Cartilage Free Captain

It’s the international break, which means there’s no club football, which means that everything quiets down and attention shifts to other areas. That includes rumination over potential summer 2026 transfer moves, and when THAT happens, it almost always seem to involve Tottenham Hotspur somehow.

Okay, that’s true for every club, but this is a Tottenham blog and so we pay close attention to the things we pay close attention to. So this made my ears prick up: According to (deep sigh) Fabrizio Romano’s podcast, Orlando City has had contact with Richarlison’s entourage about a possible move to MLS this coming summer.

Richarlison is under contract at Tottenham Hotspur until summer of 2027, but in truth we’ve been talking about the possibility of moving him on for a couple of years now. It’s not that he’s a bad player — he isn’t. When he’s on his game he’s can be a deadly finisher and he’s very good at holding the ball up and getting on the ends of crosses for headers and one-time finishes. There’s also no chance that he’d leave the club in January, since with Dom Solanke’s injury he’s Spurs’ de facto first choice striker.

But he’s 28, has struggled with injury since moving to the club from Everton, and Spurs will need to think about upgrading him in the medium term whether or not he regains enough form to make Brazil’s World Cup squad.

MLS has been weirdly flush with cash lately, and we don’t have to look very far to see an example of it — LAFC’s record £20m signing of Son Heung-Min has been good for everyone involved, and MLS is starting to be seen as a viable destination for a certain type of aging footballer who might want to squeeze a couple more years out of his career before either returning to Brazil or hanging up his boots.

In the interest of clarity it should be pointed out that there’s not a lot of meat on this particular bone. Nothing is imminent, just international break quiet time news that Orlando’s people have talked with Richy’s people. So let’s not put the cart in front of the horse just yet. That said, is this PLAUSIBLE? Well, sure! Why not! MLS seems like the kind of league that would suit a 29-year-old Richarlison quite well. He’d definitely take one of Orlando’s Designated Player slots, one of which is held by 34-year-old forward Colombian forward Luis Muriel. And if Orlando City is interested, my guess is that there’s probably other teams, both in MLS and elsewhere, sniffing around.

Like it or not we’re going to have to start thinking about life after Richarlison. This is the first semi-real link I’ve seen that potentially points to that future.

The last time we heard from Sergio Reguilon he had just left Tottenham Hotspur at the conclusion of his contract and was without a club. It looks like he might be trading unemployment with an opportunity to play football with Lionel Messi.

According to The Athletic, Sergio is in negotiations with Inter Miami to sign with the MLS side on a free transfer with the deal expected to be completed soon.

Reguilon would initially start as a rotation option and backup to to his countryman, 36-year-old former Barcelona star Jordi Alba. However, Alba just announced that he’s retiring at the end of the current MLS season, so this provides and excellent opportunity for Reguilon to replace him next season. Alba joins Sergio Busquets, who also announced his retirement from football last month, opening up two designated player spots for Miami next season.

Should the move go through, Reguilon is joining after the MLS roster after the September 12 roster freeze. Inter Miami can petition the league for an exception, but if that is rejected Sergio would not be able to play for Inter Miami until the 2026 season. Regardless, even if the exemption is not granted it appears all Sergio would need to do is keep his head down and train, knowing that Alba would hand him the keys to the kingdom next season. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me!

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Tottenham Hotspur Women slipped past fellow best-of-the-rest hopefuls Brighton on the south coast. Thanks to a great goal spearheaded by Jess Naz and finished by Tinka Tandberg, Spurs sit third in the table ahead of both Manchester United and Arsenal.

Martin only made one change to the starting XI from the previous weekend’s successful lineup. Ash Neville made her long-awaited season debut after an injury-marred September. She replaced Josefine Rybrink, who it should be noted is a more natural center back than fullback.

The game opened with an uncharacteristic error from Toko Koga. While the slip was unlike her, the way she threw her whole body on top of the ball to protect it was very quick thinking, which does seem to be a specialty of hers. Thankfully, the whole sequence went unpunished. Things improved from there. Jess Naz looked particularly sharp creating danger on the wing. Jess’ hard work ultimately led to our goal. She smartly tucked in to provide Olivia Holdt with an outlet and made a run ahead to receive the ball back. Jess’ cross across the mouth of the goal was dangerous, and Tinka Tandberg made no mistake with the back post finish. Brighton had plenty of attacking juice throughout the half, though Spurs did enough to keep them out. They nearly equalized on a corner just before the whistle, but Lize Kop collected the ball and kept things safe.

Ho was once again generous with his second half substitutions — Matilda Vinberg replaced Olivia Holdt in the 66th minute. Olga Ahtinen and Martha Thomas replaced Drew Spence and Tinka Tandberg in the 72nd, and Charli Grant in for Jess Naz in the 88th minute. Brighton gave us a bit more trouble throughout the half. They put their best chance at an equalizer wide when a more lethal side (ahem, Manchester City) might’ve capitalized, but in the end, we held on for the win.

Thoughts

First of all let me start with something we don’t get to say very often. HELL YEAH we’re ahead of Manchester United and Arsenal in the table, my two most hated sides of all time. This team (minus Toko Koga and Tinka Tandberg) looked the part in 11th last season, so either Martin Ho is a good wizard or Bob Vilahamn is an evil one. You decide.

But I don’t want to give Martin Ho all the credit (or Robert all the blame). I’ve been saying this literally every game, but our new signings are seriously nice. If we had to only make two of them, at least it was two absolute gems. On the other end of things, some Spurs Women veterans turned in excellent performances today. It was fantastic to see Ash back in the side. When the season started and she wasn’t making the bench, I was a little bit worried Martin was in the process of banishing her for unknown reasons. I am so glad this wasn’t the case, and I’m not surprised. Ash has shown her adaptability over the years in a number of different leagues, a number of different managers and a number of different positions.

Jess Naz was also a standout, ultimately collecting the player of the match award. Fully deserved — she’s shown a real progression these last few games, getting more and more involved, growing in confidence carrying the ball, and making better decisions. Long may the upward trajectory continue!!

Next weekend will probably not be so successful. We head to Chelsea, a team that has won the league for so many consecutive years I’ve literally lost count. If we want to get anything out of it, we’ll need to be defensively perfect all day, and of course, we’ll need a moment of magic in attack (Tinka, that’s your music). Although we’ve beaten all the comparable or worse sides so far this season, we got absolutely smushed by Manchester City. I’m looking at Chelsea as an opportunity to see what Martin has learned from that game.

And who knows? Maybe this will be the time we pull one over on Chelsea. It’s early days, but maybe Martin Ho is starting to make me believe.

Tottenham Hotspur had a lot going against it — an away match against a newly promoted opponent that is playing well and is unbeaten at home in their last 23 matches. Oh, and there was a European away fixture a few days ago AND an upcoming international break. The negative karma was off the scale as Spurs traveled to Elland Road.

Spurs said “forget all that.” Tottenham two club debut goals today, one from Mathys Tel and one from Mohammed Kudus, and Spurs held on for a 1-2 away win over Leeds to put them, at least temporarily, into second place in the Premier League table.

Was it a great performance? Probably not. There’s lots to criticize if you want to. But for THIS Spurs team in these conditions and with the injuries they already have, it’s a very solid result, and one I honestly did not see coming. It’s a good win that I think Spurs will point to with satisfaction later in the season.

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.

If you’re on mobile or found this via AMP and the survey isn’t appearing below, here’s a direct link.

With yet another international break looming, Tottenham Hotspur headed to Elland Road to take on Leeds United, a venue where the home side had not lost a league match in over a year. Spurs would have been hoping this match could be a return to form following the stodgy performances of recent weeks, and though not all questions were answered by the performance, there was enough there to at least silence those asking temporarily.

Thomas Frank made a number of changes following Spurs’ Champions League draw against Bodo/Glimt in midweek: Mathys Tel made a rare start up top for Richarlison; Destiny Udogie and Cristian Romero returned at the back; and Joao Palhinha, Mohammed Kudus, and Xavi Simons also made the XI, at the expense of Pape Matar Sarr, Lucas Bergvall, and Brennan Johnson. The rotation initially appeared to present itself as a lack of cohesion, with Spurs starting the match a bit off the pace, before things developed into more of an end-to-end affair. Leeds should have opened the scoring: Spurs alum Joe Rodon clattered the far post with a header off a free kick that Guglielmo Vicario misjudged; but instead, Spurs took first advantage, as Mathys Tel drove into the Leeds penalty area after being fed by Kudus and took a speculative shot at goal. The attempt deflected off the leg of Pascal Struijk, which was enough to tip the ball over the outstretched palm of Karl Darlow in goal.

The opportunities for either side didn’t stop there, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin presented with a chance following a Spurs giveaway, and Kudus slicing an opportunity well wide after being teed up by Destiny Udogie. Leeds, however, were the next side to hit the back of the net, as Brenden Aaronson gave himself enough space for a shot following Calvert-Lewin’s knock-down. Aaronson’s effort deflected off Romero’s leg, meaning Vicario could only palm it out into a dangerous area, and Noah Okafor was on hand for a tap-in.

With the score one apiece going into the second half, Spurs began to take more of an ascendancy, albeit with Leeds still offering a threat. Vicario made an excellent kick save on a Calvert-Lewin shot, before Leeds fizzed a cross across the face of Spurs’ goal, in some nervy moments for the Lilywhite defense. Instead of capitulating, though, Spurs struck at the other end. Kudus dribbled at Struijk, before unleashing a strike from the top of the 18-yard area through the legs of the Dutch defender. It took a slight deflection and nestled just inside the right upright.

From there, Thomas Frank opted to shift to defensive mode, bringing in reinforcements via way of the bench. Daniel Farke also pulled from his bench as his side hunted for a goal, but Spurs held firm outside of a couple of half-chances and one very good Vicario save off another Calvert-Lewin shot. After a late flurry of Leeds set pieces, the referee blew the whistle and Spurs took a hard-fought 2-1 win into the break.

Reactions

It’s nice to secure another three points, rather than just one.

There seemed to be a bit more cohesion this time around for Spurs in their build-up, though things still aren’t great in that respect. The left side interplay between Xavi Simons, Destiny, and Wilson Odobert especially was really good, and it seemed should have generated more shooting opportunities.

That said, Xavi was often having to drop VERY deep to pick up the ball because the midfield double pivot just could not find him. I’m still not a fan of playing Bentancur and Palhinha together for this reason, especially as it didn’t even seem to give Spurs that much in the way of defensive solidity today.

Xavi, though. He is a lot of fun to watch. Keep playing him at the #10, Thomas.

Destiny Udogie was really good today. He’s won his starting spot back as far as I’m concerned, though obviously Frank will continue to rotate as needed.

Though you can certainly be critical of Guglielmo Vicario for that early Rodon chance, it’s hard to be too harsh on him for Leeds’ goal, considering the deflection - though I have seen some fans do so anyway. He really came to the fore though as the match progressed, making a number of excellent saves.

It’s kinda weird that all three goals came from deflections, right? That can’t be a hugely common occurrence.

The refereeing. Hoo boy. Way to call absolutely nothing for around half an hour then wonder why all the players start clattering each other. Then immediately start calling absolutely everything. The players were clearly confused, as the way this match was refereed was all over the place for both sides. Get some consistency! There were a couple of flashpoints that could have been avoided.

Hey, three points before an international break… and Spurs are temporarily up to second! COYS!

After a couple of scratchy performances and three draws from four matches, Tottenham Hotspur will be looking for a statement performance today against Leeds United. The Lilywhites have struggled for cohesion of late, and it could be that a match against a promoted side could present as something of a palate cleanser.

Unfortunately, the promoted sides in this 2025/26 instance of the Premier League seem to not be the pushovers seen in recent years, with Leeds only losing two of six fixtures thus far. Elland Road is never the easiest place to visit either, so this match is certainly not going to be a cakewalk for Thomas Frank’s side.

Here’s hoping for some fluency and focus, and three well-earned points!

COYS!

Lineups

Lineups will be posted closer to kick-off.

Live Blog

How to Watch

Leeds United vs. Tottenham Hotspur

Elland Road, Leeds, UK

Saturday, October 4, 2025

Time: 7:30 a.m. ET, 12:30 p.m. UK

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

Streaming: nbcsports.com

Match thread rules

The match thread rules are the same as always. To any visitors coming here for the first time, welcome! We’re glad you’re here! Wipe your feet, mind the gap, and be sure to check out the other pages at this outstanding site. While you’re here, though, we have a few rules and regulations:

Absolutely no links to illegal streams. They’re bad and they get us in trouble. Violators will be warned or banned.

We have rules against “relentless negativity.” Nobody likes a Negative Nancy. Don’t knee-jerk and post outlandish or hurtful things just because you’re frustrated.

Along those lines, outright abuse of players or match officials is also not allowed. It’s fine to say “wow, that was a really bad call,” but it’s NOT okay to direct copious amounts of abuse in the direction of said official over a call you did not like.

Treat other people in the match thread the way you would want someone else to treat your grandmother. Be nice. This is a community of fans, not an un-moderated message board.

NO SPIDERS!

Finally, while we don’t have a rule against profanity, please try and keep the naughty words in check. Also, language that is sexist, racist, transphobic, or homophobic in nature will be swiftly deleted and you will be immediately banned. This is an open, supportive community.

Have fun, and COYS!

Well, that sure didn’t take long. Just a couple of days after news first broke that Tottenham Hotspur was in late negotiations for a new extended contract for Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur, the club announced the deal on social media and their website this morning.

As has been the pattern starting this offseason, Spurs did not release any details about the length of Bentancur’s new contract, apart from that it is “long term.” I suppose it depends on what your definition of “long term” is — two years? Three? But considering Bentancur is 28, you have to assume the contract would be at minimum three years, which would take Lolo to the verge of his 32nd birthday… or beyond.

So how do I feel about this?

I’ll be honest, hold my hand up and say I have a complicated relationship with Rodrigo Bentancur. Yes, he’s been around a while with Spurs and has been at times very good. He’s also apparently a good locker room guy and a veteran player with years of Premier League experience, and that’s one of those intangibles that can sometimes make the difference. That said, he never really has been the same since coming back from the major knee injury that kept him off the pitch for nearly a year in 2023. He’s been a good player. I haven’t seen a enough for me to recommend giving him a new long term contract that extends into his early 30s when he already has shown what could be the early signs of a decline. And that’s without mentioning the two questionable personal incidents that got him in trouble last year, including the insensitive racial joke about Son Heung-Min and throwing a water bottle into the crowd after a tetchy international fixture.

The timing of this is probably about as bad as it could be, especially since Bentancur is coming off of a couple of pretty poor match performances, including an all-time stinker in Norway against Bodø/Glimt in the Champions League this past Tuesday.

But that’s the negative. The positive is that Bentancur does provide leadership and stability at a time when the club probably needs it. When he is on his game, he can be very, very good and he’s already had matches this season that made me sit up and take notice for all the right reasons. He’s settled and he’s happy, and that isn’t nothing. I certainly won’t be the one telling Spurs fans not to enjoy things. If you’re a person who celebrates a new contract for Bentancur, then by all means celebrate it.

I just wonder, you know? We went into this season expecting one or both of Yves Bissouma and Bentancur, who are both of a similar age, to be sold or moved on, replaced by a younger midfielder that brings different skills (like “passing”) to the table while we wait for our younger midfielders to age up and develop. Instead, both are still here, the midfield is kinda broken, and we’re extending one until he’s at least 31, unless this new deal will be used to sell him for a higher transfer fee in January or next summer. Does this seem like good squad construction to you? I’m just not so sure.

The past four matches have yielded three draws and a lone win (against a League One side) for Tottenham Hotspur. Each of the last two contests required very late equalizers to even salvage a point, and truthfully this wobbly form appears more flattering than it should. The reasons for these struggles are not exactly surprising, but to admit the vibes are drifting towards those of the previous regime is a haunting realization.

With the October International Window nearly here, how Tottenham enters the break will determine if the start to the season is good enough to compete on multiple fronts or has been completely washed away by a mediocre past month. Leeds United is perhaps slightly overachieving, but still a struggling side. However, that did not matter when Spurs hosted Wolves last weekend, and after a long voyage midweek, the outlook here is questionable.

Match Details

Date: Saturday, October 4

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

Location: Elland Road, Leeds

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

Table: Leeds (t-9th, 8 pts), Tottenham (t-4th, 11 pts)

Leeds is back in the Premier League after two seasons away, having spent 2020-23 in the top tier. Tottenham won five of the six matches between the sides during that stretch, only losing at Elland Road late in the 2020/21 campaign. The most recent meeting in this fixture was on the final day in May 2023 — Leeds needed a lot of help to avoid relegation, but could not even hold up its own end of the bargain, suffering a 4-1 defeat thanks to goals from Harry Kane (x2), Pedro Porro, and Lucas Moura.

Three Big Questions

Ball move how? The biggest struggle for this club is — and will continue to be — ball progression. Frank has limited options for progressive passing, yet continues to exacerbate the issue by frequently starting multiple deep lying midfielders who are known more for their recycling and defensive efforts. It is not his fault that Dejan Kulusevski remains out and that the transfer window featured many misses on this exact need, but it now becomes his responsibility to find a way forward.

While Leeds will surrender possession, the team sits fourth in the league in tackles and fifth in interceptions. The midfield combination of Sean Longstaff, Ethan Ampadu, and Anton Stach have been extremely active and productive and will be a physical test for a side that is really struggling to generate any sort of fluidity in attack. Pure talent says Spurs should be able to produce something, but recent matches suggest it will not come easily at all (and will likely only happen after falling behind).

What is it about Elland Road? In the league, Leeds are 2-2-2 on the season, but unbeaten at home, including a draw against Bournemouth last weekend that probably should have resulted in all three points. The three fixtures at Elland Road seem to be Leeds’ best on both ends of the pitch, which is not surprising given the fact a visiting team has not picked up a victory in a league match here in over a year.

Obviously, the vast majority of those opponents were in the Championship, and Spurs have actually picked up seven points from three road fixtures thus far. Ironically, playing lower sides in their home venue may be the preferred option, with the odds of facing conservative low blocks less likely than in North London. Still, Leeds are beating expectations early on and will feel that there is every right to claim a result here.

Who will actually capitalize? Prior to the 2-2 draw against the Cherries, the previous three matches for Leeds featured an average xG line of 0.67-1.07. With how Tottenham has been playing, I am not sure how confident I would feel in a low event match; recently, it seems like opponents have been lethal on counters from sloppy turnovers, while Spurs have been anything but clinical.

The hope then is that this match breaks open a bit, which definitely will come down to the midfield. If Spurs can find a way to generate some shots, this defense is not exactly impenetrable, but stagnation outside the box remains a very real possibility. With tallies in four of the last five, good old Owen Goal might be the best option, but that requires peppering the ball at the net with frequency, which is far from guaranteed.

Good morning and welcome to another edition of Trending Up / Trending Down, where hoddle headquarters takes a look at what around Tottenham Hotspur is trending up, and what is trending down.

This is actually our first edition of the series this season, which is surprising. It also makes it a little bit more difficult to identify some of these trends around N17. But we’re going to try, regardless:

Trending up:

Micky van de Ven / Cristian Romero: The presence of any other centreback (no disrespect to Kevin Danso), makes you appreciate so much the pairing Spurs have with van de Ven and Romero. It seemed like these two played so few games together last season.

Tottenham Hotspur Women: It’s a low bar compared to last year, and a 1-5 loss against Man City isn’t great, but Spurs Women are off to a decent start. I’ll take it.

Djed Spence: There are some questions about his productivity moving forward, but he’s been pretty darn good on defense so far. Why else would he open the Penitentiary? And let’s not forget he nabbed his first England cap too.

Mohamed Kudus: I was slightly hesitant after Spurs signed him this transfer window, but he’s been an absolute delight to watch. He brings a tonne of class on the pitch and so much creativity. It’s early days, but he’s a contender for Player of the Year.

Trending Down:

Goal-scoring threats: You never want “Own Goal” to lead the total goals across all competitions, but that’s where Tottenham are right now. After that? Well it’s joint-second with Joao Palhinha, Richarlison, Brennan Johnson and van de Ven at three goals. That’s not great and it doesn’t help that Dominic Solanke and Randal Kolo Muani (remember them?) are out.

Daniel Levy: Well, he’s no longer the chairman, is he?

Former managers: Aside from Antonio Conte with Napoli, this has been a pretty rough time for some of the more recent managers at Tottenham (not including interim managers like Ryan Mason). Nuno Espirito Santo was sacked by Nottingham Forest and is now at West Ham, Jose Mourinho was sacked by Fenerbahce and is now at Benefica. He most recently lost to Chelsea. Meanwhile, Ange Postecoglou is off to a horror start at Nottingham Forest, and Mauricio Pochettino’s Team USA have looked really unimpressive heading into next year’s World Cup.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Mothers of Riches, by Cate Le Bon

And now for your links:

Matt Law: “Brooklyn Earick, the ‘unsolicited’ Tottenham takeover bid and what is really going on”

Pardeep Cattry: “Jurgen Klopp loves life after coaching, doesn’t plan on coming back: ‘I miss nothing, I enjoy what I’m doing’”

The Independent: “Oliver Glasner fully focused on Everton despite European victory”