Cartilage Free Captain

We are two weeks into the season and we have had our share of looks at all the clubs this year. All this means now is the perfect time to go around the Premier League and see which clubs have the best and worst kits this year.

We start our journey with the home kits, and we’ll bring you the best/worst away kits tomorrow.

Anyways, here ya go:

That is a damn good home kit. And it’s one in which all the colours work to complement each other. But what really draws my eyes are those wonderful blue piping on the shoulders. The classic three-stripe Adidas looks pretty good here. And even the Adidas logo matches the blue piping and the blue on the crest. Exceptional work.

If Leeds show us whast to do with a home kit, then Spurs show us what not to do. The strange blue/gray on the shoulders into the pits doesn’t work. Everything looks off balance. And of course, that hideous red AIA is going nowhere.

I love the collar and the subtle designs that are knitted into this, apparently inspired by the “Molineux Pleasure Grounds”. And only three colours here: gold, black and white (the wolf’s eyes). Looks great.

I just don’t like this one. It’s too busy. The claret on the front has a pattern, plus you’ve got the gold piping around that plus a gold accent on the end of the sleeves.

Then there’s the sky blue shoulder/sleeves and white piping. It’s all too much.

This marks a big season for Everton, as they settle into their new stadium. It sits right alongside the River Mersey, which is the inspiration behind this year’s home kit. And it’s done to great effect.

I appreciate what Brentford are trying, but it’s not working.

The stich-necking on the collar doesn’t work. Plus it’s way too the kit sponsor and club crest, the black feels out of place and it sits just above the logo. There’s too much going on.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Come See About Me, by The Supremes

And now for your links:

Jack P-B ($$): “Eberechi Eze’s decision not to join Tottenham feels like history repeating itself. It might not be”

BBC: “Pride, passion & heartbreak - but Newcastle need end to Isak saga”

Barney Ronay: “Manchester United have sunk to ground zero, caught in an endless cycle of hope and regret”

Don’t you just love the transfer window? Rumors abound. Possibilities are endless. Dreams are crushed. And sometimes, you get all three within the space of a few hours.

Enter Piero Hincapie.

The Ecuadorian center back is a player Spurs have kicked the tires on for some time. He’s an exciting, ball-playing defender who loves to get forward, can deputize at left back, and would give Tottenham Hotspur a huge amount of flexibility in their squad as to potential matchday structures. He would also offset hugely the risk of losing Cristian Romero and/or Micky van de Ven to injury. The guy is a talent.

That’s probably why Spurs tested the waters a couple of weeks ago, according to Fabrizio Romano. The approach was apparently rebuffed, with the club not offering enough to tempt Bayer Leverkusen, but that hasn’t prevented the smoke around Hincapie from continuing to intensify. Fab then provided an update in the last couple of hours, saying Spurs have upped their offer, willing to negotiate a loan with option-to-buy deal in which Hincapie’s release clause is paid in full - just in a year’s time. He also indicated Spurs were discussing personal terms with Hincapie.

That all sounds… encouraging?

Enter David Orstein:

Alasdair Gold also indicated Hincapie isn’t an option for Spurs, and I am just disappointed all over again. It’s not often Fab and a couple of the more… trustworthy reporters disagree, and on this occasion I am inclined to trust both Gold and Ornstein. There’s a couple of reasons Fab may have got this one wrong:

Fab often gets info from agents. Hincapie’s agents are clearly keen on pushing a move, but maybe not to Spurs, in which case… pump up the publicity around Spurs’ interest to try drive other clubs to enter the race

Fab got info that said a London (or even North London) club was interested, and assumed based on Spurs’ previous attempt that this updated offer was coming from N17

Nobody knows what they are talking about

In all honesty, it kind of feels like option 1, and that is just an absolute killer after the way this transfer window has played out. The club has been used as a stalking horse on many an occasion in the past, but this window has felt a bit different, with Spurs struggling to fill clear gaps without their efforts dissolving into a mess of aggregator tweets.

This specific instance, though, very much feels like the transfer window in a nutshell:

Club targets player

Selling club rebuffs approach

Club returns with improved approach

Player isn’t especially interested but wants out, so agents leak information

Different outlets now have different sides of the story

Other clubs are interested

…

Profit?

I’m not quite sure how we get to that last step. Neither is Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, apparently. The club has struggled to sign players this transfer window. In fairness, they have set their sights high, but there are only so many times you can swing and miss before you are struck out. I still have a level of hope that Spurs will address some of the glaring holes in the squad before the end of the transfer window, and over the last few hours that hope started to steadily build and surge once more… before being dashed on the rocks below.

This is exhausting. Bring on deadline day, I say.

Ryan Mason is so far unbeaten as head coach at West Bromwich Albion, but this weekend’s draw against Portsmouth saw him get sent off.

The cause of the red card (or two yellows) were two questionable calls made that went against WBA. The second yellow came with roughly 20 minutes to go in the game, and Mace now faces a touchline ban.

NB: This video is unavailable to watch in the US, unfortunately. But here it is anyway:

It’s annoying some of us actually can’t see what happened in this tweet, but there were two yellow cards that Ryan Mason received:

The first incident occurs when the Baggies player (can’t identify who) is just about through on goal inside the six-yard line when the Portsmouth defender appears to make a pretty clumsy tackle, getting absolutely none of the ball. Mason and Co were screaming for a penaltyh that never came. Instead, Mason saw yellow (and I don’t mean the Portsmouth kits).

The second no-call was much more egregious. WBA’s Aunne Hegebo was clear on goal after a really nice through ball was delivered to him, beating the final defender. But Portsmouth’s defender can be seen grabbing Hegebo by the shoulder, a clear red card for denying him a goal-scoring opportunity. A furiou Mason could be seen bangin his hand on the ground before he was sent off.

According to the BBC’s match report, WBA assistant manager Nigel Gibbs after the game said “everyone in the stadium thought it was a penalty” aside from the referees. And I have to agree with Mason here. There were two very clear missed calls.

With the draw, West Brom sit fourth in the table on goal differential. And it’s got to be very frustrating, as those two points could be a big difference towards the end of the season.

A quick look at the footie stats also shows me this was Ryan Mason’s first ever red card (or double-yellow-to-red card). It’s one heck of a way to do it.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Frankenstein, by the New York Dolls

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold: “The fascinating thing Thomas Frank did in the dugout and Tottenham’s Savinho transfer hope”

The Athletic ($$): “The Thomas Frank tactic that was crucial to Tottenham beating Manchester City”

The Standard: “Thomas Frank reveals Tottenham half-time team talk which saw off Man City”

The Guardian: “Nuno Espírito Santo to hold talks with Nottingham Forest owner over future”

And now for your extra link:

BBC: “Semenyo wants jail and life bans as racist abuse punishments”

BBC, pt. 2: “Sikh owners, Sikh manager - what Morecambe takeover means to community”

CBS Sports: “USMNT star Weston McKennie target of racial abuse after Juventus win vs. Parma, club says”

Well, there goes that dream. Tottenham Hotspur took a swing for the fences to get their preferred No. 10 in the door, offering €70m (£61m) for Como midfielder Nico Paz, only to see their offer rejected. €70m was the number said to be what Como was asking to receive to sanction a move for Paz, but it sure seems like the player doesn’t want to go.

Say what you want about Fabrizio Romano, when he states something it’s almost always accurate (Morgan Gibbs-White saga excepted). In this case this feels pretty unequivocal. Paz’s previous club, Real Madrid, has a 50% sell on clause in Paz’s current contract, AND a buy-back clause of €10m next summer, a ridiculously low number for a player that good. It sure seems like Paz has his heart set on a return to Real, and Romano’s assertion that Real was planning to “match any proposal in any case” means there was little to no chance that he was going to leave for anywhere except back to Madrid.

So whatchagonna do? In this case, say you tried and move on to other targets. Maghnes Akliouche is still out there. Bilal El Khannouss is waiting to be gazumped. There are even spurious reports about Tottenham interest in West Ham’s Lucas Paquetá. Eight days left, Johan Lange. The clock is ticking.

Tottenham Hotspur are starting to make waves in the transfer market with just over a week to go, and we should probably expect a bunch of lightly sourced stories connecting Spurs with a bunch of different players.

Like this rumor! Gianluca DiMarzio writes on his website that Spurs have upped their intended offer to €50m (£43.3m) for Como attacking midfielder Nico Paz. This, according to DiMarzio, is an improvement over a previous €40m (£34.5m) bid that was rejected a while ago. It is still not a ton of money, and DiMarzio says there is currently no agreement with Como, nor with the player.

Paz is a good target and would make a lot of sense for Spurs, but his current contract is complicated. His previous club, Real Madrid, own both a buy-back clause of just €9m next summer as well as a 50% sell-on clause in his contract, so any attempt to sign Paz will no doubt involve dealing with Madrid. No idea what that would look like, but I do know that a 50% sell-on clause, which is WILD, will complicate any negotiations significantly. Spurs might need to spend additional money to buy out Madrid’s clauses, if they’re serious about landing him… or alternately agree to something like a reasonable buy-back clause to Madrid in his Tottenham contract. That’s if they can come to an agreement at all. DiMarzio doesn’t give much of the game away (probably because he doesn’t know anything more).

Meanwhile, according to the Daily Mail (lol yes I know) Tottenham are also ramping up their interest in Manchester City’s Savinho, reporting that Spurs held further talks this weekend with City officials to try and get a deal over the line. The report states that Spurs are willing to make a bid of “over £60m” to land Savinho, with the player eager to be a Premier League starter to boost his chances of making the Brazil World Cup team. No agreement yet, but the Savinho deal definitely doesn’t seem as dead as what it did about a week ago.

After failing in bids to land Morgan Gibbs-White and Eberechi Eze (and boy, isn’t that latter one starting to feel like we dodged a Sol Campbell 2.0 bullet right now), Tottenham are still planning to be active in the window. It might go down to the wire, but hey, we’re Tottenham fans — we should be used to that by now.

Death, taxes, Tottenham Hotspur beating Manchester City at the Etihad. One year after dismantling Pep Guardiola’s team in Manchester, Spurs returned with a new manager and a similar result. City looked threatening for much of the first half, but Tottenham got goals from Brennan Johnson and an unlikely rebounded effort from new signing Palhinha, and Spurs escaped Manchester with a 2-0 win. It’s only the second time in Pep’s entire career that he’s suffered successive home defeats to the same opponent. I love this bit, it’s so good. Long may it continue.

It was a dramatic week for Tottenham in the transfer market, but you can’t argue with the results on the pitch. Thomas Frank’s Spurs are now unbeaten and un-scored upon in their first two matches of the new season, and doesn’t THAT feel good?

Here are my match reactions.

Match Reactions

Tottenham Hotspur beating Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City is still the funniest ongoing bit in sports.

Final xG: City 1.51 — 1.02 Spurs, with City having 61% possession. lol…lmao

Gotta say I really expected a back three like what we saw when Spurs played PSG. Frank’s decision to go with a back four means he at least intended to press-and-squish City, mostly bypassing the midfield, but the first half was spent mostly playing out of the back.

This is the first time we’ve seen Sarr ostensibly playing as a 10 with Palhinha and Bentancur behind him. It’s an interesting experiment though I’m not sure how successful it was. Sarr has plenty of industry but had a harder time linking the ball to the offensive players. EDIT: This was my first half bullet on Sarr, but he really played well on balance, again just was everywhere in the second half. Editing my remarks because it really did come off as overly harsh (although I maintain that I don’t like him at the 10).

Credit to Spurs for defending stoutly against what already looks like a fairly polished City offense. Spurs absolutely are a better defending team than last season, and that’s not nothing. It’s not GOALS, but it’s not nothing.

Tottenham’s goal really was the Brennan Johnson Experience™ - does virtually nothing for the majority of the half, frequently lazy getting back from offside positions, and then makes an amazing run to one touch a goal in transition. No pass, no dribble, only shoot. The Lionel Messi of Nacer Chadlis. (Subsequent discussion in Slack also mentioned baseball’s Adam Dunn)

I have no idea how the ref didn’t call a foul and DOGSO on James Trafford for the incident against Kudus near the end of the first half. That was one billion percent a foul, even if it happened outside the box.

Palhinha is exactly who I thought he is: a really good tackler and defender but my word that guy just cannot pass the ball. Spurs were trying to play out from the back and Palhinha was like a black hole of possession. If we’re going to play him, and we will, my god do we need a midfield passer in this squad.

BUTTTTTTTTTT what if he can just score goals? Like that one?

I have to appreciate Tottenham’s low-key attempts to take the air out of the ball in the second half. At one point Mohammed Kudus wasted 35 seconds before taking a standard free kick. Dark Arts.

The match official was garbage today — blew several calls including an obvious foul on James Trafford that could’ve been a DOGSO — but at least he was consistently garbage on both sides of the ball after failing to call a Micky van de Ven foul in Spurs’ box.

Kudus continues to impress. That guy’s motor is just unreal, and he had quite a few nice moments in possession. I was wrong, he’s worth every penny Spurs spent on him.

Wilson Odobert had a nice little shift today, looking bright on the left and getting free for a few half chances despite my attempts to loan him to Roma this week. He seems to be ahead of Tel at the moment.

Outstanding defensive performance today. Both central defenders were well up for this match, and Guglielmo Vicario made some wonderful saves.

Next two matches feel very winnable — home to Bournemouth, away to West Ham. Feeling pretty good today, fam.

Eberechi Eze — who needs him?

If you are the kind of person who is optimistic that things will turn out for the best, then this might be a story for you. There has been a bunch of background muttering about Tottenham Hotspur’s bid to purchase Savinho from Manchester City maybe not being as dead as what it seemed like last week, and now Fabrizio Romano is in to confirm it.

Do the math and €70m comes out to just shy of £61m. That’s a lot for a 20-year-old who hasn’t broken out in the Premier League, but less than what Spurs were willing to pay for Morgan Gibbs-White or Eberechi Eze, and if I’m honest less than what I thought it might take to actually pry him out of Manchester.

Savinho is good. Like, I think potentially transformational good, especially if he continues to improve the way he has. If €70m is City’s asking price, then Spurs should pay it. If the asking price is actually higher than that, then Spurs should pay whatever that asking price really is. What I’m saying is: I like Savinho, Spurs should make him a priority signing, and then we figure out the 10 spot afterwards.

There’s that pesky matter of the City executive who has put a veto on the idea of Savio leaving, but everyone likes money and so my informed opinion is that Spurs should spend some money and bring in Savio. Because he’s cool and fun and I want to see him play in a Tottenham shirt for Thomas Frank this season.

That’s it. That’s the post.

One down, 37 to go. Obviously a home victory against a newly promoted side is not exactly a guarantee of future dominance, but given how difficult everything was for Tottenham Hotspur last season, the opening weekend was refreshingly convincing. I suppose not everything was a loss for Spurs domestically in 2024/25, as one (hilarious) tradition continued on.

That is, of course, the club’s inexplicable success against Manchester City. Despite Pep Guardiola’s ridiculous squad, Spurs are 6-2-4 against them in the past six league seasons. Form seems to matter very little when these sides meet, though City was arguably the most impressive club to kick off the year, thoroughly dismantling Wolves. It might be another new Tottenham manager, but Thomas Frank must carry on the torch.

Match Details

Date: Saturday, August 23

Time: 7:30 am ET, 12:30 pm UK

Location: Etihad Stadium, Manchester

TV: USA Network (US), TNT Sports 1 (UK)

Table: City (t-1st, 3 pts), Tottenham (t-1st, 3 pts)

So yes, there are plenty of fun moments to choose from. Relevant to Saturday, three of the last four trips to the Etihad have been ones to remember. In 2021/22 it was Harry Kane putting on one of the greatest Premier League performances ever. Two years later, Dejan Kulusevski equalized in the 90th minute to cap off an amazing back-and-forth. Meanwhile, last season’s fixture was arguably Spurs best domestically, a 4-0 drubbing behind a James Maddison first-half brace.

Three Big Questions

Will Frank deploy another back three? Frank’s two real matches in charge have featured two disparate lineups, largely due to opposition. Against Burnley, Tottenham used a 4-2-3-1 formation that felt like it could be the squad’s default this season. However, the Super Cup set up in a 5-3-2 to protect against PSG’s lethal attack, and it pretty much did the job (emphasis on pretty much).

Given City’s attackers and Frank’s willingness to be versatile, another back three feels like the direction this Saturday. Kevin Danso is proving to be a reliable centerback, and his inclusion gives Spurs the long-throw option, as well as another body to use in set pieces, which is how they scored against PSG. Seeing how the manager chooses to play against this type of opponent will be very telling for the upcoming Champions League campaign.

Can City overcome its Spurs curse? Wolves are relegation candidates, but City looked fully operational last weekend. Guardiola’s side dominated 4-0, with Erling Haaland starting off the season with a brace and Tijjani Reijnders debuting with a goal and an assist. As always, this is an opponent with no shortage of ways to cause harm, and all logic points to the home side scoring multiple times in this one.

Yet, logic has no role here. Every time these teams meet, it seems like City should run away with it, yet somehow Tottenham finds a way to defy the odds each time. Maybe a pragmatic manager will finally break this fortune, or maybe it will actually be the type of performance where Spurs just go and outplay City at the Etihad. This looks to be strength-on-strength and there should be plenty of chances for the visitors’ defense to prove it is capable of hanging with this attack.

Is playing for the counter too obvious? It was time for Heung-Min Son to leave, but this is probably the fixture where his absence will be felt most. Counterattacking is still the best approach against City’s high line, but Spurs will be without their greatest weapon in this regard. There are certainly some speedsters remaining, though none offer the combination of pace and ruthless finishing like prime Son.

This might be the choice that really tests Frank. Should he go with the aforementioned back three, the combination of Mohammed Kudus and Richarlison is not exactly the pinnacle of sprinting on the break. Neither can really be taken out of the lineup, especially given their excellent performance against Burnley, but one has to wonder if Brennan Johnson needs a spot in the starting XI as the classic outlet; otherwise, it will be up to the fullbacks to take advantage on the break.

“Destiny is better and trained with the team twice, full training, just too short to be involved against City. We want him to train tomorrow and get another week. Bissouma is also out. Kulusevski is out for some time and I don’t want to put a time frame on it.”

“I don’t speak about specific players unless they are at our fantastic club. There have been a lot of rumors including players linked when I think that’s interesting because there’s nothing in it. There have been a lot of links and lot of links in the future.

“In general, talking generally, I don’t want any players that don’t want to come to this club and wear this fantastic badge. We don’t want them here and I’m sure the fans feel the same.”

“Of course we need to do everything we can. We have six good front players that is very competitive. Kulusevski will come back this season, probably longer term with Maddison, I am also confident we will sign a player before the end of the window.”

“Right now, he is my starting nine. He scored two fantastic goals. He had two top games, he’s Brazilian number nine. He’s a very good player, I’m very happy with him. Richy wants to stay, I want to keep him, there have been no talks about anything else.”

“Rodri and Phil, last game they were out, but for just the reason why was lack of training and rhythym. They were not ready for 90 minutes against Wolves but they are ready for tomorrow. Kovacic, Josko and Savio are the ones who are out.”

This is a transfer news story about Tottenham Hotspur winger Wilson Odobert. But it’s actually MORE a transfer news story about Manchester City’s Savinho… kind of. We know Spurs are interested in bringing in the 20-year-old Brazilian winger from City, we know that Savinho is open to the move to get first team minutes ahead of the World Cup, and we know that Pep Guardiola is okay with the idea of the club selling him to Spurs despite only buying him last summer.

But we also know that the transfer deal is being held up via a veto by someone high up in the City hierarchy, ostensibly because they don’t want a repeat of the Cole Palmer Situation™ whereby City sell a promising youngster to a league rival only for them to turn out to be extremely good. There hasn’t been a whole lot of movement on Savinho over the past couple of days, just a couple of thinly sourced reports that Spurs haven’t given up on the idea and are considering testing City’s resolve with a truly massive bid before the close of the window.

What does this have to do with Wilson Odobert? Well, it’s this — Savinho would likely waltz straight into the starting lineup at Tottenham should he come, Spurs are pretty packed with good players on both flanks at the moment, are looking for additional reinforcements in what’s left of the window, and Odobert is probably the odd man out. So enter the Italian media! Corriere dello Sport writes today that Roma are interested in a move for Odobert, whom Spurs apparently rate at €25m, as an alternative to Manchester United’s Jadon Sancho.

Now — this is the part where I tell you that you should always, ALWAYS be skeptical of the Italian media because the ratio of truth to chaff on the various Italian rumor sites is pretty low. But that said, if Tottenham are able to get Savinho’s transfer from City across the line, this is something that might make a lot of sense for Spurs to consider. It feels as though Thomas Frank has now had a good look at his attacking options and Odobert doesn’t appear to be very high in the hierarchy. To be sure there are plenty of games to come and if he stays Wilson will get playing time either as a substitute or a rotation option in injury and multi-week matches. He’s also only 20 so it feels foolish to give up on him. That said, the signs are pointing towards a reduced role and that’s BEFORE any more potential incoming players like Savinho or Maghnes Akliouche.

Roma apparently would be fine with taking Odobert on loan with a purchase option, but he’s listed in a group along with Monaco’s Breel Embolo (Remembering Some Guys), Chelsea youngster George, and Betis’ Abde Ezzalzouli. So this is probably pretty unlikely already, and even more so if Spurs don’t happen to get Savinho.

In the end this is pretty thin gruel, but that said it’s always good to think of possibilities. It’s also a plausible outcome, if certain dominos fall a certain way. It might even be good for Wilson, assuming he’d come in and compete for first choice minutes at Roma. I’m not saying this is going to happen (it probably won’t) but it’s not the worst idea I’ve heard.