Cartilage Free Captain

It’s hard to have good vibes after the week Tottenham Hotspur just had. Two losses: Newcastle and Chelsea.

The good (or bad) news is there’s still a whole slate of matches in November - and only three of them are at home.

But let’s also get straight to it: The one that matters most is on 23 November when Spurs take on Arsenal at Arsenal. Given Spurs’ home record this year, an away fixture could be a blessing right now. It’s also at a late enough hour where, if Spurs lose, it’ll only ruin the remaining few hours of your weekend.

Before that, though, Spurs have a Champions League fixture against Copenhagen which should be a very doable win at home to chase away some of those home-form jitters.

Tottenham Hotspur men’s schedule: Copenhagen (4 Nov; Champions League), Man United (8 Nov), at Arsenal (23 Nov), at PSG (26 Nov; Champions League), Fulham (29 Nov)

The women continued their strong start to the season so far with a 2-1 win against Liverpool on Sunday thanks to goals from Togo Koka and Beth England. Spurs are currently fourth in the table at 15 points, which is only five fewer than they had for all of last season.

There’s also a very interesting fixture this month against the London City Lionesses, but, like the men, there’s only one game that really matters: Arsenal at home on 16 November.

Tottenham Hotspur women’s schedule: at London City (9 Nov), Arsenal (16 Nov), at Bristol City (23 Nov; Women’s League Cup)

Fitzie’s track of the day: Windows, by Chick Correa

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold: “The 25 words Thomas Frank said to his Tottenham players in the dressing room after Chelsea debacle”

The Athletic ($$): “How Chelsea’s press smothered Spurs – the perfect illustration of exploiting weakness”

The Independent: “Wolves sack Vitor Pereira after winless start to Premier League season”

The Telegraph: “West Ham fans finally taste joy in rotten stadium – and then protest against owners”

BBC: “Southampton sack Still after five months in charge”

”All the players are of course frustrated. They would like to do well, they would like to win, they would like to perform well, so I understand that. I think it’s difficult to be consistent in good times and in bad times. That is why I went around to the fans as I did. It is more fun when we win, I can tell you that.

”We all sense the frustration and the emotions. That is part of football. It is extremely painful and of course that is part of the job to face you guys now and answer the very good questions when you just are burning inside. And you like to find solutions, watch the game back and see what went wrong, but I think it’s about trying to stay calm. In general, I think Chelsea were good and we were definitely second best.

“We performed badly. I think we lacked energy and intensity and that freshness we didn’t have that. Then I think the high pressure they came with, I don’t think we solved it well enough even though we worked on it, so that we need to keep working on. I think our high pressure, we lacked a little bit in the beginning until we got on top of it and then they went up 1-0 and we are chasing. Then it’s a bad circle where we are chasing, lacking intensity and energy and bad decisions.”

“It’s tough to accept but this is the reality of today’s game. We need to look inside us and we need to do more because when you play for this club, we have to do things at 100 per cent. I know it’s tough but we have to do that every single day.

“When you go inside it’s tough to accept because you expect yourself to perform at your best, with a lot of energy but something today didn’t go in the right direction. Everyone knows that personally, we have to do a little bit more if we want to achieve good results, make everyone happy and make ourselves happy. Today is a bad day for us, we didn’t perform at our best level.”

Good morning, Tottenham fans. Americans, I hope you enjoyed the extra hour of sleep afforded to you by the ending of Daylight Savings Time. Don’t worry, they’ll suck that hour right back out of you in the spring.

I know yesterday sucked, but this is just a general reminder to everyone to be kind to each other in the comments and in person. It’s really awful when you end up losing a match you felt you should’ve won, and the stakes were pretty high, but that’s no excuse to go out and burn down a Tim Horton’s, is it Blue Jays fans?

Oh, same goes for you, Tottenham fans, though I’m not sure there are any Tim Horton’s in the UK.

Anyway, this is your open thread.

I’m a little late with this one, but the second half of Spurs-Liverpool Women is about to kick off on YouTube.

Tottenham Hotspur Women vs. Liverpool

TV: not televised

Stream: YouTube

West Ham vs. Newcastle

TV: USA Network (USA), Sky Sports (UK)

Stream: nbcsports.com

Manchester City vs. Bournemouth

TV: USA Network (USA), Sky Sports (UK)

Stream: nbcsports.com

International break is over, and Tottenham Hotspur Women made it through (mostly) unscathed. It only cost me a few years off my life, and a few nails that I bit while waiting to hear whether Eveliina Summanen and Tōko Koga had been injured in untelevised games. Here’s how it all went down!

We learned early in the break that Jess Naz was called up to replace the injured Jess Park. Excellent experience for Jess, though she didn’t make it off the bench. Here’s hoping she continues her upward trajectory and makes her way back into appearances for England. Elsewhere, Tinka Tandberg was an unused substitute for Norway, as was Amanda Nildén for Sweden.

A few of our players saw more action, and most of them came away unscathed. Lenna Gunning-Williams collected a handful of substitute minutes for England U23s, and youth goalkeeper Sophie Jackson started two games for England U19s, Clare Hunt played a full 90 minutes in both of Australia’s games, while Charli grant appeared as a substitute in Australia’s 3-0 defeat to England. Martha Thomas grabbed an assist for Scotland in their 4-3 loss to Switzerland, and Lize Kop did well to keep clean sheets against Canada and Poland with three saves in each game.

Eveliina Summanen started for Finland in the much anticipated (by me, at least) matchup against Olivia Holdt’s Denmark. Eveliina left the match just before halftime with what Finland later reported was a rib injury. Olga Ahtinen replaced her, but Finland went on to win 6-1 (with Olivia Holdt grabbing an assist in the 10 minutes she was on the pitch. Olga and Olivia were both unused substitutes in Denmark and Finland’s final game.

Martin Ho confirmed Eveliina’s rib injury in his press conference (“a little bit of a fractured rib, if you want to call it that” - Martin,,, what do you mean). Apparently she’s been training through it and they’ll assess her availability ahead of the game. This is so much better than what we all originally assumed when we heard Eveliina left that game early. However, it’d be really cool if we could sign another DM so we didn’t have to (checks notes) play Eveliina through a broken rib. Good lord.

Tōko Koga also gave us a bit of a scare when she went down under a heavy challenge against Italy. I don’t think many of us were able to watch this game live so we had to rely on reports that she’d received medical attention and was substituted immediately after. I did all sorts of ungodly things to try to watch this game back and figure out how injured our star center back really was, but it was all for naught - it turned out Tōko was totally fine, and she even went on to start Japan’s next game. She was withdrawn at halftime but has been training ever since, and there’s no reason to think she’s not perfectly fit.

Return to WSL action

Spurs return to action against Liverpool on Sunday, November 2nd at 7:00 AM ET/12:00 PM UK time. Liverpool have not started the season strongly – they currently sit in 11th place out of 12 and have yet to register a point. On the pitch, they haven’t looked as unfortunate as their results might suggest, but they’ve lost multiple key players to long-term injuries and had to deal with the devastating passing of their former head coach Matt Beard. You can read more about what Martin Ho has to say about the game here.

If you’re looking to watch a few of our young stars and our new and improved, actually enjoyable style of football, you can tune in on SkySports+ or on the WSL’s Youtube channel. Catch you on the flip side!

Tottenham Hotspur went into today’s home match against Chelsea having won just once against the Blues in their last 17 matches.

Make it once in 18. A quick-fire series of defensive lapses in one sequence in the first half led to a tap in goal for Joao Pedro, Tottenham only mustered two shots with neither of them on target, and Spurs limped to a wet squib of a 1-0 loss to their London rivals.

This was honestly some of the worst football I’ve seen from a Spurs team under Thomas Frank, and I have seen a LOT of bad football so far. Especially when this felt like a winnable match against a beatable Chelsea team. Alas.

Here are my match reactions for a game that you cannot pay me enough money to watch again.

Match reactions

Is this bad?

I swear something stupid happens every single time we play Chelsea. This time, Lucas Bergvall got thwacked in the head by a ball inside two minutes and had to be subbed off under concussion protocol. It’s the right decision, 100%. No question, player safety comes first. But man. Man! Why!

And then Spurs had Vicario seen to by the match officials for some sort of ankle issue inside a half hour. I swear to God.

Despite all that, the first half was mostly boring. No real chances, nothing exciting happening either direction. I could’ve taken a nap, guys!

Chelsea’s opener should’ve been accompanied by the theme from Benny Hill. Djed Spence gives the ball away cheaply, Micky got dispossessed by Caicedo after being put under pressure from a terrible back pass from Xavi, and Joao Pedro had the easiest of finishes. Awful, awful football. Why do I like this sport?

Rodrigo Bentancur is very very very very VERY lucky not to be sent off for what was an awful tackle on Reese James. Honestly, VAR very well could’ve upgraded that yellow to a red and I would not have complained.

Not sure if Jarrod Gillet has ever officiated a Tottenham-Chelsea match before, but he let it get out of control early on and never really regained a handle on the match. Two potentially red card-worthy challenges, numerous yellow cards, two different intra-squad scuffles, and some baffling errors. He’s not the reason why Spurs lost, but come on, at least Google “Battle of the Bridge” before kick-off.

I don’t really know if I have a whole lot to say about the second half. Both teams kicked the ball around a lot. Chelsea had more of the ball and many more opportunities to score goals than Spurs did. Enzo probably should’ve seen red for putting his studs into Palhinha’s knee. It was boring, and awful. Let us never speak of it again.

“[Deki is] still not on the grass and we’re working very hard to get him fit as quick as possible, I think my message is that he’s not on the grass yet.

“We’re very aware of when we get Dom back, we hope - touch wood - we have him back and no setbacks, so we are very aware of doing it the right way, so it’s going in the right direction, he will not be available before the international break, so that’s the status right now.”

“Home game against Chelsea under the floodlights is going to be unique and special. I’m really looking forward to it. We need the fans behind us. I know they give us everything and the best clubs are all united together. That is the plan and the aim. 5,000 fans traveling on Wednesday night on the roads. That’s incredible determination from the fans and we need that from the team.

“[We have] maybe the best stadium in the world and definitely the best fans in the world and we know the sound in that stadium can be insane.”

A loss to Newcastle was neither shocking nor something to read into too deeply, but a second defeat in a row for Tottenham Hotspur might raise some alarms. Chelsea is another opponent who will be favored against Spurs, but the fanbase is not going to be satisfied with a subpar result. This run of fixtures was always going to be tricky, though there are no excuses here.

Thomas Frank gets his first taste of one of the two big derbies and will look to secure Tottenham’s first point(s?) against Chelsea since Oliver Skipp and Harry Kane took down a struggling side that ended up finishing 12th three seasons ago. The task is much different this time around, but at least this one is in the right part of London. A Spurs win would be far from crazy, yet is anyone actually expecting one?

Match Details

Date: Saturday, November 1

Time: 1:30 pm ET, 5:30 pm UK

Location: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London

TV: Peacock (US), Sky Sports Main Event (UK)

Table: Spurs (t-3rd, 17 pts), Chelsea (9th, 14 pts)

So yea, Spurs have lost each of the past four in this derby and have just that one win in the past 12 league contests. Last season saw Tottenham go ahead 2-0 only 11 minutes in thanks to strikes by Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski, but that lead did not hold in a 4-3 loss. The reverse fixture featured a lone Enzo Fernandez goal as the visitors generated little threat.

Three Big Questions

Is this the plan or is there hope? Even when Spurs are scoring goals, the play on the pitch does not look pretty, and when those goals do not arrive it gets ugly. Frank gets some benefit of the doubt in both his lineups and tactics due to limited available (good) attackers, but heading into November it is fair to ask if this is him making the most of what he has or if this is his desired setup.

The hope is the former, and even in the loss Wednesday, there was at least some signs of promise. Chelsea did allow four goals midweek against Wolves and are fourth-worst in non-penalty xGA, meaning chances may be available again this weekend. The Blues will certainly look to hold the ball, so Spurs will need to find a way to make the most of what is presented to them, using creativity and directness.

Will the defense bounce back? Cup defeats, even against good opposition, can often be excused in earlier rounds due to interesting lineups and lower intensity, so a couple annoying goals against Newcastle are not the end of the world. That can change quickly, though, against the side who leads the league in scoring and has recorded 13 goals in four matches since the break.

Enzo Maresca’s side is going to be both patient and fluid, waiting for the right moment to spring and doing so quickly. That means Spurs can absolutely not switch off in defense, with the back six needing to focus first on their defensive responsibilities. This is a real test, as unfortunately there is an easy way this gets very out of hand.

Can Frank turn the tide? At its most entertaining, this derby has been filled with feistiness, though that does not always end beneficial for Tottenham (that Antonio Conte-Thomas Tuchel handshake aside). Both sides have had plenty of managerial turnover in recent seasons, and perhaps Frank can use his demeanor to help his side unlock an advantage.

Frank is both passionate and pragmatic, which feels like the best of both worlds here. Chelsea is a legitimately good team that must be treated with caution, but the lifeless Spurs attack could really use a spark in open play. Rallying the troops and finding the right combination of forwards is the new manager’s task; a win this weekend would instantly boost the vibes a few ticks.

Halloween is here!! And that means it is time for your annual Spooky Track of the Day.

In years past this hoddle has highlighted songs from Queen, Vanilla Fudge, Dusty Springfield and someone else who I can’t quite remember.

All the parties at Halloween love to fill their playlists with these kinds of songs. It’s the one time of year Warren Zevon gets any love. And, of course, we get sick of Monster Mash by the time October 31, 11:59pm rolls around. We also get the occasional Maneater, Monster Mash, Thriller, I Put a Spell on You, and the theme song from Ghostbuster.

But why - WHY - do we not talk more about Alice Cooper? He is the king of shock rock, after all!

And today’s TOTD pays tribute to that.

When I first picked up Killer I was overtaken by the record’s cover jacket, a leathery snake with its tongue extended against a blood-rec backdrop and alice cooper’s name scrawled against some sort of port-a-loo reenactment.

The record terrifies me to this day. But it’s incredible nonetheless. I knew Alice Cooper through the School’s Out kind of things, but when I started collecting records I wanted to explore more of his stuff. I bought the band’s self-titled debut, then the follow up - Killer.

They are two of my favourite records. I remember playing them in my Stamford, Connecticut, apartment years ago. And I wonder why, sitting here now, I haven’t played them in at least a year. I tried recruiting a couple friends to go to an Alice Cooper show at Jones Beach, New York, with me a few years ago. I was unsuccessful.

I don’t care, though.

Today belongs to Alice Cooper. The man who performs with snakes, guillotines, blood and gore. Sure, today’s TOTD might not bring anyone to the dance floor but who cares? Most of us at hoddle headquarters will be watching the World Series anyways, and those that aren’t will be listening to Alice Cooper’s record From The Inside.

———-

Also I know the airwaves always play Werewolves of London, but can we seriously consider it to be the scariest song Zevon wrote? NO - LISTEN TO ME. Is it scarier than Carmelita, which romanticised a strung-out lover in Echo Park or Zevon’s own demise in Keep Me In Your Heart, or the horrors of terror that he penned in Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner, or the atrocities committed in Excitable Boy? So why do we fascinate on the word “Werewolves”? Can we just play every song the man’s ever written?

Fitzie’s track of the day: Killer, by Alice Cooper

And now for your links:

The Athletic ($$): “Tottenham’s Djed Spence was adjusting his boot. Was what happened next a breach of ‘fair play’?”

Consequence of Sound: “Alice Cooper and Criss Angel Teaming Up for “Welcome to Our Nightmare” Las Vegas Show”

“I learned a lot [in Sweden]. I was in a new environment, in nature. I’ve got this exhibition coming up in spring about a body of work I did while I was there, which is all these self-portraits and weird things. I never planned it to be, but it served as this period of introspection. I look at the work now, and these feelings of being a bit lost or torn are in it. That was in 2022, so it’s always been there.

“There was a weekend when I went home, and I started contemplating all my options. I had other things I’ve been building on the side and it was more exciting to me. To put it plainly, I saw happiness in these other avenues.

“It got to this point where I’d rather end this on my terms than go to a club that I just didn’t want to go to. When I was younger, I always said I didn’t want to play in the lower leagues; it was always about the highest level. Otherwise, I’d rather do something else. So I just took this step into the unknown, and I was like, ‘Oh, holy s***. I’m actually doing it.’ Anything can happen. I’m in complete control of my life, and it’s really exciting and really scary.”

Newcastle United beat Tottenham Hotspur 2–0 at St. James’ Park, with clinical finishing from the Magpies proving to be the difference in the Round of 16 Carabao Cup tie on Wednesday.

Entering the match off a 3-0 win at the Hill Dickinson Stadium late on Sunday against Everton, Spurs focused on the cup tie against a stadium and side that have given them fits in the Premier League. Being outscored 12-2 in the previous four matches at St. James’, Spurs had another poor display in front of goal in the cup tie.

Starting with a center-back partnership of João Palhinha and Kevin Danso, and keeper Antonín Kinský, Spurs manager Thomas Frank resorted to a 3-5-2/4-4-2 build-up, with the midfield three of Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall, and Pape Matar Sarr flanked by Djed Spence and Pedro Porro. Dealing with injuries in the backline and looking for rotational pieces to step up, Richarlison manned the No. 9 with Xavi Simons on the left and Brennan Johnson to his right.

From the opening whistle, Spurs endured heavy pressure from Newcastle’s attack, as the Magpies’ front three put Spurs’ defense in uncomfortable positions, leaving them open to counterattacks.

Newcastle had its chances early in the match as Porro and Palhinha had to put their bodies on the line in the box to block what would have been easy scoring chances. In those first 15 minutes, Newcastle were creating chances to break through, and eventually the home side did so off a corner kick in the 24th minute.

With Djed Spence taking his time to replace his boots near the corner flag, Newcastle waited until the whistle to whip in a far post header for Fabian Schar to outleap Kevin Danso and put his header over the diving Kinsky for the 1-0 lead. Kinsky should have saved the chance, as his reaction off the line was slow and would prove to be a problem later in the match.

Facing a 1-0 deficit, it felt as if Tottenham awoke to the thought that it was time to regain this match, and they put several chances on a plate for Richarlison. Creating chances off the break with Xavi Simons linking up with both Brennan Johnson and Lucas Bergvall with one-twos, the final balls into the box for Richarlison were all squared across the six-yard box with the Brazlian running past one, sliding late for a back post chance, and finally another one that was missed before having a shot on target with a header directly at Aaron Ramsdale.

Being frustrated all night long with the fouls that weren’t going his way or missing the chance that could spark him again, Richarlison has now scored one goal for the club in the country in the last 17 matches.

Down 1-0 at the half and truly having the hopes of at least leveling the match at the break, Spurs came out in the second half and endured another error for a goal.

Missing a golden chance in the attacking half of the field -- by Richarlison -- Danso dealt poorly with the pressure on his back as Newcastle intercepted his sliding pass attempt. Joe Willock took the ball from the box and crossed a ball onto the head of Nick Woltemade. Stuck in no man’s land, Kinsky attempted to punch the ball in time, but his poor effort allowed Woltemade to get the slightest of touches over Danso and into the back of the net.

Trailing 2-0, Spurs put together some moments as Sarr had an outside-the-box chance — as he loves to do — that was saved by Ramsdale. Danso had one, and his placement was for the top corner. Overall, Spurs had chances as the side kept fighting — literally against Joelinton after his strong challenge on Mohammed Kudus in the final minute of the match — but again the final balls aren’t resulting in goals. Spurs have moments in matches where they should be burying goals. Still, with a striker who is out of form, another who is injured (Dominic Solanke), and a final one who is showing glimspes (Randal Kolo Muani), the end product is not enough to be a competitive side in multiple competitions.

With the 2-0 defeat and their Carabao Cup exit, Spurs can now shift the focus to three competitions, with the side hosting Chelsea on Saturday.