Cartilage Free Captain

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.

After a week of awful vibes including a North London Derby loss and a tepid performance in the League Cup against Coventry City, isn’t it nice to just beat the brakes off a team for a solid win? That’s what Spurs did on Saturday, going down inside one minute to an absurd Bryan Mbuemo goal, but then roaring back with three goals of their own to take a 3-1 win over Brentford at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Along the way there were some EXCELLENT performances, including from James Maddison, who was part of nearly every positive Spurs attack and had a goal of his own, and Son Heung-Min, who had two assists and created numerous chances.

It wasn’t without its nervy moments, but boy did we need a good win today... and we got one! It’s time to rate the players.

Rate the players from 1⁄2 to 5 stars. If the player doesn’t deserve a rating due to minutes played, DO NOT RANK. I will round the stars up/down to the nearest half-star for the player ratings later this week.

The match started off inauspiciously for Tottenham Hotspur, after Spurs gave the ball away in his own half and Bryan Mbuemo converted an incredible volley past Vicario after just 23 seconds of match play. But to Spurs’ credit, after that point it was all Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs instantly kicked their press into high gear, and harried a Brentford side into numerous turnovers. Spurs got first half goals from Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson, and added a late goal from James Maddison to roll to a comprehensive 3-1 win over the Bees at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Mbuemo’s goal could have been deflating, but Spurs proved to have more mettle than you might have expected after a tepid performance in the League Cup midweek. Spurs equalized in the 8th minute after Spurs’ press forced a turnover via James Maddison and fired a shot that was saved by Brentford keeper Flekken. Solanke was right there at the back post to tap in the rebound, his first for the club.

Tottenham continued the frantic press and forced numerous Brentford turnovers, who were on the back foot the entire half. Brennan Johnson put Spurs ahead inside a half hour thanks to another move started by Maddison. Son picked out Johnson in space, who dribbled Nathan Collins and fired a low ball past Flekken and into the bottom left corner of the goal to put Spurs 2-1.

Brentford did have a couple of late opportunities, none worse than after Guglielmo Vicario was caught in possession and coughed up the ball just in front of his own goal, but was able to recover and save the chance. Spurs went into the break up 2-1 and with the wind at their backs.

Big Ange opted not to make any changes at halftime, which makes sense considering how well the team played in the opening 45 minutes. The press was again in high gear at least in the first part of the match — Dejan Kulusevski was played into the box after another Brentford turnover, but despite some lovely 1-2 play in the box Deki had his shot saved by Flekken.

Spurs let off on the press midway through the half, probably due to exhaustion, and let Brentford get a foothold on the match. The visitors ended up with couple of decent looks at goal that forced excellent stops by Vicario, including one wild one-handed diving stop from a free header by Brentford’s Kevin Schade.

There was a nervous energy midway through the second half but Spurs cut that short after James Maddison chipped Flekken for Tottenham’s third goal in the 85th minute off of an exceptional team attack started by Yves Bissouma and facilitated by Son Heung-Min, who had two assists on the day.

The end result was a solid win by Spurs, one desperately needed after a string of early results that have sapped some of the resolve out of supporters early on this season. The win propels Spurs up to tenth with seven points from its first five matches.

Match Reactions

It hasn’t been a great start to the season for Tottenham Hotspur. I don’t think many would argue otherwise. But much would be forgiven if Spurs could go on a winning run, so Coventry aside, let’s get that kicked off (pun totally intended) against Brentford, shall we?

Brentford won’t be an easy opponent, having dispatched Crystal Palace and Southampton this season while losing (expectedly) to Liverpool and Manchester City. Unlike Spurs, they have no issue with their attack, with forwards Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa scoring three apiece in four matches thus far; Spurs’ somewhat inconsistent defense will have to be at their best to keep a clean sheet.

Spurs meanwhile will be bolstered by the return of Yves Bissouma from injury, while also lamenting further injuries in their forward line after Wilson Odobert suffered a hamstring injury against Coventry in midweek. Ange Postecoglou and the squad will be wanting to silence the doubters after a challenging few weeks, so here’s hoping the team comes out firing.

COYS!

Lineups

Live Blog

How to Watch

Tottenham Hotspur vs. Brentford

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, UK

Saturday, September 21, 2024

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

TV: Not televised in the US or UK. Check international listings at livesoccertv.com

Streaming: Peacock

Match thread rules

The match thread rules are the same as always. To any visitors coming here for the first time, welcome! We’re glad you’re here! Wipe your feet, mind the gap, and be sure to check out the other pages at this outstanding site. While you’re here, though, we have a few rules and regulations:

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Along those lines, outright abuse of players or match officials is also not allowed. It’s fine to say “wow, that was a really bad call,” but it’s NOT okay to direct copious amounts of abuse in the direction of said official over a call you did not like.

Treat other people in the match thread the way you would want someone else to treat your grandmother. Be nice. This is a community of fans, not an un-moderated message board.

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Finally, while we don’t have a rule against profanity, please try and keep the naughty words in check. Also, language that is sexist, racist, transphobic, or homophobic in nature will be swiftly deleted and you will be immediately banned. This is an open, supportive community.

Have fun, and COYS!

Tottenham Hotspur Women kick off their new Women’s Super League schedule this Sunday afternoon at home against a favorable opponent — newly-promoted Crystal Palace. This is a good thing, though it might add a little extra pressure to the first match of the season; Tottenham have a fairly killer early schedule, with upcoming league matches at Aston Villa, home to Liverpool, at United, and at Chelsea in their first five matches.

That’s a rough schedule against four formidable opponents, which makes an opening fixture against a club widely expected to drop back down to the Championship next season all that more important. So a fast start for Robert Vilahamn’s women is desperately needed, or Spurs face the daunting prospect of an early season hole unless they play extremely well early on.

What to Watch For

In what has been an extreme rarity the past number of seasons, we actually have a pre-match injury report for Spurs Women! According to Jamie Spangher, Spurs will be without new defensive signing Ella Morris, central defender Amy James-Turner (who just signed a new extended two year contract with the club yesterday) and China international striker Wang Shuang for this match.

Tottenham blitzed through their preseason friendlies, winning every one including matches against Feyenoord, Manchester United, and Chelsea (!). Unfortunately, none of them were televised or streamed, and most of them weren’t even reported on so there’s very little we can glean about Vilahamn’s intentions, or the context in which the matches were played. That’s frustrating, and means we won’t really know how good (or bad) this Spurs team is until we see them in action.

The absence of James-Turner, who was a regular in Spurs’ defensive line last season, could mean a week 1 defensive partnership of vice-captain Molly Bartrip and new Australian defender Clare Hunt, who has reportedly impressed in preseason. Luana Bühler is the other option to pair with Bartrip in the back line. I’d expect to see, at least initially, Amanda Nildén and Ashleigh Neville at the fullback positions.

Elsewhere, it’s an open question as to how Vilahamn will set up his squad against Palace. New signings Haley Raso and Maite Oroz are exciting players, but it’s not clear yet whether they’ve had enough time at the club in the offseason to break into the starting lineup immediately. Jessica Naz proved to be a stalwart attacker, and you would probably expect club captain and record signing Beth England to get the nod at striker over Martha Thomas.

With Grace Clinton out of the side and back at Manchester United, along with the long term injury to Kit Graham, Spurs’ midfield is also a question. Anna Csiki was brought in from Vilahamn’s old club BF Hacken, but Oroz would be the natural fit to start at the 10 ahead of Eveliina Summanen and Drew Spence, if Maite is ready to go after a shortened preseason. Up top, it’s hard to bet against Vilahamn starting club captain Bethany England, but he could throw a curve and bring in Martha Thomas, who started last season on a hot streak.

But who knows! This is a mystery box team, and we won’t know where they are until we see them play. Here’s a predicted lineup that could be incredibly and hilariously wrong:

Opposition View

I’ll hold up my hands and admit that I am not a Women’s Championship watcher, so Palace are a bit of an enigma to me. However, Kim McCauley, writing for The Transfer Flow newsletter, notes that Palace lost their leading scorer and Championship Golden Boot winner Elise Hughes to a torn ACL this summer, and while Palace have reinforced their squad with fourteen new players (including former Spurs captain Josie Green) it’s a team of a bunch of assembled spare parts. Palace are widely tipped for relegation along with Leicester City and West Ham, so in theory this should be one of Tottenham’s easier fixtures. That said, it’s the first week of the season and nobody really knows how good Palace might be, and as the men’s team already knows it’s never good to underestimate a newly-promoted side in week 1.

How to Watch

Tottenham Hotspur Women vs. Crystal Palace

Sunday, September 22, 2024

Brisbane Road, London, UK

There’s bad news and good news for Tottenham Hotspur on the injury front ahead of tomorrow’s Premier League home tie against Brentford. The bad news is that Ange Postecoglou, speaking in his pre-match press conference, has confirmed that Wilson Odobert’s injury is significant and we will be out for an undisclosed amount of time.

“Wilson doesn’t look good. Still waiting for it to settle down. He’ll definitely be out for the next period. Bissouma trained today so he should be available for tomorrow. Timo is ok.

“[Richarlison] is a fair way off. You’re better off not asking about him until I give an update because he’s not with the first team.”

Well, that’s not great. I was hoping that Odobert walking off of Coventry’s pitch midweek under his own power meant that his injury wasn’t that bad, but this news plus Ange’s “fairly significant” comment about Wilson’s injury likely means it’ll be a while before we see him play, which sucks because he’s really our only dribbly wide guy. Richarlison, meanwhile, appears to be just plain broken.

But there’s good news! Yves Bissouma now appears fully recovered from the injury he picked up while on international duty with Mali, and whatever the hell happened to Timo on Wednesday doesn’t appear to be anything worrisome, which is good news whether you’re at Timo Believer™ or not.

And there’s also this news, provided yesterday from Alasdair Gold: BIG WILLY LANKS is back!

That’s exciting. Not that Lankshear is a panacea for whatever ills are befalling Tottenham’s offense, but just that he’s a viable second striker who can come and provide a change if Dominic Solanke needs a rest or if Ange decides he wants to shake things up.

Brentford’s a quality team with a good offense and an even better manager in Thomas Frank so don’t expect Saturday’s match to be a walk in the park, but a good performance on Saturday would do a lot to increase the vibes around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Remember good vibes? They were fun to have around. Let’s get those back. The match kicks off at 10 a.m. ET / 3 p.m. BST, and is streamed on Peacock in USA.

The start to the 2024/25 season for Tottenham Hotspur could be a future case study on analytics. Many of the numbers believe this squad is off to a solid start: dominating possession, controlling the pitch, but ultimately getting a bit unlucky in terms of actual goals and results. Of course, this meant that Wednesday’s terrible outing against Coventry had to end up in a victory.

Whether this was the result needed to finally get on track or just a lucky 10 minutes against a mid-table Championship side will be determined over the next couple weeks. Spurs return to league action against a beatable Brentford side, and a quality outing will start validating the frustrating opening month to the year. Anything other than three points, however, may make the midweek success look like a meaningless blip.

Tottenham Hotspur (t-13th, 4pts) vs. Brentford (t-9th, 6pts)

Date: Saturday, September 21

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

Location: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London

TV: Peacock (USA)

Brentford has alternated wins and losses to start the season, with the defeats coming against Liverpool and City. The Bees do have a pair of League Cup triumphs, including a win over Leyton Orient on Tuesday to advance with Spurs into the next round. After finishing just outside the relegation zone last year, Brentford is expected to end up down there again. The club already sits at 15th in xGD on the young season.

Tottenham earned a point at the Gtech to open up the 2023/24 campaign, with Cristian Romero and Emerson Royal getting on the scoresheet. The reverse fixture had plenty of intensity, with Destiny Udogie, Brennan Johnson, and Richarlison quieting the antics of Neal Maupay in an eventual 3-2 victory. Spurs are just 2-3-1 against Brentford since its promotion to the Premier League, however.

Avoid the sting

While the metrics debate has mostly focused on Spurs’ inability to convert possession into goals, there is also the lingering issue of too easily conceding when the ball is lost. Goals against Leicester and Newcastle were emblematic of this issue, and despite the quality across the Tottenham backline, opponents are more than happy to take their chances on the counter.

Spurs will get a little relief in this department with the injury to Yoane Wissa. The Brentford forward already has three goals and an assist in the league, and with Ivan Toney gone and Igor Thiago out as well, there is not an obvious place to look for scoring now. What this means is the home side has no excuse to not lock down in defense and keep a clean sheet. Letting these lapses continue to cause dropped points is inexcusable and damaging.

Unlocked combination

Spurs came into the season with dozens of options for the top half of the formation but after five matches — and some injury-forced decisions — it is starting to look more clear as to who Ange Postecoglou must select. Dejan Kulusevski seems like an awkward fit at basically every spot, but he simply offers something that no one else does. Brennan Johnson is a flawed product, but he looks closest to a Postecoglou winger and did well to finish the comeback against Coventry.

Brentford gave City all it could handle, and Thomas Frank’s press will try to make Tottenham uncomfortable on the ball. While there are many more matches ahead, including the start of the Europa League journey next week, it might be beneficial to roll with the best XI for a bit and find that groove against a side that is fifth-worst in xGA. How Spurs respond, especially the regulars who were subbed on midweek, will show if these team is truly capable of finally capitalizing on so much early possession.

good morning!

Great news for all you candy enthusiasts out there: M&Ms released its first new flavour in two years this week.

The latest edition: Peanut Butter & Jelly (that’s jam for all you non-Americans out there).

It’s a pretty bold choice for the candy maker. After all, peanut butter M&Ms are already the second-best M&M out there (behind peanut M&Ms).

According to the press release, this new flavour is supposed to remind us of one of our favourite sandwiches, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich (that’s jam for you non-Americans).

PBJ is a solid snack sandwich, but as an M&M? I’m not sure. One-third of what makes a PBJ so memorable is the bread (which goes all the way up to one-half if you count both slices of bread). I’m a little weary.

But hey, I’m willing to give these a shot. After all, they’re M&M’s, and can’t be any worse than the pretzel ones.

We do enjoy M&Ms here at Carty Free, in fact Dustin dedicated not one, but two player themes to it.

All in all, this is a pretty good way to end the week.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Sunshine Getaway, by JD McPherson

And now for your links:

Jack P-B ($$): Can Spurs win over Coventry be a turning point for Postecoglou’s club?

Dan KP on disconnect between fans and club over Tottenham priorities

Tottenham Hotspur hasn’t had the greatest luck when it comes to its new players staying healthy. First there was the foot injury to record signing Dominic Solanke in Tottenham’s week 1 draw at Leicester City that kept him out of the following match and slowed his adaptation to Tottenham’s squad. Now, new dribbly winger Wilson Odobert could be out for an extended period after picking up what looked like a mild hamstring injury in Spurs’ last-gasp League Cup win over Coventry City on Wednesday night.

It’s early days and we don’t know the full extent of Odobert’s injury or how long it might take him to recover, but Ange Postecoglou said in his post-match press conference that it looks like the injury could be “fairly significant.” Timo Werner also picked up an injury that caused his substitution, and his status is also currently unknown. Eep.

“Hard to say, Wilson looked fairly significant, so we’ll just wait and see. Timo, again not really sure if it was just fatigue but yeah, a bit unfortunate for both of those. Obviously, both play in a similar position as well. We’re hoping it’s nothing too significant.”

That obviously has implications for Tottenham’s next stretch of matches, which is pretty brutal — Tottenham host Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday before welcoming Qarabag to London in the first Europa League match of the campaign, and with upcoming matches at Manchester United and Ferencvaros in Hungary. Both Odobert and Werner were expected to play key roles, either as starters or rotation options, for Spurs during this stretch, and if either or both are out for any extended length of time then it will put a real strain on the remaining Tottenham attackers.

I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but Odobert was able to walk off the pitch under his own power. I hope that means it’s a relatively minor hamstring injury as far as injuries go — perhaps a mild strain or a grade 1 tear. That’s the hope. But Ange’s “fairly significant” comment could mean that the physios have a different opinion, and that could suck. Nothing to do but wait and see what comes out in the next day or so.

The good news is that Destiny Udogie’s halftime substitution was NOT injury related and was instead a planned sub for Djed Spence. Ange confirmed that he wanted to give Udogie some additional minutes to aid his transition back to full fitness, but Spence was always going to play in the second half.

“Yeah, it was always the plan for [Udogie] to play 45 tonight. He missed a lot of pre-season so it is a balancing act with him to get us some game time because he is not 100 per cent fit. Tonight it was always the plan to play him 45 and play Djed 45.

“...[With] Djed, and as you said with Brennan, you know I spoke about it yesterday that he comes in, works hard at his game and when you’re an attacking player, you’re always kind of getting measured against certain things. I said, if he can get through this period and just be positive and and play like he can, he can be a significant contributor to us and credit to him. He got a good goal tonight.”

The injuries to Odobert almost certainly means Brennan Johnson will start on the right again against Brentford. Hopefully his late match winner against Coventry in the League Cup is a galvanizing moment for him and he can kick on and become the important player that Ange Postecoglou and Spurs fans believe he can be in this next stretch of games.

good morning! Fitzie did not realise Tottenham Hotspur had a match yesterday until maybe 7.15pm ET. Spurs won, apparently! Huzzah. Would be most obliged if a hoddler coudl summarise the match in two to three sentences

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For those of you who didn’t watch the football this weekend, Plymouth Argyle got their first win of the season this past weekend. It was their first win under manager Wayne Rooney.

They did it in some style, too, beating a previously unbeaten Sunderland 3-2 at Home Park Stadium. Mind you, this was a Sunderland without one of their best players (Jack Clarke). Still, a terrific win.

Check out the highlights below:

Biggest takeaway here is a dramatic finish to the game. Former Spurs player Romain Mundle leveled it for Sunderland in the 86th minute before Argyle captain Joe Edwards pounced on a rebounded shot to deliver the win in stoppage time.

It’s a terrific win for Argyle, who did very well to stay up last season. It’s going to be another rough one for them but they’re out of the drop zone for now.

They’ve got four brutal games coming up: West Brom, Luton Town, Burnley and Blackburn. If I were an Argyle fan, I’d settle for one point out of that before the Cardiff City fixture.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Eve Was Black, by Allison Russell

And now for your links:

Dan KP: Big Ange following Bill Nicholson mantra

BBC says there is ‘no quick fix’ for Spurs

Paulo Gazzaniga has a bad day