Cartilage Free Captain

“I think the international break will be the big decider and we have two weeks to push [Solanke] for the next steps. It is going forward. It was clear he was not ready before the international break. After is what we’re aiming for and you always want to get it right.”

“[He needs] sharpness because fitness wise he is fit to start and play, but to do it at the highest possible intensity throughout the 90 mins, I don’t think he is there yet. But I think it was a very promising game against Copenhagen and I think he is on the right track.

“I think he has a little bit, Solanke is also good to run in behind, but that pace to go on outside. I like his combination play, link-up play and I just think he’s a good player.”

“I think he is a fantastic finisher. His finishing is at a very high level and probably he needs what every player needs and to play games. That is the biggest thing and right now the competition is tough here. It’s difficult to give him four or five games in a row. It’s not impossible but it’s difficult. He needs to play games.”

Four times Tottenham Hotspur faced Manchester United last season, and four times that contest ended favorably. The last one is the only one that matters, though, and for at least this generation, it will be impossible to separate the thought of Manchester United from the memory of Spurs lifting that trophy at long last.

Infamously, these two clubs finished in the bottom six of the Premier League table despite their Europa League Final participation, but the new campaign has started much brighter for each. Both sit just two points off second place through 10 matches, and while they are far from alone in this part of the table, top four (or five) hopes are well alive for both sides.

Match Details

Date: Saturday, November 8

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

Location: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London

TV: Peacock (US), TNT Sports 1 (UK)

Table: Spurs (t-6th, 17 pts), United (t-6th, 17 pts)

Aside from the crazy 4-3 win in the League Cup last December, the main theme in Tottenham’s quadruple over United was the defense. A 3-0 victory at Old Trafford in September, a 1-0 success in North London in February, then the 1-0 finale in Bilbao all featured flawless defensive performances that would be welcomed again this weekend.

Three Big Questions

Is a hierarchy forming? Among Tuesday’s standouts were Xavi Simons (who has been routinely starting most matches anyway), Wilson Odobert, and Randal Kolo Muani (despite being unable to finish). Though Odobert struggles with fitness, when he has been on the pitch, he does seem to make Spurs better, and at this point there is no clearly better option at left wing.

Meanwhile, Richarlison’s performance this season has fully proved he is not the No. 9 this squad needs, and even with Kolo Muani’s misses, the Brazilian is third-choice at best. Until Dominic Solanke returns, I would like to see more of Kolo Muani up top. United has allowed the fifth-most goals in the league this season including five in the past three matches; this is a great chance for the Frenchman to get off the mark.

Can Tottenham run the midfield? With Ruben Amorim deploying a back three, it would seem that Spurs could grab hold of the middle of the pitch, especially given Thomas Frank’s preference at these positions. Retaining the ball and breaking up opposing threats has not been the major issue this season, and the home side has the personnel to feel comfortable here.

Whether or not this actually yields any results is a different question. Despite its recent performances, United is obviously better defensively than Copenhagen, and relying on Micky van de Ven — even with his team-leading tally — and Joao Palhinha for goals is not a recipe for sustainable success. I am interested in seeing the Simons-Kolo Muani connection again, but recognize that the central midfielders will be doing far more recycling than forcing the issue this weekend.

Will shot disparity make a difference? United shoots the ball — a lot. Second in the Premier League behind only Liverpool, Amorim’s side takes a healthy number of hacks, which has led to 17 goals scored (same as Tottenham), tied for fourth-best in the league. Each of the club’s past five matches have featured at least 12 total attempts, with Spurs not surpassing that level since West Ham in mid-September.

On the flip side, Tottenham leads the league in goals per shot (0.16), while the United defense is fourth-worst in this metric (0.14). That means that Spurs (and their supporters) will need to be patient, but can capitalize if they weather the storm. The crowd was an asset in Tuesday’s attacking onslaught, and a second consecutive home win would be the perfect way to head into the break.

Ryan Mason’s seat at West Brom is getting hot.

The Baggies are currently on a four-game winless run with defeats to Watford, Ipswich and Charlton, plus a goalless draw agaisnt Sheffield Wednesday at the Hawthorns. That draw has to be especially disappointing - I mean, you need to pick up three points against Wednesday.

This comes after a rather promising start to the season for West Brom, but they now find themselves 15th in the table with a -3 goal differential. It’s also been almost five and a half hours since West Brom last scored a goal - a devastating stat.

Mace admitted the string of results “aren’t good enough” for a club that should be aiming for the promotion slots at a minimum, but this is putting increased pressure on him heading into this week’s fixture against Oxford United.

According to the one betting aggregator I could find, Mason is currently 7/1 odds in the managerial sack race (behind Norwich’s Liam Manning and Leicester’s Marti Cifuentes).

This is Ryan Mason’s first big boy managerial gig since leaving Tottenham last season after serving under a large selection of big-name managers. And, of course, he had multiple stints as interim head coach with mixed results.

But the question was always could he succeed outside of Tottenham. Even if West Brom were in the top six I’d say it’s way too soon, but this is a major test for Mason in his nascent managerial career.

But he faces a major test on Saturday against Oxford United. A loss could see him head for the exit.

Fitzie’s track of the day: A Bit Like James Bond, by The Bug Club

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold: “Wonderkid says emotional goodbye ahead of Tottenham transfer”

The Standard: “Thomas Frank’s mission to bring the fun back to Tottenham”

I’m not going to pretend that this is INTERESTING news, but it is news — According to Sky Sports, Tottenham Hotspur have resolved a lawsuit with INEOS, the company owned by Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, over a purported breach of a sponsorship contract.

We don’t know exactly what kind of sponsorship this is, but presumably it has something to do with cars, hence the INEOS Automotive group. Probably it was to make INEOS Automotive the Official Automotive Group of Tottenham Hotspur or something, who knows (or cares). What we do know is that Spurs alleged that INEOS had a deal in place and backed out of it, presumably after Ratcliffe bought United, as it would be weird for his company to be sponsoring another club after you just bought one.

There’s a tiny bit of irony about this story coming out two days before Spurs host United for the first time since beating them in the Europa League final and for the fourth time that season, but mostly this is a story about business. And we all know how exciting that is, right? Like I said, it’s a slow news day.

Anyway, this settlement means that Ratcliffe gets to write Spurs a check, and now Spurs can go and sell the sponsorship to someone else. Isn’t business fun?

Good morning and welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading Right Now?, where Hoddle Headquarters likes to survey the audience on what pieces of literature (be it a novel, non-fiction, MAD magazine or any other thing) they’re reading right now.

The last time I checked in on this particular topic I was in-between books. I had just finished Lolita and in need of a palate cleanser. Well, I settled on Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. It debuted to wonderful reviews, but your hoddler-in-chief wasn’t impressed by it. Essentially, I think a lot of it was unnecessary.

The heart of the book, I found, was Cyrus’s talks with Orkideh, and every time we got some momentum there we were sent on some strange perspective from another character. Plus I found some of the prose derived.

But that’s come and gone.

I’ve since gone back to my beloved nature books. And I picked one up not long ago that’s been on my radar for some time - Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures.

There are few things I enjoy more than a good mycological book. I’m still in the early pages of this so please no spoilers, but I’m looking forward to exploring it more.

This book takes a look at fungi and their roles in human life. This’ll be the third book on fungi I have read after The Mushroom at the End of the World and What a Mushroom Lives For. It also comes after a few tree-related books I’ve read including The Secret Life of Trees and The Language of Trees.

I can’t think of a better time of the year to dive into fungi and the roots of nature than autumn.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Jumpin’ Jack Flash, by The Rolling Stones

And now for your links:

Matt Law: “Tottenham keen to reward Micky van de Ven with new deal”

Jay Harris ($$): “Thomas Frank and Spurs bask in incredible healing powers great goals can bring”

Alasdair Gold: “Kevin Danso’s classy gesture to Dane Scarlett after brutal Richarlison decision in Tottenham win”

BBC: “Marinakis on trial in Athens over inciting gang violence”

“Djed and I walked off. We were just frustrated after the game and everything got really exploded by the media. It was nothing big. Everyone thinks it was the gaffer… it was nothing to do with the gaffer.

We were just frustrated because of a bad performance — from myself, as well. We want to play well and I didn’t play well, in my opinion.“

“I think it was a step forward. I liked what I saw from Brennan, it was classic Brennan, running in behind. And I really liked the assist from Xavi. Very good assist from Xavi. So happy that it was a goal from Brennan, assist from Xavi. I liked bits from Wilson [Odobert], and also of course he scored. I think Kolo looked like a handful, in many situations he could easily have scored one or two goals maybe in the end. But I think all of them have much more to come. But it was definitely a step forward.

“I think [Kolo Muani] is just taking steps in the right direction and he’s getting more and more fit. And I will still go as far as I don’t think he’s fully firing yet. But you can see he’s such a handful to play against. The goal is a ball in behind where he just can’t really control it, the defender and he’s practically on the goalkeeper. And then he shows extreme composure to just take the ball down and a nice assist for Wilson.

“And he’s through two or three times and could have scored more. So I think he was a threat. Probably also should have scored on the header.”

“I think I understand why it can be given. But I think it’s a little bit - what I’ve talked before - that still footage, studs on leg, is what the ref sees the first thing. That’s where it looks bad. There was no recklessness in this tackle from Brennan. He goes down into a sliding tackle, you can say ‘why give the opportunity?’ But when he goes down, there’s literally no leg in front of him, so when he slides, then the player steps down, and then it looks bad after that. I think it was a little bit unfortunate, and I think it was harsh.”

What a career it’s been for Eliud Kipchoge.

The Kenyan runner, the greatest marathoner of all time, ran his final marathon major this Sunday at the New York City Marathon. He finished 17th.

His storied career could be best defined as a two-time Olympic champion, winning the gold medal in 2016 and 2020 Games after changing disciplines from the 5K.

He was also the subject of a unique experiment: the Ineos 1:59 challenge to run a marathon in under 2 hours - a feat that’s never been done before. Kipchoge finished the 2019 run in 1:59:40, although the greater running authorities do not officially recognise it as a record because of how the event was structured.

He also won 11 World Marathon majors (one in Chicago, one in Tokyo, four in London and five in Berlin) in an astonishing accomplishment.

Kipchoge is also an incredible sportsman, and it was a richly deserving send-off he received in New York.

If you’ve never followed running but feel like you might’ve heard the name Eliud Kipchoge somewhere, maybe it’s because you might remember his visit to Tottenham Hotspur in 2018.

Kipchoge visited the Spurs training centre during the Victor Wanyama era shortly after he won the London Marathon. It was fun to see the two Kenyans have a chance to connect at the time.

What’s next for Kipchoge? The Kenyan marathoner said his next goal is to run seven marathons on all seven continents over the next two years, which he is calling the “Eliud Kipchoge World Tour”. Kipchoge said that he intends to “unite the world through running”, with each stop on the world tour raising funds for his foundation that supports education and environmental projects.

No idea yet on which of these marathons Kipchoge decides to run, but I’ll be watching closely.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, by The Beatles

And now for your links:

The Athletic ($$): “Micky van de Ven and a goal like no other: ‘It was Messi transformed into a centre-back’”

The Independent: “Red card and wondergoal sum up best and worst of Tottenham in Thomas Frank rebuild”

Alasdair Gold: “Thomas Frank hits back at Jamie Carragher and explains why Micky van de Ven is like Lionel Messi”

Express & Star: “‘I take responsibility … we’ve lost too many games’ - Ryan Mason owns up to struggling West Brom goal-shy form”

There is nothing in football that can’t be healed by a dominating European competition victory. Tottenham Hotspur went into today’s home match against Copenhagen in the Champions League group stage with the vibes in the toilet after a horrible home loss to Chelsea this past weekend. As poor as that match was, this one was the polar opposite. Spurs got a first half goal from Brennan Johnson and a second from Wilson Odobert, assisted by Randal Kolo Muani to put them up 2-0.

Johnson then was sent off for a bad sliding challenge that was controversially upgraded to a red card by VAR. It looked as though Spurs might be set for a nervy spell of sufferball to see the game out. Instead, Spurs ran riot after going down to ten men.

Micky van de Ven scored what in a fair world would be a Puskas Award contender, basically recreating Son Heung-Min’s goal against Burnley, but as a central defender. Second half substitute Palhinha then scored again to put Spurs up by four, and there was no doubt who the eventual winners would be. Spurs took their foot off the gas afterwards, but still nearly had a fifth at the death after Dane Scarlett earned a penalty, but substitute Richarlison put the spot kick off the bar and out.

But never mind that. It was the kind of glory, glory night we all remember, and the kind of performance that banishes all the bad feelings that built up over the past few matches. What a performance!

Here are my match reactions from a dominating win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Match Reactions

Yesterday, the Times of London reported that a Premier League footballer in his 20s was threatened at gunpoint by an unnamed football agent while the player was walking on the streets of north London. The incident took place in early September and due to legal issues in the UK, neither the player’s name nor the name of the perpetrator was stated in the article.

The British media is not allowed to reveal names of those involved in ongoing criminal investigations. However, those laws don’t apply to media outlets in other countries. According to Tuttomercatoweb in Italy, which did its own investigation into the incident, the player at the center of the incident is allegedly Tottenham Hotspur fullback and Italian international footballer Destiny Udogie.

We should be very clear here — these are allegations and we are reporting on the same as published by an Italian media source. Carty Free is also part of SB Nation and Vox Media, which is based in the United States. Details, obviously, are extremely limited as to what happened — only that the player, allegedly Udogie, was with a friend in North London when he was threatened by a man in his early 30s. TMW says that the perpetrator is “the head of a major football agency” who represents a number of players based in the UK, and afterwards “was questioned on charges of extortion and driving without a license, as well as for a crime related to the possession of firearms.”

TMW went on to suggest that the incident might have been precipitated by Udogie’s tenure at Udinese, his former club, and a past decision on with which agency he wanted to sign to represent his career interests. It was suggested that the perpetrator may have been one of the agents whom Udogie turned down.

A statement by the Metropolitan Police, referenced by the Times above, says that there were no injuries reported; the player in question’s companion, who was with him at the time, was also threatened with blackmail by the same individual during the incident. The perpetrator was arrested and later released on bail; the investigation is ongoing.

That is, literally, all that is being reported, and so that is all that we think we may (or may not!) know. There’s clearly a lot of speculation happening by TMW, and obviously we won’t be getting any confirmation one way or the other until the investigation is completed in the UK. A source in the Times says that the player, allegedly Udogie, was “shaken up” by what happened but has been receiving support from his club and teammates.

Scary stuff.

Tottenham Hotspur need a win. Arguably even more importantly, they need a performance.

The atmosphere turned toxic during the weekend’s match against Chelsea, and only a dominant, front-footed showing will get fans back onside. All the better then that this match is against FC Copenhagen of the Danish Superliga, and not, say, PSG (though don’t worry; that’s coming!).

All the worse though that Spurs’ injury worries continue. Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Bergvall are the latest players to fall victim to various ailments, with Thomas Frank having to contend with poor form and a lack of options as he looks to turn the tide while in the midst of a brutal fixture run.

Things haven’t been looking positive; could this be the match that rights the ship?

COYS!

Lineups

Lineups will be posted closer to kick-off.

Live Blog

How to Watch

Tottenham Hotspur vs. FC Copenhagen

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, UK

Tuesday, November 4, 2025

Time: 3:00 p.m. ET, 8:00 p.m. UK

TV: CBS Sports Network, TNT Sports 1 (UK). Check international listings at livesoccertv.com

Streaming: Paramount+, Amazon Prime

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.

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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.

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Have fun, and COYS!