Cartilage Free Captain

Tottenham Hotspur have already started planning their summer business. There are two reasons why that may feel like not the greatest idea right now: one, Johan Lange is still running football operations; and two, Spurs don’t actually know the division in which they will be playing next season which heavily impacts budget and targets.

Nonetheless, it’s good to at least have a plan, and the silly season rumors have already begun to heat up long in advance of the conclusion of the season and the transfer window opening. One such rumor that has popped up in the last few days is the name of Marcos Senesi and an apparent link to Spurs. It’s now slightly more than a rumor, as David Orstein of The Athletic, the Ornacle himself, has a report:

Spurs are reportedly the current favorites to sign Argentine center back Senesi - IF they can manage to keep themselves in the Premier League. That’s a big if.

Senesi’s contract at Bournemouth is up at the end of this season, meaning he will enter free agent status in July. He’s therefore started negotiations with several clubs, but Spurs are supposedly the leading contenders. It’s a move that calls into question the status of several players already at Spurs: could Cristian Romero have played his last match for the club? Will Lange take the Micky van de Ven money and run? Will a club come in for Radu Dragusin?

If the answer to the first of those questions was a yes, Senesi would be an intriguing (albeit worse) replacement for Romero. Like his compatriot, Senesi is excellent on the ball, with a very good passing range and the ability to ping a long ball as well. The problem is that he’s not really that great a defender. His positioning has improved this season, but he is often stood up too easily by dribbly attackers and isn’t exactly a dominant aerial presence either. He’s also about to turn 29 (until which time he is 28, of course) so he’s not exactly a long-term investment.

Of course, all of this could (and quite possibly will) be moot come July. Senesi is not interested in playing in the Championship, and has a number of other Premier League clubs vying for his signature. If Spurs go down, Senesi will head to one of those other suitors and not give the Lilywhites a second look.

We have six matches left to see which outcome comes to fruition.

This might really be happening. Tottenham Hotspur is in 18th place, meaning it no longer controls its own destiny. Opta projects Forest to finish with 41 points and West Ham with 38, and expecting Spurs to gain nine points from its final six matches is very uncomfortable. Sure, it certainly is possible for that to happen, but it really does feel like relegation is finally the more likely outcome.

Last weekend was more of the same despite the managerial switch, with lifeless efforts nothing new. Roberto De Zerbi now gets a crack at his old club, who comes into North London having won five of its last six in the Premier League. Hopefully seeing Brighton & Hove Albion brings something extra out of De Zerbi’s men, though no one is banking on that to happen.

Match Details

Date: Saturday, April 18

Time: 12:30 pm ET, 5:30 pm UK

Location: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London

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

Table: Spurs (18th, 30 pts), Brighton (t-9th, 46 pts)

Spurs and Brighton last met a long time ago, drawing 2-2 at the Amex thanks to a two-goal Tottenham comeback. The visitors came into the contest having three of its first four league matches, but obviously have not done a lot of winning since then. In terms of De Zerbi, despite decent success at Brighton, his sides did go just 1-0-3 against Tottenham (though he personally missed one of the losses due to a health issue).

Two Things to Watch

Reinvigorated attack

De Zerbi is here to throw the kitchen sink forward and finally generate some goals for a side that has not scored more than once in any league fixture since the start of February. That did not change at all against Sunderland, and he now faces a defense that is tied for the fifth-fewest goals allowed this season, conceding just three times in its past six league outings.

Obviously the Richarlison-Dominic Solanke-Randal Kolo Muani gambit did not yield any results, but do not expect the aggressive manager to back down. Especially with Cristian Romero now out, this club’s only hope — as slim as it may be — is to keep the foot on the gas and to attempt to overwhelm its opposition. There is not creativity healthy right now, but maybe energy and effort can bridge those gaps.

It does feel like Brighton is not a great side to try this against, but what other options are there? The Seagulls do not offer the league’s most dangerous attack, but have scored multiple goals in four of the past six and are unlikely to be kept off the scoresheet completely. Tottenham needs a little chaos on Sunday, and hopefully some aggression can finally pay off.

The calendar

My journey into this sinking reality is not unique, but seeing Spurs in an actual relegation position IN APRIL has really done it for me. Betting odds have this ultimate disaster at roughly 50 percent, and knowing that Forest and West Ham losing out would still not even be enough unless Tottenham does some work itself is an extremely frightening place to be.

This match feels like the linchpin. Either way, next weekend’s trip to Wolves absolutely must end in three points no matter what, but stumbling again ahead of that makes the pressure for Molineux even heavier. The vibes would be hurt even more by De Zerbi falling to his former employer, and having the home crowd leave disappointed would not help.

The pressure continues to grow, and this will definitely not be the last Cup Final sort of outing. But one look at the fixture list shows just how few opportunities actually remain. Forest have Burnley this weekend, West Ham have Palace; both could easily grab points. If Spurs fall flat once more, the race against the clock might essentially be over.

Kia ora. Matty Flatt here, assistant to the Managing Editor here to close out a week of Hoddles sans-Fitzie (come back to us Fitzie!!!)

Building on Dustin’s Hoddle from yesterday, it may surprise some of you to learn that I follow sports other than football. One of those sports is going through a bit of an identity crisis right now, and it’s thanks to changes in the sport’s rules.

That sport is rugby league, where I am a long-suffering supporter of the Warriors in Australia’s (and New Zealand’s, I guess) NRL competition. The NRL is arguably league’s version of the Premier League: though league is played in other places and competitions around the world, namely England, the NRL is probably considered the highest quality competition - cue loud protests from some of our British readers.

Rugby league is in some ways similar to American football, whereby the team in possession has a certain number of “tackles” (kind of like a “down”) to advance the ball up the field before possession is turned over to the other team. The first of these aforementioned rule changes was implemented back in 2020, where instead of certain infringements around the tackle area (called the “ruck”) resulting in a penalty kick to advance the attacking team upfield, the referee would award “six again”, restarting the tackle count with the play continuing without halting. The idea being was this would increase the speed of the game and keep things free-flowing, minimizing the stoppages generated from the referee blowing his whistle.

(What I should add is the standard of refereeing around penalties was quite poor, meaning referees would often hesitate to blow their whistle for a penalty, but now have no problem awarding a six again. Sound familiar?)

Initially, this was seen as a reasonably welcome change, with the thought that this could increase some of the quality of play and give more of an edge to the smaller, technical players as the larger players tired. Unfortunately, the NRL decided to make things even more “exciting” this season and increase the areas on the field where a six again call could be made (in these areas previously, a penalty would be awarded instead, but ya know, the referees don’t do that) - and it’s changed the game for the worse.

There already had been an increase in injuries due to the faster speed of play, meaning more strain on athlete’s bodies; this has now been exacerbated, and rather than making contests more exciting it’s now made them hugely more one-sided. Basically, six again calls tire the defending team, and as you get more tired, you are going to try slow the game down to recover (either intentionally or unintentionally), concede more six agains, and so on and so forth. It becomes a vicious cycle.

This means there have been a number of scoreline blowouts this season, and it’s also removed the efficacy of some of the more physical players, changing the sport from a more gladitorial outlet to something more resembling touch footy.

It brings to mind other rule changes over the years that have resulted in identity crises for sports - some for the better, some not. The offside rule in football was hugely controversial when it came in but arguably changed football for the better, whereas some of the officiating now around set pieces is having the opposite effect (though that’s less of a rule change and more around how the rules are interpreted and enforced). Some are for player safety reasons: cricket added a rope inside the fence to mark the boundary for sixes and fours (like baseball’s home runs) to stop fielders hurting themselves on the fence, and rugby outlawed the act of rucking (kicking with one’s foot to try and retrieve the ball from under a pile of players).

Are there any rule changes in sports you follow that have had a huge impact on the way the game is played? Was it for the better?

Matty Flatt’s track of the day: Games Without Frontiers (Massive/DB Mix), by Peter Gabriel

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold breaks down Spurs’ remaining fixtures in their fight for survival

ICYMI: James Maddison is back in training, via Spurs Official Twitter

The Athletic ($) takes a look at some of the data around the relegation battle (spoiler alert: it doesn’t look great for Spurs)

This Youtube vid from Adam Clery takes a look at De Zerbi’s tactics and what we can glean from the Sunderland match

Editor’s note: this was scheduled to go live at 2:30 a.m. this morning! I tried! I really really tried!

Hi, Hoddlers. Happy Thursday.

I know that now is not a very fun time to be a Tottenham Hotspur fan, and that watching soccer has probably fallen down most people’s priority lists these days. I get it. I feel the same. I have the added pressure of this being my literal job to watch and cover Tottenham, and if it not for that I’d likely be checking out some myself.

So that got me thinking — what are some other sports that are on right now that you’re watching? If Tottenham is ludus ingratus at the moment, are there other SPORTBALL TEAMS that are scratching that itch for you?

I’ve got a few, and here are mine. I should note that I’m not a baseball fan and so that’s not included here, but if you are, fantastic! You do you!

I kind of fell in love with Aussie Rules football during the pandemic when most sports were shut down. AFL was one of the few sports that continued with modified rules and very few (and properly distanced) spectators. I don’t know why I picked Port Adelaide as my team to follow, but I’m now a dedicated Power fan and have been for a few years now. It’s a little bit harder these days to follow the team from the United States, and especially now since FOX Sports doesn’t carry every match anymore, but I manage. And there are other teams that I Tivo (god, who remembers Tivo, and why do I still default to that word to describe digital recording of TV shows and sports?) when Port Adelaide is not on American telly. Carn the pear! ← [basically “Come on the Power” in a heavy Australian accent]

WNBA

I’m a college basketball junkie, but I’ve never really transferred that to the NBA, ever. It’s just not my thing and there are way, way too many games. So imagine my surprise last year when I started watching Indiana Fever games with my wife, very much not a sports fan but who enjoys the snot out of the WNBA? My partner learned about and started following Caitlin Clark (despite her legions of, uh, problematic fans) and was thrilled that she played for our “local” team. And I’ve really come to appreciate the excitement and fun of the WNBA. It’s just a great league to watch, family friendly, and super competitive. I love it. We plan to attend a Fever game or two in Indianapolis once I have a settled medical situation.

Formula 1

Okay, big caveat here — I am a gargantuan F1 casual. I don’t support any one team, or any one driver (though if I have to choose I probably gravitate towards Alex Albon who seems like an underrated driver stuck on a pretty bad team, and as a childhood Mario Andretti fan I’m Cadillac-curious). I do, however, kinda enjoy the spectacle of it all, even if it is a billionaire sport run and driven by wealthy people and funded by shady financial orgs and nation-states. I’ll be honest and say I blitz through recorded qualifying and races and don’t watch the whole thing, but I still find it quite fun. And screw Max Verstappen, the whiny git.

Professional Women’s’ Volleyball

I’ve watched both Major League Volleyball and the LOVB league (which is playing now) whenever I’ve managed to find a live game on in the evenings, and I’ve also watched a fair amount of Big Ten collegiate volleyball whenever it’s on. Again, I’m a casual and don’t follow any one team but I find the sport to be super compelling and fun to watch, and I think it’s awesome that we live in an era where women’s volleyball is not only on TV but apparently widely supported! That rules.

What are the sports that are getting you through the rough times right now? Share them in the comments.

Song of the Day: “Camel Walk” by Itai Armon

Here are your daily Tottenham links.

Want some good news? ‘Course ya do. Sky Sports tweeted today a video that shows midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur back in full training with Tottenham Hotspur. Another (potentially) healthy central midfielder? Rejoice!

And of course here comes Dustin the buzzkill reminding everyone that 1) Bentancur’s probably not going to be featuring much (if at all) over the next couple of games as he works his way back to fitness after a several month absence. Also, there’s a propensity among Spurs fans to think that a player returning from a long term injury will immediately revert to his pre-injury form and that’s just probably not the case here. Not only has he not kicked a football in several months, he’s still just not the same player as he was before the big knee injury that kept him out almost a year.

To be clear, Rodrigo adds a (little bit of) passing dimension that’s currently lacking in this injury-ravaged side and that will probably be welcome, but I’m not sure his return moves the needle THAT much considering this is still a Tottenham squad constructed under the Johan Lange assumption that passing, like birds, isn’t real. It’s good to have him back, eventually, but Bentancur’s still the same guy he always has been for the past 12 months.

Hi, folks. It’s me again with the late Hoddle. No essay today — it’s Chemo Day and I just don’t wanna. So instead let’s hope we have some positive Tottenham Hotspur news today and leave it at that.

And for those who are following along, I’m doing okay. Three more full-freight treatments to go, including today, then another scan and blood work, and then we figure out where to go from here. I’m doing fine. Thanks for your concern.

Song of the Day: “Watch Me Go” by Lord Huron

Cuti Romero left the pitch in tears after picking up an injury in Spurs’ 1-0 loss at Sunderland on Sunday (Sundayerland? Let’s go with that, finally). Well, I say “picked up an injury” but it was really caused by Bryan Brobbey two-handed shoving him into keeper Antonin Kinsky, something that injured both players.

According to ESPN’s Martin Arevalo, that Brobbey shove is likely the end of Cuti’s season, and quite possibly his Tottenham career if Spurs don’t manage to save themselves from relegation. Arevalo reports that Romero has picked up a knee injury and will be out for the next 5-8 weeks.

Considering Spurs have six matches left, there’s serious doubt that he’ll be ready in time for any of Tottenham’s run-in. If it’s an MCL injury, which is what was surmised, the shorter recovery time means that he could still be part of Argentina’s squad for this summer’s World Cup, which is fantastic for him. Not so much for us.

I still am baffled by match official Rob Jones’ decision to not even whistle Brobbey for a foul, when he clearly shoved Romero directly into Kinsky. VAR couldn’t adjudicate it because it wasn’t whistled by Jones at the time, and VAR cannot retroactively issue cards that go against the match official’s on-pitch decision. That was very clearly at minimum a yellow card worthy offense, which would’ve been Brobbey’s second and a red. Instead we end up with two injured players (Kinsky had a cut on his head and will be fine) and a loss in what was one of the worst officiated matches I’ve seen in a very, very long time.

As you can tell, I’m still angry about this. We might have just witnessed the last appearance by Romero in a Spurs shirt, as it’s pretty clear he’s going to ask to be sold if Spurs are relegated. If they save themselves though… well, let’s not cross that bridge until we come to it.

Good morning, Hoddlers! I am a bad Hoddler because I keep forgetting that I need to actually write the Hoddle. This is why I am in awe of Fitzie, Pardeep, Salmon Chase, Vince, and all the past Hoddlers for churning out content like this on a strict schedule every day. I run the damn blog and I can’t manage to do that.

Anyway, did anyone else watch the Masters final round yesterday? I have a complicated relationship with the Masters. It’s indisputably the best major golf tournament, but it’s hampered by its past — I can see behind the thin veneer of Augusta’s beauty and note that it did not allow Black members until 1990 and women members until 2012!

Unfortunately, it’s still a compelling golf tournament, and yesterday Rory McIlroy did something incredibly difficult — he won his 2nd green jacket in a row by a stroke after carrying a two shot lead into the 18th. I’m not really a golf fan and don’t have a favorite player or anything, but I like watching Rory play — he was just a machine on that last round, and watching him celebrate after tapping in the winning putt was really really cool. My dumbest golf take is that if you win your second Masters, you get green pants instead of a jacket, and you’re forced to wear them anywhere you go in public.

Anyway, it was a close finish with a number of players finishing within a shot or two of McIlroy, and that makes the tournament much more fun.

Tottenham Hotspur are not a good team this season. This has been conclusively proven. However, it’s very difficult to win a football match when you’re playing against not only the other team at their home ground, but also the match officials. Spurs endured what was an absolute horror of an officiating performance from Rob Jones, including declining to issue a second yellow to Brian Brobbey for both elbowing Pedro Porro in the face, and shoving Cuti Romero into Antonin Kinsky, a play that injured them both. It’d be hard to say that Tottenham played WELL, but they certainly didn’t play poorly enough to lose this match.

The only goal in the match was a heavily deflected goal from Nordi Mukiele that went off of Micky van de Ven and unluckily looked into the top corner over Kinsky. Spurs had a legitimate penalty waved off by VAR, and had a couple of other half chances that were squandered by poor finishing from starter Dominic Solanke. Pedro Porro fired over bar in injury time, but for the most part Spurs rarely looked like they were going to score, which has been an issue the entire season. Spurs got 11 minutes of extra time after an extended injury pause to attend to Romero and Kinsky, but the end result was still a catastrophic 1-0 loss that keeps Spurs without a Premier League win since December 28, and that keeps them in 18th place, two points behind West Ham.

It’s bleak, folks. Extremely bleak. Here are my match reactions.

Match Reactions

There was more outrage on social media over De Zerbi leaving Xavi Simons on the bench than there was about his two “notpologies” for his sexual assault apologia, and no I’m not shutting up about this.

De Zerbi’s first lineup is a 4-3-3, with Gray and Gallagher deeper, and Bergvall playing the 10 role. Bergvall’s position high up the pitch led to an early half-chance. Honestly surprised that it’s not Gallagher at the 10 but Bergvall was quite good in that role today, at least in the first half — he trailed off badly and ran out of steam in the second.

Look, I’m typing this bullet 10 minutes into the match but this is already better than what we’ve seen under Frank and Tudor. It’s a shame we have no healthy true wingers and passing still isn’t real. (UPDATE: that was actually the high point of the match)

That tackle on Kolo Muani — look, I’m not saying that it’s a red, but if Romero makes that tackle with that exact same contact, it’s a red and I will die on this hill. But to not give ANY kind of foul is madness.

On the not-penalty — I’ll concede that VAR got the call right and it was not a penalty, but I’m baffled how it was given as a drop-ball to the keeper and not a corner, since it went out of play off a Sunderland player.

I feel like I complain about the ref every single match recently but holy crap Rob Jones is COOKED. Sunderland were getting away with so much and Spurs were the team that ended up with three yellows in that first half and after Brobbey elbowed Pedro Porro in the face? Brother…

Far from showing nerves, Tonda Kinsky looked pretty good in goal — commanded his area well, no real mistakes, and two pretty fantastic saves in the first half. He needed that. We ALL needed that after Madrid.

I continue to wonder what the point of Dominic Solanke is.

De Zerbi’s first subs was a triple sub with Sarr, Palhinha and Tel coming on for Gray, Bergvall, and Richarlison… and still Xavi Simons is stuck on the bench. Is he a crap trainer? I don’t get it.

Figures that Sunderland’s goal was a complete garbage deflected effort off of Van de Ven that somehow went in. That’s just how this season has gone. What can you even say?

I don’t know how Brobbey wasn’t sent off for that shove on Romero into Kinsky that injured both of them. Absolutely insane not to call that, and he injured both Romero and Kinsky. Honestly, at this point I cannot rule out a PGMOL conspiracy to get Spurs relegated, and this is ME saying that.

Noted that Romero left the pitch in tears, as though he knows what just happened was serious and that he might miss the World Cup. Will be closely watching the post-match to see if we learn anything.

Good: Kinsky, Richarlison, Gray, Romero. Bad: Solanke, Gallagher, Tel. Mixed: Bergvall, RKM, Udogie, Pedro Porro. Inexplicably absent until way too late: Xavi.

Look, we’re going down. I’m resigned to that now, and we can argue about who has the lion’s share of the blame for that (it’s everyone). But it feels pretty clear to me that Spurs have gotten zero, and in fact actually negative, help from the officials in that regard this season. This should’ve been, at worst, an away draw for Spurs. Instead it’s a crippling loss, and it sucks.

And with that, Tottenham Hotspur are in the relegation zone. West Ham United’s win earlier in the matchweek against Wolverhampton Wanderers propelled the Hammers above Spurs into 17th, and have left the Lilywhites with some job to prevent relegation. The destiny of this great North London club is still in the players’ hands, though: with a win against Sunderland Spurs can escape 18th place.

If that’s not enough drama to add to this away match, there’s also the fact that this will be Roberto De Zerbi’s first match in charge of the team. The Italian has a lot of questions to answer, many of which are not football related; but the question that will be front of mind for many fans today will be how on earth he will shape this group of players into the form of something resembling a football team.

It’s going to be an uphill battle; can Spurs overcome?

COYS, because why not?

Lineups

Lineups will be posted closer to kick-off.

Live Blog

How to Watch

Sunderland vs. Tottenham Hotspur

Stadium of Light, Sunderland, UK

Sunday, April 12, 2026

Time: 9:00 a.m. ET, 2:00 p.m. UK

TV: USA Network, Sky Sports Main Event (UK). Check international listings at livesoccertv.com

Streaming: Unavailable

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!