Cartilage Free Captain

I think most Tottenham Hotspur fans expected that current Co-Sporting Director Fabio Paratici was leaving the club imminently. The rumors have been flying for weeks now, with Paratici closely linked with a return to Italy to take the Director of Football position at Fiorentina. The only question was when, and now according to David Ornstein we have our answer — Paratici will leave Spurs for “personal reasons” after the close of the January transfer window.

So this month is the last hurrah for Don Fabio, who will return to Italy after one final scattergun transfer window in order to spend more time with his crimes. It makes a certain amount of sense — whatever Tottenham’s medium-to-long-term plans for the Sporting Director position (and that includes Johan Lange) it would be a little silly to let them both go now when the current window is so incredibly important. It makes you wonder how much his heart is actually in it, but I suppose the job is the job and he’ll do his job until it’s no longer his job.

Ornstein cites “personal reasons” as the reason for Paratici’s departure despite only getting the Co-Sporting Director position in October, and while I won’t dwell too much on what those reasons actually are, there were rumors in the Italian media that Paratici’s partner was homesick and wanted to return to Italy. On that level, I can’t exactly blame him — all things being equal I would also strongly consider leaving London for a life in Florence, though Paratici will have a heck of a job ahead of him turning around a Fiorentina side that looks destined for Serie B next season.

Anyway, at least we know the plan. Hopefully he and Lange can “Bentancur” up a couple more Kulusevskis before he rides off into Northern Italy next month.

With pressure continuing to build on Thomas Frank, the embattled coach asserted in midweek that Tottenham Hotspur were going to go all in on their quest to secure their first FA Cup in 35 years. With an unfortunate early round tie against fellow Premier League side Aston Villa, Spurs instead fell victim to a third round exit.

With Spurs in the midst of yet another injury crisis, Frank named probably the strongest side he could: Kevin Danso came in for the suspended Cristian Romero, while Ben Davies provided passing down the left. The injured Rodrigo Bentancur and Lucas Bergvall were replaced by Wilson Odobert and Archie Gray, respectively, while Richarlison started up top. The real surprise though came via the bench, with both Destiny Udogie and Dominic Solanke making their returns from injury. Unai Emery named a strong side for Villa as well, rotating only at striker and goalkeeper, clearly viewing the competition as an opportunity to secure the Birmingham side a trophy of their own.

The first half was hard to watch for Spurs fans. With the Lilywhites utterly passive in and out of possession, Aston Villa controlled the play as Spurs looked like passengers in their own stadium. An early injury to Boubacar Kamara, replaced by Youri Tielemans, didn’t slow Villa down either, as they opened the scoring after 22 minutes. An aggressive pass by John McGinn into the feet of Donyell Malen sucked in both Pedro Porro and Kevin Danso, when the latter probably should have dropped off. Instead, there were acres of space created on Spurs’ right upon which Emiliano Buendia capitalized. His run was found by Malen and Buendia finished confidently over Guglielmo Vicario.

The negatives didn’t stop there either. Richarlison soon pulled up with what appeared to be a hamstring injury, with Randal Kolo Muani his replacement, and then Villa added insult to injury through Morgan Rogers just before the half-time break. Buendia and Malen were involved again, this time down Spurs’ left, with the Villa attackers playing a one-two with Buendia attacking the penalty area. The Argentine then showed good awareness to flick the ball back to the incoming Rogers, who finished from the penalty spot and doubled Aston Villa’s lead.

Things thankfully started looking a bit brighter in the second half. Kolo Muani hustled well to win the ball Lamare Bogarde in midfield, before bursting forward and finding Odobert in his stride with an inch-perfect pass down his right. The Frenchman swept home his finish with aplomb and all of a sudden Spurs were back in the match from nowhere, allowing Spurs fans a momentary respite. Villa weren’t far from restoring their lead to two goals, however, with only a heroic last-ditch block on the line by Pedro Porro preventing Buendia from scoring via a scuffed effort.

Xavi Simons soon looked to have equalized, latching on to a pass through from Kolo Muani before rounding keeper Marco Bizot and finishing calmly, only for the offside flag to be raised. Frank made a number of attacking substitutions to try and capitalize on the momentary momentum shift, but it wasn’t to be. Simons’ offside goal was Spurs’ last chance of note and Tottenham Hotspur exited their second cup competition of the season thanks to a 1-2 loss.

Reactions

I was thinking during the match that Frank was going to suffer Martin Jol’s fate: sacked at half-time. That first half was unbelievably poor. Frank really is a dead man walking at this point.

Things got better in the second half, but that was partially just a function of Villa dropping off, happy to sit on a two-goal lead. As soon as Spurs scored, Villa sprung back to life and the Lilywhites basically were unable to create anything further.

Subbing off one of your best players in Mathys Tel for an academy striker is a choice.

There were some interesting tactical tweaks though: Archie Gray was used to split the center backs in build-up and out of possession, not dissimilar to how Mauricio Pochettino used to use Eric Dier. We got to see a bit more of Gray’s passing range, which wasn’t terrible… but the front four were so out of sync that nothing was ever likely to come from his long balls.

Yet another injury. Richy is now the latest to hit the treatment room. At least Dominic Solanke is now available? Yay, I guess.

The interplay between the Villa front four on both of their goals is something I would love to see at Spurs but just feels impossible at the moment. Frank seems to have zero plans in attack, with players often running into one another, mistiming runs, and unaware of their teammates. It’s a mess.

Silver linings: at least this cup exit means fewer Spurs matches to watch now, as watching Spurs currently seems less preferable to just rubbing sand into one’s eyes.

Spurs finally have a respite now in the fixture list: they have a week off until they host a struggling West Ham side. If that doesn’t go well, I’d say it’s curtains for Frank (if he isn’t fired this week).

COYS.

The early rounds of the FA Cup. A great occasion for aspiring lower league teams to face up to Premier League giants and dream; and usually a fantastic chance for tiring Premier League sides to rotate their sides and promote up-and-coming talent from the wider squad.

What do you mean, Tottenham Hotspur have been drawn against another Premier League side?

That’s right, against all odds Spurs have unfortunately been handed the very tough assignment of Aston Villa if they want to progress to the next round. It couldn’t have come at a worse possible time, either: more injuries eventuated during the course of Spurs’ loss to Bournemouth in midweek, with Rodrigo Bentancur and Lucas Bergvall the latest to be added to the casualty list, while captain Cristian Romero has been bizarrely suspended by the FA for a match.

All this against a team flying high in the league, with Villa currently third on the table. Sound fun? Sounds fun.

COYS!

Lineups

Lineups will be posted closer to kick-off.

Live Blog

How to Watch

Tottenham Hotspur vs. Aston Villa

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, UK

Saturday, January 10, 2026

Time: 12:45 p.m. ET, 5:45 p.m. UK

TV: ESPN Select, BBC One (UK). Check international listings at livesoccertv.com

Streaming: ESPN App

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:

Absolutely no links to illegal streams. They’re bad and they get us in trouble. Violators will be warned or banned.

We have rules against “relentless negativity.” Nobody likes a Negative Nancy. Don’t knee-jerk and post outlandish or hurtful things just because you’re frustrated.

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.

NO SPIDERS!

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!

We wrote just yesterday on Tottenham Hotspur center back Radu Dragusin’s links with a return to Serie A, and over the last few hours there’s been further developments: actual quotes from someone involved in the transfer process! This tends to be a rarity these days, but Dragusin’s agent Florian Manea is well known at this point for his garrulous nature.

In an interview with Italian TV network RaiSport, Manea indicated an offer had been made by Roma to Spurs, while also downplaying the chance of a move to struggling side Fiorentina:

I’m waiting for Tottenham to say yes to Roma before we can get to the heart of the matter.

[On Fiorentina] With all due respect, it wouldn’t be the right path for him.

This comes on the heels of Italian transfer guru Gianluca Di Marzio confirming Roma have submitted their first offer in their attempts to sign Dragusin:

Di Marzio’s report, which can be found on his website, is light on detail, but indicates that Roma are proposing a loan with option to buy. Whether that “option” is indeed an option on Roma’s side or an obligation is unclear, as is the value of said option.

Look, it seems like this one now has some wheels. Spurs have a thin squad, but it’s hard to say Dragusin has a long-term future in the Premier League with his skillset, and if Spurs can recoup a tidy fee after the Romanian suffered an ACL injury then they probably should. Is the time right? Possibly not - but business is business. Let’s see how this one develops.

Get ready, because when the Spurs go marching in they will soon have a new gladiator. According to Fabrizio Romano, Tottenham Hotspur have reached their hands across the sea and now have full agreement with Brazilian first division side Santos for the transfer of left back Souza. The transfer fee is said to be somewhere in the realm of €15m (£13m).

That feels like a pretty good price for a new defensive sabre for Spurs, especially after Santos rejected an £8m bid last week. Spurs have had a flirtation with a new left back for a while now, since the summer transfer window ended with Destiny Udogie as the only natural left back at the club. The decision to target Souza, a player with only 18 months experience with top division football in Brazil is perhaps a little risky — he’s perhaps not the fairest of the fair — but he’s also been on the radar of a few clubs lately including Bayern Munich. It’s clear that despite a lack of experience he has a certain esprit-de-corps that make him an attractive developmental target, one who can fill in as a backup left back in our loyal legion during injury crises while picking up plenty of rotational minutes. In that context the resumption of Spurs’ interest after having their first bid rejected is a positive, since they’ve clearly had plenty of time to review what he can do.

I happen to think this is the right way forward. In fact, who knows — perhaps Souza might turn into a golden star — the kind of player we haven’t seen since President Garfield’s inauguration and not a charlatan.

The hope is that the deal will be completed over the weekend with an official announcement made early next week, which could put Souza in line to get some minutes when Dortmund come across the Danube to play Spurs in the Champions League in London.

With left back soon to be in place, hopefully Spurs can turn their attention to a revival of midfield and attacking targets, as it’s pretty clear that Spurs still desperately need solid men to the front. We’ll keep an eye on all of our usual sources, including the Washington Post, for further developments.

Ready to get mad? The Football Association released a statement today about Cuti Romero, formally sanctioning him for “acting improperly” and “failing ot leave the field of play promptly and/or behaving in a confrontational and/or aggressive manner towards the referee” after Romero was sent off in extra time during Spurs’ loss to Liverpool last month. As a result, Romero has been issued an additional one match ban and has been fined £50,000.

So, like, obviously I’m a complete homer and a Spurs fan but this is, to put it bluntly, absolute bullshit. For starters, Cuti never should’ve received the two yellows to get him sent off in the first place, especially after getting shoved in the back on a Liverpool goal and getting a cheap dissent yellow for disagreeing with that call (which was bad). Cuti’s second yellow was for a reaction after getting fouled (with no call) by Ibrahim Konate. The charge of “failure to leave the field of play in a timely manner” is made more ridiculous by the fact that he’s club captain and, hence, the only player apparently allowed to speak to the referee in these kinds of incidents in the first place.

I’m also questioning the FA’s decision making here especially after Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli literally shoved a guy on the ground in last night’s match against Liverpool with no call and no apparent punishment. It feels like this is a sanction given to Romero for his reputation, ignoring pretty much everything that actually happened on the pitch. Romero has already served his one match ban for the two yellow cards; an extra match suspension just feels churlish and draconian.

So yeah, I’m kinda pissed off at this. It’s not initially clear from the statement when Romero would be suspended, but the next FA sanctioned match is this weekend’s FA Cup tie against Aston Villa, so assume he’s out for that match and will be back in time for Spurs’ next Premier League fixture.

Personally, it felt like all of the Thomas Frank chatter was way too premature given that the new manager had been in North London for just a few months, but it does look more and more likely that this will not be a long tenure. Tottenham Hotspur is arguably no better off than when Frank was appointed; even if improvement on the pitch would take time, stability off it was supposed to be more immediate.

Instead, every match somehow brings more controversy and drama, which is exactly the opposite of what this hiring was supposed to yield. With the European places drifting farther and farther away and the League Cup run already over, the FA Cup might become one of Frank’s last chances to earn back some goodwill. Spurs have not had a good performance in this tournament in a decade, and this season’s could end immediately against a quality Aston Villa side.

FA Cup Third Round

Date: Saturday, January 10

Time: 12:45 pm ET, 5:45 pm UK

Location: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London

TV: ESPN Select (US), BBC One (UK)

Spurs hosted Villa back in October having lost just one of their first seven league fixtures. It was a bright start thanks to Rodrigo Bentancur’s fifth-minute goal, though the rest of the affair was all too familiar. Morgan Rogers leveled the match at one apiece before halftime, and Emiliano Buendia broke the deadlock to give the visitors all three points. The results have not been pretty since then.

Two Things to Watch

Rotation strategy

Villa used eight straight Premier League wins to surge into the title picture, but has slowed down a bit with just one win in three to give Arsenal a little more cushion. Still, with this strong first half and solid ongoing Europa campaign, the FA Cup has to be quite low on the priority list of Unai Emery right now. The schedule is fairly manageable for the rest of the month, but that just means bigger fixtures are still to come.

As mentioned before, I do not think the sentiment will be the same in the other dugout. Spurs may have some critical Champions League fixtures remaining, but a win in the FA Cup would probably mean more than any Premier League conquest at the moment, especially with supporters getting angrier and angrier with the new regime.

It is impossible to predict how rotated each side will be, but there is every reason for Tottenham to be the one who is less willing to make big sacrifices. I would not expect Emery to start an entirely reserve XI, especially with an upcoming week off, but hard to not see that being one of the main considerations into how this match plays out Saturday.

High stakes

There are not many things that Villa is doing poorly. Seventh in goals, fifth in defense — Spurs have their work cut out for them. Both the Sunderland and Bournemouth fixtures offer a little hope, though, as the Tottenham attack is starting to show a little life, even as its members continue to join the injured ranks. Villa has allowed a single goal or none in six of the last eight, but there could be opportunities to score.

The challenge for Frank is figuring out how to generate more threat without being exposed on the other end. Both of the last two fixtures have seen his side give away the lead, coming from a combination of failures to kill off the match and maintain the advantage. Under Ange Postecoglou it felt like Spurs could either attack or defend but never both, and it is hard to argue that has changed.

Villa represents another test, but another opportunity. A quick peek at the upcoming fixture list shows dates with Dortmund, Frankfurt, City, United, and Newcastle, all teams that will require Tottenham to be at its best. After another controversial and unsatisfying week, the stakes feel high for this one. Crashing out of the cup leaves very few meaningful matches left on the calendar.

I hate international football.

And the idea of a tournament in the middle of the season just seems silly to me - take that 2022 World Cup! But the Africa Cup of Nations is one of those international fixtures that actually means something, so I’ll deal with it. Tottenham Hotspur actually have two representatives at the tournament in the form of Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma, representing Senegal and Mali, respectively - with Mohammed Kudus’ Ghana failing to qualify.

Both have seen success at the tournament thus far, with both Mali and Senegal qualifying for the latter stages of the competition, albeit in very different circumstances. Senegal, one of the favorites for the trophy, cruised comfortably through the group stages, with a draw against Democratic Republic of the Congo the sole blemish on their record as they kept clean sheets in wins against both Benin and Botswana. They then eased past Sudan in the Round of 16 with a 3-1 win after an early scare when Sudan opened the scoring. Unfortunately for Sarr (but fortunately for Spurs) Sarr’s involvement in these matches thus far has been limited, making only a solitary appearance as he started and played 81 minutes in the 3-1 win over Benin.

It’s been a very different story though for Bissouma’s Mali. They have somehow managed to reach the quarter finals while winless in regulation time through the entire tournament, drawing every match in the group stage and then progressing past the Round of 16 via penalty shootout over Tunisia. Bissouma, as Mali’s captain, has seen much more action than his Spurs teammate at AFCON thus far, but has had to bide his time as he has worked his way back from an ankle injury.

Missing from the squad in Mali’s first match against Zambia, he then returned to the starting XI against Morocco, playing just under an hour, and then steadily increasing his minutes across the next two matches. That culminated in a mammoth 120-minute effort in that Tunisia match, where he stepped up to take a penalty in the shootout only to blaze his effort into Row Z, bringing to mind some comments from Ange Postecoglou a couple of seasons ago:

“…Bissouma I have seen take about 500 and miss about 495…”

Those results have now brought the clubmates on a collision course in the quarter finals, with Mali set to play Senegal later today. That presents itself as both good and bad news for both players and club: one of the players is guaranteed to progress, which is fantastic for them; and one of them is guaranteed to return to North London, which is fantastic for the club - the bad news for the club being that the player likely to return is Yves Bissouma as opposed to Pape Matar Sarr, with the Malian captain seemingly not in Thomas Frank’s plans at this stage. It is possible though that the current injury crisis could cause Frank to reconsider his options on this front, and any reinforcements right now are good reinforcements.

Good luck to both Yves and Pape - may the best side win!

I still hate international football.

Good morning, dear hoddlers.

Your hoddler-in-chief spent much of his Thursday night (and the nights before that) packing up his apartment because he is moving to a different part of the District of Columbia.

It’s quite late here.

I want to keep the rest of the hoddle short, and I hope that I’m back in fighting shape next week.

You all know the hoddle drill by now - ignore the hoddle at your own peril.

I hope you enjoy today’s track of the day, though. Been waiting to use it. Today felt like a good time to do so. Every day is a good day to listen to Bob Dylan, but this day feels like an especially good day to do that.

Anyways, be safe and enjoy your weekends. And treat your fellow commenters with respect.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Like A Rolling Stone, by Bob Dylan

And now for your links:

The Standard: “Spurs news: Thomas Frank issues Cristian Romero captaincy update after shock Instagram post”

Alasdair Gold: “Thomas Frank makes Cristian Romero captaincy decision and explains whether Tottenham will fine him”

I know it’s felt like an interminable wait (it’s been eight days) but it looks like Tottenham Hotspur might actually be on the verge of making a first team signing in the January transfer window. Fabrizio Romano is reporting that Spurs have agreed personal terms with Santos left back Souza, and are in active negotiations with his club for an improved transfer fee. Spurs previously had a £8m fee rejected by Santos last week.

So this isn’t a huge update — it’s probably not very difficult to come to a personal terms agreement with a player reportedly making €4k/wk in Brazil — but it is significant, and all signs are pointing towards an agreement, hopefully very soon. It’s also worth noting that Bayern Munich were at least notionally interested in Souza this month as well, though our good buddy Florian Plettenberg says the interest was never THAT serious.

We should all get our expectations in order — Souza is a player for the future, but he’s being brought in to back up Destiny Udogie. That means he’s almost certainly going to get minutes, but will need time to adapt. That said, Spurs desperately need a second natural left back, and Souza’s stats suggest he’s attack-minded, quite good at duels, good at drawing fouls, and a very good crosser of the football. He’s also a cromulent defender, though keep in mind all of these stats are based on 18 months of Brazilian first team football. Even so, if you choose to be hopeful (and at this point, like why not do that?) these are pretty good signs.