Cartilage Free Captain

If Tottenham Hotspur decide to make another managerial change, it won’t be ENIC or the Lewis Kids who decide. That’s the latest report from the BBC’s Sami Mockbel, who writes in the BBC that Spurs are hinting that Igor Tudor’s days could be numbered, but that the final decision will be made by CEO Vinai Venkatesham and Sporting Director Johan Lange, not the Executive Board.

On the one hand, this is evidence of a good decision-making process and a modern football club structure. You usually don’t want the board or the owners stepping in to make decisions like this, as football club owners (non-Marinakis Division) generally are loathe to micromanage the clubs they own — that’s why they appoint Sporting Directors and CEOS!

On the other hand, Venkatesham and Lange are the two most responsible for sacking Thomas Frank so late and appointing Igor Tudor to save the club from relegation, a decision that thus far has not worked at all. Tudor, who had a reputation of being a reclamation specialist, has gone 0-4 while in charge and has made several veiled remarks about how this particular salvage operation has been a lot more difficult than he expected. There’s also unsourced background info unearthed by Mockbel that suggests the Spurs players have not (at all) taken to Tudor nor his methods, and have been left confused and frustrated by his tactics and approach. Letting the decision fall to the two people perhaps most responsible for Spurs being in this mess to begin with doesn’t feel especially great either, especially considering how long it took for the club hierarchy to come to grips with the fact that things weren’t working at all under Thomas Frank.

Tudor is expected to take the press conference ahead of the trip to Anfield to play Liverpool this weekend, which isn’t a particular surprise. One would suggest he’s also likely to be in charge for the return leg of the Champions League Round of 16 tie against Atletico Madrid at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next week, a fixture that finds Spurs down three goals on aggregate after the 5-2 defeat at the Wanda on Tuesday.

Considering Spurs haven’t won at Anfield since 2012, that raises the distinct possibility that Tottenham could go 0-6 under Tudor, continuing their worst outright losing streak in the Premier League era. Spurs have yet to win a match in 2026.

If Spurs DO make a change, there’s a new suggestion that they could turn to a familiar face in the Premier League. Miguel Delaney, writing in the Telegraph, says he has been told Spurs have made initial contact with Sean Dyche’s camp about taking over for Tudor should a change be deemed necessary, though this appears to be extremely thinly sourced — Delaney uses words like “being considered” and “said to have contacted” in his article, and also admits near the end that Dyche would be reluctant to take on a short term role with no guarantee past the end of the season.

That seems to be a moot point anyway, at least for the next week or so. Keep your powder dry and let’s pray for a miracle.

We’re only a few days away from the beginning of the Major League Baseball season, which means it’s time for many of the teams to one-up each other in creating some of the most gut-busting concessions you can find in America’s (and two of Canada’s) ballparks.

This is also the sport that sells nachos by the helmet.

The Seattle Mariners will likely be the winners for most outrageous food offerings for 2026. Not necessarily because of the food, but because of the container in which it’ll be served.

The M’s announced that, in honour of the 75th anniversary of the Washington State Ferries System and 50th season of the Mariners, T-Mobile Park will offer a souvenir ferry food boat for the 2026 season.

Here it is in all its glory:

It’s beautiful.

The ferry features dipping sauce stations on its hull and stern (that means front and back in boating terms), bus space at the top for the main meal.

There are seven options you can order with this ferry container:

Crab nachos

A ‘dockside douple dip’ that has chips, beer cheese crab dip and artichoke crab dip

Crab fries or old bay fries

Chicken tenders and fries

Regular fries or garlic fries

More fries, this time shoestring

Fish and chips, a classic.

If that isn’t good enough for you, then you could order some sushi (I’d avoid this), a chocolate moues moose (soft serve in a cone or helmet with moose cookies), or you can try their new churro flavours (or just have the original).

Fitzie’s track of the day: Promontory Rider, by the Jerry Garcia Band

And now for your links:

Matt Law: “Tottenham Hotspur players have no faith in Igor Tudor to halt tailspin”

Alasdair Gold: “The ridiculous Igor Tudor problem Tottenham face and the strange Cristian Romero moment”

The Athletic ($$): “A goalkeeper’s view on Kinsky’s 17-minute horror show: The shock, the betrayal and the scars it will leave”

The Standard: “Igor Tudor is out of his depth - Tottenham must sack him before it’s too late”

CBS Sports: “Tottenham have become the team you can’t look away from as downward spiral continues with UCL blowout loss”

“[It’s] terrible, to be honest, a doomsday scenario. Everything that could go wrong in the first twenty minutes went wrong. Everyone slips, including me. Those are moments you simply can’t do anything about. I can’t just stand here and start blaming the pitch. It’s terrible for [Kinsky] too, he’s making his debut. You wouldn’t wish this on anyone.

“Yeah, it’s really hard to say. I could give the standard speech here that we all need to stick together and work hard, but we’re just getting blow after blow after blow right now. So it’s really difficult. And this weekend we also play an important match where I can’t be there myself because I’m suspended. So yeah… it’s a terrible period, I can tell you that. It’s really, really awful.

“We have an important match this weekend that I can’t be at, because I’m suspended, of course. But it’s a truly terrible time. How am I feeling mentally? It’s tough, I can tell you. Really tough. So like I said, I just have to keep going. It’s part of it — part of life. And we’ll see what happens. I’m not on my phone anymore; I’m completely done with it. Only family and stuff.“

Welcome to another edition of Trending Up / Trending Down, where hoddle headquarters takes a look at all things trending up and down around Tottenham Hotspur.

——

The last time I did this it felt like things couldn’t get worse. Thomas Frank was on his way out, Spurs were flirting with a relegation battle and the mood surrounding the club had fallen off a cliff.

Here we are now, about a month-and-a-half later, and things might actually be worse (or at the very least, the same). Igor Tudor’s job is in jeopardy, relegation seems like a serious possibility, and the mood surrounding the club is wretched.

So now, with that in mind, let’s take a look at who (or what) is trending up, and what’s trending down.

Trending Up:

Nothing is trending up at Tottenham Hotspur. Nothing.

Trending Down:

Antonin Kinsky: A humiliating performance in his Champions League debut, in which he slipped twice within a span of 10 minutes to concede two goals, has effectively destroyed his future at the club. Not only that but it likely puts a serious dent into any major ambitions for now of joining a club of a similar stature in the future. And it’s way too soon to say if this is something he will be able to mentally recover from after being pulled within 17 minutes.

Igor Tudor: Four games, four defeats. All but one by miserable margins. A 1-4 defeat to Arsenal, a 2-1 defeat to Fulham, a 1-3 defeat to Palace and now the 5-2 loss to Atletico Madrid. That’s 14 goals conceded in four games with five scored. The players look even more lost on the pitch and have no mettle in them to claw back from the slightest bit of adversity. They look a heck of a lot worse under Tudor, who was brought in to bring instant stability to a club that was fending off relegation. Instead they’re now in a full-on freefall into the drop zone. His brutal management of Kinsky - in which he didn’t even acknowledge the player after yanking him - was shocking. This is one of the worst decisions the club has made (and they’ve made a lot of bad ones). He needs to go before it’s too late.

Johan Lange and Vinai Venkatesham: Of course, a significant share of blame must squarely fall on the two men leading the boardroom decisions. From doing almost no work in the January window, to holding onto Thomas Frank for too long and then bringing in a manager who is - at best - incompatible with this club, Lange and Venkatesham have carved out a special place in Tottenham ignominy. There seems to be no plan for where this club is headed, or what will happen if the once unthinkable happens. Should relegation happen, the consequences must manifest in at least one of these men’s dismissal.

Micky van de Ven: Kinsky’s errors should not cover up van de Ven’s own woeful performance on Tuesday, where he was responsible for the second goal because of a slip of his own. It wasn’t as if van de Ven was coming into that match with a great deal of form anyways. Don’t forget he got himself sent off during that loss embarrassing loss to Palace and is now out of contention for Liverpool this weekend.

Cristian Romero: The Spurs captain had served his four-match ban for a red card he received against Man United in February. After a clash of heads with Joao Palhinha on Tuesday, he’s now a doubt for Sunday’s fixture as well. Oh, and there’s also a Matt Law report out there that Romero could leave the club this summer.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Bandoleros, by Mariachi El Bronx

And now for your links:

The Independent: “Tottenham lose their balance, the ball and all remaining dignity in abject defeat to Atletico”

The Athletic ($$): “What should Tottenham do about Igor Tudor? We asked five of our writers”

Alasdair Gold: “Every word Igor Tudor said on taking off Antonin Kinsky, his Tottenham future and Romero fears”

The Telegraph: “Igor Tudor’s position untenable as Tottenham humiliated”

Tottenham Hotspur, somehow, is in the Round of 16 of the Champions League, but they sure didn’t look like they belonged there. Two incredible howlers from Antonin Kinsky, who hadn’t started a match since October, led to two Atletico Madrid goals inside 15 minutes, another Micky van de Ven slip led to another, and Spurs found themselves down 4-0 in Madrid before a half hour had passed. Kinsky got pulled for Guglielmo Vicario Pedro Porro pulled one back for Spurs, but otherwise it was 90 minutes of abject humiliation for Tottenham on the biggest stage in club football.

Igor Tudor made a double sub at halftime, bringing on Conor Gallagher and Dominic Solanke to try and cut into Atleti’s goal, but it all went (even more) pear-shaped in the 55th minute. Richarlison had a powerful header well saved by Atleti keeper Jan Oblak, and the ball fell neatly to Antoine Griezmann, who slotted past Vicario on a blistering counterattack. Dominic Solanke added a second goal late in the half after picking off a bad outlet pass from Oblak and hammering it home.

Match reactions

While Tottenham Hotspur seemingly careen towards potential relegation in the Premier League, there’s still the small matter of another little cup competition that’s ongoing. That’s right, it’s time to head back to the Champions League as Spurs take on Atletico Madrid!

With Spurs desperately needing to prioritize their league survival and the squad still in a rough spot with regards to availability (as well as quality, ability, leadership, etc etc), some have suggested the Lilywhites could look to punt this match; but with the weekend’s contest an away trip to Anfield that is unlikely to yield any points even on a good day, Spurs may as well give this one a go and see where it leaves them for the second leg.

Cristian Romero will be involved: he’s both served his suspension and said suspension had no impact on this competion; Djed Spence should be fit again as well. Their returns will serve to strengthen a ragged defense in Madrid, but it’s arguably Spurs’ attack that could be more of a worry, with Diego Simeone’s sides always solid at the back. Despite Spurs’ form, this could be a tight match. Could they spring a surprise?

COYS!

Lineups

Lineups will be posted closer to kick-off.

Live Blog

How to Watch

Atletico Madrid vs. Tottenham Hotspur

Riyadh Air Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Time: 4:00 p.m. ET, 8:00 p.m. UK

TV: Not televised in USA, TNT Sports 1 (UK). Check international listings at livesoccertv.com

Streaming: Paramount+

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!

Nothing beats European football. After successfully navigating four rounds of Europa League knockouts to claim the trophy in Bilbao last season, Tottenham Hotspur finished fourth in the League Phase of this year’s Champions League to earn a bye into the Round of 16, which kicks off this week. As an elite European side, Spurs will begin the Knockout Phase on the road before the second leg next week in North London.

The draw has Tottenham facing Atletico Madrid, who finished 14th in the League Phase. A 7-4 win on aggregate over Club Brugge earned the Spanish side a spot in this round after a 4-1-3 performance earlier in the competition, including losses to Liverpool and Arsenal (both in England). Atleti is comfortably top four in La Liga, but who needs to focus on domestic performance, right??

UCL Round of 16: First Leg

Date: Tuesday, March 10

Time: 4:00 pm ET, 8:00 pm UK

Location: Metropolitano Stadium, Madrid, Spain

TV: Paramount+ (US), TNT Sports 1 (UK)

No doubt, this is a difficult draw, but think about the list of top clubs Spurs have now faced in the past decade: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atleti, Bayern, Dortmund, Juve, Inter, AC Milan, PSG – just about every European giant has been a Champions League opponent in recent history. A trip to Madrid is a little bittersweet considering Tottenham’s last visit there, but that in itself speaks to the club’s qualifications in this competition.

Two Things to Watch

Flipped script

While Diego Simeone built his reputation on an extremely rigid defense and frustrating tactics, the League Phase actually saw Atleti rank in the bottom half in terms of goals allowed, but tied for eighth in goals scored. Though their league form is closer to what one might expect traditionally, this squad will not just sit in its shell but will instead look for opportunities to take the ball and score.

That is…not a good feeling for this Spurs side, which continues to make needless mistake after needless mistake. It is not hard to envision someone like Julian Alvarez or Alexander Sorloth carving through this defense, or worse: Ademola Lookman. Though Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven are not suspended for this match (what a wild statement), Simeone is likely to be aggressive.

Still, even with a surprisingly meek defensive performance in the League Phase, this is not exactly an easy team to break down. Tottenham’s Champions League performances have definitely been better on the road, and this is a difficult location to play. Staying alive for the second leg is the objective, but this tie could absolutely feel over after the first 90 minutes.

Distraction

Perhaps the question then becomes if that would actually be for the best. While Spurs must avoid relegation at all costs, it is difficult to simply punt away the knockout rounds in Europe, especially this competition. For whatever reason, Tottenham has looked like a completely different club against foreign sides, and while this year will not end with a trophy, a shocking run is not out of the cards.

Another reason to put some stock in Tuesday is that a trip to Liverpool over the weekend is unlikely to break the skid in the league. While the Reds are juggling European competition of their own (and will arguably prioritize it over the Premier League at this point), it still would be far from guaranteed that looking past Atleti for the trip to Liverpool will yield any sort of benefit.

So, just embrace this. Igor Tudor might not last much longer, and whatever is left of the foundation of this club might be too far gone to save. But at least for one more round of this competition, we can ignore the problems back home and witness Spurs on the biggest stage. This could be the last time in the Champions League for quite a while.

You might find this hard to believe (I sure do), but Tottenham Hotspur are playing the Champions League today.

I will say that, after reading the comments on this site for the last few days, that there is a mixed feeling with respect to how Spurs should treat this game. Or even if there is an interest in watching it.

If you’re lookg for alternative matches to watch (I’ll probably stick with Spurs) there is only one in the Champions League that interests me: Atalanta versus Bayern.

On the one side, you get this really cool Atalanta team that always seems to be floating around the top in Serie A and is competitive in the Champions League. Then on the other, we have Harry Kane. And why wouldn’t I want to see Kane play?

Otherwise there are two interesting games in the EFL Championship: Wrexham-Hull and Millwall-Derby. Both have playoff permutations. Heck, Millwall are actually pushing for an automatic promotion slot.

So there are a couple options out there. However, your hoddler-in-chief will still have the Tottenham game on because that’s what I signed up for.

Fitzie’s track of the day: (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville, by R.E.M.

And now for your links:

The Athletic ($$): “USMNT’s Mauricio Pochettino expected to attend Atletico Madrid vs Tottenham”

Matt Law ($$): “Cristian Romero future in doubt as Tottenham plan summer overhaul”

Alasdair Gold: “Every word Igor Tudor said on what Cristian Romero has been doing behind the scenes at Tottenham”

The Independent: “Mass brawl in chaotic Brazil state final sees 23 players sent off”

It’s one of those days where there’s not much Tottenham Hotspur news and the news that’s out there are mostly opinion articles about how bad everything is. Who wants to read that? I certainly don’t want to. But there IS some good news ahead of Spurs’ trip to Madrid tomorrow — Igor Tudor will have a trio of defensive players available to him for selection in Madrid. According to Football.London, Djed Spence, Radu Dragusin, and Cuti Romero will all be available against Diego Simeoni’s Atletico.

That’s pretty big. Spence has been out a couple of weeks and Dragusin has been both hobbled and, it must be said, kinda bad in the interim. However, having him back means more options for Tudor during a pretty fraught time. It means Spurs will almost certainly be able to play actual fullbacks/wingbacks in matches instead of deputizing players like Archie Gray in those positions, or starting a young player like Souza who’s barely been able to acclimate to his new team.

In addition, Micky van de Ven will also be available, since his one match suspension for his DOGSO red card last week will take effect in this weekend’s Premier League match against Liverpool, and not in European competition.

So it’ll likely be something pretty dang close to a first choice back line for Tudor, depending on how he wants to set up. That could be something like a back three of Danso, Romero, and Van de Ven with Pedro Porro and Spence as wing-backs, unless Tudor decides to do something crazy like play a back four.

The defense has been a PROBLEM lately under Tudor, but he’s also not had Romero, arguably Spurs’ best player and the club captain, available for the past four matches. If Spurs can put out a solid defensive line and hold that line in Madrid, then who knows — perhaps they might just be able to get another decent away result in European competition. That’d be nice, right?

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. It’s sure as heck very difficult during the cold and dark winter months, and aiming for a new personal best is no small matter either.

Still, I carry on - literally one foot after another. One day at a time. One week at a time. Let’s see where things are.

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

Week 13:

The sun is shining, spring is coming and fitzie keeps a’running.

We’re in the final stretches of the core block for my marathon training plan. After my run on Sunday, I have now but one big run left: the 22-miler, which is on tap for this Sunday. So where does that leave the week leading up to it? It’s mostly about maintaining mileage and preventing fatigue.

The second bit might be more difficult, considering how little sleep I got this past week. That really affected me on Sunday (more on that to come).

But what I didn’t realise is that the clocks have sprung forward, which means that the sun doesn’t set until after 7pm now - huzzah! This means fitzie doesn’t need to wear his LED lights during his post-work runs. Thank goodness. And it seems like I can finally swap my thermal gear and gloves for the tank top and running hat again.

The marathon still doesn’t quite seem real, though. It’s strange going through a training plan that’s so long because you don’t quite focus on the 26.2, but the next run that’s on your calendar. That’ll all change after this week’s training is over and done with, but it’s still a ways to go.

Sunday: 18 miles

This was my third 18-mile run during my training block, and it didn’t feel my best. None of my 18-milers did, now that I think of it. I always felt better running 16’s or 20’s. There were a few factors making this day tricky: three straight nights of little sleep, cross-country travel that made it difficult to rest my legs (ironically), and a lack of fuel the day before because of the flight.

I also dressed slightly warmer than I should’ve, but that’s fine.

My average pace for this run was 7:22/mi, which was about 10 seconds slower per mile than my 16-miler run last Sunday.

I wouldn’t call this one a confidence-building run, but at least I was able to pull through in a challenging situation. Still, this Sunday is the big one.

Monday: Rest day

A proper rest day too. Focus will be on eating some more of the calories I lost during that Sunday run, and hopefully sleeping a little more.

Tuesday: 8 mile recovery run

This takes about an hour or so. The toughest part is going slow - very slow. Sometimes I find myself actually pulling myself back to keep me from exerting too much effort during it.

Wednesday: Treadmill run TBD

I’ve only got a couple speed workouts left. These are usually done on the treadmill. I’m not sure if I’ll hit it up again this time or if I’ll try to find some area where I can do my workout.

Thursday: 12 miles

The last 12-mile Thursday run went super well, and I felt strong throughout. This might be a little more challenging as it’ll come after work, so we’ll see how tired I am. Nevertheless, the sun should be shining which will make the miles a lot easier. TBD if I do this one at goal pace.

Friday: Gym

A pretty easy gym session where the goal is to have as little stress on the legs as possible. Heck, I might just do a straight-up upper-body workout.

Saturday: 8-9 miles easy

Just a nice easy Saturday morning run before the big run. Time on the couch watching college hoops, eating well and maybe grabbing a coffee will probably round out what I hope to be an uneventful day.

Expected total weekly miles: 52-54

Fitzie’s track of the day: Nothing From Nothing, by Billy Preston

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold: “Igor Tudor’s missing piece in his relationship with his Tottenham players”

The Athletic ($$): “Tottenham decided not to spend big in January. Now it may cost them far more”

BBC: “Bottom of the league, magic in the cup - Port Vale’s ‘incredible’ run”

The Guardian: “Police condemn ‘shameful’ behaviour of Celtic and Rangers fans in Ibrox clashes”