Cartilage Free Captain

Yesterday we reported that Bayern Munich’s sporting director had confirmed talks between the club and Tottenham Hotspur for Mathys Tel. Today, we’re getting more details and a report that a permanent transfer is close.

Sport Bild is reporting today that Tottenham and Bayern are very close to an agreement that would send Tel to Spurs permanently for a fee of €35m (£30m). That’s on top of the €10m loan fee Spurs paid last season to bring Tel in on loan in January. The number is a cut rate price from the purchase option that Tel had on his loan deal last season and reflects the fact that Spurs want to bring him in, and Bayern Munich just want him gone.

Tel’s going to be an interesting case at Spurs. He’s a young player and has a high ceiling, but came in looking pretty raw. A lot of that was due to him not being fit after barely playing at all in the first half of the season at Bayern, and you could really see him rounding into form at Spurs towards the end of the 2024-25 campaign. I think there’s a good chance that Tel can take another step forward this coming season and could be a real asset for Spurs in the future.

The last time we heard news about Mathys Tel, it was the suggestion that Tottenham Hotspur were not going to trigger his £50m purchase option after his loan from Bayern Munich, but they’d still try and sign him this summer. Now, according to Bayern Munich sporting director Max Eberl, we can at least confirm that Spurs are doing just that.

Eberl told Abendzeitung München (via SportWitness) that Bayern and Spurs are “in talks” over a permanent transfer for Tel that is almost certainly less than the original option. That means the club brass were impressed with Tel’s performance and improvement over his half season loan and are keen to bring him back under Thomas Frank.

Here’s what Eberl said about Tel:

“Mathys was at Tottenham for six months. He wanted to play in the U21 European championship with France, and we allowed him to. We’re talking to Tottenham, that’s no secret. We’ll see how that pans out.”

Sounds good! It’s not much of an update, but when the sporting director of a major European club says they’re talking to Spurs, then they’re talking to Spurs. There are still plenty of opportunities for these negotiations to go sideways, especially if Bayern aren’t willing to go down to whatever Spurs’ number is, but considering they’re basically begging clubs to take him this summer I kind of expect a deal will get done at some point.

Tottenham Hotspur have already announced most of their preseason plans — a trip to Asia for matches against Arsenal and Newcastle United in late July, and a match against Bayern Munich in Germany in early August. Now we can add another one, and maybe one that’s a little less challenging.

Spurs have announced that they will travel to Kenilworth Road to face Luton Town on July 26, shortly before departing for their preseason tour.

Luton have had a pretty spectacular fall since promoting to the Premier League two seasons ago. They’ve now suffered two straight relegations and will play in League One next season. In years past Tottenham have played clubs at Luton’s level or below in behind-closed-doors friendlies that aren’t open to the public, but this one will give a nice gate to Luton Town, something I expect they could use right now as they prepare for life in the third division.

Playing Luton is also something of a nice preparation for what one would expect would be tougher preseason matches on tour.

Here’s a short summary of Tottenham’s expected preseason tour schedule. As of now I don’t have much in terms of TV coverage, but we can probably expect they’ll be streamed at minimum on SpursPLAY.

@ Luton Town

Saturday, July 26, 10 am ET / 3 pm BST

Kenilworth Road, Luton

vs. Arsenal

Thursday, July 31, 7:30 am ET / 12:30 pm BST

Kai Tak Stadium, Hong Kong

vs. Newcastle United

Coupang Play Series

Sunday, August 3, 7 am ET / 12 pm BST

Seoul World Cup Stadium, South Korea

@ Bayern Munich

Thursday, August 7, 8:30 am ET / 1:30 pm BST

Allianz Stadium, Munich, Germany

Now that Tottenham Hotspur have officially announced the appointment of Thomas Frank as their next manager, attention can now turn back to summer transfer rumors. And not a moment too soon! Spurs have already “wasted” one of the two (!) open windows, and there’s a ton of business that needs to get done before Spurs play PSG in the UEFA Super Cup.

Brentford attacker Bryan Mbeumo is coming off of the best season of his career, scoring 20 goals and tallying 9 assists for the Bees in the Premier League in 2024-25. All of the noise in the football media had Mbeumo leaving Brentford, but heading to quite possibly the one major club in the league that’s worse than Spurs — Manchester United.

But Frank’s appointment has maybe changed that calculus. There are reports from Sky Sports’ Lyall Thomas that suggest that Spurs are now moving for Mbeumo where he would rejoin the manager that developed him.

Sky doesn’t exactly have the most sterling of records when it comes to transfer rumors, even if Lyall Thomas is a perfectly cromulent reporter and editor. So a Sky rumor doesn’t exactly turn my head. What DOES turn my head is this brief tweet from Sam Tabuteu, a freelance sports journalist who writes for the Hounslow Herald, a London borough in between Heathrow Airport and the Gtech Community Stadium.

The Hounslow Herald is one of the small local papers in the areas around Brentford, and if you know me you know I tend to have a lot of time for the rumors that come out of the small regional newspapers in Britain. So if our new best friend Sam says Spurs are trying to move for Mbeumo, they probably are at minimum investigating what it would take, and likely on behalf of Thomas Frank.

If you played Fantasy Premier League, Bryan Mbeumo probably made it onto your team at some point over the course of the season, and for good reason — he had a monster season for the Bees, along with Yoane Wissa and Kevin Schade. This is probably a rumor that will excite a lot of Spurs fans and for good reason — he’s seemingly kicked his game to a new level and at age 25 is entering his peak.

But there’s maybe a reason to be a little skeptical about Mbeumo if you look a little deeper into his numbers. Yes, the 20g+9a statistic is fantastic. But his xG over the season was only 12.3, about a 65% overperformance of his underlying statistics. He also slightly overperformed his xA on the season. In short, Mbeumo ran extremely hot, some would say unsustainably so. Now take him out of his past environs and put him in a new team with new teammates and it’s a potential recipe for a regression to the mean.

The 20g Mbeumo is almost certainly worth the £60-65m expected transfer fee that it would take to get him out of Brentford. But is it worth spending that much for a 12g Mbeumo? What about something in the middle? Now, it’s possible that Mbeumo has made The Leap™ and this is the kind of player he is now. It’s also possible that joining Frank at Spurs would help him maintain the level he hit last season. But it’s just as possible that he regresses somewhat to something more akin to his overall expected metrics. It’s for that reason I’m a little skeptical about a big money move for Mbeumo, when Spurs really need to hit every summer signing out of the park.

Gazumping United would be fun, though.

Thomas Frank is now head coach of Tottenham Hotspur, officially joining Spurs on Thursday in what is initially a three year deal. Frank joins Spurs after several seasons at Brentford, where he took what a decade ago was a League One afterthought of a club and guiding them not only to promotion to the Premier League, but into one of the more respected small clubs in the top flight.

Spurs fans, mostly disappointed by the sacking of Ange Postecoglou, initially viewed Frank as an uninspiring choice to be Spurs’ next boss. But with time, a lot of them, including myself, have come around. Brentford’s teams were frequently impressive against teams with significantly more and better resources, and Frank has achieved a reputation as a manager who can assemble a team that is significantly better than the sum of its parts.

But after two years of sometimes frenetic, sometimes terrifying Ange-Ball, what will Frank bring to the table? What can we expect to see Thomas Frank’s Tottenham Hotspur do on the pitch?

Adaptability

If you were frustrated with Ange Postecoglou seemingly (but not really, I know, I know) sticking to an idealistic style of football no matter what kind of team he’s facing, then Thomas Frank will be a breath of fresh air. Frank’s Brentford teams certainly had some commonalities in the way they played from year to year, but Frank himself doesn’t really have a set methodology in the way he plays, and he’s willing to make adjustments depending on opposition and game state.

When Brentford were in the Championship, Frank set them up to play in a dominant, attacking style. The year they promoted, Brentford were top of the Championship in overall goals scored and assists, and second in xG/90, behind Norwich who won the league. The following season, Brentford’s first in the Premier League, Frank set them up to be a compact defend-and-counter team. They finished that season an impressive 13th with a -8 GD, comfortably out of the relegation zone, and notably well above Norwich, who finished 20th.

Frank will have a game plan worked out for each match, but he will always have a couple of contingencies in place in the event things go south or an unexpected even takes place. He thinks through possible scenarios and is ready to adjust on the fly when needed. He will use most if not all of his substitutes, and will have a plan for each of them when they come in.

Will it always work? Of course not. But I think fans can probably expect that at minimum Spurs will be adaptable. When Spurs need to defend and counter, they’ll do that. When they need to press high, they’ll do that instead. It might not always be pretty football, but it will be often be the right tactical approach for the appropriate time.

Frank talks about his adaptability and how he makes adjustments in this incredible tactics video from about seven months ago.

A “Pragmatic Ange-Ball”

Frank’s tactics at Brentford and Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham have a few things in common. But while in its purest form Ange-Ball was about control, relentless pressure, taking chances, balls in wide positions, and always staying on the front foot, Frank’s tactics are a little more measured. Frank likes his teams to attack space, but frequently utilizes two strikers instead of wide forwards, and often with four midfielders, two defending and two attacking. Under Frank, Brentford liked to play through the middle, using the strikers to pull apart the opposition back line to create space for players to run in behind.

Also, don’t be surprised to see Spurs play with a back three, either from the start or situationally. It’s not at all uncommon to see Brentford in a 3-5-2 or a 4-3-3 depending on the opposition or game state. That may require Spurs to spend some extra time this summer identifying and signing defenders, or utilizing players out of position to fill gaps.

But the principles of play are similar: a high back line in attack, keep the ball, counterpress, create high quality chances, score goals.

Long kicks from the keeper and headed goals

Before Postecoglou adjusted this season, Spurs rarely kicked the ball long from goal kicks. Spurs always, ALWAYS played out from the back and relied on the ability of the center backs to be comfortable with the ball at their feet to break pressure. Usually that worked fine. Occasionally it backfired spectacularly. It will be the opposite under Thomas Frank. Frank usually instructs his keepers to play the ball long from goal kicks, usually towards one of the strikers, with the midfielders staying close for the second ball and the second striker running in behind.

Frank also utilizes a specialty set piece coach to get the most out of those plays — Brentford led the league in headed goals last season with 14, and were always dangerous from corners and free kicks. It might take a while for Spurs to adjust, but expect more thumping headers from players like Cuti Romero, Richarlison, and the other attackers (assuming any of them are still at the club next season).

Compact defensive setup

While Frank’s teams get forward well, they defend stoutly. Under pressure, Brentford would frequently drop extra players into the back line and look to compress the pitch while defending, denying the opposition opportunities to move into space with the ball. Brentford’s teams were frequently difficult to break down. The defense has always been a bit of a mess under Postecoglou, but we saw good examples of Tottenham’s new-found defensive solidity late in the season, especially when Romero and Micky van de Ven were healthy. If both Cuti and Micky stay, Frank will have some excellent players to work with, but I would also expect him to get a tune out of Kevin Danso and even Radu Dragusin.

Conclusion

Thomas Frank is not Tottenham Hotspur, but there are some certain similarities to the way their teams set up and play. For that reason I don’t think it will take too much work for Spurs’ players to adjust to Frank-Ball — the basic principles are still there, even if the intensity is dialed down from 11 and the overall approach will be more fluid and adaptable.

The question with Thomas Frank has always been whether he has been able to get the most out of Brentford’s often-undervalued players because he’s the kind of coach who can maximize his team’s potential, or if his success is the product of Brentford’s excellent club structure and targeting. What comes across while watching him speak is that this is a man that is extremely smart and also emotionally intelligent. Tottenham may not have the ticking clock of Brentford’s backroom staff, but they’re making strides to become more so. Frank has worked with Johan Lange in the past and Spurs are now a data-driven side, much like Brentford. At Spurs, Frank will have more resources at his disposal, but also more expectations — but if things work out, it could be the start of an exciting period at Tottenham Hotspur.

It was the worst-kept secret in the Premier League, and now it’s official — Thomas Frank has been named the new head coach of Tottenham Hotspur, replacing Ange Postecoglou. He joins the club from Brentford, having taken the Bees from the Championship and turning them into a solid top half Premier League team. Tottenham are said to have paid a fee of approximately £10m to buy out his Brentford contract. Frank joins Spurs through the end of the 2027-28 season.

Frank joins the club at a rather tender point in Tottenham history. His predecessor, Postecoglou, had a somewhat fractious relationship with fans, but led a deeply flawed and perpetually injured Spurs team to the Europa League championship, the club’s first trophy in 17 years and first European title since 1984. Postecoglou’s dismissal was met with disbelief from many supporters, who argued that Ange deserved another chance to turn things around.

Thomas Frank is a good manager. While unproven in European competition, the Danish manager has helped take Brentford from an afterthought to one of the more respected teams in the Premier League. He appears to be well placed to continue Tottenham’s rebuild in a progressive style of football, though one perhaps a little more pragmatic than under Big Ange.

And by all accounts Frank is also an excellent human. He’s very well respected by his colleagues in the Premier League and by his current and former players. He’s adopted an informal “no d**kheads” policy of player acquisition that is similar to that of Postecoglou. He’s also a proven developer of players, getting the most out of guys like Ivan Toney, Bryan Mbeumo, and Yoane Wissa.

Nevertheless, Frank has quite a job ahead of him. He needs to find a way to unite a divided fanbase that’s still experiencing whiplash from Bilbao to Postecoglou’s sacking, oversee what could be a hugely important summer transfer window, and will a short-handed Spurs squad to a vastly improved Premier League table finish. In some ways I don’t envy him, but in other ways it’s an incredible opportunity. Early returns suggest that while fans are still angry at chairman Daniel Levy, Frank joins the club with supporters ready to give him a chance.

Welcome to our new head coach, the Great Dane, Thomas Frank.

A couple of days ago we reported on news regarding Thomas Frank’s forthcoming appointment as head coach at Tottenham Hotspur, and who he wanted to bring from his current club, Brentford to serve as his assistants. Turns out, none of the names on that original list are coming. But according to the Athletic (£), Frank will bring three people from his current job with him, including a highly regarded assistant whom Brentford wanted to take over for Frank when he left.

Jay Wright writes (Jay Writes?) that Frank will be joined by coach Justin Cochrane, analyist Joe Newton, and trainer Chris Haslam. Cochrane is considered a highly regarded young coach, and Brentford were considering tapping him to stay at the club and take over for Frank. Cochrane apparently turned down the opportunity to become a Premier League manager for the first time to stay with Frank as his top assistant.

Is that weird? It feels a little weird, but there are probably reasons why Cochrane would want to do that. Maybe the timing didn’t feel right. Maybe Cochrane decided he didn’t want to be a manager at the highest level of English football and preferred the (relatively) less stressful life as an assistant. Who can say? It sounds like Brentford’s loss is Tottenham’s gain.

The Athletic also writes that Cochrane’s status is what took the club so long to announce Frank’s appointment, as they were trying to work out where he would go and what he wanted. Cochrane is also part of the England coaching setup under Thomas Tuchel and will apparently stay on there as well.

I do wonder what this means for Matt Wells and Rob Burch, the two assistant coaches under Ange Postecoglou who weren’t let go when Ange left the club. We’ll probably find out whether they’ll find roles under Frank or if they will find other positions within Spurs’ organization or at other clubs.

It’s time for F***, Marry, Kill: Tottenham Hotspur once more. Since the last piece, I have been sheltering myself from the rocks and various debris thrown my way after suggesting I sell half our midfield. The forecast after this? Well, more of the same.

It’s time to take a look at Spurs’ attack, starting with the wingers. For each, we’ll give you our thoughts as to why they should stay (Keep), head out on loan (Loan), or go (Sell - either via an actual sale, or conclusion of their contract); though there may also be a bacon sandwich that pops up here and there also.

Editor’s note: this series and a couple of the pieces in it were nearly completed at time of writing, so we will still cover players whose future has already been confirmed (i.e. released players)

Timo Werner - Sell (Loan concluded) - confirmed

Well... yeah. I actually feel a bit sad about this in that I really hoped, both for Timo and Spurs’ sake, that it would work out for him here. He showed promising signs in his loan late in the 23/24 season, but this season he just went from bad to worse before disappearing into the ether. Or should I say, “before being disappeared”? Ange Postecoglou clearly tired of the German’s inability to hit the broad side of a barn, and from there the only outcome was for Timo to head back to Germany.

Son Heung-min - Bacon Sandwich

Sonny is now officially a club legend. In my books, that means he can do whatever the hell he wants with my blessing. If he wants to see out the remainder of his contract at the club, fantastic. If he wants to chase the bag in Saudi Arabia, well, you go get yours Sonny (the grossness of sportswashing aside). If he wants to make a heroic homecoming to South Korea, or hang out with some friends in MLS, absolutely!

Son is turning 33 next month, and as such there’s no way Spurs would (or should) offer him a deal that he would want to accept beyond next season. He is also clearly in a physical decline - the amount of minutes he has played through his career taking a toll - but he has also managed to reinvent his game as his athletic tools have waned, becoming a more creative presence while still able to burn a defender on his day. Unfortunately, that’s probably not enough to be a regular starter for a Champions League club, and that’s okay! He’s been a faithful servant when others haven’t, and he deserves to finish a legend. Do what you want, Sonny.

Brennan Johnson - Sell*

*If an offer around what we paid is received

Yes, I can already hear the commentariat screaming at me now. Hear me out. Brennan Johnson is very good at the most important and hardest thing to do in football. He is bad to okay at everything else. What do you do with that? The funny thing is if he had just a bit more physicality and a long-range shot, he would fit right in as a striker and we’re probably not having this conversation, as that is a skillset that works well up front; but you can’t carry his lack of progressive skills on the wing at the top level... unless you have somebody elite on the other side.

Which Spurs do not.

This feeds into the Son, Wilson Odobert, and Mathys Tel options as well; all of these guys are incomplete players. Spurs need somebody complete. So if a club with a bunch of money comes in and offers to buy Brennan Johnson for what we paid, I am saying thank you very much and immediately reinvesting that cash into a top-level winger (no, not Bryan Mbeumo) - it’s the easiest way to get that influx of cash - but if that doesn’t eventuate, maybe we look at options around Wilson Odobert or Mathys Tel (or a Saudi club pays ridiculous money for Son).

This would lead to Brennan Johnson potentially moving into more of a bench impact role - which JOHNSON AGAIN OLE OLE! I will leave this on a positive: perhaps the most frustrating thing to see through the season just gone was for a player like Brennan, all physical tools and few technical, to be so lackadaisical in his defensive work-rate; however, after his time out of the side around two-thirds of the way through the season, he returned with a renewed vigor in that regard, really impressive with helping out Porro cover the right-hand side. If he can keep that focus, I think he can really do a job in a Thomas Frank-coached Spurs side, whose tactics I think will be of benefit to the Welshman’s game.

Wilson Odobert - Keep*

*But potentially loan out if Tel is signed, or Johnson or Son go

Wilson Odobert is an exciting, young winger. He’s also not very good. At least, not yet. There’s a lot of promise with Wilson; he can beat players at will and has a good work-rate out of possession, but he struggles to make an impact on the match if others don’t find him in space. Basically, he can disappear in games, and that makes sense for a guy who’s only 20! I think we sometimes forget that.

Time is on Wilson’s side, though, and if he keeps growing and improving, Spurs could have a very talented player on their hands. The only question is if he is going to be able to make the requisite impact as Spurs look to make an impression in the Champions League this coming season. If Spurs decide they are carrying too many raw talents, they could decide to loan the Frenchman out to gain some valuable experience and invest in somebody a bit more polished.

Mathys Tel - Keep (Sign)*

*If the price is right, and Spurs don’t see another talented prospect for cheaper elsewhere

In some ways, Mathys Tel is a raw player much like Wilson Odobert. In others, he is much further along in his development. Not willing to let the game come to him like his compatriot, Tel tries to impose himself on matches, sometimes to a fault; but that’s an approach to the game I love to see in a Spurs player.

Tel improved as his loan went on, with some impressive underlying shooting and shot creation stats: 0.54 xG+xA for a 20-year-old in a bad side is really good! He also has a level of versatility that could be useful - especially in a Thomas Frank side. The thing with Tel is opportunity cost. Is there somebody out there who could do the same (or more) for less? Maybe. Is he worth the original mooted £55 million? Almost certainly not right now; but I think he will be one day, and if Spurs can get him on the cheap he could end up a bargain.

Mikey Moore - Keep

Mikey Moore, long thought Spurs’ most promising academy talent, was a key contributor to Spurs’ 24/25 campaign. How many 17-year-olds not named Lamine Yamal are playing regular minutes for European champions? Not many.

It is possible Spurs opt to send Mikey on loan this coming season; but with European football meaning plenty of minutes to go around, and still very, very young, it may be that he stays closer to home, with some valuable cup minutes and cameos off the bench to see how he develops - with a loan perhaps looked at in January.

Dejan Kulusevski - Keep

Many commentors questioned why Deki was left out of the midfielders piece. The main reason was that there were already ten players to cover there, and I had deadlines to hit! That said, I’m still not convinced Deki is a midfielder. I know, I know.

He does some great things there - his ability to draw in defenders and release the ball can be quite dangerous around the box, and in broken play; but though he had some impressive appearances in the middle of the park last season, when he plays there you often see a disconnect between him and his midfield partners, with him often drifting to... well, the wing. This is not really the job of an attacking midfielder, who really needs to link the attacking and middle third - and it can make it difficult for Spurs to progress the ball. Bizarrely, though, he tends to progress the ball really, really well on the wing, almost acting as an auxiliary midfielder to move the ball up the pitch with quick passing and smart turns.

It’s almost like Deki has been used all over the pitch his entire career.

The reality is that Deki is a fantastic utility for a manager that loves to tinker and modify tactics, and that’s worth its weight in gold. He may not always start, and he may not always play in the same position, but he can kind of play anywhere across the front-line or in attacking midfield and do a job (and generally a good one at that). I think he could spend a fair amount of time this coming season operating just off the striker, slightly different from the advanced midfield role he played often through 24/25, and I am still intrigued by the idea of Kulustriker.

All this to say - he’ll be staying with the club, pretty much regardless of what anybody thinks. Deki’s injury saw off any thoughts the club may have had of selling him, with him potentially out for a good chunk of the first part of 25/26.

Bryan Gil - Sell

Yeah. Players of Bryan Gil’s stature tend to not succeed in the Premier League, UNLESS they are quite technically gifted, or extremely pacey. Bryan Gil is neither, and he is thus not a fit for Spurs. They love him though in Spain, where he should return the club a small fee - though nowhere near what Spurs paid for him.

I miss Erik Lamela.

Manor Solomon - Sell

Yes, Manor Solomon lit up the Championship last season; but history is littered with players who were brilliant in the Championship and then failed to make an impact at Premier League level. Manor Solomon is at his peak now, both in terms of his career and value, and he has a pretty sordid history of injuries. With the season just gone, he should comfortably fetch eight figures for Spurs. That’s a pretty easy sale in my books, and a quite tidy return for a free player.

Yang Min-hyeok - Loan

Yang moved to Spurs permanently in January and immediately headed to Queens Park Rangers on loan. I thought he would struggle with the physicality of the Championship; but he actually did okay from that respect, with the bigger surprise being his technical ability not popping in way some may have expected.

That said, he started around half of his matches at QPR, gaining regular minutes and returning two goals and an assist. Not too bad for the now-19-year-old’s first taste of English football. I think the club will want to build on this with him heading out on loan again. Frustratingly, unless there’s some part of the deal we’re missing in which he technically transferred to Spurs before the start of the 24/25 season before being loaned back to the K-League, he will never qualify as UEFA club-trained for Spurs, so it may be that unless he really breaks out he just becomes a tidy profit generator for the club.

Oyindamola Ajayi - Loan

Outside of Spurs winning the Europa League, was there a better moment this season than Damola Ajayi scoring his first senior goal for the club on debut against Elfsborg? The vibes were so great in that moment, it felt like they couldn’t be defeated... yet here we are. Keep the vibes good, guys! Please don’t yell at me in the comments!

Ajayi has shown promise in the U21’s at the age of 19, so I’d say he’ll head out to the lower levels of the English football pyramid to really test himself against grownups. Let’s see how he goes.

There you go. Like the midfield, the wide areas need quite a bit of work in terms of reinforcement. I believe that signing a starting-level winger is critical for Spurs this summer, and to make that happen, we could see a domino effect amongst the squad of loans and sales, leading to potentially further investment for some young talented depth. Let’s see how Johan Lange and Fabio Paratici view the situation.

Check out our previous pieces here:

What is this? Three tennis hoddles post in three days? This is fitzie’s fantasy.

RealJC in shambles.

Let’s get to it

————

For those of you who closely follow the hoddle of coffee, you’d know that your hoddler-in-chief featured The Beach Boys before. That occurred on 28 November 2023.

You see, fitzie was in a reflective mood after just winning his mixed doubles league in Washington DC. In that hoddle I shared a snippet of a memory shared one day. That same hoddle featured The Beach Boys as its track of the day:

“Today’s TOTD is one I listened to back in 2016. It was en route from London to Sussex. My tennis team at the University of Westminster was travelling to play another team. It was our first competitive match. On the way there I had listened to the Beach Boys.

I lost my singles that day 6-1 6-1. That loss was soon made up for. I hated losing that match. I learned a lot about myself that day. But what I most remember is how much fun I had with my friends. They are the first image that pops into my mind when I think of Brighton.”

Fitzie’s track of the day, part one: Wouldn’t It Be Nice, by The Beach Boys

I’ve been thinking a lot about that day tonight following the news of Brian Wilson’s death.

There isn’t anything I can add to the conversation that pushes it forward more than what Bob Dylan, Elton John, Mick Fleetwood and many others have already shared. But I’ll share that day in the United Kingdom a little bit more.

It was around September, and I was still questioning why I had moved to the UK. A few other guys and I at university formed a tennis team. We were pretty good and played competitively.

We had a match scheduled against the Univeristy of Sussex. I ran (literally) from West Hampstead to Baker Street Station, approximately 5km, as a “warm up” - only, I didn’t get to stretch afterwards.

We took a minivan from Marylebone to Sussex. On the way there I was listening to a radio station based in California, 100.3 The Sound. They were discussing how Wouldn’t It Be Nice by The Beach Boys was constructed, and I was hooked.

There was so much to unpack in that song. The gorgeous arrangement, how the vocals layered upon themselves in that baroque fashion. How it sounded so 1950s but also so fresh. It was magical.

I played that song on repeat for the roughly two hour trip past the Amex and to the University of Sussex.

I lost my singles match 6-1 6-1 that day. It was my first competitive match in five years, and I hated losing. What I remember more about that day, though, is the trip to Brighton Beach my tennis team and I took afterwards. It was a beautiful experience sharing dinner with them and running around Brighton Beach pier, as the waves crashed behind us.

Maybe that’s what The Beach Boys were all about. Gettin’ around, having a Surfin’ Safari, making sense of our disappointments and anxieties in a way that sounds beautiful and relatable.

Those people were my closest friends during postgrad. Many of us went our separate ways. Some of us, including me, went back to our home country. But I still return to see one of them, at whose wedding last year I served as witness.

It was a long trip back to Maylebone (and from there back to West Hampstead) that night. As we drove up the highway beneath the black sky, I again turned on The Beach Boys, slumped in my seat and stared out the window.

I’ll remember that day forever.

Fitzie’s track of the day: I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times, by The Beach Boys

And now for your links:

Jay Harris ($$): “Micky van de Ven says Ange Postecoglou sacking was ‘strange’, expects Thomas Frank as successor”

Football London: “Son Heung-min debate, James Maddison question - Thomas Frank’s strongest Tottenham XI”

The Guardian: “Mauricio Pochettino said the US can win the World Cup. Now they can’t even win a game”

AP: “10 songs to celebrate the life and legacy of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson”

Micky van de Ven had a pretty good day yesterday. Starting at right back (!) for Netherlands in a World Cup qualifier, Micky scored a second half goal in injury time and also had an assist in a 8-0 drubbing of Malta in Groningen.

Afterwards, of course, Dutch sports outlet Voetbalzone asked Van de Ven about his club football, specifically the recent sacking of Ange Postecoglou and what he felt about that. Micky, being media trained, was pretty neutral about it, but did call the decision “strange” in lieu of Spurs winning the Europa League trophy.

What? You don’t speak Dutch? Well, fine, here’s a translation.

“[Postecoglou’s firing] was ultimately a decision made by the club. As players, we don’t really have much say in that. Of course, he was the first manager in a long time to actually win a trophy and bring success to Spurs. So if you look at it that way, it’s obviously a strange decision.

“It’s a club decision that we don’t have much influence over, so we’ll just have to see what happens next. We’re seeing rumors, of course, about the Brentford manager [Thomas Frank] possibly taking over. So yeah—again, it’s the club’s call, and we’ll have to wait and see.

“I think a lot of players had a good relationship with [Postecoglou]. And like I said, he was the first coach in a while to bring success to Spurs. That shows he definitely had quality—no question about it. So from that perspective, yeah, it’s strange that he was sacked.

“But of course, what we showed in the league was just not good enough. And that can’t all be blamed on the manager—there were definitely other factors at play.”

That’s a pretty solid answer from Micky. Since Ange was let go we’ve been hearing mostly unsourced and dubious reports of Tottenham player anger, with some breathlessly suggesting there might be a player revolt of some sort after Thomas Frank’s appointment. I don’t get that sense from Van de Ven’s answer here — it’s a pretty even handed response to a pretty obvious question.

Footballers know the drill. They are signed to a club to play for that club, and they don’t get a lot of input (rightfully so) as to who the club selects to lead them. It can make for uncomfortable situations at times, especially when the manager you signed to play for is fired, but they’re all professionals. This shouldn’t be new to any of them.

Is Van de Ven wrong that sacking Postecoglou is a little “strange”? Not at all! It’s a sentiment shared by many, many Tottenham fans based on the reaction on social media. But I don’t get the sense that he’s ready to down tools over this. Or at least he’s not going to say that in the media.