Cartilage Free Captain

I realize that I probably have no room to talk considering everything [gestures vaguely] that’s going on in my country at the moment, but sometimes you read a news story and think that there’s no way anything could possibly be more British than what I’ve just read. The Guardian is reporting that Andrew Ashcroft, the son of Lord Ashcroft, has purchased a stake in Tottenham Hotspur worth as much as £100m, which could mean a further cash injection into the club after Daniel Levy’s departure. Or it might not! We’ll get to that.

Andrew Ashcroft, a businessman and son of Lord Michael Ashcroft, purchased 8,023,942 shares of Tottenham Hotspur. I’m just a simple country Tottenham blogger but that seems like a lot of shares to me. At first blush this would seem to run counter to the Lewis Kids’ strong exhortations that the club is not for sale.

So what’s going on with Lordlet Andrew? Well, we’re not sure. Here’s the relevant paragraph from the article.

Lord Ashcroft is a long-standing Tottenham shareholder who at one stage owned around 4% of the club. It was unclear last night whether Ashcroft has sold his existing shares to his son, Andrew, or if the family have almost doubled their stake by buying from minority shareholders, who until last week owned 13.42% of the club between them.

Oh, okay. So either Lord Ashcroft sold his stake in the club to the Young Lordling, or Andrew just siphoned up a bunch of shares from various people with even smaller numbers of shares, consolidating ownership slightly more than it was before. Either way Lord Ashcroft’s shares have almost certainly gone up in value since he bought them so one would assume there will at least be some capital coming into the club. Is it £100m? Who’s to say?

There are apparently rules about business dealings in the UK that say family members investing in the same club may need to disclose whether they are working together or not. So far, we simply don’t know if Daddy Warbucks is working with Annie or not, and the club isn’t talking.

Andrew Ashcroft was based in Belize, where he owns a hotel and his father has substantial business interests, until 2021 when his then partner Jasmine Hartin was charged with manslaughter after accidentally shooting a police officer. Hartin was spared prison after pleading guilty, but Ashcroft obtained custody of their two children and moved to the Turks and Caicos Islands to launch a new business venture.

It sure is interesting when we get a little peek behind the curtain at some of the figures that are rich enough to afford to purchase shares of a major English football club, isn’t it? Look, I’m not a business guy and don’t pretend to be one so this story is just a bit baffling to me on all fronts

Tottenham’s next match is this Wednesday when they host League One side Doncaster Rovers in the Carabao Cup. While it’s another mid-week match, it provides an opportunity for Thomas Frank to rest some of his regular starters and potentially give some reserves and even youngsters an opportunity to play.

Frank’s pre-match press conference also provided an opportunity to give an update on the status of some of Spurs’ injured players. Frank said that while new signing Kota Takai and veteran striker Dominic Solanke are now back in training, it’s likely too soon for either to feature on Wednesday. Ben Davies also apparently picked up an injury in training and won’t feature either, nor will Randal Kolo Muani, who is still recovering from a dead leg that kept him out of this weekend’s draw vs. Brighton.

That suggests that we’re likely going to see Mathys Tel feature in the forward line somewhere, possibly at striker or coming in off the left side. Players like Brennan Johnson and Wilson Odobert are also likely to feature, and we could also see some rotation in the back line. Djed Spence was rested vs. Brighton, so we could see him come in for Pedro Porro on the right with Destiny Udogie on the left. I would expect Kevin Danso also will come into the back line as well, though obviously this is all pure guesswork and we won’t know what Frank will do until the lineups drop on Wednesday.

One of the more interesting tidbits to come in the press conference concerns Dejan Kulusevski, who has been out since last May with a knee injury. Frank dropped that while he has not set a timeline for Deki’s return, he expects that he’ll be back with the team before the new year.

“Kulusevski is a top player. I always liked him when I saw him from afar. Key player for us, key player for me. I’m not putting a month on it but I want him back as soon as possible and he’s working hard to do that as are the staff. He will be back before the end of this year.”

That would be massive, as Deki would be able to add another significant piece to the front line. His return would open up all kinds of lineup possibilities based on Frank’s tactics and club opposition.

If Doncaster sounds a bit familiar to you, it’s because it is the loan club for Tottenham academy graduate Damola Ajayi. He’s had something of a bit role there so far, coming off the bench in five of Doncaster’s first nine league matches.

“I think it’s OK. He’s on loan at another club. I know the Premier League have this if you’re on loan from a club, you’re not allowed to play [rule]. We decided to loan him out because it was good for his development. I’ve done that a thousand times. Maybe not a thousand times, a lot of times at Brentford, but we haven’t been that lucky to face one of our own players. It is what it is. I think it’s a great opportunity for him.”

Spurs kick off against Doncaster in the Cup tomorrow at 2:45 p.m. ET/ 7:45 p.m. BST. The match will be streamed on ESPN Select (formerly ESPN+) in USA.

I set a new personal best at the half marathon. How did I get here, and where do I go next?

At Mile 3 of my half marathon this weekend I had a little conversation with myself: “Am I really going to try to keep running this fast? Screw it, why not.”

And I kept going as hard as I possibly could.

Net time: 1:28.26

Splits: 6:36.4 / 6:44.1 / 6:45.5 / 6:50.4 / 6:46.5 / 6:40.1 / 6:40.9 / 6:33.8 / 6:37.0 / 6:37.3 / 6:45.6 / 6:45.7 / 6:56.1

Average pace: 6:43/mile

Place: 2nd overall

——-

During a typical run I like to doze off, look at the birds in the sky and wave to the passers-by, but today I was laser-focused on churning out mile after mile at muscle-tearing pace.

I’ve run this fast before - but not at such a distance for such a sustained period of time. My previous personal best at the half marathon was 1:35.06 this time last year. In my 14-mile run two weeks before this, I ran 13 miles in 1:33.xx.

Perhaps a week’s buildup of anxiety helped me to attack this race with such ferocity. I don’t know. I’m glad I went to bed early on Friday night instead of seeing Wet Leg (but, boy, I hated selling that ticket).

——-

This also wasn’t the running calendar I had envisioned this year. I was supposed to run the Avenue of the Giants in May, but then a hamstring injury sidelined me. And that, like some cruel pokemon, evolved into a hip injury.

I have been going to physical therapy since early March. I have one more appointment next week and, with luck, it’ll be the last one.

And so here I am. My attempt to hit a new personal best at the marathon was derailed early on. My hopes of running one in the fall were similarly destroyed. And I put everything into this race on Sunday.

I needed to test my hip. I needed to put it through immense pressure to give myself the confidence I need to carry on with my amateurish running ambitions. I endured the biting cold of January and February during my ill-fated marathon training, and suffered through the suffocating humidity of July and August just to get back to where I think I should be.

——-

Should - Should - Should. A word that fear latches on to you during the most difficult parts of a run.

Should I continue running this fast? What if I’m not good enough? What if I can’t do anymore? I’m afraid I don’t have it in me to run a marathon again.

And, I think, in circumstances hyper-tailored like this one, repression can be a good thing. And I shoved it down. Pushed it away. Shut down my anxiety, my doubts, my fears. Everything.

I stared at the path before me and I attacked it with mindless ferocity.

——-

I collapsed at the finish line. My quadriceps were on fire. My hamstrings were screaming. My breathing was laboured.

I looked at the heart rate on my watch: 181 average / 198 max (omg !!!!!!).

And then I slumped back onto the grass and threw my hands on my face, and then lay prostrate.

——-

It felt unbelievable, truly. I still don’t know if I can do that again, but of course I’m going to try.

Now it’s time to map out the remainder of the calendar year. And then soon, 2026.

Next stop: Brighton?

Fitzie’s track of the day: Walk of Life, by Dire Straits

And now for your links:

Football London: “Spurs star claims he ‘suffered broken bone’ before scoring first goal of season”

BBC: “Tearful Dembele wins Ballon d’Or as PSG dominate”

Happy Monday, Tottenham fans! Tottenham Hotspur went to the AmEx on Saturday to face Brighton & Hove Albion, and came away with a 2-2 draw after going down 2-0 in the first half. That result in and of itself is a pretty good one, but the way the match was going in the second half it’s okay if you think Spurs probably should’ve nicked a winner.

But let’s talk about hamburgers today. This theme was prompted by Luka Vuskovic scoring not only his first goal for his loan club this weekend, but also what was Hamburger SV’s first Bundesliga goal in seven years. We’re also heading into the last warm days of summer/first warm days of fall, so it’s time to bust out the grill and start making what could be among the last fantastic grilled burgers before cold weather hits.

We could argue about how to make a fantastic burger, but let’s instead focus more on what we wrap said burger in. I have takes. Here are your Tottenham Hotspur player ratings for their 2-2 draw against Brighton to the theme of hamburger buns.

This is the platonic idea of burger bun. It’s soft, but not too soft so the bread soaks up the burger’s juices without compressing too far, and it’s not as sweet so it provides more of a neutral base to let the beef flavor and whatever toppings you have shine. Given a choice, always go with a potato bun.

No Tottenham Hotspur players in this category.

Gonna be honest, I love a good brioche bun. It’s buttery and slightly sweet which can complement condiments like ketchup which have more of a tang to it. The enriched dough is pillowy soft, but if I’m critical maybe just on the verge of being too soft. Brioche provides a touch of French luxury to your backyard burger, though, and that decadence pushes it up to (almost) the top of the pile. Brush some butter on the ends and grill them slightly for a little extra heft.

Destiny Udogie (Community — 4.0): Des has struggled a little bit over the past few weeks as he’s worked his way back from a long term injury and into the first team squad, but he excelled in his first start of the season, defending against Minteh well (apart from, well, the goal) and combining with Wilson Odobert offensively. Easily Spurs’ best player on the day.

A good pretzel roll can be a sublime experience, combining a structural solidity with a pillowy inside. The color also rules, as does the little crunch of salt on the exterior. It’s easy for these guys to sideways though so you need to find a good example of the pretzel roll and stick to it. Plus these are German(-ish) so they’re a good way to celebrate Vuskovic balling out in the Bundesliga. Find fresh baked if you can, but there are some decent options at the supermarket.

Xavi Simons (Community — 4.0): Extremely encouraging stuff playing as a reserve at the 10 position. Brought the creativity desperately needed in the midfield and flashed a couple of shots wide that if he were fully up to speed he’d probably have buried.

Mohammed Kudus (Community — 4.0): I admit to getting frustrated watching Kudus dribble into cul-de-sacs and try and take on multiple defenders in this game, but I have to admit he was extremely dynamic. Bagged an assist for Richarlison’s goal and an “assist” for the cross that went in off of Van Hecke.

OK stay with me here. For starters, not everyone can tolerate gluten. For those that can’t, some crisp lettuce (I like romaine or baby bibb halves) provides a nice textural and temperature contrast, is readily available, and gets some veggies into you, even if it’s “just” lettuce. It’s certainly better than 90% of the gluten free “buns” out there on the market.

Cuti Romero (Community — 3.5): Spurs continue to rely on his play from deep (overly so, imo) to progress the ball, though not to the same extent as vs. Villarreal. Covered the back line admirably when Brighton got past Pedro Porro a few times.

Palhinha (Community — 3.5): I still feel like Palhinha/Bentancur are an either/or proposition, not a both proposition but Palhinha at least did what he does well. Broke up a lot of play and wasn’t actively harmful to Spurs’ ball progression.

Thomas Frank (Community — 3.5): Rotation is a thing but I really thought Frank would’ve set the team up a little more offensively-minded. His substitutions were all solid and credit to him and the team for the comeback.

Look, your standard supermarket white bun with sesame seeds on it is fine. Fine! Perfectly acceptable, and thankfully, ubiquitous. There are better options out there, sure, but you’re not going to go wrong here. Just — for god’s sake at least toast it a bit on the grill.

Micky van de Ven (Community — 3.5): A bit off the pace in this one. Set up Minteh’s goal by charging out of the back line to press leaving space behind for the Brighton player to exploit. Used his pace otherwise well to snuff out a few chances, but not his best match, clearly.

Pedro Porro (Community — 3.0): Also a little off the pace, and struggled defensively at times. Didn’t get forward as much as he’d probably have liked. He’s already got a lot of miles on the tires, and is one of the few players who has not gotten rotated out during this stretch of matches. I expect he’ll sit vs. Doncaster, which would be good as we need him healthy and firing.

Lucas Bergvall (Community — 3.5): A bit of a mixed bag for Lucas. I won’t fault his effort and he provided plenty of industry in midfield, but also failed to recognize Richarlison on the ground and gave the ball up ahead of Ayari’s goal, and was a bit profligate, especially in the first half. Pretty solid overall, but not amazing, imo. These are the kinds of matches a young player needs to play in order to improve, but I won’t grade him on a curve here.

Richarlison (Community — 3.5): OK good goal but focusing solely on that would do a disservice as he was something of a hot mess otherwise. You can also argue that he stayed down too long “injured” in the build-up to Ayari’s goal. Lots of effort, very little end product.

Wilson Odobert (Community — 3.0): Actually thought Wilson showed some brief glimpses of exciting play in this one and he looks like he will work well with Udogie on the left. But you can say he was one of the players at fault for Minteh’s goal and he tired pretty quickly. Play him vs. Doncaster and let him cook.

This is going to piss off some people, but while it has a nice flavor, as a hamburger bun ciabatta leans too far into the “structural” realm. Ciabata is just far too tough to make an effective hamburger bun — getting your teeth through it invariably leads to juice running down your arm and “condiment slide.” Keep it around for garlic bread, or toast with breakfast.

Guglielmo Vicario (Community — 2.5): Got caught a little flat footed on Minteh’s run, and really should’ve done better to save Ayari’s (admittedly lovely) strike. Also tested probably more than he would’ve liked on a set piece from Lewis Dunk.

Rodrigo Bentancur (Community — 3.0): Something of a mess in possession. I’m not sure — perhaps he’s stuck between roles, either the deep lying destroyer or the more dynamic 8. In this one he ended up being neither.

Don’t do this. This is a gimmick, not anything actually tasty. Krispy Kreme-style yeasted donuts are too soft, cake donuts are too crumbly, and both are way, way too sweet. You might think this is a fun, novel idea. It is not.

Brennan Johnson (Community — 2.5): I can’t believe he was actually on the pitch for 20 minutes because my guy was basically completely absent. Coming in late as fresh legs when Spurs are chasing a goal is exactly where he should excel and he… did not excel.

Only sickos and the gluten-intolerant go down this route. If you’re gluten-intolerant, I get it — but there are so many better options for your wheat-less burger than eating it with a fork. Only go here if you have no other options. And if you’re a sicko, wtf is wrong with you? Have some self-respect.

No Tottenham players were as bad as…

Tom Carroll Memorial Non-Rating:

It was with insurmountable sorrow that I offloaded my ticket to see Wet Leg at the 9:30 Club on Friday. But them’s the brakes.

Wet Leg must be one of my two or three favourite groups out there right now (alongside Yard Act and HAIM). I was hooked when I first heard Chaise Lounge, bought their debut LP the day after it came out at a record store in Connecticut, and swooped in to buy the final copy of their follow-up - Moisturizer - the day it was released at Byrdland in DC.

Even before it was released I had already bought my ticket to see them at the 9:30 Club. And then life got in the way the week of.

Still, I held out on the hope that I could still see them live - this is Wet Leg!! But a 10.30pm start time is ultimately what did me in - I couldn’t afford to not sleep this weekend. Almost every other weekend, sure, I’ll suffer the next day if it means seeing Wet Leg.

And so I did what any responsible would-be concert-goer does: Sell the ticket as close to face value as I could. I was pretty sickened to see tickets starting at $270 on one site - I sold mine for $200 less than that. Because I just wanted the purchaser to enjoy the concert - that mattered more to me.

I wish I could say this was the only time I had to offload a ticket. Alas, it wasn’t. I recall a memory a couple of years ago when I woke up at 4am to be put in a queue of 56,000-plus people to get a ticket to see Spurs-Chelsea: Pochettino’s return to White Hart Lane.

I was unsuccessful at the first go. But then I did a quick look on the laptop a handful of hours later and, lo and behold, there was one available. I snapped it up - huzzah!

Just a couple weeks to go til the match and - you guessed it - the televised authorities moved it to a Monday night when I would be in Oban.

So, of course, I did what any responsible would-be attendee did: I gave it away. There were too many hurdles to make a transaction work from a US to UK bank account, and I thought it’d be a great shame to let the ticket go unused.

I found someone who wanted to see the game with his mates. And I gave it away. Tottenham lost that night, but I think most people remember it for THAT high-line picture.

I hope one day karma rewards me, if I’m being totally honest. And I’m very fortunate to be in a position to be mildly disappointed at having to relinquish these things.

I hope Wet Leg tour in the US again.

I hope to see Tottenham again. It’s been almost eight years.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Supermarket, by Wet Leg

And now for your links:

The Telegraph: “Arsenal and Spurs had their Succession moment – now new regimes face real test”

Jay Harris ($$): “Thomas Frank said Tottenham just delivered their ‘most complete performance’ yet. Is he right?”

Alasdair Gold: “Why Thomas Frank lost his cool at Brighton and Archie Gray’s big hint to Tottenham future”

Independent: “Crisis club Sheffield Wednesday can’t afford to think about the future”

Tottenham Hotspur Women suffered yet another blowout at the hands of Manchester City. Spurs look a changed side under new manager Martin Ho, but the improved passing and organization he’s brought to the side still wasn’t enough to compete against superior talent.

How did it all go down?

Ho made one change from Sunday’s winning lineup against Everton. Charli Grant stepped in for Josefine Rybrink at left back. Notably, Ash Neville and Molly Bartrip are still missing from the bench, and I eagerly await both their returns.

It took a while for both sides to settle into this match. Spurs enjoyed a nice spell of possession and looked dangerous down the left wing. Jess Naz and Amanda Nildén combined particularly well, and Drew Spence, Beth England, and Tinka Tandberg looked sharp winning balls back in the middle of the pitch. While we played City pretty evenly in open play during the first half, we looked really shaky on set pieces throughout. It was no surprise that City’s elite attacking talent capitalized on this. City’s first goal came from a throw-in – they worked the ball to the top of the box, then Bunny Shaw and Fujino played a quick one-two to open up a shot. It happened too fast for any of our players to step to, and Lize Kop couldn’t get a hand to Fujino’s resulting rocket.

City doubled their lead shortly after on a corner, when Vivianne Miedema easily evaded both Olga Ahtinen and Amanda Nildén and grabbed the header. Charli Grant made an attempt at a goal line clearance but it was already well over the line. City found a third goal, their first from open play, before the end of the half. Early substitute Kerolin blazed down the wing, and Tōko Koga could only deflect her resulting cross. Unfortunately, that deflection fell extremely kindly to Casparij, who headed it home.

City’s blitz kept coming after halftime. Despite a variety of substitutions (Vinberg for Ahtinen at 46’, Rybrink for Grant and Thomas for Tandberg at 63’, Holdt for England and Oroz for Spence at 77’), Spurs looked increasingly exhausted and unable to cope with City’s elite talent. Ten minutes into the second half, Clare Hunt put in an absolutely tragic tackle on Fujino in our box. Lize Kop saved Bunny Shaw’s penalty, and we shockingly managed to clear the two resulting corners. I would’ve been more excited about this if we weren’t visibly exhausted at 3-0 down with 35 and change minutes left to play.

Sure enough, Grace Clinton (ugh, don’t talk to me) grabbed number four for City in the 80th minute after she waited totally unmarked in the box to meet Kerolin’s cross. Don’t go and watch that one back–Grace made an absolutely evil smirk into the camera shortly after the goal, and I hated it. The game seemed to lose a bit of energy across the board after that, but Olivia Holdt brought it back with an absolute banger of a goal in the 87th minute. She stepped up to a loose pass about 30 yards out and fired the ball into the back of the net so quickly Kiara Keating didn’t even have time to dive. Unfortunately, this only angered City. They picked the pace back up and managed to nab a 5th in stoppage time that I really don’t want to talk about.

Thoughts

Martin Ho seems good

Let’s start with something nice. Despite the heavy defeat, I’m still loving Martin Ho’s setup. I thought it was a brave and positive approach, and I was happy to see that our newly discovered passing skills worked against top quality opposition (until we got too tired). We looked competitive for the first 25-30 minutes, and even after that there were still spells where we were able to possess the ball. One could argue that trying to play out the back against a superior, fitter City side when you’re 3-0 down is stupid, but I actually don’t have any qualms with this approach. City would’ve probably beat us to long balls anyway, and box defense is just not our strong suit. It’s not clear to me City wouldn’t have grabbed numbers 4 and 5 (and 6 and 7 like they did last year) anyway.

I’m definitely curious to see more of Martin Ho to understand what kind of tactical range he has for different opposition, and whether he’s learned anything from such a heavy defeat. In the meantime, it’s nice to see a bit of improvement, especially when we’re playing teams closer to our own quality.

Talent disparity

On that note, the real story of the game is that City have insane talent across the board, including on their bench. Martin’s coaching seems to be working and our players ran their hearts out, but even our starting attackers aren’t as dangerous as City’s backups. Not to reiterate this for the seventy third time, but seriously, what are you going to do when the opposing team brings Kerolin on as a substitute? We’re all hitting the same hopium that now that Levy’s out, we’ll suddenly put more money into the women’s team and sign some players, right?

Substitutions

Martin Ho’s first three substitutes didn’t have much impact on the game. I don’t think this is really his fault – it’s more down to Spurs’ weak squad and early injury concerns. For instance, I assume that if Matilda Vinberg or Olivia Holdt were fit to play more than 45 minutes, Martin would’ve started her instead of Olga Ahtinen, who is very much not a winger. Olga did her best out there, but she was basically never in the right place and contributed little in defense, and with Charli’s hands full with Kerolin, the whole right side seemed dead for much of the first half. It was no surprise to see her hooked at halftime.

Grant off for Rybrink and Tandberg off for Thomas were also totally unobjectionable changes. But they had little visible impact because City’s elite talent was overwhelming us and exhausting us by this point in the game. I would’ve liked to see subs for Eveliina Summanen (who had an uncharacteristically terrible game) and Drew Spence (who was obviously exhausted by this point in the half), but Martin didn’t bring on Olivia Holdt or Maite Oroz until later, and he left Kit Graham on the bench. I know none of these players really do what Eveliina does, but Eveliina wasn’t doing what Eveliina usually does so I feel like it couldn’t have hurt to try something new.

Olivia Holdt and Maite Oroz had a bit more impact. Olivia Holdt in particular scored that absolute banger of a goal. She injected some much needed energy and quality into the attack. I was particularly impressed with her vision and pass selection, and her tricky dribbles forward. When she came on, she instantly improved the level of the players around her, but we were already 3-0 down at that point so what are you going to do? (Answer: spend money on some players in January).

Further personnel thoughts

Dude, Tōko Koga is so goddamn good. I was interested to see her against elite opposition against City, and I thought she might look a bit shakier than she did against Everton, West Ham, Sevilla, etc. She was possibly partially at fault for Kasparij’s goal, but that was honestly pretty unfortunate – she perhaps shouldn’t have been so aggressive pushing up into midfield, but she recovered to cut off Kerolin’s cross, and it was unlucky that it deflected directly into the path of Kasparij. But other than that, she dominated and cleaned up and quite frankly did an incredible job doing just about everything she was asked to do. Can you believe she’s only 19? I am so, so excited to have her on board.

As I already said, Olga Ahtinen is not a winger. If she hadn’t started on the wing, she could’ve provided some relief for Eveliina Summanen, who seemed to fade out of the game and mislay passes when she popped back into it, or the visibly exhausted Drew Spence. I would have also liked to see Ash Neville out on that right wing given Martin seems to like his right winger to tuck into fullback-y areas. Ash has apparently been dealing with a vague series of knocks, and we haven’t seen winger Ash since the pre-Vilahamn days, so this is admittedly a bit of a pipe dream.

I thought Jess Naz had a mixed game. First, the good: I thought she was much less anonymous than she has been the past few matches, and she had some nice moments carrying the ball in both halves. But, as is sometimes the case with Jess, her decision making was not great. She did come alive and have some lovely one-twos with Olivia Holdt (who, btw, was excellent and not just because of the absolute banger she scored). Hoping that portion of the game gives Jess some confidence and we see more of that Jess going forward.

Finally, I’d been impressed with Clare Hunt in the first two games of the season. But I just don’t know what she was thinking on that penalty. I get that Fujino is scary, but you really can’t do that in your own box.

In conclusion

After the game, captain Beth England spoke about heads dropping and intensity dropping after the first goal, while Martin said in an interview he felt like this game was a step back in terms of pressing and intensity. Of course, the coach and captain won’t come out and say they think we lost the game due to a massive talent gap. But until we improve the quality in our squad, it’ll always be a long shot for us to beat teams like Manchester City.

In the meantime, I’m curious to see more of Martin Ho and whether he’s learned anything from such a heavy defeat. I still thought it was nice to see a bit of improvement from last year (if not in the score line where it mattered).

We’ve got a quick turnaround before the next game. We face Aston Villa in the Women’s League Cup on Wednesday. Villa have been struggling so far in the WSL, but they’ll still obviously be higher quality opposition than a lower league side. Let’s see how this team bounces back from this heavy defeat. COYS!

“Exceptional. [Udogie] was exceptional today. He was unstoppable, almost, going forward. And I think also it was a bit unfortunate, it was Wilson who had to track him on the situation, because it was a little bit of a high-pressure situation, the Brighton wonder goal. But he just completely took him out going forward. Very good, just top.

“I must admit, I’ve got three extremely good full-backs. I think Djed’s been fantastic for us. So when another player is doing so well, then there’s no reason to throw Destiny in too early. And I’m pretty sure we need all three throughout the season. That is crucial.

“We are playing, hopefully, around 60 games this season. That’s a lot. I think Liverpool changed both their full-backs from midweek to today. So it’s a big thing. We want fullbacks to come bombarding up and down. So we need everyone. But I’m very happy with Destiny.”

“Yeah, I’m very, very pleased with that. I think Xavi came in and did exactly what we thought he could do in that 10 position. Of course he had a good pre-season and he played two games in Germany and all that, but he’s still coming into a team and all that. And I think on any other day, he’d score a goal. He got a great finish on the first one, great save from Verbruggen. And the other one, he mistimes. And I think maybe he could have got an assist to Richy, where Lucas takes the ball, he doesn’t see him.

“I think he can play both [central and wide]. I think he can easily play the left winger, that can go more inside. I also think he’d have the right position too. Sometimes the playmakers, they drift to the side because there’s no space in the middle. So I think he can do that. But 10, obviously he can play that as well.”

“I’m very, very pleased with it. I think there was also a situation the first half, the way we sprinted back on our recovery runs. That’s goosebumps, that’s bread and butter. But you want to be a resilient team because we play against good teams and it will be difficult sometimes. But it’s a good group of players. They want to perform. They are disappointed after the game. Even when we come back, they wanted to win, of course.

“I also think the overall performance played in - I think maybe this was our most complete performance so far in the season. I know we made, you can say we conceded two goals, but I think actually there were so many positives overall in the game. Also the high pressure, the man-to-man, very aggressive. But as you say, that resilience in the group, that mentality, is good.”

“We try to put a good structure in place. Offensively and defensively, clear principles. Keep reinforcing the right messages. For example, today we put so many crosses in. That’s a big part of what we want to do. There could be a little bit more quality, we could also have a little bit more runs. And then we’ll keep coaching them, running in the right gaps. I think if Richy had run in the right gaps, he’d have scored maybe two goals more today, for example. I believe any player can keep developing. That’s a big part of what I believe in, and my coaching staff believe in as well.

“I know we conceded two goals, and it’s never that black and white. So one where we will say I should take it. The second one is, OK, we conceded a goal, that can happen. It’s just Premier League, it’s good. But besides that, I thought we defended well.

“Overall, I think the high pressure was very aggressive, and we were winning the ball back more or less all the time, which we like to do. I think in phase one, we got out every time, more or less. We controlled it up there. We created so many good opportunities, and had to counter-press and rest defending crosses. So there was a lot of the bits we like to do, because of that. And then on top of that, the mentality to come back from 2-0 down is so important.”

“The positive thing is [Solanke] is back on the grass and has been for three or four days. He is progressing forward slowly, but forward. It is too early for tomorrow and Doncaster but the positive thing is that he is on the grass and progressing forward.

“[Takai] is very close to training with the group. I’m pretty sure he’ll train with the group on Monday.”

“I think it’s fair to say that [Lucas] had a good season last year. He played a lot of minutes that laid the foundation for this season, because in the beginning of the season, he came back from the ankle injury last year that he just needed time to go.

“And you can see now he’s literally going from strength to strength and has that extra confidence. You can see there was a situation in the second half [vs. Villarreal] where he got the ball from Mo [Kudus] in and around the box, just took it forward inside the box. That’s the movement you see from a player that has confidence.

“I think the coaches and I have been working with him on a couple of things. He’s got so much energy that sometimes you need to say, pause, stop, don’t run when we have the ball. And find the higher, the more dangerous positions. For example, the deep run where he scored the goal against West Ham was a big thing. The deep run where he was involved in the own goal against Villarreal. So those deep runs and arriving in a higher position up the pitch is key, I think.

“And then he’s learning to be more and more clever in the pressure. We need all his energy and enthusiasm in driving the team, but also how does he need to be goal side when he marks in the man to man and how does he need to close the angles and stuff like that.”

Nine goals in five competitive matches is a pretty good pace, though most supporters still long for much more from the Tottenham Hotspur attack. However, four clean sheets — and four wins — in Thomas Frank’s opening five contests show that the page has fully turned. There are reasons for optimism, stemming from cohesion, familiarity, and strategic implementation, but there is also enough of a sample size to start drawing some early conclusions.

Primarily amongst those takeaways is that this squad is going to take some time to look like any sort of well-oiled machine up front, though it can rely on its industrious back line. Brighton & Hove Albion will be a good test of those hypotheses, as the Seagulls should put some pressure on the defense, while also allowing the visitors some opportunities as well. A letdown after Tuesday’s win would not exactly surprise, but hopefully Spurs can keep the hot start going.

Match Details

Date: Saturday, September 20

Time: 10:00 am ET, 3:00 pm UK

Location: American Express Stadium, Brighton and Hove

TV: Peacock (US)

Table: Brighton (t-12th, 4 pts), Tottenham (t-2nd, 9 pts)

This always feels like a tricky fixture, especially at the Amex, where Spurs have won just two of the past six meetings. Brighton did the double last season, including a 4-1 win in North London that ended up closing out the Ange Postecoglou era. The previous encounter is what might have actually been the beginning of the end for the previous manager, with Tottenham infamously bottling away a 2-0 lead thanks to three straight Brighton second-half goals. For some happier memories from that closing match last season:

Three Big Questions

Is this what Frankball is for the time being? In perhaps the most obvious course correct of all time, the new Tottenham manger has chosen to start his project by cleaning up the squad’s biggest weakness, and has done so emphatically. Perhaps the four clear sheets slightly overstate the defense’s performance (Spurs are just eighth in xGA), but it should be no surprise that a healthy Micky van de Ven-Cristian Romero partnership has been excellent to begin the season.

The Brighton attack is having a tough start to the season, ranking 10th in non-penalty xG (below Spurs) and only scoring four times — twice via penalties. Regardless, expect the home side to show plenty of ambition and test Tottenham’s resolve, especially after its own lackluster effort against Bournemouth. I will speculate on Frank’s selections below, but would not be surprised to see him opt for a solid defensive lineup despite the Seagulls’ early struggles.

Is there a Phase 2 coming? If Frank has set out to fix the defense, does that mean eventually that transformation is coming for the attack as well? This appears to be the case, though it will take time given the sheer amount of turnover in the attacking positions (with a pair of signings potentially making their Premier League debuts this weekend). Still, there remains the question of if this is just a timing/acclamation thing, or if Spurs actually have the requisite personnel to produce a lethal attack.

The most generous way to state it is that Tottenham has genuinely founds ways to do enough to grab these early wins, though that posture feels tenuous over the course of the entire season. The Brighton defense is decent but attackable, and it would be nice to see the visitors show some directness and generate some consistent looks. Maybe the manager needs more time to put the attack fully together, but at some point Spurs need to show that there is reason to believe this could be a threatening side.

Is there any point is guessing rotation plans? Short answer: no, especially not with a new manager. The fixture list remains quite busy, though Brighton does feel like the toughest opponent remaining of the five left before October’s international break, so there may be a decent number of starters from the Villarreal win continuing on into Saturday’s XI as well, specifically in defense.

The other six positions feel very up for grabs. I would like to see more of Randal Kolo Muani sheerly for his newness, though Brennan Johnson and Mathys Tel are clear candidates for any sort of rotation too. Just like the tactics on both ends of the pitch, each match provides an opportunity to learn more about how Frank views squad selection. With Doncaster Rovers up next, we will see if the manager feels like just rolling with his best XI, or if he is taking the long view with so much season remaining.

For the first time since 2023, Tottenham Hotspur played Champions League football on a Tuesday night in all-white kits. Spurs hosted former player Juan Foyth and current player Manor Solomon (who did not make it off the bench) as Villarreal came to North London, but the difference in the match was a fourth minute own goal by Villarreal keeper Luiz Junior, who spilled what looked like a Mohammed Kudus Lucas Bergvall cross into his own net.

Both teams huffed and puffed for the remainder of the match, but for the most part shots and big chances were few and far between. Champagne football this was not; despite what could charitably called a “dour” match, that one goal was all Spurs needed to claim their first Champions League points, winning 1-0.

Well, I feel like this is a match that needs some discussion. Here are my talking points from the game.

Match Reactions