Cartilage Free Captain

Tottenham Hotspur’s first team aren’t the only Spurs who will play in a final next week. Attacking midfielder Jamie Donley and goalkeeper Josh Keeley have progressed to the League One playoff final with Leyton Orient after a dramatic 1-1 (3-3 [1-4]) penalty shootout victory over Stockport County last night at Stockport’s Edgeley Park. Both Keeley and Donley are at Orient this season on loan.

With the score level after the first leg and Orient up 1-0 in the second leg, Keeley got wrong-footed at the near post and let a sloppy deflected goal in for the equalizer. But he came up huge in the shootout. Keeley saved once against Hatters winger Jack Diamond, Stockport put another penalty kick off the post, and Ethan Galbraith slotted home the winner to send the Mighty O’s to Wembley for a chance to promote to the English second division.

Donley’s stats in this match don’t exactly jump off the page, but he was an influential player in this match, putting in a number of dangerous free kicks and getting involved in Orient’s buildup. He’s been one of Orient’s better players this season and should be a starter in the final.

A couple of days ago I wrote that Donley has been attracting interest from West Bromwich Albion for a Championship loan, but if Orient were to be promoted it wouldn’t shock me if both Donley and Keeley extend their stay at Brisbane Road for another year. They’ve both certainly been embraced by the fanbase.

Orient will now face the winner of Charlton Athletic and Wycombe Wanderers, who had a scoreless first leg. The final will take place on Sunday, May 25 at Wembley Stadium.

The world can be a pretty cruel place sometimes. There are wars and atrocities, nasty people being mean to each other, pain and suffering. And then sometimes people try to blackmail Tottenham Hotspur’s Korean superstar Son Heung-Min.

That’s according to a short piece in Reuters, who report that Spurs’ club captain has filed a complaint to South Korean authorities about being blackmailed over a claim that he has gotten someone pregnant. The Korean media reported that an unnamed woman had threatened Son that she was pregnant with his child, and demanded payment to keep a potentially damaging report out of the media.

Son, naturally, has called the allegations completely false and has made a complaint to South Korean police. Reuters says that police have arrested a 20-year old woman and 40-year old man in connection to the blackmail attempt.

Son’s agents released the following statement:

“The police are currently investigating, so we will let you know the results as soon as they are available. We’d like to tell you that Son Heung-Min is clearly the victim of this incident.”

Well, duh. Of course he is. I mean, I suppose it’s within the realm of possibility that Sonny could’ve gotten someone pregnant in South Korea. But remember, this is a guy who has famously said he’s not going to get married or even have a serious relationship while he’s still playing professional football because he doesn’t want to distract from his career. If you told me Son lived a life of absolute monk-like celibacy, I’d 100% believe you.

Also, Sonny is one of, if not the, most famous and influential sports and media personality in his home country. He’s incredibly, mind-blowingly famous, like K-Pop superstar level popular. Naturally that’s going to attract some bad actors.

I don’t think we really need to pay much attention to this story. Sonny is mega-wealthy, people suck, it happens. I also seriously doubt this is weighing on him at all here at the tail end of the season; he has people to deal with this kind of crap for him, and they will.

But man, who would do this to one of the nicest guys in football? That’s just mean and awful.

There’s gallows humor... and then there’s Tottenham Hotspur’s reality. When Dejan Kulusevski was subbed off in the first half of Spurs’ loss at home to Crystal Palace after an awful tackle from Marc Guehi, Ange Postecoglou said that it didn’t look too bad at the time. Numerous commentators instantly made jokes in the comments on this website that this obviously meant he was about to have his leg amputated.

Well, they weren’t too far off. There were rumors this morning that Deki was a doubt for the final, which we dutifully wrote up, but the reality is much worse — the club announced on social media today that Kulusevski has had surgery on his right patella and is (obviously) out for the rest of the season and who knows how long afterwards.

deep resigned sigh

I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on this blog, so I won’t even pretend to diagnose this surgery or what it means. There’s plenty of time for that later. That said, this is nigh disastrous. Deki’s injury, along with those to Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison, mean Spurs are down to three healthy senior midfielders — Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma, and Pape Sarr. Neither of them are especially creative players, and the few times we’ve played them all together it uhhhh hasn’t gone well, i.e. the 4-0 loss to Liverpool.

Now, Liverpool’s a very good team and Manchester United are... not. But it still really, really, really, really REALLY (repeat x100) sucks donkey. It sucks rhino. It sucks bronto! It sucks blue whale, the largest animal to ever exist on planet Earth.

And yes, it also sucks that blue whale’s father.

(And before anyone starts digging into Ange for playing Deki vs. Palace, 1) it’s not like Spurs have an infinite pool of midfielders anyway, and 2) Deki was in bad form and needed minutes to get better, I’d 100% have played him on Sunday if I were in charge. Plus it’s not like Postecoglou instructed Guehi to make a shithead tackle on him. ...Or maybe he did? #AngeOut)

The only other thing I want to say here is that this morning’s reports from the Manchester Evening News and Matt Law are pretty hilarious in context. Whatever source they had in writing those “Deki is a doubt” stories were almost entirely full of crap — the only thing they got right was that the injury was more serious than initially though, and it’s pretty damn funny to see the club come out in response to those stories with an “aktshually, he’s having surgery”. Maybe they’ll find out who the club leaker is after all? Whoever it is probably knows Matt Law.

Anyway, this blows and I’m extremely grumpy about it all.

You might recall that Tottenham Hotspur suffered through a significant injury crisis in this past winter that left them without many of their best players for an extended period of time. Spurs finally got healthy and used that health to focus on the Europa League, helping get them to the upcoming final against Manchester United this Wednesday.

So as you can imagine the advent of another injury crisis is coming at a particularly bad time. Spurs are already without the services of Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison for the rest of the season, and now according to both Matt Law in the Telegraph and Samuel Luckhurst in the Manchester Evening News, Dejan Kulusevski is now also a doubt for the final in Bilbao.

Kulusevski limped off the field in the first half of Spurs’ 2-0 home loss to Crystal Palace this past Sunday after a nasty challenge by Palace captain Marc Guehi. Afterwards, Ange Postecoglou seemed to imply that the injury didn’t seem that bad and that it was just a knock. But anonymous “sources” in both Law and Luckhurst’s articles suggest that his “chances have gone down” to play in the final next Wednesday.

Now, look — our two primary sources for this news come from noted Tottenham disliker Law and a reporter for the Manchester Evening News, so if you’re narrowing your eyes a bit I don’t blame you. That said, there’s still a significant amount of smoke in the air about this. My guess is at minimum Deki’s injury is more serious than initially thought, but he still has a week to get ready for the final in Bilbao and I kinda suspect wild horses won’t keep him at least on the bench for this one.

But yowza, if he’s out, Spurs are in a world of hurt. That leaves them with exactly three first choice central midfielders — Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur, and Pape Sarr, neither of whom are particularly known for their creativity. It would mean Ange will need to magic up some other way of getting the ball forward, and that’s likely to come through long balls from deep and play up the flanks through Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro.

It’s probably time to place the rest of the midfield corps in bubble-wrap and play some academy kids this weekend at Villa.

Matty Flatt here, with my last day running the Hoddle before Fitzie returns. I'll make it quick, because... I have the series finale of Andor to watch!

I'm a huge Star Wars nerd, for those of you who don't know; and Andor has been a high watermark of not just Disney's era of the franchise, but of the franchise in general.

There's so much I love about the show: the deep themes, the dialogue, the set design... but one thing that's quite unique is the opening theme.

The theme is a reasonably simple leitmotif, but arranged with completely different production and instrumentation week on week, with each musical theme reflecting the overall thematic focus of the episode. It's a really cool point of difference (and one that a lot of people probably miss, given streaming services allow people to skip intros... but I digress).

There's a couple of other shows that have changed up intros that come to mind, both of which are fantastic series: The Wire changed the arrangement of its theme song, Way Down in the Hole, each season (in a similar manner that Andor has each episode); The Leftovers (another HBO show just like The Wire, interestingly) did completely its own thing with theme songs, a classic orchestral arrangement that was ever present through Season 1 replaced at the start of the second season by Iris DeMent’s Let the Mystery Be - a knowing wink at the audience - with various other songs opening the show throughout its run.

What are some of your favorite TV Show themes? Can you think of any other examples where producers have changed things up musically?

Matty Flatt’s track of the day: Way Down In The Hole, by Tom Waits

And now for your links:

A loan player round-up from Alasdair Gold, including their availability (or lack thereof) for the Europa League final

Carty Free alum Kim McCauley dives into the painful rebuild sorely needed for Tottenham Hotspur’s squad

We are at the point in the season when transfer rumors really start ramping up, even with three weeks left to go in the season. Case in point: Sky Germany and our good buddy Florian Plettenberg are reporting Dortmund are now monitoring Spurs’ 17-year old Mikey Moore in the summer transfer window.

Notice what Plettenberg doesn’t say here — whether that interest is for a permanent transfer or a loan. And that’s one of two very important possibilities that could affect whether this rumor is plausible. Thanks to Tottenham’s injury crisis this winter, Mikey got a lot more minutes than anyone, probably even himself, thought, even with an extended period out of the team due to a virus. That’s good for his development, and Ange Postecoglou has repeatedly said that they’re handling Moore very, very carefully. He’s only 17 and the idea is to nurture him but not burn him out too soon.

So in that sense, a loan next season to a good Bundesliga club might just be the thing that helps him kick on to the next level, if he’s in a situation where he’s getting significant minutes. Spurs probably thought sending a 17-year old kid out on loan this season was inadvisable, for good reason — the kid is just a kid, after all. But it’s not at all uncommon for 18-year olds to go out on loan, and I can certainly see a situation where Mikey could be shipped elsewhere, either in England or the continent, to continue his development.

I’d guess, however, that Dortmund’s first choice would be a loan with a purchase option or obligation, and I’d likewise guess that this would make the transfer deal a complete non-starter. I can’t see Spurs letting a talent like Mikey leave unless he decides to go to the jerk mattress and force the issue.

But the other factor is whether Tottenham win the Europa League title and qualify for Champions League. If they do, they will need bodies, because like this season there will be a TON of minutes to play, and Moore would surely be involved. Keeping Mikey around as a squad player next season in another 60+ match year would mean one less player that they need to go out and buy to make up the numbers.

If they lose to Manchester United however, Spurs will need a smaller squad and the focus will then turn to improving the starting 11. In that scenario a loan makes a lot more sense.

So there you go. In a weird sense, it’s kind of a good thing that clubs like Dortmund are taking notice of Mikey, because it’s further confirmation of what a talent Spurs have on their hand.

If the interest is for a permanent deal, then sorry Dortmund or any other club sniffing around him — gtfo.

You might have heard this once or twice, but Tottenham Hotspur need reinforcements in the summer transfer window, with a particular need for creative midfielders. Well, the season hasn’t ended yet, but Spurs are apparently working towards addressing that particular need. According to a paywalled report in Le Parisien (via SportWitness and Get French Football News), Tottenham are one of three Premier League clubs that have “initiated contact” with Lyon for the services of Rayan Cherki.

Cherki is a name whose career we at Carty Free Towers have been following with great interest [insert Emperor Palpatine meme here] for a couple of years now, to the point where in our chat we’ve been collectively trying to materialize Tottenham’s interest in him. Seems to be working now, go manifestation!

Only 21, Cherki’s stats absolutely fly off the page: 12g+19a for Lyon this season in all competitions, mostly playing as an advanced or wide midfielder with over 6 shot creating actions/90 and 0.88 goal creating actions/90. He leads Ligue 1 in xAG/90 this season — the dude can flat-out pass.

It makes you wonder why he hasn’t already landed at some mega-club. Wellllllll about that, there are some backrounded reports that Cherki can be a little, let’s say “difficult” to deal with — Lyon owner John Textor was caught referring to Cherki as a “little a—hole” on a leaked WhatsApp chat with another club executive, probably due to what happened in the transfer window last summer.

To summarize briefly, Cherki was close to a move to PSG last summer but he apparently rejected them for a move to Dortmund. Only trouble was that Lyon hadn’t agreed a transfer fee with Dortmund and never would. The entire process apparently enraged PSG enough that they’re not renewing their interest in Cherki.

So yeah, you don’t have to look very far to find some suggestions that Cherki is a bit of a s—hthead. However, he’s only 21 years old and has been extremely highly rated since the age of 15. That’s not to excuse any past behavior, but a lot of really talented footballers can be bad people at an early age. People grow up and learn eventually; I think of someone like Marcus Edwards who had similar growing pains but seems to have settled into himself and is making a very nice career for himself away from Tottenham.

But back to Cherki — those stats, my god! He feels like an ideal creative midfielder for Spurs, whether that be under Ange Postecoglou or some other manager. He signed a new contract with Lyon last summer after the PSG deal fell apart, and according to GFFN that new contract has a purchase clause of just €22.5m (£19m). That’s a steal for a player with his ceiling at his age, and there are strong indications that Lyon might simply be Done With Him.™

Happy Tuesday, everyone! It’s my turn to fill in for Fitzie today while he’s away on his business trip, scouting new locations and themes for the Hoddle. We at Carty Free Towers salute him for his ongoing efforts to keep the Hoddle fresh.

The last time I guest-hosted the Hoddle I gave a quick update on my cancer booze, reporting on some of the bottles I had purchased and opted to try. Well, that continues today. Here are a few more bottles I’ve sampled recently. Again, I don’t drink regularly, just the occasional tipple, but my liquor cabinet is full to bursting and it’ll last me at least a good year so thanks to the efforts of you fine, outstanding people. Not all of these were in my initial Cancer Bottle Shopping Trip, but they are (or were) all in my cabinet.

The Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14

The Balvenie DoubleWood was one of the first “serious” scotches I ever tried, years ago, and it remains one of my favorites. I thought about just getting that again, but was really intrigued by this expression, two years older and finished in rum casks. It’s a really tasty dram — the rum does something unexplainable to the juice and it’s not your typical Speyside. It’s sweeter, warmer, with honey, brown sugar, and oak. I really enjoy this.

Rating: 8/10

Rabbit Hole Cavehill Bourbon

I took this bottle to a men’s weekend to celebrate my recovery from cancer. It lasted about 30 minutes. Holy smokes is this smooth — perhaps one of the smoothest bourbons I’ve ever owned. I had exactly 1.5 glasses of it with the rest shared among my fellow male-presenting friends, and loved it so much that I went out and got a second bottle, just for me. Fantastic.

Rating: 9/10

Redbreast 12

Before my diagnosis I was just starting to get into Irish whiskey, starting with Bushmills and Buskers but not really getting much further than a bottle of Sexton (which I like). But Redbreast 12 was recommended to me by a buddy so I went and got a bottle. Very tasty. It’s like Jameson, if Jameson gave more of a shit. Smooth, fruit-forward, with a depth to it I didn’t expect. I wish the price were a little lower but this is a bottle I will go back to again.

Rating: 7.5/10

Green Spot Whiskey

This was a bucket list bottle — I’ve never been able to find any of the “spot” Irish whiskeys in my area (Green, Blue, Red, Yellow) but at that same men’s weekend I happened across a bottle and snatched it up like it was clearance-rack Pappy Van Winkle. It’s different from the Redbreast 12 — while Redbreast is also fruit-forward, Green Spot really leans into crisp pear and green apple, with a riesling-like acidity and a looooooong finish. Really, really good.

Rating: 8/10

Wyoming Whiskey

Someone told me I should try this, so I bought a bottle for more than I wanted to. I’m sorry I did. It’s a low-proof bourbon-style whiskey that just tastes flat — young and underbaked. A higher proof might have helped this (it’s bottled at 88 proof) but I’m just not a fan.

Rating: 4/10

Yoichi Single Malt

My first Japanese whiskey and I researched it long before I dove in. I really wanted the Hibiki, but it’s a) hard to find and b) stupid expensive, so I went with this instead. Peaty, malty, creamy, it’s like a Japanese Islay. Approachable and a tasty dram straight, but opens up with a couple drops of water. Unfortunately, it’s way overpriced in today’s market. It’s good, but I feel I could get plenty of equally smoky drams from Scotland for less.

Rating: 7/10

That’s all for today!

Song of the Day: “Gamma Ray” by Beck

And now, the news:

Carlo Ancelotti has been confirmed as the new manager of the Brazilian national team.

It turns out Transfermarkt squad market values might be... not actually ridiculously wrong?

In cricket news, the IPL will resume this Saturday in India after its postponement due to the armed conflict between India and Pakistan.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Korean superstar and club captain Son Heung-Min made his long-awaited return from injury in the second half of Sunday’s 2-0 loss to Crystal Palace. Spurs’ Premier League campaign has been miserable, with Spurs likely to finish in 17th place, just above the relegation zone, but the focus the past few weeks has been firmly on the Europa League playoffs. Spurs are now in the final, where they will take on Manchester United in Bilbao on May 21.

Son is no stranger to European competition — he is one of the few players still at the club that also participated in the 2019 Champions League final. Spurs lost that match, but as Son recently told Korean outlet Yonhap News, the drive to achieve success at Tottenham Hotspur is what is driving him, and the reason he has stayed at the club for a decade.

“I’m still here mainly because I want to accomplish things that others have not been able to. To complete the puzzle, you need every piece. Ultimately, I think the most important final piece is still missing. I think I’ve been chasing that piece for 10 years and I’d love to finish that puzzle this time.

“We have a much different squad now than we did [in 2019’s Champions League final team], but I think it will be important for me and others with previous experience to share that with our teammates. I really want to win. And there are fans out there who really want us to win, too. If we prepare ourselves well, then we can accomplish our goal.”

The Europa League final against United could provide Son with his last chance to find that puzzle piece. Spurs are a deeply flawed team to be sure, but they’ll be facing a United team that has significant issues of its own, and a team that Tottenham have already beaten three times this season. It’s a huge opportunity, the significance of which is not lost on Sonny.

“I think this will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, something I may never have again. I think the entire focus has to be on that match. I have to get really locked in and prepare my body for that occasion. I hope I won’t have regrets afterward. When I return to Korea after the season, I’d like to give my Korean fans and our Tottenham supporters the biggest smile I can bring.”

Son has been recovering from a foot injury he sustained a while ago, and one that he played through for a period of time. He’s been back in training for a while now, working on stamina and fitness; Sunday’s substitute appearance was his first for Spurs since the Europa League quarterfinal win at Eintracht Frankfurt on April 10.

But Son isn’t interested in talking about his injury, or his fitness. His full focus is on being as ready as he can be in what will be Tottenham’s most important match in six years.

“You can count in one hand the number of times a football player takes the field in full health. Rather than talk about my injury, I think it’s better to discuss how I should prepare for the next match. Instead of dwelling on bad things from the past, I should stay optimistic and think about good things that will happen in the future.”

Tottenham Hotspur academy graduate Jamie Donley is coming off of a very promising season with Leyton Orient in League One, and that’s now put him on the radar of at least one Championship club. The Birmingham World is reporting that West Bromwich Albion has “enquired” about taking the 20 year old attacking midfielder on loan for the 2025-26 season.

In his first season on loan, Donley has been omnipresent in Orient’s lineup, amassing eight goals and 10 assists this season. That’s more assists than any other player in League One. It’s been an impressive campaign for Donley, and despite not currently having a permanent manager after the club sacked Gary Mowbray earlier in the season, are still working on their summer transfer business.

Interestingly, Tottenham assistant coach Ryan Mason is reportedly a candidate for the open head coaching position at West Brom, and if he were to get the job it would make for some natural synergy with some of Spurs’ more promising academy talent. West Brom took Spurs striker Will Lankshear on loan in January, but he was mostly a reserve player and had zero G+A for the Baggies.

A lot of Spurs fans are looking at Donley as a potential first team player at Spurs, but it might be a little too soon for him to make a significant impact. Tottenham need improved depth and that’s likely to come in the form of more experienced professionals. I can certainly make a good case that it’s better for Donley’s long term development for him to move up a division and get some solid minutes in what is one of the most competitive leagues in world football. There’s certainly no hurry, even if Spurs need a creative backup to James Maddison.

It’s an interesting rumor, and I’m willing to bet that West Brom won’t be the only Championship club interested in Donley this summer. There’s certainly no hurry to ship him out yet, so I wouldn’t expect anything to be decided for quite some time.