Cartilage Free Captain

good morning everyone!

not much use in a hoddle today, is there? sure you’ll all be banging about the england (and argentina) match from wednesday. there’s not footie on today. what’s a hoddle to do?

it’s hot out there. by there i mean france, and everywhere, but specifically france, where tadej pogacar and a hundred-plus other cyclists are competing in the tour de france.

one stage was shortened because of the heat, and the cycllists are wearing these cool ice packs on their chests to not overheat.

the tour hasn’t reached the alps yet, so this statistic is relatively fresh and likely subject to change, but the socials are saying the average temp right now is 32.4C (compared to 23.3C last year). again, we’re not in the alps yet.

still, the heat has led pogacar to change the tour de france calendar because of the heat. he might have a point. it’s happening during the hottest months of the year, and it isn’t aas if these cyclists are going out at 6am. the stages begin around noon every day and last til around 5 or 6pm - those are peak temps.

pogacar also seems to be the one handling the heat the best. he’s in first after all. crushing it actually. some (including fitzie) say he’s already won the tour. he just needs to finish the race now.

Fitzie’s track of the day: House of the Rising Sun, by Donald Byrd

And now for your links:

BBC: “‘Passive’ and ‘crumbled’ - did Tuchel’s defensive tactics cost England?”

Matt Law: “Thomas Tuchel backed by FA and set to stay for Euro 2028”

good morning everyone - today is a big day for football, isn’t it?

First things first: The good news.

Tottenham Hotspur will have a World Cup champion in their squad for a third consecutive time. The question is who will it be? Cristian Romero again (probably not, since he’s rumoured to leave)? Marcos Senesi? Pedro Porro? Djed Spence?

Today’s hoddle is caught between the crosscurrents of Taskmaster and the Three Lions. I don’t remember where I first heard it, but two former Taskmaster contestants - Frank Skinner and David Baddiel - penned the song Three Lions.

If you aren’t familiar with the song, this is the whole “Football’s coming home” chant. It’s sometimes said ironically, but how about this year?

Here’s a snippet of David Baddiel talking about how they approached the song, via The Guardian: “Three Lions, really, is a song about magical thinking. About assuming we are going to lose, reasonably, based on experience, but hoping that somehow we won’t.”

It’s such a 1990s music video too!

I didn’t realise David Baddiel had such a strong connection to the English football landscape. I only knew him as the hapless contestant on Taskmaster Series 9. There were a few times where he talked about how he wrote a few number-one songs.

Given his performance in the series, I didn’t believe him at the time.

But this video (55M views on Youtube!) and its enduring legacy with the Three Lions are living proof that he indeed wrote a smash hit with Frank Skinner that stands the test of time.

Fitzie’s track of the day: For Regulars Only, by Dexter Gordon

And now for your links:

The Athletic ($$): “Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes – a game-changing double pivot for Roberto De Zerbi’s Spurs?”

Alasdair Gold: “Tottenham confirm club record deal but must not make it a transfer trend this summer”

BBC: “A special team beats brilliant individuals - how silky Spain flattened France”

The Independent: “How an unlikely Spain player stunned France to clinch World Cup final berth”

The Telegraph: “Kane accuses ITV of trying to create rift in England’s World Cup camp”

There’s been plenty of conflicting information this summer surrounding Cuti Romero. Is he leaving Tottenham Hotspur? Is he staying and committing to the project? How much could Spurs get for their current club captain? The latest info comes from Fabrizio Romano (sigh) who says that Cuti is expected to depart Tottenham this summer, and the clubs currently looking at him include Inter Milan and Barcelona.

The Inter rumor is both interesting and also pretty hilarious, especially since Inter are broke bois and I have serious doubts they’d be able to afford anything near what Cuti would cost. Now, Spurs are likely to sell him for a lower fee than they’d charge a Premier League club and for good reason — with the amount of silly money floating around the Premier League this summer there’s no good reason to sell him to a rival for anything less and stupid cash. I mean, if Luka Vuskovic is worth £50m in this market, what must one of the best defenders in the league and a World Cup winner command?

In fact, the only way I can see Inter buying Cuti this summer is if he really doesn’t have a market and that drives the price down, but still I can’t see him going for lest than £40-45m. Spurs are probably shopping him around and are likely hoping Barcelona makes their (supposed) interest more concrete.

It sure does sound like Cuti will be heading off to pastures new this summer, and fans are undoubtedly going to have differing opinions on that. Those who have fallen out of love the big galoot will be celebrating. People like me who thinks Cuti is unfairly officiated and gets a bunch of undeserved stick while still being an excellent defender are more likely to be disappointed.

But a moderate-to-big Cuti sale will go a ways towards helping offset some of Spurs’ large expenditures in the transfer window this summer, and possibly free up more funds for another exciting signing.

It’s done. Well, it’s been done for a while but now it’s official. Tottenham Hotspur formally announced the departure of defender Luka Vuskovic to Brighton & Hove Albion. Spurs will receive a guaranteed £48m in fees, and the contract includes a 20% sell-on whenever Brighton decide to sell Vuskovic in the future (EDIT: plus the option to match and supersede any potential offer).

The move comes before the Croatian wunderkind even made an official first team appearance with Spurs. Tottenham agreed to purchasehe Vuskovic from his boyhood club Hajkuk Split when he was 15, but weren’t able to formally sign him until he turned 18. In the meantime, Vuskovic spent his time eternally on loan — first at Radomiak Radom in Poland, then a stint at Westerlo in Belgium before his impressive loan with Hamburg in the Bundesliga last season. That Hamburg season was amazing — he was named to the Bundesliga team of the season and by season’s end he had cemented his status as one of the most talented young players in Europe.

However, he still seemed seemingly stuck as a 4th or 5th choice CB at Tottenham Hotspur, and there were questions as to whether his skill set would transfer to Roberto De Zerbi’s new tactics at Spurs. Vuskovic is excellent in the air and positionally solid, but his speed is something of a concern in the fast-paced Premier League. Named to Croatia’s World Cup squad, Vuskovic and his agents started making noise this summer about wanting to leave the club, eventually leading to where we are now.

£50m+ for a 19-year-old defender who hasn’t played in the Premier League yet is very good money, and Tottenham made the decision to cash in on his potential rather than keep a potentially unhappy future star on the bench. Vuskovic clearly just wanted to play ball, and he’ll have a much better chance of getting regular playing time at Brighton (replacing Jan Paul van Hecke, now at Spurs) than if he stayed in north London. I would’ve wished for a buy-back clause in the deal, but getting 20% of any future sale is a nice cherry on top of the cake.

I wish I could’ve seen Luka play for us at least once, but that’s not to be. Tottenham made a business decision with Vuskovic, and considering the outlay they’ve already spent on transfers this summer, it’s not a dumb move from a business perspective. But we’ll always be wondering what might have happened if we had stuck to our guns.

Too late — now we will see just how close Vuskovic gets to fulfilling his incredible promise. Good luck, Luka. Don’t score against us.

Good morning everyone - A whole day has passed without World Cup football. Thank goodness it’s back.

C’mon, you must’ve known there would be a documentary about Jose Mourinho someday, right? Whether you love him or hate him (and I think I have a guess on which side the large majority of this blog falls), Mourinho has been one of the most compelling figures in football over the last two decades.

So, of course, he would make for an excellent documentary.

Now, for those of you who might remember, Mourinho had a little bit of a dry run at the whole documentary thing a few years ago. Remember that whole All or Nothing documentary? Where Mourinho was brought in for the recently sacked Mauricio Pochettino? Was that really six years ago?

I’d rather not watch that again. What a strange capsule in time it was. Pochettino’s out the door, Mourinho is brought in. Tanguy N’Dombele is there. So are Gedson Fernandes, Moussa Sissoko and Mourinho’s man Joao Sacramento - also this was during the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This all leads me to wonder how much Mourinho’s spell at Spurs will feature in this upcoming three-part documentary (if at all). It’s already clear he doesn’t have the greatest affection for the club, so I reckon any mention of his time there will not be glowingly met.

Still undecided if you’re going to watch this one? Don’t worry, you have nearly a full month to make up your mind. It debuts on 11 August.

Staying far away from this one? Don’t worry, I’m sure there are plenty of other things to watch on 11 August. Maybe The Odyssey will still be in the cinemas.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Traffic Lights, by Flea

And now for your links:

GQ: “Djed Spence, England’s World Cup cult hero, has a killer watch game too”

BBC: “Most clinical? Least creative? Best in the air? Comparing the last four”

The Guardian: “Diego Forlán succeeds Marcelo Bielsa as Uruguay manager on temporary basis”

ESPN: “USWNT to host world No. 1 Spain in two friendlies in October”

Will Lankshear is a player in demand. One season removed from an impressive loan at at bad Championship side in Oxford United where he scored 11 goals and notched 2 assists as a striker, Tottenham Hotspur have now had to reject three “approaches” for him from Sporting, Southampton, and Wolves, according to Alasdair Gold in Football.London.

You can understand why. BIG WILLY LANKS is impressing in the English second division, and now at age 21 he’s nearing the point where Spurs will either need to integrate him into the first team, or sell him. Based on the current evidence, Tottenham seem to be signalling that they’re not that interested in the latter option.

Or are they? Gold notes, correctly, that “approaches” are not the same thing as actual bids, and if a club is serious about bringing in Big Willy this summer they’ll likely have to pony up a transfer fee in the eight figures. That’s good money for a player who hasn’t proved himself at the Premier League level, and Gold implies the club may have to put some thought into what they want to do with him.

It’s not the easiest of decisions. Lankshear’s value to Spurs is not just his potential as a first team striker — he’s also both homegrown and club-trained, making him an invaluable squad player should Spurs qualify for European competition next season. The jury’s still out on Lankshear’s ceiling — he’s a big, strong striker who thrives on service and he did a good job despite playing on an Oxford team that played some absolute terror-ball tactics last season. He could explode given the right chance, or he could level out at Championship/lower-level Premier League striker. But I still feel it’s too soon to say.

Lankshear is probably not too keen on another loan this upcoming season after spending the past two seasons out at West Brom and Oxford. That said, it’s also not clear how much game time he’s going to get if he sticks around Tottenham, with two senior strikers ahead of him and the possibility that Roberto De Zerbi might demand another one (possibly replacing Richy). Gold also notes that Spurs’ decision on BIG WILLY LANKS might also impact what they do with the OTHER talented U23 striker on their books — 18-year-old Irish full international forward Mason Melia.

For that reason, it probably makes the most sense for Spurs to keep Lankshear around for at least most of the preseason. Take him on the tour to Australia and New Zealand. Throw him into the squad in a couple more friendlies, see how he does. It’s possible the results of that could influence Spurs’ decision on what to do with him longer term. Since they don’t appear keen on selling him, then give him a raise and a loan to a good club in the Champo or Bundesliga.

That said, who knows — we might have another diamond in the rough on our hands. Or, as one member of Carty Free’s Slack channel put it, “He’s had a better loan career than Harry Kane, so it stands to reason he’ll have a better senior career as well.” I’ll buy that for a dollar.

One of the more emotional farewells from last season came at the end of the Women’s Super League campaign, when Bethany England’s contract expired and Tottenham Hotspur Women opted not to offer her a new deal. It was a surprising decision, considering the enormous impact England had on Spurs over the past few seasons. England quickly became Spurs’ all time leading WSL goal scorer and was a massive addition to the club — at times Beth put the entire team on her back and willed them to results, and she quickly became club captain. Losing her felt like a gut punch, not just to the club but to Spurs fans who have loved watching her play in lilywhite the past three seasons.

A free agent, England had her choice as to where to go next, and she has decided to sign with Crystal Palace Women, according to Pete O’Rourke.

Now good ol’ Sports Peeto is not a source we generally rely on here at Carty Free Towers, but he does occasionally have the odd scoop and this appears to be one of them. Palace spent the past season down a division in WSL2, but directly promoted along with Birmingham City Women, finishing second in the table. England’s decision to head to a newly promoted side might tell us something about the decision to let her go.

As important as England was to Spurs over the past three seasons, she was showing signs of slowing down in 2025-26, with Martin Ho often preferring Cathinka Tandberg in starting lineups and opting to bring England in as an impact sub. England is nearing the end of her football career — she’s 32, and while women tend to play on average a little longer than men do in football, she’s got a lot of miles on the tires.

Moving to Palace does feel a bit like (sob sob sob) confirmation that England is no longer the player she was. She’ll almost certainly be one of the best players (if not the best player) at Palace, and I have no doubt she’ll still be a load to mark when Spurs play them this season. But the fact that a lot of other, much better, clubs passed her up might signify that she’s no longer at the level that she was.

There’s another possibility too — England obviously has agency and she might have chosen Palace as the interested club where she could make the biggest impact. But that choice tells us something too.

All players eventually decline. It’s part of the process. It doesn’t minimize all of the incredible things Beth England did while at Spurs, and we can look back at the past three years with pride and with gratitude. But Spurs’ decision to let her go and her choice to join Palace does make it sound like she’s entering a new, less impactful phase in her football career.

Good morning everyone - We have off days for both the World Cup and the Tour de France today, and I don’t think anyone is that interested in the tennis tournaments in Gstad, Umag, or Bastad . The great news is this gives us lots of time to talk about Wimbledon.

This time we’re going to be focusing on just the women’s final, where Linda Noskova defeated her Czech countrywoman Karolina Muchova 6-2 5-7 6-3. Noskova raced out ahead to a 6-2 5-2 lead before the nerves of her first Grand Slame title got to her, and Muchova saved several championship points to force a third set.

But then Noskova settled early on and, like the first set, overpowered the crafty Muchova.

For those of you who might’ve not watched the game, there are a couple things between the second and third sets worth noting:

Noskova plugged her ears after the end of the second set to block out the noise

She stared down the Venus Rosewater Dish before the third set began

It’s a pretty bold move to do something like that, but Noskova showed incredible poise for almost the entirety of the match. Aside from those five games at the end of the second, it was clear that his was her match to lose.

Muchova is a terrific player who has modeled her game after Roger Federer. Perhaps that’s why she’s so beloved by tennis fans with that lovely chip-backhand, the way she runs around to hit her forehand (very Federer-esque) and her crisp volleys.

Yet she made a few mistakes in her return game. She tried to force Noskova to serve it to her backhand, but the 21-year-old kept pushing Muchova to the backhand side, which was especially deadly on the advantage side of the court.

I think what struck me the most, though, was the on-court ceremony after the match. I wanted both players to win (I would’ve preferred Muchova - see above). But they’re both very good for women’s tennis. And there are times we learn a little bit more about the champions of the sport, like how we learned about Noskova on Saturday:

Here’s another fun fact for you all: For those of you who don’t know the tennis calendar, the offseason is very short (mayne no more than a few weeks). Noskova spent some of her time during the offseason to volunteer in Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania.

There she volunteered at a school of 300 pupils, living in a volunteer house with shared rooms. Here’s a quick quote from the WTA site from December: “This trip opened my eyes in ways I didn’t expect, and it reminded me how fortunate we are -- an experience I believe everyone should have at least once in their life.”

Saturday’s win is a huge jump for Noskova, whose best result at a Grand Slam before this was the quarterfinals of the 2024 Australian Open. She’s actually had some pretty disappointing major tournaments before Wimbledon, and it’d be great if this one unlocked something in her game.

She moves up to Number 6 in the world.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Solitude, by Billie Holiday

And now for your links:

BBC: “England have another level we can reach - Kane”

The Telegraph: “Fifa looking at 64-team World Cup, says Gianni Infantino”

Vogue: “At 21, Linda Nosková Becomes the Youngest Wimbledon Champion in 15 Years”

We are down to four teams left in the 2026 World Cup — France, Spain, England, and Argentina. If those were the four teams you expected to make the semifinal before the tournament began, well, congratulations — you like picking tournament favorites. In this case, however, you were right. We’ve got a reboot of the Franco-Spanish war from 1635 on one side, and the Falklands war of 1982 on the other. Any team could beat any other team. It’s gonna be a fun one.

We also don’t have any football games until Tuesday. That’s wild. I’ve ingested so much football over the past month that I’ll spend the break sitting in the corner with my knees under my chin rocking back and forth and shaking with withdrawal symptoms.

If you want, there’s plenty of controversy to talk about in this one, not least being a goal kick that apparently? deflected off of a spidercam cable and led to one of England’s goals, plus a Norway goal that was called back after Erling Haaland shoved a dude in the chest before the corner. Was it good football? Ehhhhhhhh. England came out playing at half speed for the first 20 minutes and only kicked it into gear in the second half. But Jude Bellingham is Good at Football™ and Djed Spence again showed Thomas Tuchel why he should be starting every match with an impressive late substitute appearance. England move on to face Argentina.

I’ll admit I didn’t stay up late to watch this one and am relying on highlights for this summary. In short: Alexis Mac Allister looks like the most sunburned person in Argentina, and the Swiss deserved to lose for that absolutely ludicrous flop by Breel Embolo that resulted in a second yellow card and his sending off. Alvarez’s extra time goal was a magnificent strike.

So. It’s down to the Final Four (ERROR - trademark infringed, sending corporate enforcement bots). Who do you think will meet in the final? Put it in the comments and let’s chat.

Last season, a number of Tottenham Hotspur’s young academy graduates and U23 stars went out and had successful loans. 20-year-old English/Moroccan right winger Yusuf Akhamrich was one of those players — he spent half the season on loan at League 2 Bristol Rovers where he scored six goals and had two assists in just over 900 minutes.

That loan to League 2 has prompted another one this season — Yusuf is heading back out but up a division, and is heading to League One Leyton Orient on a season long loan.

Akhamrich has been somewhat under the radar in terms of hype profile, but he’s considered one of the best players to come out of the academy in a while, and his loan to Bristol Rovers last season was certainly eye-opening. He has two years left on his initial professional contract, but his pathway to the first team is pretty well blocked at the moment with numerous players expected ahead of him. A loan is the right answer at this time, and Leyton Orient is a club Spurs have a good relationship with; they’ve sent a number of players there in recent years, and it is notably the club where one Harold Edward Kane, OBE, got his start.

Akhamrich is certainly a player Spurs fans will want to keep an eye on. I keep hammering on about this but youth development is rarely a straight line and there are no guarantees he’ll break into the first team, but he’s one that has a lot of promise. We’ll see how he does in the third division this season.