud of what I have been able to experience and of what I have achieved. I would also like to thank everyone who has supported me all these years from the bottom of my heart.”

Vertonghen won the Eredivisie and Dutch Cup twice with Ajax before joining Spurs, and after leaving the north London club — where he was twice named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year — the centre-back won the Portuguese league title with Benfica.

Anderlecht are fourth in the Belgian top division and eight points behind league leaders Genk.

(Isosport/MB Media/Getty Images)

When England’s new head coach, Thomas Tuchel, was assembling his backroom staff, he opted for familiarity.

Anthony Barry, Tuchel’s assistant, had previously followed him from Chelsea to Bayern Munich. Goalkeeping coach Henrique Hilario and analyst James Melbourne both became acquainted with the 51-year-old at Stamford Bridge. Performance coach Nicolas Mayer’s links to the German go even further back, first crossing paths at French side Paris Saint-Germain and then reuniting at Bayern.

During this international break, Tuchel’s first in charge since officially starting the role in January, a new face has been added into the mix — Justin Cochrane.

Cochrane has spent the past three seasons as Brentford’s assistant coach, closely working alongside Thomas Frank. The 43-year-old, who played for multiple clubs in the lower divisions of English football including Crewe Alexandra, Rotherham United and Yeovil Town, will combine his duties at Brentford with a spot on Tuchel’s staff.

This is what he will offer Tuchel and England as they aim their sights on winning the 2026 World Cup.

Cochrane’s coaching career started before he made his first-team debut. He was 17 and in Queens Park Rangers’ academy when he set up a grassroots team for local children under the age of 10.

“I had a passion for helping young people achieve their full potential,” he said in an interview on Brentford’s official website earlier this year. “Even while I was playing as a professional, I was always aware that if it didn’t work out or if I didn’t maintain a career until I was 35, I could fall back onto coaching because it’s the next best thing to playing.”

Cochrane did have a successful career, playing over 100 matches in the Football League and winning 14 international caps for the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda. Before he retired, he started volunteering with Tottenham’s youth teams. Cochrane worked with other talented coaches in Spurs’ academy, including Burnley’s head coach, Scott Parker, Matt Wells — who is now Ange Postecoglou’s senior assistant — John McDermott and Chris Ramsey.

McDermott spent 15 years at Tottenham and became their head of coaching and player development before he joined the Football Association in March 2020. Less than 12 months later, he replaced Les Reed as technical director. McDermott reached out to Cochrane to see if he was interested in working with Tuchel.

In an interview with The Athletic in July 2022, Ramsey praised Cochrane’s ability to “connect with anybody at any level of a club”.

“He had a massive passion for the game,” said Ramsey, who spent nine years as QPR’s technical director. “He ended up working with the young players and showed his skill and ability to teach. That is what he is — an absolutely fantastic teacher and coach. He wasn’t one of those people who came in and thought, ‘I’ve played the game, so I know everything’. He was respectful, but he picked it up very quickly. He went back to university (Cochrane graduated in 2017 from The Open University with a degree in business, leadership and management). He wanted to learn different things and he’s also an innovator.”

During his time with Spurs, Cochrane helped to oversee the development of future England internationals Noni Madueke and Kyle Walker-Peters, as well as Japhet Tanganga, Oliver Skipp and Josh Onomah. He spent nine years there before he became the England Under-15s head coach after seeing an advert online. He worked with then England first-team manager Gareth Southgate, his assistant, Steve Holland, and other age-group coaches including Steve Cooper and Kevin Betsy. Cochrane played for Crewe between 2003 and 2006 when Holland was a member of the backroom staff.

In 2019, he completed his UEFA Pro Licence — alongside Kevin O’Connor, a future colleague at Brentford — was promoted to under-16s head coach and helped England win the UEFA Under-16 Development Tournament. The following year, he was appointed as the under-17s head coach and youth development phase lead. He helped to nurture lots of different players, including Newcastle United full-back Lewis Hall and Manchester City’s Rico Lewis.

In June 2021, he left the FA to become Manchester United’s head of player development and coaching. It was his responsibility to help academy players break into the first team. He only spent 12 months with United, but they won the FA Youth Cup for the first time since 2011, beating Nottingham Forest 3-1 at Old Trafford. United’s side included future first-team stars Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo.

Senior figures at Brentford had been monitoring Cochrane’s progress ever since his time with England’s youth teams and during the brief stint he had under Mark Robinson at AFC Wimbledon in 2021. Cochrane wanted the opportunity to step up into a first-team environment, while Frank and director of football Phil Giles wanted a fresh voice on the coaching staff who could bring new ideas after a successful first season in the Premier League.

Cochrane’s track record of working with and developing young talent, which is central to Brentford’s long-term vision, helped him stand out. Frank and Giles held multiple meetings with Cochrane before he was offered the newly created role of head of coaching — this title was later changed to assistant coach.

At the time, Brian Riemer — now Denmark’s head coach — was second in command to Frank. They have a close relationship that stretches back over two decades to when they were coaching rival youth teams in Denmark. Riemer’s main responsibility was to coach the defence alongside O’Connor and feed information to Frank on the touchline during a game. When he joined Belgian side Anderlecht in December 2022, he was replaced by Claus Norgaard, who also shares a long history with Frank.

Cochrane’s role on a matchday is different. He will often sit up in the stands with O’Connor and the analysts. They have a better, wider view of the pitch and will communicate with the bench if they spot the opposition team doing anything different to what they expected. At home games, he tends to sit one row behind the bench at a slightly elevated position.

In the build-up to a game, Cochrane’s main role is to work on the team’s attacking patterns with Frank. There is a clip on Brentford’s social media accounts from last year where he accurately predicts what is about to unfold in a training session when he urges winger Keane Lewis-Potter to attack the back post and score on the rebound.

He has taken on more responsibility in west London. Cochrane now plans a lot of the training sessions, which Frank will then lead. Cochrane tailors the drills around the tactical setup of their next opponent or based on what he thinks individuals within the squad need to improve on.

Every player at Brentford is assigned to a member of the coaching staff. The coach is responsible for creating and analysing video clips of that individual and discussing what they did well or where they could improve. They are encouraged to have conversations about their personal lives, too. Cochrane looks after a group that includes Lewis-Potter and Kevin Schade, although he will also offer advice to players who are not his direct responsibility. He is popular and well-respected. One source close to Cochrane, who asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships, described him as “calm and thoughtful, but he has a little bit of edge” when needed.

When Josh Dasilva came off the bench and scored a late winner against Nottingham Forest in April 2023, he praised Cochrane. Dasilva loves to drift out to the right wing and cut inside on to his stronger foot, his left. The attacking midfielder will often aim a curling effort towards the far post, but Cochrane encouraged him to add more variety to his strikes.

“I was just saying to Justin we worked on that (finish) yesterday (in training),” Dasilva told Brentford’s website. “I always go far post and yesterday the mannequin was set in a way where I couldn’t go far post and I had to go near post.”

Cochrane and O’Connor have worked diligently with Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa to improve their finishing too. During his first season in the top flight, Mbeumo only scored three times from open play in 35 appearances. The Cameroon international has improved massively and he has 15 goals in 29 games in this campaign.

Wissa has always been an excellent finisher, but he has already beaten his previous best tally (12), with 14 in 26 matches. Mohamed Salah (27), Erling Haaland (21), Alexander Isak (19) and Chris Wood (18) are the only players to have scored more than Wissa and Mbeumo in the top flight this season. There are a few different factors for their improvement and Cochrane’s coaching is one of them.

Luke Amos, who now plays for Perth Glory in Australia, spent 14 years at Tottenham and worked under Cochrane in different age groups. The midfielder praised his former coach’s vibrant “energy” and enthusiasm.

“With Justin, it was all about fresh ideas,” Amos told The Athletic in 2022. “He would watch Barcelona or Real Madrid in the Champions League on a Tuesday and then in training on Wednesday he would say, ‘I saw this last night, let’s try it’. To have a coach who wants to try different things is refreshing.

“He reminded us that football is about fun, but you need to train properly. I’ve never seen him lose his head, but if training wasn’t right or someone was being sloppy, he would definitely tell them. He sets high demands. That’s what the best coaches do.

“He is so good to work with and you can always approach him. Everyone connected with him easily. He was my coach at different age groups. He is not going to be the same with me when I was 14 and when I’m 20 — he adapts. When I was going through a few things, Justin would help out — like my mentality and not getting too frustrated — because that is something I definitely struggled with when I was younger.”

Cochrane is not the first member of Brentford’s staff to be allowed to pursue opportunities with a national team. The head of athletic performance, Chris Haslam, and the lead performance nutritionist, Ted Munson, both worked with Denmark at last summer’s European Championship. Former analyst Jack Wilson spent his international breaks with Northern Ireland. Brentford considered the potential impact of losing Cochrane during pre-season next year — it will clash with the World Cup — before they gave their blessing to his new job.

Cochrane can offer Tuchel a deeper insight into a few players on the fringes of England’s squad. Former Brentford striker Ivan Toney, who has scored 16 goals in 22 appearances for Saudi Pro League side Al Ahli, missed out on a place in this camp to Dominic Solanke.

“It will, I think, be important to go to see Ivan in the coming weeks, to watch a game live, maybe watch training live, to get a better feeling for him — he is on the list,” Tuchel said. “It was a purely sporting decision for Dominic in the end. It was nothing to do with Saudi Arabia or if we don’t trust the league there. I had just much more evidence and observation live of the matches from Dominic, so straight away I made that choice.”

Cochrane worked with Toney closely for two years and that includes the 2022-23 campaign when he finished with 20 league goals. Lewis-Potter has been in excellent form for Brentford in the unfamiliar position of left-back and he was capped four times by England’s Under-21s. Rico Henry was one of Brentford’s most consistent performers until he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in September 2023 and it has been a difficult journey to return to full fitness. If Henry can rediscover the form he showed before his injury, then Tuchel should consider him as an option at left-back.

Cochrane has experience of coaching in the Premier League, on the international stage and of working with some of England’s brightest young talent. He should be the perfect addition to Tuchel’s staff.

(Top photo: Mike Egerton/Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur suffered their 15th loss of the Premier League season away at Fulham after a performance that piles further pressure on manager Ange Postecoglou.

Spurs struggled to get going in west London and were punished in the second half as goals from Rodrigo Muniz and Ryan Sessegnon handed Fulham a 2-0 win.

The result leaves Tottenham in 13th, but ahead of Everton, Manchester United and West Ham United only on goal difference.

Here, our writers analyse the key talking points from the match.

Is Europa League the only reason Postecoglou is still in the job?

With the Europa League quarter-final taking precedence, this season is still yet to be defined from a Spurs perspective. Still, 15 league defeats with nine games remaining is not good enough. Tottenham last lost more games in a Premier League season than this in 2003-04 (19).

Spurs were clearly second-best in the first half and were perhaps fortunate to go in at the break on level terms. The introduction of Son Heung-min and Lucas Bergvall after the interval prompted an improvement, and there were opportunities to take the lead, particularly through Dominic Solanke, who should have done better with an effort from close range.

The match looked set to finish 0-0, which would’ve been Spurs’ first goalless draw in the league since April 2022, but Muniz put Fulham ahead in the 78th minute. Ten minutes later, former Tottenham man Sessegnon put the match beyond doubt with a curled effort into the top corner.

It means that Spurs have won one of their last five matches: the crucial midweek 3-1 result against AZ. Postecoglou has been reluctant to roll out his best XI at every opportunity, but at some point, an improvement in results can’t be overlooked.

If it was in question before, it is now beyond doubt: with just goal difference separating them from 16th, only Europa League success can save Tottenham’s season.

Elias Burke

Bissouma is running out of time

Archie Gray’s first start in defensive midfield became even more significant when Postecoglou took Yves Bissouma off at half-time for the second game in a row. Bissouma underperformed in the first half and at one point passed the ball straight out of play. The Mali international will only have one year left on his contract in the summer and it feels like his long-term future lies somewhere else.

Bissouma has made 22 appearances and 14 starts for Spurs in the league this season but his minutes have reduced dramatically recently. He did not come off the bench in last month’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester City and only made brief cameos in the victories over Manchester United and Ipswich Town.

In the Europa League, he was an unused substitute in the first leg against AZ and his involvement was limited to around 15 minutes in the second leg.

It has become clear that he does not belong in Postecoglou’s strongest starting XI. There is even an argument to be made that Bissouma is now their sixth-choice central midfielder behind James Maddison, Pape Matar Sarr, Rodrigo Bentancur, Bergvall and Gray.

Include Dejan Kulusevski in that mix, and he drops even further down. The quality of Bergvall’s performances, especially when you remember that he only turned 19 in February, have probably accelerated the phasing out of Bissouma.

Away from the pitch, Bissouma has been described as a big brother by Sarr and he is close to Destiny Udogie and Wilson Odobert, too. However, his influence on it is waning.

Jay Harris

Gray a rare bright spot for Tottenham

The youngster has deputised excellently as a centre-back amid Spurs’ injury crisis, but after a long wait, fans finally saw him in his natural midfield position from the start.

Gray lined up at the base of a midfield trio, with Bissouma and Bentancur playing slightly ahead of him. Before injuries at Leeds prompted his manager Daniel Farke to shift him to right-back last season, it was the position he broke through in at Elland Road after impressing in that role at youth level for for club and country.

The 19-year-old started the game strongly, breaking up possession on several occasions and shifting the ball forward quickly for his team-mates in attacking positions. It wasn’t an easy first test for Gray in that position, with Fulham’s creative midfielders swarming his every touch, and there were moments in the first half where a loose control or weak tackle led to the ball breaking favourably for an opposition player. Still, he was quick to cover ground and win possession back.

His most important contribution of the first half was a vital block to prevent Alex Iwobi converting from close range. A few minutes into the second half, he demonstrated his technical quality, receiving the ball under pressure in the Spurs box and switching play to Son, who helped set Spurs away on the counter.

He shifted back into central defence in the 67th minute, replacing Cristian Romero, who was substituted for Maddison. Before that, however, he demonstrated more than enough to suggest he can be trusted to continue his development in holding midfield.

Elias Burke

Tel struggles to have an impact

Mathys Tel has lost a lot of momentum since he scored on his second appearance for Spurs at the beginning of February. Last week, he was substituted at half-time in the first leg of their Europa League tie against AZ and then did not play a single minute in the second leg or their 2-2 draw with Bournemouth.

He started on the left wing against Fulham but failed to grasp the opportunity. The 19-year-old was guilty of losing the ball on multiple occasions. You could sense his frustration because he would then charge around trying to immediately win possession back. In one scenario, he lunged into a tackle on Andreas Pereira by the touchline but missed him and then jumped back up before committing a foul on Iwobi.

But Tel did show a few brief flashes of his quality. The only chance Spurs generated in the first half came from his mazy run where he weaved in between Sander Berge, Pereira and Timothy Castagne before drilling a left-footed cross into the box that Solanke and Brennan Johnson just missed.

Tel’s curling shot in the second half was pushed away by Bernd Leno and Solanke should have buried the rebound.

Tel is still finding his feet at Tottenham and has probably not been helped by the rotating cast around him. He has played with different full-backs and midfield combinations, while he has been tried through the middle or out wide.

Nevertheless, Tel came from Bayern Munich with a huge reputation and still has a lot to prove.

Jay Harris

What did Postecoglou say?

“It’s unacceptable to see 15 league defeats. It’s nowhere near good enough, nowhere near the level we need to be, and I understand the supporters’ frustrations with that.

“Today wasn’t so much about performance — it was just another day when we let a game get away from us that we shouldn’t have. We weren’t played off the park and I felt that up until the point they scored, we were the team that was getting on top.

“We had a couple of good chances to go 1-0 up and that would have put the pressure on them, but it’s happened too many times this year. We’ve given the opposition a lift into the game by conceding soft goals.”

What next for Tottenham?

Thursday, April 3: Chelsea (Away), Premier League, 8pm UK, 3pm ET

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(Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa League campaign is back in rude health after they clawed themselves past AZ and booked their place in the quarter-finals.

Wilson Odobert was the star of the show as he scored his first two goals in a Spurs shirt either side of a James Maddison strike to ultimately cancel out a 1-0 first-leg defeat in the Netherlands last week.

It was far from plain sailing at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with AZ’s Peer Koopmeiners briefly making the tie 2-2 on aggregate and the visitors failing to make some late pressure count but Ange Postecoglou’s side booked their place in the last eight, where they will face Eintract Frankfurt in April.

Jack Pitt-Brooke and Elias Burke break down the main talking points from a pivotal Spurs victory.

A Europa League lifeline still burns brightly

Tottenham Hotspur kept their season alive.

Postecoglou’s men produced their best performance in months, energised by the return of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven at centre-back.

After a tentative first half, they clicked into gear after the break, creating enough chances to win the game easily and scoring twice more. Odobert scored his first two goals for Tottenham, producing his best ever display for the club. It was strikingly different from the flat performance in the first leg in the Netherlands last week.

This means that Spurs now have a European quarter-final to look forward to, their first since their legendary 2019 Champions League run. They will host Frankfurt on April 10 before travelling to Germany the following week.

This also means that Spurs are now just four games away from a potential Europa League final in Bilbao, which would be a remarkable finish to a season where they have struggled so badly in the league.

But with returning players developing some more sharpness, and the hope of Dejan Kulusevski coming back next month, a narrow but clear path still exists for this season to end with a historic triumph and vindication for Postecoglou, despite everything that has happened this year.

Jack Pitt-Brooke

Odobert opens his account at the right time

Odobert has teased a breakout performance in a Spurs shirt since his electric second-half cameo in last month’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester City. Fortunately for Postecoglou, it arrived when they needed it most.

The first sign that the 20-year-old was in the mood to torment AZ’s defence came in the 15th minute when he latched on a loose ball and embarked on a marauding dribbling run through their midfield. AZ quickly got bodies around him and Odobert eventually lost the ball on the edge of the box — but his desire to drive Spurs forward didn’t diminish.

The young Frenchman continued to attack AZ’s defence whenever he got the ball, and he earned his reward in the 26th minute. Son Heung-min blocked Wouter Goes’ pass down the line and won the loose ball, quickly squaring to an unmarked Dominic Solanke in the box.

Descending on goal, Solanke played a square pass to Odobert and the France Under-21 international fired into the top-right corner with his left foot. He was instrumental in their second, too, carrying the ball from his half into AZ’s, before laying a pass off to eventual goalscorer Maddison.

As it transpired, Odobert had a crucial hand in every goal on the night — even inadvertently playing a part in Koopmeiners’ finish that briefly brought the tie back on level terms as the ball bounced off him.

However, it would go down as Odobert’s night for all the right reasons, with the former Burnley man grabbing the winner from close range at the far post.

Elias Burke

Spurs rediscover their physical side

Perhaps the most exciting thing about this Spurs performance, especially in the second half, was the sight of them hitting a physical level we have not seen from them for months.

Ever since their injury crisis started in the autumn, Tottenham have had to try to survive from game to game, forced to use the same tiring core of players time after time.

But this was close to a full-strength side, with only Kulusevski injured and Rodrigo Bentanur suspended. And we saw a new physical intensity from Spurs, one not seen since December. The first goal came from Son pressing Goes, the bounce ending up with Odobert finishing well.

In the second half, Spurs cranked it up another level. Odobert drove through the middle of the pitch, leading to Maddison’s goal. Spurs were all over AZ, who could not live with their physicality.

Tottenham should have won the game early in the second half but they let AZ back into the tie. However, Postecoglou’s team kept going and the move for Odobert’s second was another sign of the level they can hit.

It felt like watching Spurs from earlier in the season, and suggested there may be some life in Angeball yet.

Jack Pitt-Brooke

Van de Ven’s transformative return

It’s been a long wait to see Romero and Van de Ven line up together — and they hardly missed a beat.

AZ striker Troy Parrott was a menace for Archie Gray and Kevin Danso in the first leg, with the former Spurs man often getting the better of that inexperienced centre-back partnership. On this occasion, he cut an isolated figure at the point of AZ’s attack as Romero and Van de Ven dominated on the ground and in the air.

Crucially, the Dutchman’s electric pace allowed Spurs to push up the pitch and pen AZ into their own half without the threat of their speed in transition. On one occasion in the second half, AZ winger Ernest Poku, who is no slouch, ran beyond the Spurs defence and looked to be bearing down on Guglielmo Vicario’s goal before Van de Ven sprinted back and eased him to the ground.

His partner Romero also contributed with several well-timed tackles to prevent AZ counters and passed the ball forwards intelligently, offering an incisive directness Spurs lacked from the backline in the first leg.

Almost immediately after Van de Ven was substituted on the hour, AZ pulled level on aggregate, with the Eredivisie side hitting Spurs quickly on the break. While Gray has deputised excellently in his absence, there’s no-one quite like Van de Ven in the Spurs squad.

Elias Burke

What did Ange Postecoglou say?

“(I) really liked the way the boys addressed the challenge tonight. It’s not easy when you’re 1-0 down before the game starts.

“I thought we started the game really well. Really composed and controlled. We didn’t create a lot but at the same time, we just had them camped in their half and they didn’t really venture anywhere near our goal.

“And second half started brilliantly; exactly what we wanted to do, got our goal — and then we gave them a goal. That puts the tie again on edge a little bit.

“But I thought our response to that was really good; scored another good goal, probably should have got another one or two to finish the game off.

“We probably didn’t handle the last 10 minutes very well but at the same time, when I’m having to change the back line so much, at such a critical time, it’s going to disrupt us. Again, I thought at the big moments, the boys stood up well.”

What next for Spurs?

Sunday, March 16: Fulham (away), Premier League, 1.30pm UK, 10.30am ET

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(Top photo: Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)