Cartilage Free Captain

Two articles about Son Heung-Min’s press conference ahead of the Qarabag match? Yep. I thought about just doing one long one, but this particular issue deserves its own article, because it’s important.

We all know what Rodrigo Bentancur said in an online video this past summer where he racially abused Son Heung-Min as a “joke,” implying that all South Koreans look the same to him. We also know that he realized his mistake and apologized to Sonny, that Sonny has forgiven him, and that an FA tribunal could still potentially suspend Bentancur for as many as 12 matches for racial discrimination.

What we haven’t really heard yet is a definitive statement from Sonny. Until now. And because this is Son, it’s a statement that is both loving and forgiving towards a teammate he calls his brother.

“At the moment, there’s a process from the FA, that’s why I can’t say much about it. But I love Rodrigo, I love him. I love him. We have a lot of good memories, we started playing together when he joined.

“He apologized straight afterwards when we [were on] holiday. I was at home, I didn’t even realize what was going on. He just sent me a long message, and you could feel it was coming from his heart. When we came back to the training ground for preseason, he was really sorry and he almost cried.

“He apologized in public and personally as well. It felt like he felt was really sorry. We’re all human, we make mistakes, we learn from it. I love Rodrigo, I love him, I love him. He knows he made a mistake but I have no problem at all. We move on as a teammate, as a friend, as a brother. We move on together. We just have to wait what the FA says in the process, I can’t say much. But one thing is I love Rodrigo. So there is nothing more to say.”

I’m of two minds about this statement. The first is just admiration and love for Son Heung-Min, who has endured more than his share of racist abuse from fans and others throughout his career. It must have felt shocking to have something like this come from a teammate and friend. But to forgive so unequivocally is both difficult to do in some situations and also a profoundly human expression, and to hear this incredible statement from Son just feels exactly like something he’d say. It’s expressly clear that he loves Rodrigo Bentacur like a brother, and while forgiveness doesn’t always come easy (even with family!) in this case it sounds like it didn’t take much prompting for Sonny to listen to Bentancur’s apology, forgive him, and move on.

But then there’s the other side of this coin. We’ve talked on here before about how so often the burden of choice between forgiveness or retribution is invariably placed upon the the victims of discrimination. Son in particular has been tasked with carrying the burden of systemic racism against Asian footballers I don’t know how many times. I also don’t know if Sonny feels that way in this case; that’s not a question I can answer and I would never ask it of him.

Here’s what I posted in an earlier article on this issue:

It’s a tricky and incredibly nuanced issue. It’s possible for someone, anyone really, to “do a racism.” That doesn’t always mean the perpetrator is “a racist,” but even careless or accidental racist statements or actions deserve to be called out and consequences levied for what has been said or done.

What is clear is that Sonny has said numerous times over his career in interviews that he has been the victim of systemic and pervasive racism against Asians and others who look like him. Just last year Son was the target of racist abuse from a Crystal Palace supporter, and there has been more than one incident of racist abuse directed at him in matches against West Ham. Back in 2019, in an interview Son admitted that he’s been the target of racist abuse a few times since coming to England, and that the best way to deal with it is just not to react.

I stand by this. I’m both incredibly proud to hear additional context from Son about the issue, about the sincerity of Bentancur’s personal apology to him, and that Son has been so forgiving to his teammate and friend. I also remain angry that Son was placed in this situation to begin with where he once again must shoulder the burden of racist abuse directed at him and be the arbiter of how the situation should be handled.

Does that make sense? I don’t know. I’m a privileged white dude who has never once experienced this kind of discrimination in my life; I’m probably the worst possible person to speak on this issue. But it’s so nuanced that I feel I can hold in my heart both gratitude to Sonny for offering forgiveness, as well as anger that our society is still at a place where that choice is forced upon him.

Tottenham Hotspur don’t have to travel tomorrow when they take on Qarabag in the first match of their Europa League campaign — fortunately, Spurs were drawn at home for this match and the burden of travel falls to the Azerbaijani club. But that’s not to say that the increasingly jam-packed fixture calendar and the increased travel demands levied upon clubs and players isn’t an issue.

Son Heung-Min was asked about those issues in a press conference this morning ahead of tomorrow’s match at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, and I would postulate his comments reflect what is likely the majority opinion among top-level football players.

“A lot of players came out and said the right things. It was very important for someone to say the right things. Sometimes players are the main guys to have to say something. There’s definitely a lot of games and as a football fan who loves football you want to see quality games not as many as possible.

“You don’t want to see players struggling with injuries. No one wants to see it. [There’s] a lot of games, a lot of traveling. We’ve got to look after ourselves, which sometimes it’s very hard. Mentally, physically you’re not ready then going on to the pitch and then with the risk of injury is massive. We’re not robots. We have to look after that and reduce the games definitely - better quality definitely should be the aim.”

Would players consider striking over fixture congestion? Sonny didn’t really answer.

“You want to get to the finals and play a lot of games. That’s a different scenario. But the platform [format] is to play more games. That’s not right to look after players. That’s what we’re talking about. What we can do is definitely change it and definitely go in a good way that people can look after the players.

“[It’s] definitely not [on] the players [to fix the issue]. When the fixtures come, the players have to play. There’s a lot going on. You have the FA and FIFA. Everyone has to take this really seriously. It’s not just random and a few players coming out. There’s way too many games and what you want to see is the quality of the games. High quality games with top players. This should be the aim. Injuries sometimes come with less games but the possibility of lots of traveling, lots of games, injuries will be higher.”

We’ve discussed this issue on the site and in the comments a lot over the years, but it’s different to actually hear from a top level player about this challenges put in place by the increasing number of fixture demands on professional footballers. It’s clear that the current calendar is not sustainable, but there isn’t really a clear path forward as to how to fix it, especially with so much money on the line for federations, clubs, and promoters.

Tottenham kicks off against Qarabag tomorrow (Thursday) at 3:00 p.m. ET, 8:00 p.m. BST. The match will be televised in the UK on TNT Sports 1 and streamed on Paramount+ in USA.

good morning

Well this is awkward. How often have we seen the Europa League on a Wednesday? Is this new? It doesn’t really matter because Tottenham’s game doesn’t take place until tomorrow.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the fixtures today.

Considering there are only ninte, I figure I may as well rank the ones I’m most looking forward to watching with very little explanation why:

Fitzie’s track of the day: Red Eyes, by The War on Drugs

And now for your links:

Wycombe exit the EFL Cup

San Siro stripped of hosting 2027 Champions League final

Yesterday, Tottenham Hotspur hosted its second fan forum, where invited and lottery-selected fans were able to hear from and ask questions to chairman Daniel Levy, plus Spurs board members and players. You’ll likely hear a lot about this fan forum from various corners of the fanbase, especially online, and the reactions aren’t always good. The questions were almost certainly pre-vetted, as were the fans selected to ask questions, so this wasn’t a hard-hitting public grilling like the one desired by certain purple-and-gold clad members of the fanbase.

But it is interesting, even if it’s a sanitized version of a sports Q&A. But one of the more interesting answers came from Levy himself, when asked about the fixture calendar and concerns from both fans and players over the increasingly untenable number of games professional footballers are encouraged to play in a season. Levy announced that he’s actually in favor of a calendar reduction to reduce the pressure on players, desiring “less games” in favor of “higher quality” matches, and said he shared the concern, especially for players like Cuti Romero and Son Heung-Min who have to travel halfway across the globe to play in international fixtures.

“I agree there’s too many games. But the problem we have, the particular problem in England is we have an extra cup competition compared to the rest of Europe.

“And in Europe, the most important fixtures for the big teams is European competitions, whereas here we have the Premier League which is the hardest league in the world, yet we still want to do well in Europe. So it’s a particular problem for the English teams and I do think it’s a problem.

“The friendlies for the international tournaments is another problem, particularly for someone like Sonny [Spurs captain Heung-min Son] who has to travel so far for his country. I think it’s a FIFA issue that’s going to have to be compromised with UEFA but I do have a lot of sympathy for the players.

“As a club, we would like to see less games but higher-quality games. So if that means we have to see some changes in some of our competitions, then so be it. I think in the end that’s in the long-term interest of the players.”

That sounds pretty good to me. It’s a reasonable view and on one level shows that Levy is not a callous football executive who cares only about maximizing profit. But if you’re a cynic, you can also interpret Levy’s comments to mean that “fewer, but higher quality” matches also could mean a future increase in ticket prices for a smaller number of games, much like what we’ve seen in American sports leagues like the NFL.

I’m not here to tell you how you should feel or whether you should take Levy’s comments at face value or not. My job is not to tell you how to fan or whether you should be #LevyIn or #LevyOut, although most of you can probably intuit my personal view by now if you’ve been reading the site for a while.

But what is clear is that the fixture calendar is at a saturation point, and is probably past it. The number of matches top level players are expected to participate in has only gone up — the revamping and expansion of European competitions like Champions and Europa League has added fixtures to the calendar, and there are increasing international demands through additional friendlies and made-up competitions like the Nations League. Combine that with major tournaments like the Euros and World Cups every two years and players simply don’t get as much of a break, if they get one at all. It’s untenable.

So I welcome Levy’s comments, even if there isn’t a whole lot he can do on his own. It will take a concerted effort, either via Premier League clubs, an edict from the FA or UEFA, or (last resort) collective action from players, i.e. some sort of walkout or strike. We’ll see if any of that happens, but SOMETHING needs to because there are simply too many games in the football calendar right now.

good morning!

Welcome to the very first Trending Up / Trending Down of the season, where Hoddle Headquarters look at what around Tottenham Hotspur is Trending Up, and what’s Trending Down.

Trending Up:

Brennan Johnson: Not much more to add here than what’s been widely shared already. He had a really solid week last week, scoring two goals.

Djed Spence: Seemingly back from out of nowhere, Spence appears to be making a serious case for himself in the squad. Three appearances this season and already one goal scored.

All in all, a very good week for former Nottingham Forest players.

Tottenham Hotspur Women: The women’s squad kicked off their season with a 4-0 win agaisnt Crystal Palace. The thumping puts them joint-first in the table.

International Fixtures: Remember these? Well guess what, they’re back! That’s right, the Europa League kicks off this Wednesday. It’s been too long since we’ve played Qarabag.

Trending Down:

Wilson Odobert: Always hate putting injured players in this category, but out til mid-October is missing at least a couple more weeks. Hate to see it and hope he’s back soon.

Fraser Forster/Guglielmo Vicario: Lumping these two together after a very strange period. Frist, Forster was kind of a disaster against Coventry.

Vicario has been a little shaky so far this year. I don’t know what to make of his performance Saturday. A horrid mistake he got away with, a couple other flubs, but some terrific saves. Since my trust in him is slightly down, he gets lumped in this category. Good news is it’s easy to get into the Trending Up.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Danny Boy, by Bill Evans

And now for your links:

The Athletic ($$) with how Brennan Johnson is feeling the love from his teammates

Alasdair Gold with his latest loanee roundup

Dan Friedkin agrees to buy Everton

Tottenham Hotspur Women put four unanswered goals past newly promoted Crystal Palace in the first game of the season. Spurs summer signings showed their quality and combined well with the rest of the squad, hopefully setting the tone for a season full of attacking variety and bold play.

Last season, Robert Vilahamn seemed to favor reliable, tenured Spurs players in the opening stages of the season. This season, not so. Vilahamn handed full Spurs debuts to Clare Hunt, Maite Oroz and Hayley Raso. Anna Csiki and youth talent Lenna Gunning-Williams appeared off the bench. Notably, club captain Beth England also started the game on the bench.

Spurs opened strong with an early, offside chance off the crossbar. The team looked to be pressing well and creating turnovers–though Becky Spencer was called into early action to scoop up a through ball after a few missed challenges–and combining in attack even better. Drew Spence also had a shot saved by the excellent Shae Yanez after Jess Naz laid off Hayley Raso’s cross.

The breakthrough came in the 19th minute after Spurs’ organized pressure created a turnover in the middle third. Eveliina switched play over to Hayley Raso, who beat two defenders and calmly passed the ball into the bottom corner. I truly could not tell whether she meant that to be a shot or a cross, and I don’t really care–it was a great goal, and immediately wiped away any lingering regret I had over Celin Bizet’s departure to Manchester United.

Play slowed a bit throughout the remainder of the first half. Hayley Raso and Martha Thomas both had particularly good chances to score, but things ended 1-0. Both sides came out unchanged for the second half. Spurs still looked to be the stronger side, and after just seven minutes of play, Jess Naz doubled the lead. She pressed to create a turnover after a Crystal Palace throw, then sprinted into space to receive Drew Spence’s excellent through ball. Yanez did manage to save Jess’ initial shot, but she made no mistake putting away the rebound.

Martha Thomas had two more excellent chances to score before she was replaced by Beth England in the 64th minute, and she was unlucky not to come away from this game with more. At this point in the game, Anna Csiki also replaced Jess Naz and swapped sides with Hayley Raso. Although Anna Csiki and Ash Neville didn’t seem to have quite as good an understanding of each other, this didn’t seem to disrupt the attack much at all, and Raso seemed equally capable of creating trouble on the left as she did on the right.

Spurs added another goal in the 76th minute. After some lovely interplay between Amanda Nilden, Maite Oroz, and Hayley Raso, Nilden found Beth England, who played a one touch ball to Drew Spence, who calmly fired a rocket of a shot past Yanez at the near post. Shortly after Vilahamn brought on Olga Ahtinen for Eveliina Summanen. He made two final changes in 87th minute, swapping Amanda Nildén for Charli Grant and Hayley Raso for Lenna Gunning-Williams. Throughout all the changes, Spurs kept on attacking. The final goal came from Ahtinen, who, after a few attempts, let off a stunning strike that Yanez couldn’t touch.

New faces and old ones

Look, everyone looked great. Many of last season’s high performers picked right up where they left off or getting back to their best. But holy shit, were the new signings good or what??

Raso caused Crystal Palace all sorts of problems, and is therefore getting a bunch of very deserved love for her debut performance in a Spurs shirt. She was super press resistant, excellent technically, and just generally contributed a huge amount in attack. It looks like she’s already developed a good working relationship with Ash Neville, and I can’t wait to see how that combination progresses throughout the season.

Oroz immediately stood out to me as well–she was all over the pitch, running and running and using her acceleration and quick changes of direction to make herself available to receive the ball. I’m not even really sure I saw her tire physically or mentally as the game went on, which was made apparent when she teed up Olga Ahtinen’s goal with one simple touch.

Clare Hunt was solid and calm at the back, not that she had very much to do. Anna Csiki looked to be capable and sharp as a winger, and I’m excited to see what she has to offer there and elsewhere on the field. Our academy product, Lenna Gunning-Williams, definitely looked like a league-ready player on her debut–pressing so well she robbed Palace’s defense of the ball to set up chances twice in the ten or so minutes she was on the pitch.

Looking ahead

Folks, Vilahamn-ball is officially up and running. Spurs registered 17 shots on target (on target!!) against an admittedly pretty bad Palace side. Everyone looked strong, smart, and tuned into the plan from the first whistle to the last.

Of course I’d love to tell you that all our problems from last year have been fixed–no over-reliance on Grace Clinton, better service to our excellent attackers, stronger aerial presence at the back. I can’t really tell you all that though because Palace were really pretty bad. There were moments when I started to see their ideas taking shape, but it didn’t really matter–Spurs just had more individual and tactical quality all over the pitch.

Ange-Ball finally worked as intended on Saturday as Tottenham Hotspur rolled out to a solid 3-1 win over Brentford at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It was pretty great — despite going down 0-1 after just 23 seconds to a wild Bryan Mbuemo volleyed goal, Spurs roared back and dominated the match with goals from Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson. It had a few dicey moments when up 2-1 in the second half, but a late goal from James Maddison sealed the deal. Super fun match, 10/10, would recommend.

Nothing complicated about this theme today, and it’s one that was inspired by the comments. I can’t remember who it was who suggested it — I want to say BroadBrookSpurs but it might have been someone else — but no matter, it was a great idea and I’m stealing it. It originates from whoever the dude was who did play-by-play for the League Cup match against Coventry, because he consistently mispronounced Dejan Kulusevski’s surname. I think he had at least 2 or 3 different pronunciations but midway through the match he settled on “Kuluskevski” with an extra K (for folic acid, I suppose).

It was annoying and irritating, but also kinda funny. So for today’s ratings we’re going with How to Spell Kulusevski (Wrong Answers Only). FFS, just call him Deki.

James Maddison (Community — 4.5): Is this the best match Maddison has played in a Tottenham shirt? Maybe not. But it’s probably pretty close. He was a monster in the press, winning the ball back over and over. He had a hand in all of Tottenham’s goals (including scoring the third) as well as in many other opportunities that never quite came off. Magnificent performance.

Ange Postecoglou (Community — 4.0): Manager ratings are always mostly based on whether the team wins, and we won comfortably, so 5 stars from me. But what was great about this match is that the team fully committed to Ange-Ball tactics against a team that was explicitly set up to frustrate us, and instead they beat the brakes off them. I honestly think in time we’ll look back at this match as the point where things started to “click.”

Brennan Johnson (Community — 4.0): Eff the haters. For the second match in a row BJ put in a very solid performance and got a goal to quiet his critics. And this time he even dribbled a guy! It was great!

Son Heung-Min (Community — 4.0): Six chances created and two assists, that’s a five star performance, right? Should be. And yet! There was something just a little off about Son’s match where he looks like he’s just off in attack — he’s not pulling the trigger where he usually would and looks like he doesn’t fully trust himself, which is odd. He had five star stats and a 3.5 star eye test. Just weird.

Destiny Udogie (Community — 4.0): Really, really good. Looks like he’s starting to round into form and was consistently a threat on the left side, especially tucking inside. His best match yet this season.

Rodrigo Bentancur (Community — 4.0): A quietly solid performance, especially in the press, after what was a pretty disappointing outing in the League Cup midweek. Did a lot of good work that went mostly unrecognized in the aftermath of the match.

Dominic Solanke (Community — 4.0): Finally broke his Spurs duck with a solid goal. Again does a lot of his good work off the ball and in the press, but that work is super important and he’s getting in the right areas to finish off those chances in the box. Once he hits full fitness I think he’s going to be a real positive addition.

Pedro Porro (Community — 3.5): Worked hard as usual, only this time didn’t quite have the impact that he often does when given chances. Not a poor performance, but overshadowed by others in this one.

Cuti Romero (Community — 3.5): See people wanting to give Romero some blame for Mbuemo’s opening goal, but I wouldn’t blame any defender for a player converting a wild 0.05 xG chance that was a foot behind him, even if he had plenty of space. Otherwise, solid enough, didn’t make any real mistakes.

Micky van de Ven (Community — 4.0): Picked up a cheap yellow and was a little lax defensively on a couple of plays, but otherwise solid enough.

Dejan Kulusevski (Community — 4.0): Was primarily responsible (if that’s what you want to call it) for Brentford’s goal by coughing up the ball in a bad area, but was quite solid again in possession afterwards in that central midfield playmaker role.

Guglielmo Vicario (Community — 3.0): Man, I just do not know what to do with this guy. Had a couple of Gomes-worthy gaffes in possession (which, y’know, Ange-Ball will get a keeper in trouble from time to time, but handling the ball outside his box???) but also came through with a couple of world-class reflex saves to keep Brentford at bay. A frenetic and just frankly bizarre performance. 3 stars feels right, I guess?

Yves Bissouma (Community — 3.5): A second half substitute for a knackered Bentancur, and he was pretty decent, which is about all you can ask of him in his first minutes post-injury.

Pape Matar Sarr (Community — 3.0): He was fine.

Remarkably, nobody in this category! Neat!

No Tottenham players were as bad as just giving up and calling him That Swedish Guy (though honestly I wouldn’t hate it compared to the rest of this list)

One Direction Memorial Non-Rating

good morning !

It’s time to revisit the best pictures from this weekend in Premier League football, and what a time to do it after some insane matches.

Let’s not waste any more space and get right into it:

Brennan Johnson hushes the critics

The defining moment from Saturday’s game if you ask me. Brennan Johnson has gotten a lot of stick since joining Spurs, and he answered the haters with a solid week punctuated by a goal at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Nuno gets sent off vs Brighton

In a chaotic episode during Sunday’s Brighton-Forest game, one tackle resulted in three reds. First was the second yellow to Morgan Gibbs-White for a dangerous tackle on his opponent. Sure, he got the ball first but nearly broke the guy’s legs.

An enraged Nuno Espirutu Santo confronted the referee, who promptly gave him a red card. Also given a red was Brighton’s manager Fabian Hürzeler. For those of you checking, this will not affect Nuno’s return to Spurs (set for 19 April 2025).

Once bitten, then sent off

Okay so this isn’t the Premier League, I know (City-Arsenal pics haven’t come in the system yet). But this is a wild scene.

After Blackburn’s Owen Beck kicked out agaisnt Preston’s Milutin Osmajic, the Macedonian retaliated by allegedly biting the defender during the Lancashire Derby. Beck showed the bite mark to the referee (see above) and another official, but they weren’t interested.

Instead it was Beck who got sent off.

Fitzie’s track of the day: New Now Know How, by Charles Mingus

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold’s talking points from Tottenham’s win vs Brentford

The Athletic ($$): James Maddison hopes his goal ‘shuts up a few people’

Cardiff City sack manager Erol Bulut

LET’S GO! Tottenham Hotspur Women open their WSL season today with a home match against Crystal Palace. Palace promoted from the Championship this past season, and despite reinforcing their team with 14 new players, they lost their leading scorer to an ACL injury and are still favorites to be relegated this season. But this is not a match that Spurs Women should look past — it’s the first of the season, and both teams are something of an enigma, especially since we have not had an opportunity to watch them in preseason.

Robert Vilahamn has strengthened his Spurs squad with two offensive players from Real Madrid — midfielder Maite Oroz and winger Haley Raso — plus Anna Csiki from his old club BF Hacken, and a couple of defenders in Clare Hunt and Ella Morris. We’ll have to see how many of the newcomers make it on the pitch today, and Spurs will be hoping to make a big offensive splash in this one. Spurs have a tough run of fixtures to start the season, so a win today is important because points may be hard to come by in the next few games.

The game is streamed on YouTube, and NOT the FA Player. This is your match thread. Let’s go!

Lineups

How to Watch

Tottenham Hotspur Women vs. Crystal Palace

Sunday, September 22, 2024

Brisbane Road, London, UK

We haven’t heard anything official from Tottenham Hotspur since Wilson Odobert was subbed off in the first half of Spurs’ 2-1 League Cup win over Coventry City on Wednesday. After that match, Ange Postecoglou had said that he thought the injury looked “fairly significant” but we never got an update on Wilson other than that he was injured.

So where Spurs refuse to step in, we turn to other sources. In this case, it’s French daily newspaper L’Equipe, which states Odobert is set to miss about a month of action, returning in late October.

Honestly — that’s not too bad and about what I expected for a strain, or perhaps a grade 1 hamstring injury. If we take L’Equipe at its word, and frankly it’s not like we have any other information to go on so why not, that would mean Wilson would miss at least four matches — the Europa League tie at home against Qarabag, at Manchester United, at Ferencvaros in the EL, and at Brighton. There would be a slight chance we could see him home to West Ham on October 19, or maybe the Europa League tie against AZ Alkmaaar on October 24. Just in time for Spooky Season.

It’s a shame that he got injured soon after joining the club, but I guess it could be a lot worse. Now that he’s broken the seal on Ange Injuries™ maybe he’ll stay healthy now until the end of the season? That’d be nice.