Cartilage Free Captain

You have to watch Jamie Donley’s goal against Manchester City in the FA Cup

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Danny Rose is known for more than his first goal at Tottenham Hotspur, but that first goal was certainly a doozy. You all know it — North London Derby, 2010, Ohhhhhhhwhattagoooooal it’s Danny Rose on his Premier League debut with a memorable strike!

Danny never scored another goal as good as that one, and it didn’t matter. It was etched into Tottenham lore forever.

Jamie Donley just scored his Danny Rose Goal™ for Leyton Orient against Manchester City in the FA Cup. You have to watch this.

The sheer audacity for a 20-year-old Tottenham player on loan at Leyton Orient to even attempt a shot like that with Stefan Ortega off his line, much less for it to be THAT ACCURATE. It’s absolutely absurd. He took that shot from the CENTER CIRCLE and not only plonked it off the crossbar, but it went in.

Ok sure, the cynics will roll their eyes and say that actshually the goal was given as an Ortega own goal because it clipped off the crossbar and then Ortega’s back before going in. I call bullshit. That’s Jamie Donley’s goal and it always will be.

Leyton Orient may or may not win their FA Cup match over Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. Doesn’t matter. Jamie Donley will return to Tottenham after the end of this season but my guess is if he ever goes back to Leyton Orient he will never have to buy a drink ever again.

Aston Villa vs. Tottenham Hotspur Preview: Two remain

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Thursday’s defeat against Liverpool means the League Cup joins the Premier League as empty competitions for Tottenham Hotspur this season. Ange Postecoglou is known for second-season trophies, putting tons of pressure on the remaining two options. While the Europa League campaign is on rest for the moment, Spurs have a big test in the FA Cup Fourth Round this weekend.

After just sneaking by perennial juggernaut Tamworth, Tottenham earned a trip to Aston Villa on Sunday. Villa needed a couple late goals to squeak past West Ham in the Third Round but is the favorite to advance in this tie. Eighth in the league and into the Champions League Round of 16, maybe this is not Villa’s biggest match circled on the calendar, but it will not be easy for the visitors regardless.

Fourth Round: Aston Villa vs. Tottenham Hotspur

Date: Sunday, February 9

Time: 12:35 pm ET, 5:35 pm UK

Location: Villa Park, Birmingham

TV: ESPN+ (USA), BBC One (UK)

It is pretty clear where Villa’s priorities lie this season. After an impressive fourth-place finish last year, the Premier League has been a bit of a disaster, with two wins in the last seven matches — and none in the past three — dropping the club down to eighth. Many of the poor results have come following Champions League fixtures however, where a top-eight finish secured an all-important bye into the last 16.

That time off is a bummer for Spurs, as now Villa can deploy a full-strength squad if desired on Sunday. There is probably going to be a time when Unai Emery will have to decide whether or not to prioritize the FA Cup, but this round does not appear to be it. Still, even with a desire to go for it, November’s 4-1 beatdown shows neither side has this guaranteed.

Tottenham’s impressive victory that day was one of the squad’s best performances of the season. Even after falling behind, Postecoglou’s side stuck with it and kept on the pressure and snagged all three points despite injuries before and during the match. Those explosive outputs have run hot and cold this season, and Thursday’s effort at Anfield left so much to be desired, so Sunday is a chance to bounce back.

Sum of the parts

Until the starting XI is back to complete health (or at least mostly complete) it will require a true team effort for this team to keep grinding out results. Sometimes that means unlikely heroes finding the scoresheet, and sometimes that will mean hodgepodge defenses putting in a shift and keeping the score line within reach. Especially being on the road, that mantra remains the call.

Ollie Watkins is certainly the biggest threat, but the departure of Jhon Duran takes away one big weapon. Donyell Malen will attempt to pick up the slack, and the recent signing nearly had a goal this past weekend. Villa’s attack has fallen off, with just average goal tallies both domestically and abroad, but expect the home side to be aggressive, especially as Postecoglou experiments with his center back pairing.

Spurs do not need a masterclass to advance to the Fifth Round but will need to find scoring from somewhere. In November’s win it was Villa who showed disorganized defense, leading to multiple Tottenham goals, and last season’s 4-0 throttling will also come to mind. I think the visitors will come into this fixture with some confidence, knowing there will be opportunities to pounce on.

Tottenham’s Europa League knock-out roster confirmed with three changes

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Yesterday at midnight was the deadline for clubs in the knock-out phase of the Europa League to make changes to their roster. As I detailed a couple of days ago, Tottenham Hotspur could make a total three changes to their team, and there were a few obvious changes that could be made.

Today, those changes were announced, and it worked out pretty much exactly as I predicted — go me!

So it’s Kevin Danso, Mathys Del, and Djed Spence in, Radu Dragusin, Fraser Forster, and Timo Werner out. Danso for Dragusin was obvious, and bringing in Spence, who has turned into one of Tottenham’s best players of late, was also a smart move. Removing Timo may feel harsh, but Ange Postecoglou has clearly cooled on him, he’s only here on loan, and has been pretty poor before his long-term injury.

This also seems to corroborate the recent reporting that Spurs are set to get a bunch of first team players back from injury pretty soon, including Wilson Odobert. That’s also very good news for Tottenham’s Europa League campaign.

Until those players come back, Spurs will be relying on newcomers Tel and Danso to slot in and hopefully acclimate quickly.

Tottenham await the winners of the two-legged playoff round before they know who their next opponent will be; they will play the winner of either AZ Alkmaar vs. Galatasaray, or Real Sociedad vs. Midtjylland.

The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Friday, February 7

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The best thing that happened during Tottenham’s 0-4 loss to Liverpool last night was the sound of my toilet flushing at the exact same time as when Liverpool scored their third goal.

You could find some superficial poetry in that somewhere (but don’t go fishing in the bowl).

All that’s to say: How do I talk about Tottenham after yesterday’s loss? Do I event want to?

NO!

So let me talk about an unlikely source of relief: St John’s men’s basketball.

We knew how important of a week this was for the Red Storm (that name doesn’t have a double meaning, I think). A game against No. 11 Marquette, and on Friday against No. 19 UConn.

Well, St John’s took down Marquette 70-64 at Madison Square Garden. And I’m just about the point where I can say this team is a true contender this year.

Conversions from the 3-point line (3-16) and free throw attempts (17-31) were unimpressive, but this team is showing it’s got one of the best defences in the country.

And Kadary Richmond, who joined St John’s after entering the transfer portal last year, put up 18 to lead the scoring for the Fighting Pitinos (Fighting Pitini?).

St John’s now hold a 1.5 game advantage in the Big East and can claim their first regular season conference title in decades.

First, though, is a trip to Storrs against a UConn team that’s been inconsistent and at times unimpressive this season. They’ve got wins against Baylor and Gonzaga but also losses against Colorado, Dayton and Villanova.

So if you don’t have any Friday night plans, join Fitzie in spirit and watch the St John’s basketball game against the UConn Huskies at 8pm ET.

Fitzie’s track of the day: I Would Die 4 U, by Prince

And now for your links:

Dan KP: “Tottenham crash out to Liverpool in damning fashion to leave season on the brink”

Jay Harris ($$): “Richarlison injury ‘didn’t look good, another one to add to the list’ – Ange Postecoglou”

BBC: “Was this new low for ‘abject’ Spurs - and what happened to ‘Ange-ball’?”

Football London: “Rodrigo Bentancur moment sums up Tottenham Carabao Cup ordeal vs Liverpool and Richarlison anger”

Liverpool 4 (4) - 0 (1) Tottenham Hotspur: Spurs sent home with humiliating defeat at Anfield

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With a chance to go to Wembley for the Carabao Cup Final against Newcastle, Tottenham Hotspur squandered a 1-0 first-leg lead against Liverpool with a 4-0 defeat at Anfield on Thursday to lose on aggregate 4-1.

Many knew the stakes on the line, but heading into Anfield, where the club hadn’t won since the 2010/11 Premier League season, Spurs had a chance to bring hope for a topsy-turvy season thus far.

Putting together a lineup that saw the debut of Kevin Danso at center-back and Pedro Porro getting a much-needed rest — albeit in the biggest game of the season — the full-back partnership of Djed Spence and Archie Gray did their best against the best team in England and quite possibly the world.

Facing relentless pressure from Liverpool from the opening kick, Spurs were lucky in many instances to have Richarlison win free kicks to ease the pressure off.

But Liverpool could smell blood from the very start as Spurs' defensive partnership of Ben Davies and Danso had to put in key blocks in the early portions of the game to even keep the hopes alive for many fans in attendance and watching.

Unable to do much on the attacking end as one key break that involved Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski saw Kulusevski take on about six Liverpool players with no help or assistance to try and navigate an opportunity.

Liverpool got the leveler on aggregate by way of a midfield turnover between Yves Bissouma and Pape Sarr for the Reds to break free for Mohamed Salah to curl an outside the boot ball to the middle of the box for Darwin Nunez. Trying the spectacular bicycle kick attempt and missing completely, the ball bounced past the striker and into the path of the informed Cody Gakpo to volley it the first time for the tying goal.

Making matters worse, as the game was tied and the hopes of being able to survive another half barrage from Liverpool, Richarlison attempted to beat out a ball from a throw-in and instantly went down as he grabbed his calf. Unable to continue as he just came back a few weeks prior from another leg injury, the Brazilian was subbed off before added time, and the newest signing of Mathys Tel made his appearance to get the side into the break level at 1-1.

Coming out of the break, Liverpool was hunting for the second goal as minutes in, a corner flick from Dominik Szoboszlai was quickly saved off reaction time from Antonin Kinsky. But, minutes later, after a brilliant save, the Czech keeper gave away a pen as he went in late on a challenge to get the ball off Nunez. With that, Salah stepped up to the penalty spot and buried his shot into the top corner.

Forced to make changes that saw Spurs going for the tying goal and being susceptible to letting more goals leak, the additions of Pedro Porro and Lucas Bergvall for Sarr and Bissouma were nice to see in the beginning. It allowed for more press from fresher legs and a chance for Spence to go to the right wing to take on Andy Robertson. (Spence...another top display from him).

Liverpool sealed the game for good in the 75th minute as a counter attack that was finished off by Szoboszlai put the game away for good. Liverpool added one final goal in the 80th minute off a Virgil Van Dijk header off a corner.

Being close to the final and having a chance to shake off the criticism of not winning anything in a long time, Spurs were outclassed by the best team in Europe. The criticism can be fair for how the game went and not having another midfield that could break down Liverpool or stop the red hot attack from the side.

WATCH: Mason Melia looks pretty saucy in highlights

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I know it’s a big day for Tottenham Hotspur, what with the whole League Cup semi-final match at Anfield thing. So if you’re looking for a distraction from all that until the 3 pm ET / 8 pm UK kickoff, here’s something to watch to take your mind off of it all, at least temporarily.

We found out earlier this week that Spurs had signed a new kid for their academy — 17-year-old Irish striker Mason Melia. Melia joins Tottenham for a fee of £1.6m, which is a lot for a 17-year-old, and is the League of Ireland’s most expensive transfer sale ever. He’s a hugely exciting talent — recent reports said that he had turned down “over 60” transfers, but was convinced to join Spurs after a conversation with Ange Postecoglou — again, more evidence that Big Ange is the Rizzmaster.

The Irish Mirror posted some quotes from Melia’s former teammates, including St. Patrick’s Athletic captain Joe Redmond, who said Melia was super talented, but also a very humble kid.

“You could feel it (the transfer) coming from our point of view, being 17 and being so good. But he never mentioned it, he was as humble as anything.

“It’s great the way he approached it and handled it. He didn’t bring any attention to himself in the dressing room, he kept everything under wraps, which I think is the right thing to do.

“He is a handful. His power, his speed and his finishing is incredible. I think maybe we’ve only seen half of it. Like I said a few times, he is going to go up another level and it’s exciting to see.

“He has a bit of everything. He can hold it up, he can go in behind, he can finish, he has got good control, and his maturity and knowledge of the game is really good as well.”

Melia is quite obviously a signing for the future — nobody expects that he will hit the ground running at Tottenham and end up in the first team immediately. But he already has a Welcome to Tottenham YouTube compilation, which I’ve embedded in the header of this article, and you can absolutely see his skills in action.

The League of Ireland is not exactly full of outstanding talent, but he’s kinda bossing it at this level at age 17 which speaks to his talent and ability. Now the question is whether that ability can scale in the next couple of seasons. I would guess Melia will head out on loan for the next season or two and then, like Troy Parrott, Spurs will make an evaluation as to whether he’s in the managers’ first team plans or not.

But regardless, Melia’s the kind of high ceiling talent Spurs should be looking for and signing every year. Not all of them will hit, but the ones that do will be awesome.

Liverpool vs. Tottenham Hotspur Preview: This is it

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As is the case for any (sobs) 14th-place team, Tottenham Hotspur’s season hinges on competitions outside the Premier League. A bye into the Europa League Round of 16 keeps that avenue open, and the FA Cup remains a possibility as well, but the most immediate and realistic path to silverware is the League Cup. Yes, the road is brutal, with a trip to Anfield before a final against Newcastle, but only 180 minutes separate Spurs from ending their long-standing trophy drought.

That makes Thursday the biggest match of the season so far. Tottenham impressed in the semifinal’s first leg, grinding out a 1-0 win despite ceding possession, absorbing pressure, and deploying a makeshift backline. Now, the battle shifts to Liverpool, where the country’s best team will be confident in its ability to overcome a one-goal deficit. Spurs enter as clear underdogs but must find a way to advance.

Semifinals (2nd Leg): Liverpool (0) vs. Tottenham Hotspur (1)

Date: Thursday, February 6

Time: 3:00 pm ET, 8:00 pm UK

Location: Anfield Stadium, Liverpool

TV: Paramount+ (USA), Sky Sports Main Event (UK)

Since the first leg, Liverpool has gone 5-1-1, with the lone defeat coming in a meaningless Champions League contest with a rotated lineup. With a Premier League title in sight and a strong European campaign underway, one might assume this competition sits lower on the priority list. Unfortunately for Spurs, there are no significant matches on Liverpool’s immediate horizon, meaning Arne Slot is likely to field a strong XI at Anfield.

Both teams were relatively cautious in North London, though for different reasons. Tottenham’s approach was shaped by a defense missing three of its four preferred starters, alongside a newly introduced Antonin Kinsky. Ange Postecoglou now has the opportunity of choosing from options like Kevin Danso and Mathys Tel, though plenty of important names like Micky van de Ven remain injured.

For Liverpool, the decision to play pragmatically was likely strategic — returning home with just a one-goal deficit seemed an acceptable trade-off. Having made that decision, Slot’s side will now bring intensity reminiscent of December’s league fixture. Players like Luis Diaz, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Dominik Szoboszlai were all absent from the first leg’s starting lineup, but may be called upon Thursday with the objective more clear.

A few moments of greatness

Tottenham will not see much of the ball at Anfield. Liverpool will dominate possession, generate the bulk of the chances, and apply relentless pressure in Spurs’ defensive third. That is a daunting prospect for cobbled-together squad; the number one priority is minimizing mistakes, especially with a lead to protect.

That said, Spurs must be willing to attack when opportunities arise and will not need much possession to be dangerous. Both Dominic Solanke’s narrowly disallowed goal and Lucas Bergvall’s successful strike in the first leg came via direct play over the top. Exploiting Liverpool’s high press with quick, vertical attacks could be Tottenham’s best path to maintaining the advantage.

If Spurs can capitalize on a pressing opponent and snatch an insurance goal, the tie will come down to their ability to weather the inevitable storm. Recent form does not inspire much confidence in their defensive resilience, but Tottenham has produced surprising performances against top teams this season. Postecoglou will need another one to keep his second-season trophy promise alive.

The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Thursday, February 6

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Tottenham Hotspur Daily Links: The Hoddle Of Coffee

The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Thursday, February 6

What the heck is a coywolf?

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I was typing the word “coys” into google last week when the prompt automatically led me to a page on the “coywolf”.

I’ve never heard of this animal before, so I wanted to look into it. Here’s what I learnt:

Some say this animal is what we should call what is otherwise known as an “eastern coyote”. These people say that the coyote-like animals who prowl about the American northeast should be considered a different species status because their genes are different from western coyotes and eastern wolves. Hence, the coywolf. Others, however, say there is no such thing as a “coywolf”.

How is a coywolf’s genetics broken down? Well, it’s part dog, part wolf and part coyote. One way its genes can be broken down are as follows: two-thirds coyote, 13% gray wolf, 13% eastern wolf and 10% dog. Another breakdown is about 60-30-10.

But when you go down to Virginia the animal becomes more dog than wolf, whilst coyotes in the US south are mostly coyotes (91% coyote, 4% wolf and 5% dog). One blog foound that there are no animals that only contain a mixture of dog/coyote, which means there is not such thing as a “coywolf”.

That same blog said that coyotes, dogs and wolves would “very much prefer not to breed with each other” although there is enough genetic similarity that some interbreeding between them is possible. And, apparently, coyotes enjoy a romp.

Some of the argument for why there’s no such thing as a coywolf is because the hybridisation only happened within the last century or so, which is not nearly long enough for an animal to become a new species.

But what makes this animal different than a western coyote? Well, a few thingsm according to PBS. It’s got longer legs, a larger jaw, small ears, a bushy tail and a long body. Kind of like when Growlithe evolves into Arcanine.

And like a Growlithe or Arcanine, a coywolf also likes to eat berries. But these animals also like deer, rabbits and small rodents (like a Rattata).

Unique species or not, this is a pretty cool animal. Coyotes are pretty cool animals. And we should all celebrate them.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Lilacs, by Waxahatchee

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold: “Ange Postecoglou makes big statement on Mathys Tel future - ‘I didn’t bring him here for six months’”

Jack P-B ($$): “Levy and Lange’s late rush to give Postecoglou’s Spurs squad the ‘help’ they needed”

BBC: “‘A big occasion’ - Postecoglou & Slot target first final”

The Guardian: “Postecoglou sees brighter days ahead as Tottenham brace for Anfield roar”

Matt Law: “Revealed: Harry Kane’s release clause – and which Premier League clubs may sign him”

TEAM NEWS: Tel, Danso available for selection in League Cup semifinal vs. Liverpool

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Tottenham Hotspur’s two new signings have both trained with the club and are available for selection in Thursday’s League Cup semifinal second leg against Liverpool! Hooray! The same, however, can’t be said for Micky van de Ven.

There were ridiculous and completely unsourced online rumors floating around yesterday that Van de Ven’s absence from this past weekend’s win over Brentford were due to another significant injury setback that could potentially rule him out for the rest of the season. Ange Postecoglou, speaking in his pre-match press conference, wasn’t asked about those rumors, but did confirm that Van de Ven is being brought in very slowly, and that he didn’t feel comfortable enough to play this Thursday.

“For availability from last week, everyone fine. Kevin and Mathys are both available and have trained. The rest of [the injured players], no one available for tomorrow. With Micky and Romero to a certain extent, it’s about being conservative with them. Micky got through the 45 minutes but he feels he’s not ready yet for the step up to the Premier League yet. Obviously a big shame to lose Radu.

“[With Micky] It’s a bit of everything. He got through the game no problem but had a look at stats, Premier League is a whole different beast and after losing Radu, I thought what we had ahead of us. Don’t get me wrong we have some big games ahead but also afforded ourselves a couple of clear weeks. Hopefully we’re in final of Carabao Cup, hopefully we’re still in FA Cup and I don’t see sense of us risking us. Having Kevin in is a massive bonus and [Micky] hasn’t [been] re-injured but he feels he needs to get more into him. Same with [Cuti] Romero.”

That’s a bit of a bummer. I think, based on the very limited time we saw Micky play on his return, that I’d feel a lot more comfortable against Liverpool with Van de Ven in the lineup than without him. But, you can absolutely understand Ange’s reluctance to play him, especially if Micky himself is saying he’s not quite ready for that level of match.

So fair play. That likely means lining up with Archie Gray and Ben Davies at Anfield, which is a bit gulp but also both of them have been surprisingly solid when called upon. What about Kevin Danso? Ange says he’s a possibility, but maybe not from kickoff.

“We’ll see. There is another big game three days later. Whether [Danso] starts or comes on, we’ll see.”

The big Tottenham story of the transfer deadline day on Monday was Tottenham turning around what was once a failed bid for Bayern Munich attacker Mathys Tel. The deal appeared dead after Tel rejected a Spurs loan with a purchase option, but Tel changed his mind after having a phone conversation with Postecoglou where he detailed his tactical plans and how he thought Tel could fit into Spurs’ team this spring. Ange was asked about that conversation and how he managed to change Mathys’ mind.

“People need to understand we’re talking about a 19-year-old player with a major decision, it’s not so much about rejecting us or anyone. He wanted to be comfortable with the decision. He didn’t want to be pushed in a certain direction, credit to him.

“I had a conversation with him and purely around the football and that I think he’ll find a great place here in terms of where is in his career. We’ve shown irrespective of age, he’ll get an opportunity and the way we play will suit him and what we have in the next few months and beyond it’s a perfect fit.

“It’s right that it took as long as it did so he’s comfortable with it. That he took so much time and was diligent, and made the decision when he had options, it meant the right mentality, right player, he’s ambitious, with self belief and self confidence and feels he can reach the very top.”

Tottenham sporting director Lange talks about Spurs’ January transfer window

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With the January transfer window now in the rear view mirror, attention turns now from what can clubs do in the market to how they DID do in the market. Tottenham Hotspur brought in three players in this window: goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, central defender Kevin Danso, and attacker Mathys Tel, with the latter two on loan.

Fan reaction to Spurs’ window has been mixed — while most fans think the players brought in constitute a decent window that addresses Tottenham’s needs for the second half of the season, there’s a lot of consternation about the timing of the moves and why Spurs waited until the end of the window to bring in players that would have been very useful playing matches earlier in January.

Tottenham’s sporting director Johan Lange “moves in darkness” as we like to say — since assuming his role he has maintained strict radio silence and has pretty much locked down most leaks coming out of the club. So it’s very interesting now to see a video interview on Tottenham’s YouTube channel with Lange where he talks about the overall window, the challenges the club faces when addressing significant moves in January, and why Spurs waited so gosh-darn long to make moves.

It’s a very interesting video, and I’ve embedded it in the article header so you can watch it in full. Here are a few choice excerpts.

First, Lange was asked about the overall dynamics of the January window and why it’s often a challenge for clubs to make significant decisions in the middle of the season. Lange was also asked to reflect a bit on each of Spurs’ three signings.

“The January transfer window is always a difficult window. Normally it’s about 10% of transfers are started in the January window compared to the summer. We came into the window with an ambition of trying to strengthen us in certain areas. We sit here after the window having signed a new goalkeeper, a new centerback, and an offensive player as well. So that is where we are and overall we are very satisfied with that.

“Toni (Kinsky) is a goalkeeper that we have followed for a long time. He was a target that we were considering for the summer, but due to Vicario’s injury we decided to see if we could move it forward. He’s a goalkeeper that despite his young age is quite proven — he has been in goal in the Czech division for the last few years. He’s a very modern goalkeeper, and a player that suits our style of play. We followed him a lot, I think we watched him 10-12 times live during the summer and I have very detailed knowledge of him as a character. We’re very excited that he is at the club and of course will come in and compete.

“[With Danso] stylistic fit is always important. With the way we play we need players that will come and be comfortable in that style. With Kevin, he’s a very good stylistic fit but he also comes with a lot experience, both in the Bundesliga and also Ligue 1 in France and also with the Austrian national team. He’s a good age, with the experience to come in and take a role from the first day. We’re getting to know him more and more and I’m sure his personalty will play a huge factor in his role going forward.

“Mathys [Tel] is a fantastic talent. He’s one of a unique group of players that at a young age has already played a lot of football at a very high level — he’s played over 60 games in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, and has played 15-16 games in the Champions League for Bayern Munich at the age of 19. He’s a versatile attacking player who has the ‘X-factor’ and hopefully will bring excitement to the stadium as well. He’s a player that all of us can’t wait to ‘set free’ and hopefully we will share some fantastic experiences together in the future.”

To the club’s credit, Lange was asked about why so many January transfers don’t happen until the end of the window. Lange responded that there were some changes to the January dynamic that made moves even more difficult than in past years, particularly the change to the European competition structure that meant the first round didn’t end until after the window closed.

“That is a fair question. We as a club would’ve liked to do all our signings on January 1, and we were ready to do that, but it’s not as easy as that. I think in this January in particular the dynamic changed a little bit. We’re not the only team that has injuries, and also the dynamic of the new European [tournament] format. Meaning that all the teams competing in the European season have had to play group matches in January, which has [until now] never been the case. Normally the clubs will know their fate in December. But the fact is that teams are playing two group games in late January, and more teams that are playing in the playoff stages. And those things meant that clubs are more reluctant [to sell players]. So it’s about finding the right players here to come into the team. It’s not about buying the first players available, it’s about finding players for now and also for the future.

“In the first two weeks of January I think there were about 12 transfers in the whole of the Premier League, and that says a lot. You can of course influence things but you can’t completely dictate the whole transfer window dynamics. Some players are also uncomfortable making a change mid-season, because they want to ride the season out, or join a new club with a full preseason. We are asking players and families to make a move — within 24 yours you’re leaving your country, you’re starting, you’re playing the next day. There are a lot of factors [as to why] most transactions are done in the summer. We were ready to go on January 1, and I think sitting here we spent the whole window trying to get business done. We brought three players in that we are certain will contribute to the club.”

Lange was also asked about the recruitment structure at Spurs, something he and Scott Munn have been working on revamping over the past year or so. Spurs have retooled their recruitment towards a more data-driven analytical approach, and have made significant changes to the scouting and recruitment staff. Lange said all of this was to further a very important goal.

“We are building here a very strong and robust evidence-based infrastructure. So for instance we arrived with [Kinsky] at the beginning of the market, and when we presented [the data to Ange] and the same with Mathys as well, I think they were very impressed with the detailed knowledge we have of them and what they have done in their career so far, how we anticipate that they will perform in our style and system, how much we know about their character, etc. And then of course, Ange [Postecoglou], myself, the scouting department, we have meetings, and every transfer we have done since I have arrived at the club, Ange has a conversation with the player as well. So we are building here, and this is a key component to be successful in the future as well, a very strong infrastructure in the club as well because the leagues we are in are very competitive.”

Lange also talks about the loan system, and Tottenham’s new preference to send promising young players like Yang Min-hyeok and Will Lankshear out to other clubs to get experience, and how that can pay dividends in the future.

It’s a really interesting interview. Lange sure sounds like he knows what he’s doing, and listening to him talk makes the social media chatter about Spurs purposefully leaving business late and him as an incompetent recruiter more and more ridiculous. If anything, the main takeaway from Lange’s interview is that fans need to (and apologies for this) “trust the process.”