Cartilage Free Captain

It’s March - it’s Madness!

It’s that time of year again where the best 68 college basketball teams in the US fight in a winner-take-all tournament. Every year March Madness lights up televisions across America, stories of Cinderella are told and a king is crowned.

St John’s (where your hoddler-in-chief went to university) return to the tournament after being crowned Big East champions for a second year running.

The reward: A five seed. Which is dumb and renders the entire Big East tournament meaningless. But apparently a Week 2 defeat to Alabama carries more weight than beating UConn twice. And how the 10th-ranked team in the country gets a five seed is also baffling to me.

Anyways enough of my ranting. At the risk of spoiling any bracket competitions I am participating in this year, I am going to be sharing my thoughts on the field from Elite Eight onwards. Let’s get to it:

Elite Eight:

St John’s (5) vs Michigan State (3)

Florida (1) vs Houston (2)

Arizona (1) vs Purdue (2)

Michigan (1) vs Iowa State (2)

Only one double-digit team advanced to the Sweet 16 last year (don’t remind me), and all four number-one seeds reached the Final Four. Can that seriously happen again?

I kind of hope it doesn’t pan out this way because where’s the excitement in that? My big guess is that the St Johns defense overwhelms Duke, the tournament’s top seed overall, and that Tom Izzo’s Michigan State takes out UConn (apologies to any New Englanders out there).

Otherwise it’s hard to see where the upsets will be coming from. Can Vanderbilt (5) give Florida trouble again in the Sweet 16? Houston look about as strong as a one seed. I think Arizona could be in some trouble regardless if they play Wisconsin (5) or John Calipari’s Arkansas (4) in the Sweet 16, but analysts love picking Arizona to win it all this year.

Then Michigan’s got a pretty easy draw up to Iowa State.

Final Four:

Michigan State (3) vs Houston (2)

Arizona (1) vs Michigan (1)

Call me crazy but I’m not sold on Florida this year. They lost to Duke, UConn and Arizona (although I’m ignoring that same logic in the St John’s debate), and also had a bad loss against TCU in out-of-conference play.

I think Arizona gets through the gauntlet, while Michigan is able to ride a bit of momentum in fending off Iowa State. Mostly, I just cannot imagine three teams from the Big 12 in the Final Four.

Championship Game:

Arizona (1) def Houston (2)

Could the title finally be heading back to the West Coast? It can, if Arizona doesn’t choke again in this Big 12 matchup.

I’m not thrilled with this bracket. I kind of want to pick Wisconsin over Arizona in the Sweet 16 because I think it’ll be fun, and because Wisconsin have given some top teams a lot of trouble lately. But if I do that, then who goes to the Final Four? And the who goes to the championship game?

Or should I just pick SJU again?

Fitzie’s track of the day: Clarion-Clipperton Zone, by Laurel Halo

And now for your links:

The Athletic ($$): “Tottenham went back to basics at Liverpool – and it could be what keeps them up”

The Standard: “Richarlison can save Tottenham and Atletico Madrid ban is blessing in disguise”

Alasdair Gold: “Igor Tudor’s brutal message to Johan Lange and why he got so irritated at Liverpool”

BBC: “How Chelsea signed a star team with hidden payments”

Tottenham may have another match — the return leg against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League — to play first, but there could be as many as five players that could be available for Igor Tudor in next weekend’s relegation six-pointer against Nottingham Forest.

The Standard looked at Spurs’ injury list and also comments recently made by Tudor to put a timeline on the return of a number of players missing from Sunday’s draw at Liverpool. There’s the chance that five players could be back in time for Forest — Destiny Udogie, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Joao Palhinha, and Conor Gallagher.

Romero and Palhinha are perhaps the two freshest in the mind — both were out vs. Liverpool because they collided head-to-head in the waning moments of the Champions League first leg against Atleti at the Wanda. Both missed out due to concussion protocol but could be back in time for Forest, if not for the return leg tomorrow.

Gallagher is also on the verge of a return after missing the Liverpool match with a fever. If he’s feeling better tomorrow, he’ll probably play or be on the bench, but it sounds like he should be perfectly good to go for this weekend.

Destiny Udogie has been out since February with a hamstring injury, but Tudor said he “for sure” would be ready for Forest. That’s a huge boost to Spurs, who have been making do with Pedro Porro, Djed Spence, Souza, and occasionally Archie Gray at fullback. Udogie is a lock-down starter at left back, and his return will be pretty important for Spurs’ run-in.

Van de Ven’s return is much more straight forward — he was suspended one match, vs. Liverpool, for picking up a DOGSO red card against Crystal Palace, but he has completed his suspension and will almost certainly be playing — and starting — tomorrow vs. Atleti, and again this weekend against Forest.

The Standard also gave updates on a few of the players with more nebulous return dates — there’s no update on Yves Bissouma who missed the last match with a knock, but Lucas Bergvall, Rodrigo Bentancur, and Mohammed Kudus are both targeting returns in April after the upcoming international break. Dejan Kulusevski is a big ol’ shruggie emoji, and both Wilson Odobert and James Maddison are not expected to play again until next season. Ben Davies, whose contract expires this summer, is hoping to be fit in time to play in the World Cup for Wales this summer.

It’s an extensive list, but five players back is pretty massive. Spurs were without 13 first team players against Liverpool and having even a handful of them returning is pretty important as Spurs target improvement and critical points in their Premier League run-in.

Tottenham Hotspur have a mountain to climb if they want to advance in the Champions League after losing the first leg of their Round of 16 tie with Atletico Madrid by a score of 5-2. But they might have just gotten a small boost — there are reports now that Atletico starting keeper Jan Oblak will miss the match with an injury, and will be replaced by Juan Musso.

That’s pretty good news! For starters, Oblak is an outstanding shot stopper as evident from his performance in the first leg; he made a number of quality stops that could’ve gotten Spurs back in the game. Second, there’s already evidence of what could happen when a team in this tie plays a backup goalkeeper, so turnabout’s fair play, right? Maybe Spurs should water the pitch a little extra to recreate the slippery conditions that led to Antonin Kinsky’s disastrous performance in the first leg.

In all seriousness, while a three goal deficit isn’t ideal, it’s hardly a death sentence. Apart from the opening 20 minutes, Spurs played Atleti more or less even from there on out and even pulled two goals back in the thumping. It’s unlikely, but not inconceivable, that Spurs could play well enough at home to erase that aggregate score and sneak into the quarterfinals. Maybe it’s just the vibes injection I got from yesterday’s encouraging draw against Liverpool, or maybe I’m just high on my own supply of hopium, but I have a sneaking suspicion this round isn’t as dead as what people think it is.

Good morning everyone.

For those of you who haven’t checked the hoddle these last few weeks, then you might’ve missed that I’ve begun documenting my training for my next marathon, which is on 4 April. The goal is to smash by personal best and see just how close to a 3-hour marathon I can get (pretty close, I think).

The whole point of this is to almost document my anxiety from all this training. It’s a big commitment to run a marathon. The worst of winter has come and gone, although it could return this week. Still, we’re counting down the remaining weeks until race day.

(Catch up on Weeks 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 here)

Week 14:

This week felt as big as race day itself. I had actually made that comment to another person who I ran with for about a mile during my Sunday long run. He gave me some kudos for finishing my training block, which began all the way back in December, which was a good boost to get me through the rest of the run.

This week took months to prepare for and culminated in my 22-mile run on Sunday. The big one. More on that shortly.

It’s strange to acknowledge that I actually ran 22 miles - there were a couple times when I didn’t think it possible. I eventually found visualisation techniques work very well. Perhaps the one I keep using is imagining myself feeling strong in the final stages of the race.

With the 22 miles up, I had a nice stretch, a very large lunch and a not-so good supper. And lots of water.

Now, with that over, I can finally look towards race day itself.

Before then I’d like to do a dress rehearsal. I’m due to fly out of DC on Sunday and, depending on the departure time, will either do a 14 or 16 mile run with a fair chunk of either of those being at target pace. The goal for these is to not only get used to my raceday shoes, but also determine if I can maintain target pace for the whole race.

Sunday: 22 miles

It was slightly colder than tank-top weather when I went out, so a long sleeve it was. If it’s cold on race day (which it could be), this is the top I’ll be wearing.

My goal today was to feel in control for the entirety of the run - and I did! I think my pace was slightly faster than I expected it to be (hovering around the low-7 mark), even though the effort was not quite that forced. That gives me a lot of faith that I can push for a sub-3 hour marathon.

What really frustrated me was the GPS on my watch, which went AWOL at about Mile 17. I did not run a 5:40 mile (definitely not!), and the subsequent miles around 6:40 felt pretty inaccurate. So I decided I was going to run for an additional four or five minutes after the 22 miles were up, and 2:40.00 later I was done with the run.

But I’m very happy with how this run went, especially considering these weren’t even in my raceday shoes. The New Balance Fuel Cell Supercomp trainers are a little bit too narrow in the toebox for me, which means blister city.

This is also the last time I’ll be running up Beach Drive for some time, which I’ll miss. It’s some of the most beautiful running sites in the city, so I tried to soak in every little bit of it I could.

Monday: Rest

And a proper one too with lots of sleep, water and stretching.

Tuesday: 8 mile recovery

Apparently there’s snow in the forecast again. Of course there is. Which sucks. But, hey, I’m still going to be putting in the miles regardless.

Wednesday: Speed workout TBD

It’s not so much fun doing these outside. They’re more fartleks and less intervals because of all the traffic lights. I’ll probably work out the exact details on Wednesday or, if I’m crunched for time, will do a bonus recovery run.

Thursday: 12 miles with a couple at marathon pace

The weather should be clearer by now and I want to do a few more workouts where I’m testing out marathon pace, because I haven’t had the chance yet!

Friday: Gym

Considering how last week’s gym session was more upper-body focused, I’ll probably do some deadlifts followed by some lightweight leg exercises. I’m not interested in pushing it too much.

Saturday: 8 mile recovery

Main goal here is to hang out and not bump into all the runners in the Rock n Roll DC Half Marathon. This should mean a new change of scenery as, of course, the race takes up a large chunk of my running route.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Ready, Steady, Go! by Harry Styles

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold: Every word Igor Tudor said on what he told Tottenham stars before Liverpool and pre-match chaos

The Athletic ($$): “Liverpool 1 Tottenham 1: Richarlison rescues Spurs, Szoboszlai free kick not enough for Slot”

BBC: “Spurs answer Tudor’s call with show of fight in the face of crisis”

The Independent: “Tottenham summon admirable fight to leave Liverpool as the club in crisis”

With the stakes raised even higher and the team needing to stop the rot from six consecutive Premier League defeats, Tottenham entered a place where they rarely earn anything…Anfield. But the side stayed resilient, and on the back of Richarlison’s hatred of Liverpool, the club got a well-deserved point in the dying minutes of the match for a 1-1 draw.

Skeptical about the match given all that has occurred at Tottenham, whether it’s the defeats in the league, a 5-2 embarrassment in the Champions League opening leg against Atletico Madrid, or the fact that 12 players are out again due to suspensions or injuries, the doubt coming into Anfield was high.

Playing a 3-5-3/4-4-2 setup with Djed Spence on the left and Souza on the right, Spurs had to fight off the early pressure from Liverpool as the home side forced Vicario and Dragusin to play balls deep to the front three instead of trying to play passing moves and move the ball up the pitch.

The match remained goalless through the first 17 minutes. The roar from the away end echoed the passion they brought to energize the team. Liverpool then won a soft foul in a dangerous free-kick area for Dominik Szoboszlai. Szoboszlai entered the match with three direct free kicks, and Spurs had allowed 11 goals from outside the box, a league high. The Hungarian hit his free kick to a relatively easy spot for Vicario to punch away. However, a poor first step and a hop to his right meant the Italian keeper barely got his hand on the ball. The ball ended up in the net, and Spurs were down 1-0.

Seeing the replay and knowing Vicario should have saved it, the players’ faces around the box showed frustration as it was another display of the team falling down early and needing to scrape it back to even have a chance.

Down 1-0 and barely having anything in the attacking half of the pitch, outside of Souza’s knuckle rip outside the box, Richarlison put the team on his back the rest of the match. Having chance after chance in the first half and the best being right before the half off a corner delivery from Mathys Tel, Richarlison’s down header had Alisson Becker reacting late to parry the shot away.

After an hour into the match, the game opened up with Liverpool sending on its big-time players and Spurs having the likes of Xavi Simons. Xavi joined the match quickly off a corner kick from the side, as his first touch was a volley attempt and his second touch a blocked shot.

Mentioning how close Richarlison was in the first half to leveling the match, the second half had him even closer as a leaping header from an insuring cross from Archie Gray narrowly missed his head. But, it was off a break where the Brazilian had his best chance. Getting the loose ball just outside the box and having Virgil van Dijk on his back, pulling his shoulder slightly, Richarlison took an off-balance shot that forced a save and had the striker appealing for a penalty that possibly could have been given if he had never gotten the shot off.

Either way, Spurs were close and deserving of a goal, and the side had to fight through the attacking storms Liverpool brought forth as Salah, Ekitike, Gakpo, and others all had chances to bury the game for good.

With the match still 1-0 and close to entering extra time, Spurs got the goal they rightfully deserved.

The emotions on the face of the Brazilian and the rest of side showed that they are ready to drag this club out of the relegation zone and into safety before the end of the season.

Nicking that point at the end to sit at 30 now, Spurs have a true six-pointer on the line next weekend when the side hosts Nottingham Forest. Before that match, Spurs will host Atletico Madrid for the second leg of the Round of 16 Champions League match (down 5-2 on aggregate).

Ah, Anfield. The graveyard of many a Tottenham Hotspur side. Just the kind of fixture you need when in a fight for Premier League survival while playing atrocious football and missing 13 players.

Saying things have gone from bad to worse for Spurs in the second half of the season would be a severe understatement; from catastrophic to cataclysmic might be more apt. Interim manager Igor Tudor has been unable to wrangle a single point while in charge of Spurs, and that’s something that is unlikely to change as an even more weakened Spurs head to Liverpool with Tudor all but a lame duck at this point. At this point, you wouldn’t be surprised if somebody in white bicycle-kicked the ball into their own goal.

Oh come on, that can’t be enough for a commentator’s curse.

Do I have any hope for this fixture? Not really. The little I may have had died with Antonin Kinsky’s career and Joao Palhinha and Cristian Romero’s brain cells as they concussed one another in midweek; but Wolverhampton Wanderers took Liverpool down a couple weeks back. Wolves.

Could Spurs do the same?

COYS, because why not?

Lineups

Lineups will be posted closer to kick-off.

Live Blog

How to Watch

Liverpool vs. Tottenham Hotspur

Anfield, Liverpool, UK

Sunday, March 15, 2026

Time: 12:30 p.m. ET, 4:30 p.m. UK

TV: Not televised in USA, Sky Sports Premier League (UK). Check international listings at livesoccertv.com

Streaming: Peacock

Match thread rules

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

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!

Igor Tudor hasn’t exactly set the world alight in his short stint as head coach of Tottenham Hotspur; in fact, quite the opposite. Spurs are yet to earn a single point under his leadership, while conceding 14 across those four matches. To continue the burning metaphors, Tudor’s reign has been an absolute dumpster fire.

Which is why Spurs’ top brass are looking at alternatives, as David Orstein of The Athletic has the latest:

Well, duh.

The piece is remarkably light on detail for an Orstein article, but is essentially summarized in the tweet: Vinai Venkatesham and Johan Lange are actively searching for a replacement for Igor Tudor in the case that they opt to change tack once more in an effort to avoid a relegation that in many ways feels all but assured.

The oddity in the piece (which came out yesterday) is this specific part:

…Spurs are contingency planning for the event of bringing Tudor’s reign to an end following the Anfield trip.

My question in response to this is: why wait?

Though the piece is light on detail, reading between the lines it reeks of desperation and indecision from Spurs’ leadership. If you think Tudor is not the guy to help Spurs stave off relegation, will a trip to Anfield change that? If it is changing your thinking, then why? And if you think he indeed isn’t the guy, why then leave him in charge when the mentality and performance levels in the squad are at an all-time low under Tudor?

It’s the latest in a litany of missteps from Vinai and Lange, with the lack of leadership clear for all to see. There was a huge amount of indecision around Frank’s position, with a clear lack of identity as Spurs tumbled down the Premier League table not enough for them to pull the plug, instead waiting until Frank’s position was worse than untenable; there was the lack of movement in the January window after selling Spurs’ top scorer from the previous season, not replacing Brennan Johnson even after losing Mohammed Kudus for around three months (great work not panicking Johan); and then there was the appointment of Tudor, somebody who plays almost exclusively a system Spurs do not have the personnel for and who has no experience in the English top flight.

And that’s without even mentioning the squad Lange has constructed.

Vinai appears to know he’s in the hot seat as well, launching a press offensive via a piece in The Telegraph and in interactions with the Fan Advisory Board as he heaped blame upon previous Chief Executive Daniel Levy for running the club into the ground. The sacking of Tudor would be admitting yet another mistake, while keeping him in place could ensure relegation with Vinai at the rudder. He and Lange have engineered themselves into an indefensible position.

As to the replacements, there still seems to be a lack of clarity as to the potential options. Some (very unreliable) outlets have mentioned in recent days that Spurs have kicked the tires on Sean Dyche, while also mentioning he is not interested in another firefighting interim stint; Ryan Mason is always there as an option, with his spell in charge of West Bromwich Albion perhaps unfairly critiqued as they have torpedoed in form following his exit; and Harry Redknapp has hilariously put himself out there in the media as Spurs’ potential savior.

Fabrizio Romano, however, has said that Spurs’ preferred option is Roberto De Zerbi… and honestly, I think that would break me. Though the Italian manager is a decent coach and tactician, his particular brand of “intensity” is not what this squad needs right now; rather, they need something more akin to a therapist (or perhaps an exorcist). His temperamental nature is not the calming influence Spurs need in the midst of a fight for survival, and that’s without going into all the other red flags when it comes to De Zerbi which have been mentioned elsewhere on this site previously.

All in all, it seems like Tudor’s days are numbered. The only question now seems to be when… and who.

“No, no, no, [Palhinha and Romero] are out. Micky is also out, Bissouma is out, for the muscles. Conor has some fever but probably will be in. So, we have again a lot of problems to make first 11. This is how it is in this club. this happen all the time. We start to build something, then happens something, or a red card, or last game, or three or four injuries.

“This is very rare that happens in my career. I never see these situations. Every game, missing two players. The next game and a red card. It’s very rare, very unusual, but we need to accept this. And try to change the things you can change. On these things you cannot do nothing.”

“Tough, for sure. Not just because of last game, but because of the period and the past. Not easy situation, not an easy moment and from other side a big challenge to change things. Like everything in life, you can choose how to see the situation. So, you can stay and cry or you can fight. You can be the victim or you can say I can change something. This is the message I want to start and what I told to the players.

“Everyone speaking, everyone has opinions and the life is always how you see it. The bottle is always half empty or half full. Here there is nothing full, there is a lot of empty things but difficult moments don’t last forever. It will pass and I believe the players who will take this as a challenge, as an opportunity will stand up with the courage to change things, after this period they will become better people and better players.

“So, in tough moments it’s always about that, it’s always about us. In the last period, a lot of things about what is the club, the problems, no one can do nothing and this like victim-ism, like we were victims. I said this morning to the players totally opposition things. We are the team and we are the staff. It’s all about us. All the bullsh**, all the other things are bullsh** and sorry to use this word, but it’s on us.

“You know, I do every day this work. Psychology work. It is important also to give the courage to the team-mates. Some of them they cannot manage, for sure. Somewhere you arrive and you can help them. My goal is to find if I can help to do 18 players out of 20, 15? I don’t know how much? Sometimes you cannot do anything, but most of the time you can do even small changes. Small help, you know, you can do it, but also it’s what I always like to say to the players, don’t be a victim. Don’t think it’s not about me. You know that can be the problem more than all these things about Tottenham and club, you know, like magic on the club, like bad black magic and this other bullsh**, you know. So this is about what I want to send a message.

“… Everyone is disappointed. This is for sure. The players care. If you don’t care, you don’t struggle. Then you are not in the lack of confidence if you don’t care. You care and then it happens that maybe some situations there is a lack of confidence in situations on the pitch that usually don’t happen. That can also be an explanation.”

“So I can explain that situation, what was the idea. The idea was to make [Kinsky] play, because first of all, he’s a good goalkeeper, and seeing the situation and the moment we are, for a long period, to give some freshness on the ball, even in a different competition. So it was the idea at the start, but not after what happened, you think it was the right thing to do.

“Before, it was the right thing to do. Then what happened happened, then of course it’s a little bit different.

“Of course he will play [again this season] for sure. He came back the day after and was very good in training. Positive. Nothing else. So this situation happened, very rare, probably the first and last time in my life and the life of a lot of people but this can happen. It is the same message I said before. You can go out from the situation as a victim. ‘Poor me what happened.’ Everybody sending a message of help and I am with you. This is nice also.

“Sometimes 2025 this social media life became like it is more important what you say than what you do. But as I said before, this is normal, this is a mistake that will happen. For sure in his career there will be other mistakes but he has a strength and quality and in front of him is a very good career.”

I know right now it feels like everything is just a never-ending parade of suck when it comes to Tottenham Hotspur, what with the relegation battle and six match losing streak and no wins in calendar year 2026. Things are bad, fam.

So it’s important to take joy and pleasure in the good things when they happen. Like today — Dominic Solanke has won the Premier League Goal of the Month award for his incredible scorpion kick goal in the 2-2 draw against Manchester City in February.

Don’t remember it? Yeah, I don’t blame you. But here’s the video if you want to refresh your memory.

This is just a friendly reminder for everyone to get out of the doom spiral. Good things can (and will) happen to Tottenham Hotspur, and this is evidence of that. What a goal. A well-deserved win for Big Dom. Hopefully he can recreate that en route to the unlikeliest of wins this Sunday at Anfield.

The Igor Tudor experiment has failed. Zero points through three matches is just not acceptable, and nothing is any better than it was with Thomas Frank. While the Champions League was neither his nor the club’s priority, another horrific showing on Tuesday fully cemented that his hiring was doomed from the start and was not going to provide any relief.

There are only nine matches left to save the season, and suddenly just a single point separates Spurs and 18th place. It is unlikely that any manager in charge is going to get this club to beat Liverpool, but this contest does provide a chance to execute yet another sacking. Maybe Tudor gets another week with an international break coming up soon, but this weekend could easily be his end.

Match Details

Date: Sunday, March 15

Time: 12:30 pm ET, 4:30 pm UK

Location: Anfield, Liverpool

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

Table: Liverpool (t-5th, 48 pts), Spurs (t-16th, 29 pts)

December brought Tottenham’s fourth-straight loss to Liverpool in the league, with the defeat in the League Cup Semis last year still in mind as well. It was 0-0 at halftime despite a Xavi Simons red card, but the visitors scored twice in the first 20 minutes before Richarlison pulled one back late. That defeat was better than the 6-3 and 5-1 losses last year at least?

Two Things to Watch

Focus

It might not seem to matter, as Spurs have been feeling the pressure in the league for quite some time with no positive results to show for it, but there is a stark difference in prioritization in this one. With the gap essentially gone above the relegation spots, maybe the players will finally wake up and realize that this is a very real possibility if the ship is not turned around immediately.

Meanwhile, Liverpool is well out of the Premier League race but has a good chance at finishing top five. That likely turns the attention to the Champions League (with work needed to be done next week against Galatasaray) and the FA Cup (a date with City in the Quarters awaits next month). There is no need to punt Sunday’s contest, but this is not the biggest event left on the fixture list.

This difference between the sides in mentality and prioritization is unlikely to swing the balance enough, but Tottenham could use any sort of help it can get. Liverpool did just lose to Wolves a week and a half ago, and this side is clearly flawed. Still, Spurs rarely even sneak a point out of this fixture, so all of this feels a little funny to write.

Whose fault is it anyway?

With multiple managers having failed now, the fate of this club returns to the players. Though the injury list remains as long as the available selections, and Micky van de Ven swaps spots with Cristian Romero on the suspension list, the remaining players simply must perform at a higher level, full stop. It is inexcusable to witness terrible performance after terrible performance, but here we are.

It would seem reasonable to expect younger options like Archie Gray and Souza, but even Simons, Pape Sarr, and Mathys Tel, be the ones to really exert themselves and put their best foot forward. This is their clearest chance for playing time, and if their veteran colleagues will not demonstrate excellence, any manager in charge is going to value their youthful exuberance.

This alone is not enough to earn sufficient points, though, so some of the heavy hitters will need to quickly find their form. With Randal Kolo Muani clearly not the answer and Dominic Solanke hot and cold, Richarlison is a good candidate to be the missing piece. He will certainly take things personally against Liverpool, and just maybe this is the match that springboards both him and Spurs into safer heights.