Cartilage Free Captain

Hey, did you know there was a World Cup this summer? I know, it was a surprise to me too, but there was, I promise! 48 national teams gathered in the United States, Canada, and Mexico for a big tournament. Maybe you saw some of it. And while many (including myself) thought the expanded number of teams would mean more weaker national teams that would get pounded into submission, that’s not at all what happened. In fact, there were numerous upsets in this tournament, and it turned out to be, at least from a viewing perspective, one of the more fun tournaments in recent history.

The other big thing to come out of World Cup 2026 was the behavior of the various national team fan bases, and I mean that in a good way. We saw the best out of the visiting nations during this World Cup, and one of the constant threads throughout the competition were how well behaved everyone was and how the host nations welcomed the hordes of visiting soccer fans, and how those fans brought their own traditions, color, and joy to the event.

So today’s theme after Tottenham’s scoreless draw against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday is about celebrating those fanbases. I chose some of my favorites. This is one of those themes where a the lower stars doesn’t mean they’re bad — just that others were more gooder. Yes, there surely was a whole lot of [gestures vaguely] OTHER stuff going on behind the scenes at the World Cup, but instead let’s look back at some of the good stuff that happened.

Here are your player ratings for Spurs’ 0-0 draw at Forest to the theme of 2026 World Cup fanbases.

Oh my god, where to begin? When you think of hordes of Scots invading your country you don’t usually consider that they’ll clean up after themselves. But they did. Scottish fans descended on Boston (and later Florida) en masse for this World Cup and while Scotland didn’t make it out of the group stage, the Tartan Army ingratiated themselves to their American hosts in the best way. From literally drinking Boston pubs out of beer to visiting a Red Sox game (and enjoying themselves despite not understanding the game), Scots were everywhere — chaotic, hard-partying, and friendly — and Bostonians LOVED them. They were loud, boisterous, but weirdly polite — descending to sweep streets clean after celebrations, putting traffic cones on statues’ heads, and gleefully interacting with their American cousins. The Tartan Army were the best thing about this World Cup.

No Tottenham Hotspur players in this category.

Before this summer, Norway hadn’t been to a World Cup in 28 years. They made it pretty far, too! But their fans were absolutely delightful, but in a different way to Scotland — theirs was a fanbase of solidarity, as though they all (several thousand of them) got together beforehand and agreed what they were going to do as a group. This was epitomized by their crowd celebrations, including the viral rowing celebration (except for this one guy who said it was historically inaccurate because vikings SAILED.) The Norwegian fans were polite and gracious guests, and probably take the prize as the Hottest World Cup Fanbase too, despite coming from a cold country.

No Tottenham Hotspur players in this category.

If the Scots partied and the Norwegians rowed, Dutch fans were known for their dancing. I can’t tell you how many viral videos I saw of North American streets positively crammed full of orange-clad soccer fans, all doing their signature “Hup Hup Holland” dance to “Links Rechts” by Snollebollekes in perfect synchronicity. And oh my god the orange — Netherlands orange is a particular day-glo shade, and when they all gather it’s quite the sight. The Netherlands were like an orange tidal wave, but friendlier and less destructive.

No Tottenham Hotspur players in this category.

One of the cooler World Cup celebrations was by World Cup debutants the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and not the entire fanbase but just one guy — Michel Kuka Mboladinga, known as “Lumumba Vea,“ who bears an uncanny resemblance to Congolese independence leader and revolutionary Patrice Lumumba. At (nearly) every match, Mboladinga, dressed in incredibly tailored and colorful suits, would stand on a small platform, raise his hand to the air in imitation of the Lumumba statue in Kinshasha, and stand motionless for the duration of the match. He’s a celebrity in the DRC, and it was well-received in everywhere but the United States (who helped overthrow Lumumba in the 1960s and who denied Mboladinga a visa to enter the country for this tournament). One of the cooler fan traditions at this tournament.

Rodrigo Bentancur (Community — 3.5): Tottenham midfield was… well, “flawed” is a gentle way of putting it, but if there was a standout performer it was Lolo, who was everywhere breaking up play and recycling the ball. He’s not creative and nearly gave away a penalty, but you can’t fault his effort.

Pedro Porro (Community — 3): Not a perfect performance — he had a number of crosses and long balls from the flank that were pretty wayward — but his delivery to Marmoush for one of Spurs’ biggest chances was spectacular and he got up and down the flank well.

Micky van de Ven (Community — 3.5): Had a couple of excellent defensive stops including a few sliding challenges that were pinpoint accurate. Can’t believe he didn’t head home what woudl’ve been the winner off a set piece from point blank range, but on the whole he was pretty good.

This isn’t one of the most dramatic examples of a national team finding synergy with a local community, but it is one of the cutest. Algeria did their pre-World Cup training in Lawrence, Kansas, a smallish college town outside of Kansas City and home to the University of Kansas Jayhawks. Lawrence has a small Algerian population, but the whole town instantly embraced their Algerian visitors, welcoming them with open arms and even packing out an opening training where the phrase “Rock, Chalk, Algeria” (Kansas’ chant goes “Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk” — why? It’s Kansas, ya gotta ask them) was born and spread. There’s not much more to it than that, but it’s a charming example of cultures coming together in the most positive of ways.

Antonin Kinsky (Community — 3.5): Eh. He was fine.

Jan Paul van Hecke (Community — 3): Continued his form of excellent passing out of the back and handled Forest’s attackers pretty well in coordination with Micky van de Ven. No major mistakes.

Destiny Udogie (Community — 3): Destiny’s best match since returning from injury this season. Spurs seemed determined to attack through the left flank in this one, and Udogie tried to link up consistently with Mathys Tel. Subbed off for Andy Robertson’s crossing ability in the second half, likely dictated by the medical staff.

Sandro Tonali (Community — 3): Not a terrible performance by any means, but also not especially great. Pretty awful on the clearance that led to the Forest disallowed goal. Better overall from the opening two matches though he still can’t really pass. I’m struggling to think how he’s worth £100m.

Sávio (Community — 3): It was our first real good look at Spurs’ new signing and you could see why Spurs have been trying to sign him for a year. There were glimpses of that dynamic attacking ability, but too often he was dropping deep to cover for Porro and wasn’t especially effective going forward. I’d like to see him on the left, honestly, and with a proper 10 beside him.

Omar Marmoush (Community — 3): Shanked his one good scoring opportunity wide of the post. Worked hard in the press, but I don’t think he’s a particularly effective single striker; he seems to need someone to play off of. Frequently willing to drop deep and aid in the press and defensive duties.

Andy Robertson (Community — 2.5): Put in a few decent balls and had one great defensive stop in a second half cameo.

Mo Kudus (Community — 3): Had some tricky moments in attack and put a lovely cross to Solanke in the box late. Did I say this guy can’t cross well? He did that time.

Germany had a bad World Cup, but their fans sure enjoyed themselves while they were here. While there were plenty of examples of visiting fans from all over the world documenting their encounters with American food on TikTok and Instagram, for some reason the Germans seemed to be the most adept at it. One German fan documented his entire culinary journey, including stops at Taco Bell, Chipotle, and Waffle House, and he seemed to find something to love at every single stop. It was honestly pretty delightful watching foreign fans discover American culinary delights like “mayonnaise” and Popeye’s spicy chicken sandwiches. Shame that German guy didn’t get the TRUE Waffle House experience of watching several drunk guys fighting the serving staff at 3 a.m.

Conor Gallagher (Community — 2.5): It was one of his better performances in a Spurs shirt, honestly, but I’m still not sure what exactly he brings to this team besides industry. And he was a pretty ineffective 10.

Mathys Tel (Community — 2): Mathys was pretty decent on Saturday in all respects except his work in and around the box and his final ball, which was pretty appalling, especially considering how often Spurs focused their attacks down the left. I don’t think he’s done enough to keep his starting role, but neither do I think he deserves the piles of abuse he’s gotten from Spurs fans. He has the tools. He needs the consistency. I’m still a Tel-iever.

Roberto De Zerbi (Community — 2.5): Gets a two star rating from me for his post-match comments in which he said the decision to start Gallagher at the 10 over Mateus Fernandes was tactical, not due to injury. This is proving to be a team that simply doesn’t function without a passing central midfielder and a creative 10.

Mexico were ASTOUNDING hosts during this tournament, and we saw story after story about what an amazing experience it was to be south of the American border during this tournament. Weirdly, one of the coolest international bromances emerged between visiting Japanese fans and their Mexican hosts. For whatever reason, Mexican fans LOVED Japanese fans. If you were to culturally stereotype them, Mexicans tend to be gregarious while Japanese are more reserved. The incident that sparked this cultural bromance stemmed from an incident in Monterrey where a group of Mexican fans found a somewhat reserved Japanese fan alone after Japan’s 4-0 win over Tunisia, descended on him en masse, and spontaneously hoisted him on their shoulders in celebration, chanting “Ole, Ole, Ole, Japan, Japan”! This, of course, went viral in Japan, and the Japan national team ended up being most of Mexico’s preferred “second team” in the tournament.

Mykhailo Mudryk (Community — 2): His first competitive minutes in 18 months and… he didn’t really do anything. Had a couple of Actual Football Moves™ that were notable just because I don’t think anyone expected that from him.

I don’t have a good heartwarming story about Colombian fans at this tournament (I’m sure there are some, I just don’t know of any) but one thing that stood out is how incredibly well Colombia traveled. At every single match involving the Colombian national teams, the stadiums were DOMINATED by fans wearing the yellow, blue, and red of their teams’ jerseys. I came to find out that Colombia, somehow, has one of the largest and most rabid following of any national team in the world. The Colombian diaspora around the world and especially in North America is substantial, but more than that, this is a fanbase that just consistently turns out for every single Colombian match. It was truly impressive to see that wave of yellow everywhere you looked.

No Tottenham Hotspur players were as bad as other national team fanbases trying to compete with Colombia’s numbers.

Tom Carroll Memorial Non-Rating

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Tottenham Hotspur Women are (obviously) not the men’s team — they have real ambitions for a top four finish this season. Their new signings showed up well in the first match of the season against West Ham at Brisbane Road — Kirsty Hanson had a brace while Signe Gaupset opened the scoring for Tottenham as they cruised to a 3-1 win over West Ham. The win puts them at least temporarily at the top of the table, though that’s relatively meaningless this early in the campaign.

Martin Ho had a good mix of experience and new signings in his first XI. Kirsty Hanson, the WSL’s third leading scorer last season at Aston Villa, earned her legacy number along with Caitlin Dijkstra in the starting lineup. Former Hammer Sheikira Martinez started on the bench, while highly-rated CB Alice Sombath was not in the side with Ho still working to develop her fitness; Caitlin Dijkstra and Toko Koga formed the center of the back line. New club captain Drew Spence anchored the midfield along with Eveliina Summanen and Signe Gaupset.

The match started relatively even — Spurs seemed content to build patiently from the back while West Ham looked to capitalize on Spurs mistakes and hit back quickly on the counter. After 15 minutes it looked like this match would be an evenly-matched slog.

That changed 18 minutes in when Spurs’ Norway international Signe Gaupset caught a headed ball into the box and plonked it off the post and in from close range. It wasn’t the sweetest of shot, but was reminiscent of Anthony Elanga’s goal against the men’s team last weekend.

Spurs doubled their advantage in the first half thanks to new signing Kirsty Hanson, who latched on to a through ball from Gaupset into the box and dinked a deflected effort over West Ham keeper Picaud-Inconnu. It was a lovely bit of team play.

Tandberg nearly put Spurs up three with a free header in the box that was unfortunately straight at Picaud-Inconnu. She was later subbed off for new signing Shekiera Martinez. Spurs also had a mid-half injury scare as Toko Koga required treatment, but she was soon up and walking it off.

Kirsty Hanson scored her second with an outrageous curling shot from the top of the box that nestled in the top corner, and Spurs cruised from there. Sub Martinez had the ball in the net late in the second half, but she was flagged for offside and the goal was waved off. West Ham pulled one goal back from Viviane Asseyi to deny Spurs the clean sheet, but it was a dominant win by Spurs.

A statement win for Tottenham in what they hope is a statement season. The final score was 3-1.

Match Reactions

After a slow start to the season, there would have been hope that this fixture against Nottingham Forest would be the moment things started to click for Tottenham Hotspur. Instead, Spurs had to settle for a goalless draw as their wait for a first Premier League goal of the season continued.

Roberto De Zerbi made three changes from the loss against Newcastle United, with Destiny Udogie and Savio getting their first league starts of the season, and Conor Gallagher returning to the XI in favor of Mateus Fernandes. Forest made one change, as Liam Delap was preferred to Igor Jesus up front.

This first half was full of physicality but not much quality. Both sides struggled to create clearcut scoring opportunities, with set pieces and long-range efforts the only real threats from either side. There was a sort of symmetry to the chance creation, though, as both Spurs and Forest saw attackers in behind one-on-one with the keeper only for the attacker to fail to capitalize and the referee to also call the play back. Omar Marmoush for Spurs was the first, breaking away from Neco Williams to latch onto Porro’s long ball, only for a foul to be awarded to Williams for a shove by the Egyptian; while Morgan Gibbs-White was flagged for offside as he sprinted in behind Jan Paul van Hecke.

With both sides failing to score in the first half, it looked like Forest may have opened the scoring in the second. Really poor positioning from Jan Paul van Hecke allowed Gibbs-White to get in behind; Kinsky did enough to at least deflect Gibbs-White’s shot, but Sandro Tonali whiffed on a clearance before Williams appeared to bundle the ball into the net by way of a diving header. It was a calamitous concession by Spurs, but one that did not stand for long, as replays showed the ball ended up in the net off Williams’ arms with VAR overturning the goal.

A flurry of substitutions followed from both sides as both managers searched for a winner. Neither side was able to muster the quality to create anything to break the deadlock, however, and a late headed chance from substitute Dominic Solanke that went well over the crossbar was the final chance of a reasonably low-quality affair with the match finishing 0-0.

Reactions

Another week without a goal. Better than losing, I guess.

I love that one of Spurs’ biggest issues last season was a lack of passing in midfield, and Spurs then went and spent over £300 million for… a lack of passing in midfield.

That said, Rodrigo Bentancur looks a new player under De Zerbi. His midfield structures and roles look like the suit Bentancur’s style of play, with the Uruguayan looking much more comfortable than under Thomas Frank or Ange Postecoglou.

That first half was a bit ridiculous from a physicality point of view; Craig Pawson let pretty much everything go, much to the delight of the commentators on my broadcast. In my opinion, the phrase “just a coming together” should be deleted from the English language.

Omar Marmoush had a couple of really nice moments, without quite being able to find any end product. At the very least, his ability on the ball in build-up is far ahead of anything else Spurs have had in that department over the last few years.

De Zerbi’s initial subs (Savio and Udogie off for Kudus and Robertson) seemed odd, with the duo two of Spurs’ best, but the changes were likely preplanned due to both making comebacks from injury.

Wow, Spurs got lucky on that Forest goal / no-goal. Williams dove in while also trying to protect his face from Tonali’s clearance, and the ball happened to strike his hands; I’m not convinced Tonali’s second attempt at a clearance would have been successful even if Williams hadn’t been there, and overturning it when Williams’ arm being there or not had very little material impact on the outcome is exactly the kind of luck Spurs have been missing in recent years (and the correct call by the letter of the law).

Next up: Spurs host Everton. Can the Lilywhites finally get a win on the board?

COYS.

Editor’s Note: A heads up for those who have been checking out the SB Nation app, available currently in the U.S. on iOS and Android devices. You can engage with Cartilage Free Captain’s match threads from your phone, as Game Chat essentially ports the match thread’s comments section into an easy-to-follow live chat within the app, making commenting and interacting with our community easier than ever before - and who wouldn’t want that? Make sure you check it out.

Tottenham Hotspur have played two matches in the Premier League this season and have scored a grand total of zero goals. It’s not gone according to Roberto De Zerbi’s plan.

He’ll hope attacking reinforcements and a trip to Nottingham Forest could be the tonic to cure his side’s ills, as Spurs go in search of their first points of the season. Forest have not been the easiest opponent for the Lilywhites of late, however (that said, who is), with Spurs not having beaten the Garibaldis since the 23/24 season. Last season was especially bad, with the North London side going down by three goals in both encounters.

There’s an argument then that the only way is up. Attackers Savio and Mohammed Kudus are expected to be available; there are question marks of the fitness of Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali, though; but whatever the lineup, Spurs will be desperate to get some points on the board in 2026. Here’s hoping today will be the day they do that.

COYS!

Lineups

Live Blog

How to Watch

Nottingham Forest vs. Tottenham Hotspur

The City Ground, Nottingham, UK

Saturday, September 5, 2026

Time: 10:00 p.m. ET, 3:00 p.m. UK

TV: NBCSN, not televised in the UK. Check international listings at livesoccertv.com

Streaming: Unavailable

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The oddest transfer window in recent memory has finally concluded and the Tottenham Hotspur squad list looks completely different than it did four months ago. Millions upon millions of pounds have been spent on nearly every area of the pitch, and regardless of if these were the right players to acquire, on paper just about every position has been strengthened to some degree. This is a brand new team.

But until these newcomers are fully integrated into the side, the actual performance on the pitch might continue to look like it did four months ago (and most of the months preceding that as well). Last weekend’s defeat to Newcastle was a little better than the season opener, but there are few positives to take from back-to-back losses to start the year with five goals conceded to zero scored.

The quest for victory continues with a trip to the City Ground. Forest lost its opener to Leeds after giving up an 88th-minute winner, then lost to Leeds at home again three days later in the League Cup. A 2-2 draw at Anfield last weekend was more encouraging, and one points through two matches is more than Spurs can claim, but this is a chance to do something.

Match Details

Date: Saturday, September 5

Time: 10:00 am ET, 3:00 pm UK

Location: The City Ground, Nottinghamshire

TV: NBCSN/Peacock (US)

After four straight league wins upon Forest’s promotion in 2022/23, it has now turned to four consecutive losses for Tottenham in this fixture. It is odd to think back to a summer ago when it felt like even securing one transfer was an impossible feat, and indeed missing out on Morgan Gibbs-White made the pair of 3-0 thrashings feel even worse, especially the pseudo relegation six-pointer.

Optimistically closing the window

Even with Savio fully accepting The Tottenham Way and immediately injuring himself, there are enough incoming players now that the starting XI really should look completely foreign to a season ago. Simply swapping in new players is not some sort of magical solution, but these handpicked additions by Roberto De Zerbi surely cannot all flop their way to another relegation-level season.

It will take time for everyone to gel, but there already have been encouraging signs from players like Savio, Omar Marmoush, Mateus Fernandes, and Jan Paul van Hecke, which should only get better and better. At some point the conversation has to go from potential improvements to tangible results, and though it is only Matchweek 3, it feels like time to start enjoying some of the benefits.

Brentford and Newcastle might not be Top Four contenders, but this weekend should be the most winnable to date. The home side also made plenty of changes this summer and is still figuring out how all of the new pieces fit together, as well as adjusting to life without Elliot Anderson. If both sides are still a little disjointed, I think De Zerbi can feel a little more positive about this one.

Pessimistically facing the wall

Like De Zerbi, Oliver Glasner received his share of reinforcements this summer, and that poses a different sort of threat for Tottenham this weekend. While contests against aggressive pressers have not exactly gone to plan just yet, theoretically it is against this sort of system that Spurs will eventually find success (assuming the players integrate into the system correctly, etc etc).

However, Forest offers an alternative challenge, as the front line is less likely to all out swarm the ball and will force Spurs to work their way up the pitch more strategically, as opposed to being able to draw the opposition out of alignment. This all culminates with a difficult task near the box, as Tottenham has yet to prove it can really carve through a compact block, which Glasner will likely be happy to deploy.

Meanwhile, De Zerbi’s defense continues to look leakier than expected and could struggle against the arriving Liam Delap and Daniel Munoz, and of course, Gibbs-White. Forest will love to run on a counter, and become very dangerous on set pieces, setting up the recipe to continue exploiting what has plagued Spurs through the first couple weeks.

Realistically just needing a win

Tottenham is not going to lose every match this season, but it does feel like three in a row would be quite an inauspicious start, regardless of how disjointed the lineups have been amidst all of the summer transitions, World Cup hangovers, and carryovered injuries. At some point, good teams just need to win, and while Spurs might not currently be a good team, they kind of are supposed to be?

One’s opinion on this outrageous crop of transfers will vary significantly depending on the forum and/or group chat of choice, but objectively it is completely fair to expect significantly improved results if the club is going to invest this sort of money into players that are decidedly win-now. I keep caveating that it is early in this journey, but that excuse rapidly loses weight after every defeat.

So yea, please win. I have no clue who is healthy or not, I have no clue whether more newcomers will make their debuts, and I have no clue what else there is even to say at this point. I have begged for wins for most of 2026, and while the season is new, the needs are not. De Zerbi got his wishes, and the transfer window is finally closed. He has some runway, but no need to abuse it.

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Well, this is a sad way to end things. Tottenham Hotspur released its squad registration list for the first half of the 2026-27 Premier League, and the most notable exclusion on the list is Brazilian striker Richarlison. Richy’s exclusion is noteworthy because he has not yet agreed to leave the club, despite links to Trabsonzpor in Turkey and unnamed interest from the Saudi Pro League. Both leagues’ transfer windows are still open.

This is a very, very sad way to end things with Richarlison. His contract runs out at the end of this season, though Spurs have a clause to extend by a further year if they wanted to. Based on this decision, it doesn’t appear they’re going to extend, and it means Richy has very likely played his last match in Lilywhite.

I’m sad it’s ending this way, and honestly I’m a little surprised. There’s no real reason to leave Richy off the registration list unless you’re 99.9% sure he’s going to accept a transfer before the end of the Turkish/Saudi windows, or unless you think one of Wilson Odobert or Xavi Simons will be back before the new year, and Roberto De Zerbi has already said publicly that he doesn’t think either are coming back before mid-spring. And Xavi is included on the registration list, along with Wilson Odobert. It’s odd, since keeping Richy on the list, even as a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency player, loses the club nothing.

It’s also quite possible that this is De Zerbi saying to Richarlison that he needs to leave one way or the other, which again would be a pretty monstrous decision for a player who has given his all to the club over the past five years. It’s pretty sad, if that’s the case, that De Zerbi needs to give a player like Richy a hard shove out the door.

Anyway, here’s your confirmed squad list for the first half of the season. Not listed here are Archie Gray, Mathys Tel, and Lucas Bergvall, who are all meet the criteria for U-21 players and hence do not need to be registered as a senior member of the squad.

Tottenham Squad List, Fall 2026-27

* – denotes home-grown player

Kia ora! Matty Flatt here again, for the last time this week with Fitzie back on board from tomorrow. Lucky you!

Life has been full of drama lately. Some of you may have read my series on my visit to the Sydney Super Cup; that was absolutely full of drama. But there was another, slightly smaller, but still annoying series of events that coincided with that trip.

Some of you know that one of my hobbies / side hustles is music; specifically, the fact that I’m a guitarist. And recently I decided to change the pickups (objects that sit in the body of an electric guitar that convert the string vibrations into electric signal which is eventually turned into sound by an amplifier). Pickups are a big part of how an electric guitar sounds, and by changing pickups you can dramatically change the sound of a guitar.

Depending on the type of guitar, this can be a reasonably simple job or a rather annoying one. The guitar I was upgrading was a Stratocaster, which thankfully was on the simple end of the spectrum: loosen the strings, unscrew the pickguard and output jack, then desolder the existing pickups from the jack as well as the ground wire. In this case, the pickups I bought (second-hand) came preinstalled in a new pickguard, so all I had to do was put the new pickguard in place, feed the wires through, and solder to the output jack.

And that’s where the drama started.

The guy who sold me the pickups wasn’t super knowledgeable (and in fairness, I had some knowledge gaps too) and had his tech desolder it for him; but instead of desoldering, he just clipped the wires, leaving very little length with which to work (cue Michael Scott). That’s fine, I’m handy with a soldering iron, and can work in tight spaces (again?). Annoying, but not a deal breaker.

Here’s where my knowledge gap came in. I was installing what are called “active” pickups (which basically means they utilize a battery and have a hotter output / more aggressive tone). It turns out active pickups require a special type of output jack to ensure the battery doesn’t constantly drain, which should have been included with the pickups, but the guy selling it didn’t know this and neither did I… until I checked the wiring diagram.

Great.

I figured this would be easy to track down, so went to a local electronics store… no dice. And I flew out to Sydney the next day. New Zealand tends to be limited for this kind of thing, so I thought I’d just go to one of the big music stores while in Australia and grab one there, which I did.

So back I come to New Zealand, get everything soldered to the new jack, and go to screw it in… and the jack lugs are too big for the cavity. What started as a 20-minute job now has me on to my THIRD jack and we’re two weeks in. Great.

I ended up ordering said third jack online as there are no local options. It gets to me in a couple of days, I open the package… and they’ve sent me the wrong one. Yep. Instead of the special stereo jack I need, they’ve sent me the mono version. I reach out to the store, they are super responsive, and very quickly dispatch the right one. Finally, I get it soldered in, pickguard reattached, am halfway through screwing it back in (there are 12 screws by the way)…

I’ve forgotten to put the battery in.

Screws out, pickguard up, battery in, screws back in, strings tuned up. And now because of how long the strings have been sitting loose on the guitar, the setup has gone all out of whack (basically how high the strings are sitting above the neck / the positioning of the bridge) and the guitar is near unplayable.

I did get there in the end; here’s the end result (which I’m very happy with):

Sometimes, you just want a quick win, but something super simple you set out to do becomes bigger than Ben Hur. What snowball effects have you had to deal with lately?

Matty Flatt’s track of the day: Coming Back to Life (Live), by Pink Floyd

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold breaks down Tottenham Hotspur’s eventful transfer window

Speaking of which, check out this cool site, Valuball: full of fantastic data and dashboards on transfers and more

BBC does a deep dive into Harry Kane’s 73-goal season for those who want to bathe in nostalgia

And check out the highlights of Leyton Orient’s win over Bromley; Spurs loanee Yusuf Akhamrich had himself a game!

The dust has settled on what has been an extremely eventful Tottenham Hotspur summer transfer window. You can see how busy Spurs were from the transfer summary article, which isn’t even complete despite me doing my best to track it all summer long. (Alasdair Gold counted 54 moves this summer in all squads including reserves and U-squads; clearly I missed some, especially in the youth and reserve teams.) If nothing else, Tottenham Hotspur was certainly not idle.

But how did we do? Well… it’s complicated. Spurs spend an obscene amount of money on new signings (£394m by best estimation, not including purchase options), offset a great deal by numerous player sales (£264m including options). The net spend is actually not that bad — £130m all said, which puts it in line with transfer spends in the last few years of the Daniel Levy era.

Spurs have turned over the club in Roberto De Zerbi’s image, and whether you think that’s a positive or not is very likely going to color your perception of the window as a whole. Matty and I have our takes. Let’s see what you think!

Matty Flatt

Okay, so I’m going to get meta on you all right now. How do you even grade a transfer window? Do you look purely at the players brought in? Or do you look a level deeper, at what those signings imply about leadership and process? In my writing of this blurb, I went back and looked at my summary this time last year (which, by the way I rated as a C+, a rating I would say was pretty apt given the ensuing results, even though many thought we were being overly negative). Here’s part of what I said:

There’s a few things you need to take into account when looking at this window. There’s the actual players signed; there’s outgoings; there’s the strategic fit; and then there’s the timeline by which this happened and the process behind it all. The latter was a resounding, unequivocal failure.

Interesting. This summer is almost the opposite: bringing in Rafi Moersen to manage Spurs’ transfer dealings seemed to unlock the logjam in Spurs’ process, with a record number of players in and out and several key acquisitions brought in early in the window.

So, what about the players? Well, in a vacuum, Spurs’ attack has probably been made slightly better, the midfield improved, and the defense is worse. Spurs are lacking in creativity thanks to injury, but in general, you could say the squad is probably better than it was. That’s enough for a pass mark.

The problem is in the players themselves, or rather, what their signings say about what’s going on behind the scenes: that strategic piece. Instead of prioritizing a Director of Football to replace the hapless Johan Lange, all power was given to Roberto De Zerbi and the club immediately became laser-focused on players with whom he was familiar. Jan Paul van Hecke played under RDZ at Brighton & Hove Albion; likewise Mudryk at Shakhtar Donetsk. Sandro Tonali came from the same town as RDZ. He was reportedly obsessed with Marmoush. And guess what? Football managers are often terrible talent scouts, despite what the game would have you believe.

Does this make them bad players? No, and to be clear, Spurs made some fantastic signings and did a great job of moving on some of the deadwood; Savio and Mateus Fernandes in particular could be huge for Spurs. What is clear, though, is this is a squad shaped in De Zerbi’s image: the image of a famously volatile coach who in 2 years is unlikely to be at the club. What happens at that point? Another squad overhaul, as we’ll have a chunk of players pushing 30 on massive wages who no longer fit for whatever the next manager wants to do.

Instead of taking the chance for a strategic reset and to incrementally invest in the squad, we now have a team that is only slightly better than last season’s but sky-high expectations due to the investment. Spurs have spent significantly to create a team that is barely better than tenth place. Maybe I’m wrong; but I don’t think I am. And once the pressure ramps up, our Director of Football (by which I mean Roberto De Zerbi) will be out of here and we’ll start this all again.

Are Spurs Sisyphus? Instead of Zeus, did the club cheat some footballing god? It sure feels like it.

Grade: B- (signings) / C+ (outgoings) / F (strategy) / A (process)

Overall: C+

Dustin George-Miller

On the one hand, Tottenham has torn up the financial and transfer strategy they employed for 20 years under Daniel Levy, something that probably needed to happen. Not just torn up — smashed, charred to ash, swept into a pile and poured into a locked box that is then set into an isolated air-gapped room with a sign on the door reading “Beware of the Leopard.” Out with austerity and financial prudence, in with utter chaos and spending like the big team we’ve pretended to be for years.

Is that good? Well, that depends on a lot of things.

Tottenham’s summer transfer window is the start of something new. Two consecutive 17th place finishes (even with the club’s first trophy in years) meant that things HAD to change, one way or the other. And change it did. I’m just not sure it’s change in a way that’s sustainable, strategic, and sound. Tottenham appointed Roberto De Zerbi to save the club from relegation, and he did that — barely. As a reward, he was essentially named de facto Director of Football and given an extraordinary amount of power over what players to bring in and which players to let go.

As for the players, there’s a lot to like, but a lot that makes me nervous. Savio, Omar Marmoush, and Mateus Fernandes look like savvy, if expensive, signings to form the core of what could be the next great Tottenham team. Spending £100m for Sandro Tonali, who is a good but still limited midfielder who has of yet has not shown the ability commensurate with his outrageous transfer fee, feels at present like a bad signing. Andy Robertson looks good on paper, but is not the swashbuckling fullback everyone remembers from Liverpool. Jan Paul van Hecke looks like an amazing passer, but paired with Micky van de Ven, that back line looks strong on technical ability, but lighter on actual defending.

The outgoings are also notable. I understand and respect De Zerbi selling anyone who wanted to bail, and I do find it odd that so many fans are so up in arms about selling players, notably Kevin Danso, Cuti Romero, and Djed Spence) from a team that finished 17th two consecutive seasons and who wanted to leave, along with the failure to understand that selling players outside the Premier League will result in a smaller fee, because nobody else has that much money.

As Matty says above, the end result is a hodge-podge squad of a lot of new faces that will take time and patience to gel. The offense is better. The midfield is marginally better. The defense could be a little rough, at least at first. Spurs made some savvy moves along with some real head-scratchers like Mykhailo Mudryk, whom again was signed only because Roberto De Zerbi wanted him. Scouting, recruitment, and advanced analysis all seem to have taken a back seat this summer, and one wonders whether there’s some simmering discontent behind the scenes.

What frustrates me most about this window is the process. To be sure, a hard reset was needed, but strategic resets take not only money, but time. This summer felt to me like Spurs shoveled money at the problem in an attempt to short-cut their way to respectability, and that frightens me a lot. De Zerbi is not a manager who stays long at clubs, but he has taken the opportunity here to remake the club in his image. The only question is — what happens when he’s no longer here? Why has the club spent so much money and other forms of capital to appease a single manager, instead of working to build a structure that will be effective no matter who the manager is?

It’s hard for me not to forget that the people in charge at Spurs are the same ones that led the club to near relegation due to poor recruitment and strategy. They do not get the benefit of the doubt from me. This window is a success on one level, but from a structural standpoint something close to failure, and still a very, VERY open question as to its viability this season and in the future.

Grade: B- (but one point away from a C+)

Carty Free Readers Vote on the Window

Yesterday, I put a simple poll in the Feed asking readers to assign a letter grade to Tottenham’s window. I know it’s simplistic and doesn’t allow for much nuance, but it’s also the easiest tool I have to gauge reader opinion. You can click through to the Feed to read some of the comments, which are illuminating. What sticks out to me from the poll and commentariat comments is excitement from the early part of the window being tempered by the sale of popular players plus some questionable late moves that felt rushed and ill-conceived, and some mild wariness over Spurs’ player targeting.

Thanks to everyone who voted (and the poll is still open until Saturday).

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