Cartilage Free Captain

Today, transfer deadline day, has been a day of reversals. First there was the news that Ange Postecoglou convinced Mathys Tel to join Tottenham on loan, with final details to be worked out yet later today. Now there’s another reversal — according to The Athletic, Spurs are back in negotiations with Chelsea for a loan for central defender Axel Disasi.

Previously Disasi had said he did not want to come to Spurs, even though a loan between Spurs and Chelsea had been agreed. Now it seems he might have changed his mind? We don’t know yet what the loan conditions would be like — “wet” loan, “dry” loan, loan fees, etc. but we know that the clubs are still talking with a few hours left to go in the window.

Disasi is nobody’s idea of a perfect signing, but he’s a warm body and has the skills to be an asset in a ball-playing Ange-Ball defensive line. If he comes, I doubt he gets a ton of minutes, but he could be a useful rotation option so long as Spurs are in four competitions. He’d join alongside Kevin Danso, adding two quite serviceable defensive arrow to Postecoglou’s quiver.

I have no idea whether this will actually happen — it’s Deadline Day! — but it’s apparently still a thing. Now which rejected move can we bring back next? I vote for Desire Doue.

In what will definitely be the most lucrative signing by Tottenham Hotspur of the January transfer window, Spurs have announced they have signed international music legend Beyonce to a four-concert contract, through June of 2025! The concert dates were released today by her current club, Cowboy Carter FC.

This will be Queen Bey’s second stint with Tottenham, after a multi-concert appearance at the club stadium two summers ago. This time she’ll again fill the stadium with season concert ticket holders and her performances for the club may have the most impact of anyone else they might choose to sign this month.

In a statement, chairman Daniel Levy said he was welcoming Beyonce’s return to the club.

“Beyonce’s star power will not only greatly increase overall funds to the club, her concerts will almost help us generate funds for continued squad improvement. We are thrilled to have a singer so influential be a part of our club. #WelcomeBey”

Tottenham players are said to be “buzzing” about Beyonce’s return to North London, with reports suggesting they will greet her at the stadium each wearing a cowboy hat in recognition of “Cowboy Carter”’s multiple Grammy-award winning status.

When asked, Brentford officials said they had no comment, as they were hoping to put a ring on it.

Hey, remember those halcyon days of about 48 hours ago when Mathys Tel said he had rejected a move to Tottenham Hotspur, apparently straight to Daniel Levy’s face?

WELL GUESS WHAT — IT’S BACK ON! Florian Plettenberg is now tweeting that Tel has changed course and has now agreed to join Spurs on a straight loan with no option or obligation to the end of the season.

This is both stupid and awesome, the kind of transfer story you live for. Tel apparently was not enthused with joining a team that was, then, 15th in the Premier League and looked like it was floundering, so he personally nixed a deal between Spurs and Bayern that included a purchase option at the end of the season.

So what happened between then and now? Well, there have been recent reports that both Manchester United and Arsenal weren’t going to move for him this month, so I can only assume that Bayern told him, basically, “You’re not playing, bro. Go find a club.”

I know we talk about how we don’t want players that don’t want to be here. The counterpoint to that is that Tel is 19 years old, and teenagers can be stupid sometimes. I suppose Tel may have thought most big clubs would be lining up to sign him, and when that happened he freaked out. And maybe Spurs think that once he gets here and starts playing he might then be interested in moving here for good. Who knows! It’s fun fan-fic, though.

Tottenham have been linked with a number of names in the waning days of the January transfer window, including Southampton’s young dribbly boi Tyler Dibling. But while Southampton was considering Spurs’ rather sizable interest in Dibling, according to Dan Kilpatrick on the Standard’s transfer tracker, Tottenham have cooled their interest in Dibling in this window over Southampton’s fee demands.

Kilpatrick writes that Southampton were asking “well in excess of” their original asking price of £55m for Dibling, who is currently injured with a bad ankle. There’s a possibility that Spurs could go back in for Dibling this summer, as he’ll have two years remaining on his contract with Southampton at that point.

In addition to the Dibling news, Kilpatrick also pours cold water on any pursuit of AC Milan’s Noah Okafor or Aston Villa’s Leon Bailey, both of whom have popped up in various rumors linked to Spurs this window. While Kilpatrick confirms Spurs have “considered” both of them, none of them are being actively pursued thus far today.

Tottenham are still said to be interested in signing an attacker, and possibly another defender, today. But someone will need to first penetrate Lange’s adamantium anti-leak shield before we find out who those hypothetical players are.

Welcome to A Look at the Month Ahead, where your hoddler-in-chief checks out what’s going in the Tottenham Hotspur universe.

Tottenham Hotspur men’s squad

There’s just no relief, is there?

December felt awful. January felt worse. What will February bring then? APPARENTLY A WIN AGAINST BRENTFORD AND A NEW CENTREBACK.

We’ve also got six matches. Four of them away (although Brentford happened already). Two cup games. Both Manchester clubs. Little rest in between it all.

There’s been so much injury activity that it feels impossible to keep up with who’s coming back. I take some solace in seeing pictures of Micky Van de Ven BACK BABY!!!!!!! We’ve got some relief coming in with this fella from Lens, but who knows what else the window has in store.

Deadline Day this year falls today, so maybe we’ll bring in another player.

That said, I’m bracing for another brutal month.

Tottenham Hotspur men’s schedule: at Liverpool (6 Feb, EFL Cup); at Villa (9 Feb, FA Cup); Manchester United (16 Feb); at Ipswich (22 Feb); Manchester City (26 Feb)

Tottenham Hotspur women’s squad:

Things are looking a little bit better for the women, who are sixth in the table after a win at Crystal Palace this past weekend thanks to Olivia Holdt’s game-winning goal in 90+5.

That puts them level on points with Brighton (but three fewer goals in the GD).

But the women have their own challenging month too even with only two games to play. The first one is at home to Manchester United (second in the table) before a North London Derby against Arsenal (fourth in the table).

Tottenham Hotspur womne’s schedule: Man United (2 Feb); at Arsenal (16 Feb)

Fitzie’s track of the day: Prélude In Blue A L’Esquinade (BOF “Les liaisons dangereuses”), by Art Blakey

And now for your links:

Dan KP: “Tottenham show a different side to give themselves a big lift ahead of decisive week”

The Athletic ($$): “Relief for Postecoglou, Spence’s importance and Danso’s arrival”

BBC: “‘Hurting’ Spurs find defensive strength before defining week”

Remember what it was like to win matches in the Premier League? You’d be forgiven if you’ve forgotten, because it’s been a while. But Owen Goal and Prime Minister Sarr gave Tottenham Hotspur a 2-0 away win at Brentford, and a clean sheet to boot! The win puts Spurs up to 14th in the table — not great, but should put talk about a “relegation battle” to rest.

It’s time to rate the players.

Rate the players from 1⁄2 to 5 stars. If the player doesn’t deserve a rating due to minutes played, DO NOT RANK. I will round the stars up/down to the nearest half-star for the player ratings later this week.

It looks like Kevin Danso might not be the only defender Spurs add today. According to Fabrizio Romano, Spurs and Chelsea have agreed to a deal that would send Alex Disasi to Hotspur Way on loan, with NO purchase option or obligation.

So it’s an interesting position Spurs are in with this deal. For starters, THEY HAVE A DEAL FOR A PLAYER WITH CHELSEA. That’s extremely unusual, these sides have refused to negotiate since the whole Luka Modric saga. So that’s one thing.

The other thing is what Romano says about personal terms. Disasi has agreed terms with Aston Villa, but Chelsea don’t want to improve a Champions League rival. They are, however, willing to loan to Spurs, but Disasi hasn’t yet agreed to join Tottenham. So we’re kind of in limbo until Spurs can convince Disasi to join. Maybe Big Ange can phone Disasi and rizz him up a bit?

I don’t hate the idea of a dry loan if we’re looking for defensive bodies to play in rotation. That appears to be what a Disasi loan would be. Let’s see how it shakes out — my guess is that he eventually agrees.

Tottenham Hotspur is back to winning ways in the Premier League as the side left Gtech Stadium with a grueling 2-0 victory over Brentford on Sunday morning.

With the teamsheet announced more than an hour before kickoff and not seeing Mickey van de Ven on the teamsheet, many were left asking, ‘Did he get hurt yet again?’

But Ange Postecoglou reassured at his pregame press conference that with three games upcoming and a huge semi-final clash at Liverpool with a Carabao Cup final on the line that, “We’re just trying to manage his minutes, “ Ange explained at the Gtech. “It’s a quick turnaround and with speaking with the medical team and Micky himself, we’ll just keep him on ice this weekend, give him another week training and then hopefully he’ll be ready for the end of the week.”

Taking on a great mid-table Brentford side that has the likes of Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa taking over the team with Ivan Toney gone for good, Spurs defense was in a treat to hold things down.

One particular defender who came out to showcase his skills was Djed Spence. Tasked with taking on Mbeumo in one-on-one action at left back, Spence pocketed Mbuemo for the majority of the match as he kept the in-form winger from taking over in the game.

Playing on the back foot for most of the first half, Spurs capitalized when it mattered most. Earning a corner kick with Son Heung-min at the right corner flag, the captain sent in an in-swinging ball to the crowded six-yard box. Seeing the ball bounce off the back of Vitaly Janelt — who battled Yves Bissouma for the position in front of his keeper — Son put another Olimpico into the back of the net thanks to the own goal.

Brentford’s final big chance in the half came way off a corner kick with a deflection coming to the path of a first-time volley chance for Mbeumo. Hammering his shot for what looked to be a goal, Richarlison put his head in line with the shot to give way to a corner.

Leading 1-0 into the locker room, Spurs made a change with Lucas Bergvall beefing up the midfield with Mikey Moore coming off as he was bullied off the ball on multiple occasions.

Sitting back and dealing with relentless pressure from Brentford in the opening 15 minutes of the second half, Spurs defense did its job as the onslaught was handled well.

Spurs put the game to bed for good in the 87th minute with Rodrigo Bentancur hitting Son on the left wing with Spence overlapping the captain. With space in the middle and Pape Sarr streaking down for a perfect ball to come his way, Sonny hit a pass for Sarr to get a first-touch shot underneath Hákon Valdimarsson and a crucial 2-0 lead.

Holding on in the end for a 2-0 win, Spurs picked up its first points in the league since the 2-2 draw against Wolves on December 29th.

Man-of-the-match performance for Djed Spence as his one-on-one defending against Mbuemo involved a lot of pace and abilities to pocket the winger. On the other end, Spence made pushes down the flank in the early stages to try and get the ball rolling into the box for his side.

Now, Spurs turn focus to the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final at Anfield, with the side entering enemy territory with a 1-0 lead.

Tottenham Hotspur FC, or Vibes FC? There’ll have been a better feeling around Hotspur Way this week as a win in the Europa League spurred (heh) by the performance of three youth products saw Tottenham qualify for the Round of 16.

Every silver lining has a cloud, however, and after losing yet another player to injury in the shape of Radu Dragusin, Spurs now have to return to the realities of the Premier League to face Brentford. The Gtech Community Stadium has been a bit of a graveyard for many a big team over the last couple of seasons... so with Spurs sitting in 16th(!) on the table, maybe they have a chance?

Who knows what will happen next in this rollercoaster of a season. I’m feeling sick, and I’d quite like to get off.

COYS!

Lineups

Live Blog

How to Watch

Brentford vs. Tottenham Hotspur

Gtech Community Stadium, London, UK

Sunday, February 2, 2025

Time: 9:00 a.m. ET, 2:00 p.m. UK

TV: USA Network, Sky Sports Premier League (UK). Check international listings at livesoccertv.com

Streaming: nbcsports.com

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Have fun, and COYS!

Hey, remember how bad we all felt when Mathys Tel said “No” to a Tottenham Hotspur transfer straight to Daniel Levy’s face? Well prepare to get even more upset. Tottenham’s preferred target for a central defense addition this window, AC Milan and former Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori, has now officially rejected a move to Spurs.

Sigh.

Fikayo Tomori has officially said no to Milan: he will not accept Tottenham. Milan and Spurs had an agreement for a transfer worth over 25 million. The English centre-back will be available for the derby tomorrow.

I guess it’s not a surprise after the earlier news that he did not want to leave Milan before the Milan Derby tomorrow, but this still sucks. It means Spurs’ top two targets in this window (after Antonin Kinsky) have flat-out rejected a move to Tottenham, despite Spurs coming to an agreement with their clubs.

Now, I’m of the opinion that you can’t (and shouldn’t) force players to a club against their will, and if a player doesn’t want to come then we’re better off without them. But it still sucks. Hopefully Spurs have more irons in the fire besides Alex Disasi, because it’s starting to get ridiculous now.