Cartilage Free Captain

Greetings, fellow hoddlers.

I come to you today with a question: What makes a good coffee shop?

As I work my way through the beginning stages of this hoddle, I find that I am contradicting myself.

“I don’t go to a good coffee shop,” I wrote before scribbling it out. But that defeats the whole purpose of this hoddle.

Is what makes a good coffee shop the coffee? The baristas? The other customers? Or is it the pastries, the types of seating offered and overall (dare I say) vibe?

I like to think what makes a good coffee shop is availability. You got to know that there is a place available for you to sit when you go to a coffee shop. A person needs their reading space.

This is harder to come by in DC, which is why I go to a coffee shop that makes bad coffee, sells sub-standard pastries and plays bad music. But it does have a nice view and some of the chairs aren’t so bad.

But most of all: It is available. And this is why I go to this coffee shop every week. Where else am I going to read my book?

I’d love to go elsewhere, but options are shockingly limited. I’ve come to accept this fate. Maybe one day another place will open up, or I’ll move. When that day comes I’ll migrate to a new coffee shop.

But for now this one is the only one with availability, and that’s why it’s the best.

Fitzie’s track of the day: I’m Alright, by Johnnyswim

And now for your links:

The Regional News: “Coffee and comfort dogs offer warmth on a winter day”

The final matches of the Europa League’s “Swiss Model” playoff stage are still finishing up, but unless a miracle happens, Tottenham Hotspur know they’ll be playing one of two opponents in the Round of 16. Earlier today, AZ Alkmaar surprisingly dispatched Galatasaray, drawing 2-2 today but progressing past the Turkish League leaders 6-3 on aggregate. In a match that is currently winding down, Real Sociedad is currently leading ten-man FC Midtjylland 4-2, and have a virtually unassailable 6-3 aggregate lead.

This means that when the Round of 16 draw takes place, Spurs will face either AZ Alkmaar or La Real. Spurs and Manchester United will be on the other side of the bracket (so Spurs won’t play them until at minimum the semifinals); they will also play either Midtjylland or Sociedad, whomever Spurs don’t draw.

The draw takes place tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m., so Americans will wake up to the news of who Spurs will play as they continue their quest for a Europa League title and the most improbable qualification for the Champions League ever. The first leg of the Round of 16 will take place on March 6, with the second leg on March 13. By virtue of finishing in the top eight of the table, Spurs will play the first leg away and the second leg at home.

Galatasaray’s loss means Spurs escape the possibility of playing one of the scarier clubs in the competition, and one that has beaten them in Istanbul already this season. Gala also, stupidly, has Napoli striker Victor Osimhen there on loan, so it’s a bit WHEW from me, dog. This round also knocked out FC Porto, and at the time of this writing 10-man Ajax are currently in an extra time dogfight with Union Saint-Gilloise.

It’s been a fun round! All this also means that, according to Polymarket’s betting market, Tottenham are now the favorites to win the entire competition, and doesn’t THAT feel good?

Cheers, fitzie’s crying.

On Tuesday it was confirmed that the Landmark E Street Cinema in Washington, DC, will be closing this spring. No showtimes are confirmed past March 6 (the film: Mickey 17 starring Robert Pattinson).

This is a devastating loss for Washington, and a huge loss for your hoddler-in-chief. The Landmark E Street Cinema is one of my favourite places to go to in Washington.

The subterranean cinema has provided ample refuge during the sweltering summer. Oh what a joy it was to climb down into the cinema on a hot summer’s day, cooling off from the oppressive humidity.

Or, how great it was this past weekend to cool off watching Barbie on a hot summer’s day. Or what joy there was to climb down past the pavement to watch Gladiator II the night before Thanksgiving or Pretty Things on a stormy night.

I was there as recently as Monday afternoon for a 12.10pm showing of A Complete Unknown, escaping the bitter cold in the process.

I’m not going to lie, I always felt a little smug walking into the E Street Cinema. While the tourists were confused about the direction they were headed and struggling in whichever weather DC provided them, I deftly tucked into that building for a film.

In a statement given to the Washington Post, Landmark Theatres said it reached the decision due to the cinema struggling to rebound since the Covid-19 pandemic. Most people who go to the cinema, including me, could agree. It was run down and, aside from a few times, only half full at most.

But it’s a huge loss. The small chain frequently independent films, had weekly screenings of The Room and The Rocky Horror Picture Show and frequently brought back classics to the big screen including Planes Trains and Automobiles, A Christmas Story and, most recently, Argo.

Who knows what’ll come in here next. My guess is it’ll remain vacant for a long time. Not that it matters. What does matter is that this is has greatly upset fitzie.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Celluloid Heroes, by The Kinks

And now for your links:

BBC: “Ineos seeks early end to Spurs sponsorship”

Football London: “Jamie Donley set for Tottenham reunion after latest heroics deliver Wrexham promotion blow”

Welcome to another edition of Track of the Day. For those who have been following lately, we’ve been going on a bit of a journey with Queen.

Week 1 brought us all the way to Queen’s self-titled album with My Fairy King, and last week we skipped ahead straight to A Day at the Races with the Brian May-penned Long Away.

Today, we’re skipping ahead much further into Queen’s discography. In fact, we’re going to the very end. The last three albums by Queen are hard to listen to becase we know about Freddie Mercury’s mortality. By the time The Miracle came out in 1989, he had disclosed his AIDS diagnosis to his bandmates. Innuendo was released in 1991, months before Mercury’s death. Made In Heaven was released in 1995.

I’m going to quickly go through the two bookends of this tragic trilogy.

Was It All Worth It (The Miracle): This feels like Mercury’s first attempt at saying goodbye. Queen returns to its hard-rock, camp and glamourous roots. It doesn’t live up to what they did in the 70s, but that’s not the point. The point is the question: “Was it all worth it?” His answer is yes. But the song seems like a practice in self-reflection, a man nearing the end of his life asking what left is there to do, did he accomplish all that he can.

Mother Love (Made In Heaven): It’s been years since I listened to this one. By the time Queen recorded this album, Mercury’s health was in serious decline and he knew his life was ending. According to Brian May, Mercury instructed him to sing anything and he would leave the band “as much as I possibly can”.

This is the song in which Freddie Mercury dies. He sang all of this that he could, but was too tired to complete it. He sang some of the lyrics in May 1991 and died in November. You can hear the final words he sings at aroudn 2:57, leaving Brian May to sing the final verse. It’s a horrible song to listen to. After he sings the final verse we hear a few bits from peak Queen, and a compressed version of every single song the band recorded sped up incredibly fast.

——————

Between those two songs came Innuendo, a tremendous record featuring three superb songs. Two deal with Merucry’s corporeal fatality and artistic immoratality.

The first is These Are the Days of Our Lives, written by drummer Roger Taylor. An interesting songwriter, as it involves someone who is reminiscing the band’s past whilst also coping with its present and future. The video accompanying it is a difficult watch and had to be recorded in black + white because of Freddie’s health. It’s a tender song. At the end Freddie says the final words to his fans: “I still love”, then snaps his fingers and vanishes from the screen.

——————

But none of those are our Track of the Day. For that, we go to the song that closed Innuendo.

I’m talking about the final song Queen released in Freddie Mercury’s life: The Show Must Go Own.

The Show Must Go On is a breathtaking display of defiance against death.

In a deeply ironic twist it was the synthesiser, an instrument Queen had shunned, that delivered the foreboding pulse that carried this song from the very beginning.

But the song is so much more than a synthesiser. The song is Freddie Mercury, delivering the power ballad to end all power ballads. It is the best closing track Queen recorded on any of their records.

And he did it standing outside death’s door.

When it was time for Freddie Mercury to deliver the vocals, he was very ill. But why listen to me write about it when you can hear it from Brian May?

Was It All Worth It was the precursor to The Show Must Go On, one of the greatest songs Queen ever recorded.

You could even say it was the most powerful song they ever put forth. Stronger than Seven Seas of Rhye, Bohemian Rhapsody, Somebody to Love and We are the Champions.

Nothing compares to The Show Must Go On, because it defied the idea of death:

My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies

Fairy tales of yesterday grow but never die

I can fly, my friends

——————

Exploring Queen’s discography is more difficult than most other artists’ because we know how it ends.

It’s heatbreaking to start with the self-titled album’s Liar in 1973, through their prog-rock and glam-rock phase with 1974’s Killer Queen, the indestructible Bohemian Rhapsody in 1975, to Mercury’s passing in 1991.

But, 34 years later, the legend of Queen lives on.

Fitzie’s track of the day: The Show Must Go On, by Queen

And now for your links:

The Athletic ($$): “Mason Melia: The Irish striker Spurs have signed but who can’t play until 2026”

Alasdair Gold: “Romero spotted, Son’s key Bergvall chat, Archie Gray’s incredible skills and Ben Davies’ six words”

Tottenham won a match! Again! And kept a clean sheet! In a match decided by a single goal! With players back from injury! In a lot of ways, this 1-0 win over Manchester United felt like the turning of a page from a dark chapter into a redemption story. Tottenham Hotspur will never reach their pre-season league goals thanks to a thin squad, a lot of injuries, and a crazy compressed fixture schedule, but they have the opportunity to win a European trophy and make their league position at least respectable, and considering the past two months... that’s an outcome I would gladly welcome.

So I mentioned this in the comments of a recent article after someone picked up on a recent Bluesky post of mine, but I’m happy to report that my post-chemotherapy scan results are back... and look positive. I still need to have them confirmed by my medical oncologist on Thursday, but my scans look clean. While nothing is certain and five years of monitoring is a long time, I feel pretty comfortable in saying that, at least for now, I have beaten Stage IV colon cancer.

I’ve never been a heavy drinker — just the occasional beer or whiskey in the evenings, mostly. And now that there’s news of a direct link between alcohol consumption and certain cancers (including colon) I’m likely to scale back my consumption even further. That said, I went voluntarily sober during chemo and surgery prep/recovery and early on in the process I told myself that if I made it through treatment I was going to get myself a bottle of “celebration booze”, something new and expensive that I haven’t had and always wanted to try.

Well, I haven’t bought it yet, but I’ve done my research and have come up with some strong possibilities. And so, why not make that a player ratings theme? After all, Spurs are undefeated since I beat cancer and long may that continue. And I figure this community will also have suggestions.

So here are my player ratings for Tottenham’s 1-0 win over Manchester United to the theme of possibilities for Dustin’s “celebration booze.” You might not agree with these selections, in which case I say: this article isn’t about you. For once, this is about me.

I’m not a huge scotch drinker — it’s a really expensive hobby — but I’ve always wanted to try these bottles because people keep telling me they’re amazing. They’re also hella expensive. So maybe this is the time to try it? Heck, you don’t beat cancer very often.

Djed Spence (Community — 4.5): Monster game. Kept Mazraoui pocketed, and still managed to be one of Spurs’ primary progressive outlets with the ball. He’s fully established now at the Premier League level and is proving to be undroppable. Still would like to see him on the right.

I’m very intrigued by the idea of an American single malt, made from 100% malted barley in the USA and recently declared an official category of booze. There are a number of distilleries entering this realm, but at least in my area they’re difficult to find. But I can find Stranahan’s and I am very, very curious about what it’s like.

Guglielmo Vicario (Community — 4.5): Welcome back, Elmo. Made a couple of excellent stops inside the first 15 minutes and continued with solid play and a command of his area that was a little absent under Kinsky. An excellent match considering it was his first since November.

I had a small glass of this once at a tequila bar several years ago and never forgot it. The taste of that añejo tequila was like nothing I had ever had or expected — floral, woody, sweet, delicious. This is a spendy bottle and maybe there are other aged tequilas out there that are better, but I can’t get that dram out of my mind and this feels like maybe a time to scratch that itch?

Kevin Danso (Community — 4.0): I like this guy. He’s solid defensively, not afraid to get stuck in, and deceptively quick. In fact I don’t think I realized how fast he is — not Van de Ven quick but plenty enough to make me feel better about him backing up Romero.

Ben Davies (Community — 4.0): Cleared a shot off the line and covered Djed Spence’s space well on the left side of the pitch. Another solid match for Gentle Ben.

Lucas Bergvall (Community — 3.5): His youth and speed meant he was able to easily bypass (and contain) Casemiro, a player nearly twice his age. Also nearly scored and his blocked effort led to Maddison’s rebound goal. I’d like him to improve his decision-making with the ball a bit, but I’m also wondering if he could develop into a six.

James Maddison (Community — 4.0): God, we missed this guy. In the right spot at the right time to tap home the rebound goal, and looked near his creative best in midfield.

Ange Postecoglou (Community — 4.0): It’s amazing what a manager can do with a few days extra rest and most of his first team available, huh?

OK, so this is the budget option — the Costco-branded single malt, available for $35 at my local warehouse store. That said, I’ve read good reviews about it, I do appreciate a good smoky Islay, and why break the bank when I don’t have to?

Pedro Perro (Community — 3.5): Pretty good. Looked to have his speed back after a couple extra days of rest and was effective getting forward. Probably a candidate for a match off vs. Ipswich (but we’ll see about that).

Pape Sarr (Community — 3.0): I worried a bit when Sarr came on for Maddison as he doesn’t have that level of creativity. But Sarr can run for days, and his runs opened things up in the midfield significantly. Pretty good performance, and he’s needed one because he hasn’t been great lately.

I love bourbon, but I feel the market is now so saturated that we’ve reached Peak Bourbon and there’s no longer any real correlation between price and quality. I can walk into any liquor store and spend $75 on any number of bourbons I’ve never heard of, and the odds of getting one that’s amazing at that price point versus one that’s just “fine” are about equal. I’ll stick to my tried and true favorites, none of which cost more than $30. (Can list them in the comments if people are curious)

Rodrigo Bentancur (Community — 3.5): I’ve bagged quite a bet on Lolo lately but in this match he was quite good, though he trailed off a bit in the second half (and picked up a knock as evident by the large ice pack on his knee).

Dejan Kulusevski (Community — 3.5): Looked a little marginalized in this match, but did seem to have a little extra pep in his step at times thanks to the extra rest. Still needs a break.

Son Heung-Min (Community — 3.0): I like him coming off the left more than playing central, so putting him beside (and behind) Tel was a good move. Better today, but still not the Son we are so used to seeing. Put a nice cross in ahead of Spurs’ goal, though

Mathys Tel (Community — 3.5): I like what I’m seeing from Tel thus far. It’s early days and he still hasn’t fully mind-melded with his teammates but he’s getting into good positions. A little yippy with the ball and hasn’t managed to strike it cleanly on a shot yet, but all in all he looks like a promising young striker.

Brennan Johnson (Community — 3.0): Nice to see him out there but his only real purpose in this one was to run at and occupy Patrick Dorgu. Still, can’t complain and at least he’s healthy again.

What better way of saying “fuck you” to cancer than by the literal cheapest beer you can find? Actually there are many better ways of saying that, and that includes not drinking cheap, bad beer at all.

No Tottenham players were as bad as actually buying Hamm’s beer.

Jack Daniels Memorial Non-Rating

I don’t think I’ve ever written about Saturday Night Live before. It’s one of those things that goes in and out of vogue, but is always around.

I have SNL to thank for my all-time favourite show 30 Rock and some of my favourite comedians, plus living legend Conan O’Brien.

SNL celebrated its 50th anniversary this weekend (in case you couldn’t tell from the dozens of adverts, documentaries, specials and the Saturday Night film that was released earlier this year).

The special is one of the strangest one-offs I’ve ever seen: A bunch of comedians, alums and celebrities with connections to the long-running programme. It felt voyeuristic at times, but still enjoyable. Anyways, here are my highlights:

Eddie Murphy wins the MVP:

No one brought the laughs like Eddie Murphy, first in his role as “Tracy Morgan” in the crowd-favourite “Black Jeopardy”. Others in the sketch included Kenan Thompson, Leslie Jones and, yes, Tracy Morgan. Of course Murphy steals the sketch with his spot-on impressions of Morgan, bringing the first two actor-breaks in the programme.

His second appearance was even more enjoyable, teaming up with Will Ferrell and Kenan in “Scared Straight”. What’s most shocking is that Eddie Murphy got the only bleep of the night, but some more suggestive things were left in.

What’s the best part of this? Murphy’s ultra-meta jokes on The Nutty Professor, Ferrell getting straight to the point on Elf, or those short shorts?

Close Encounter

Another modern-day sketch returns that’s really just a vehicle for Kate McKinnon to reprise one of her most notable characters in Collen Rafferty, the foul-mouthed middle-aged woman who describes her extraterrestrial encoutners in excruciating detail that will not pass the censors here.

Adam Driver’s got that dawg

Who is as captivating as Adam Driver, who played the straight man to Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s gag during the Q+A session? I’ll tell you what: Adam Driver dressed as a hot dog.

Adam Sandler sings SNL 50

Sandler closes the first hour of the programme with a lovely song dedicated mostly to Lorne Michaels and the first cast of SNL, including the legendary Chris Farley.

I wasn’t expecting the sweetest moment of the night coming from Sandler, but he delivered a touching song to the dozens of people who came on the show before and after him. I imagine many are his friends.

One of those mentioned towards the very end: Good ol’ Norm Macdonald.

Norm Macdonald gets his roses

Speaking of legendary, Norm Macdonald received tonnes of posthumous praise. He also got a bit of heavenly vengeance after NBC sacked him decades ago for his unrelenting jokes on OJ Simpson (one of the biggest pop culture moments in the 90s).

No one was funnier than Norm Macdonald, one of the bravest comedians in the business who stuck his nose up to executives for the sake of his craft and at the cost of his job. I’m hard pressed finding a comedian who had the timing of Macdonald, who comanded every stage he walked on whether it be on SNL, a couch on a late-night show, some third-rate red carpet event, the celeb edition of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, on the comedy circuit or chasing away advertisers on his YouTube show.

Norm Macdonald was name-checked a few times on Sunday’s show. Of course, with Sandler’s touching song. But he was also unofficially GOATed by Bill Murray during his rankings of Weekend Update hosts. Murray even delivered an OJ Simpson joke (the kind that got Norm fired), which wasn’t the first of the night. John Mulaney delivered one during the opening monologue.

Heck, even Michael Che got in on the action. And when he name-checked Macdonald, the Candian export’s still popped up on our screen with, of course, a photograph of OJ Simpson next to him.

All were fitting tributes to a comedian who is deeply missed.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Ball and Biscuit/Don’t Hurt Yourself/Jesus Is Coming Soon, by Jack White

And now for your links:

Things you love to see: “Lille’s Nabil Bentaleb scores on return from heart attack”

Alasdair Gold: “What Vicario did to Bergvall after win, Maddison’s Tel chat and Postecoglou’s clever Spence move”

Jay Harris ($$): “Tottenham look like a team again – now they must sustain it”

Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-0 win over Manchester United on Sunday wasn’t exactly champagne football, but you could absolutely see how a week’s rest and the return of five injured players affected their overall performance. Spurs secured their first win in 13 matches decided by one goal this season, and the team got important minutes for James Maddison, Wilson Odobert, Brennan Johnson, and Guglielmo Vicario.

That said, in his post-match press conference, Ange Postecoglou admitted that three of his players — Son Heung-Min, Rodrigo Bentancur, and Kevin Danso — picked up small knocks in the match. All three were substituted in the second half for Spurs.

“[Danso] got a knock on his knee. Him, Sonny and Rodri all got sort of knocks. I don’t think it is anything significant. But the beauty of it now is we can actually get them to recover instead of trying to patch them up and throw them out (onto the pitch) again midweek. I think from what I’ve heard, knocks all three of them but they should be fine.”

Tottenham certainly benefited from its returning players, which eased the burden on the healthy players and allowed Tottenham to effectively rotate and manage minutes. The end result was Tottenham’s third win over Manchester United this season, and more importantly an important milestone that indicates that Tottenham’s woes are starting to ease.

“I certainly believe there is still a hell of a lot on offer for us, this back-half of the year. Europe is the obvious one, but even in the league I think we could make inroads there. We’re not happy with where we are. It’s unacceptable that we’re in the position we are. But the circumstances have dictated that to a great extent. The circumstances will change. The guys who came back in today will improve and make us stronger. There’s still two or three more on the horizon who will also come back. I think that gives us an opportunity before long. It’s only one game, but I thought today was an important game if we were going to start that progress. Getting three points makes us think, OK, it’s starting to make an impact.

Spurs have been hit with a double-whammy over the past few months — a genuine injury crisis where as many as 12 players were unavailable due to injury, combined with a brutal match schedule in which Spurs played 2-3 matches/week for two months. Ironically, the media focus ahead of this match was on Manchester United, whose own injury crisis meant a bench entirely of teenagers for Rubin Amorim. Ange was asked about Amorim’s situation, and hilariously had a few pointed quips about United’s injury crisis compared to Tottenham’s.

“If I check my office, I don’t have any sympathy cards from other managers, so that hasn’t happened. There’s definitely a few. I could see Ruben there, players out of position, kids on the bench. Well, welcome to my world. But that’s for one game. Now do that for two months. Do that for two months. Any club. Do that for two months. I thought Man United were good today, considering all that, and we had our days when we were good, we beat Liverpool in this spell. Do that for two months.”

Spurs’ next match is a rare Saturday match against relegation threatened Ipswich Town this coming weekend, meaning a second consecutive week with only one fixtures.

I wasn’t expecting to do a Harry Kane hoddle a day after Tottenham defeated Manchester United, but here we are.

You have Menno to thank for that, who alerted your hoddler-in-chief to this song by a band called Oslo Oscillator.

There’s a lot I’d like to know. Like: Who is Oslo Oscillator? How the heck did Menno come across this song?

Those questions can wait for now because this is a lovely song and tribute to Tottenham’s greatest goalscorer.

And it’s got a nice little chorus:

Harry Kane

Is a legend of the lane

Harry Kane

A win against United and a Harry Kane song? It’s hard to find a much better start to the week than that.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Harry Kane, by Oslo Oscillator

And now for your links:

The Athletic ($$): “Tottenham’s James Maddison revels in match-winning role in response to ‘outside noise’”

Dan KP: “Tottenham fans turn on Daniel Levy as thousands gather for biggest protest yet against owners”

Football London: “Guglielmo Vicario and James Maddison Tottenham truth clear as Daniel Levy sent important message”

BBC: “Maddison does ‘talking on the pitch’ in response to critics”

Matt Law: “James Maddison hits back at Roy Keane criticism with pointed celebration”

My goodness, Tottenham Hotspur have a bonafide Premier League winning streak going after today’s 1-0 home win over Manchester United. James Maddison had the match’s only goal in the 13th minute and Spurs held on against an injury-strapped (lol) Manchester United that had numerous opportunities to score. But Spurs finally looked like a cromulent team with actual options on the bench to bring on. God, it’s been a while, huh?

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.

Filed under:

Tottenham Hotspur Match Reports

Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Manchester Utd.: Spurs snap one goal losing streak with their third win over United

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Tottenham Hotspur have two previous wins over United this season — once at Old Trafford and once in the League Cup. This match today at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was tighter than either of the previous two ties, but it was another Spurs win. James Maddison scored in the 13th minute and held on for a 1-0 win over United, a win that propelled them up to 12th in the table.

Remember that injury crisis? Well a lot changed with just a week of rest. Spurs welcomed back five players to the matchday squad and two in the starting lineup, with Guglielmo Vicario donning the gloves in goal for the first time since November, and James Maddison returning to the midfield. Meanwhile, Destiny Udogie, Brennan Johnson and even (gasp) Wilson Odobert started the match on the bench, giving Ange Postecoglou with some real options in reserve for the first time in what feels like months. Lucas Bergvall also started in place of Yves Bissouma, while Ben Davies slotted into the back line beside Kevin Danso, giving Archie Gray a much needed rest.

Here are my match notes.

Match Notes

You mean when Tottenham have a few key players back from injury and a real bench then can bring on in reserve then they play better? Remarkable!

Remember what it feels like to play well and win deservedly? Yeah, it’s been a while, but Spurs did and also did.

In Spurs’ last match I thought Mathys Tel looked a little off kilter playing on the wing. Today, Ange started him centrally with Son left and he looked a lot more comfortable. Made some nice runs into space (most of which were not found) and had a couple of good shots. Seemed to have the yips in the second half but I liked what I saw.

Boy it’s nice to see Googly Elmo back between the sticks. Two early stops and an overall solid performance. As much as we bigged up Kinsky early, I think Vicario is still our clear No. 1 keeper.

Djed Spence had a MONSTER game, keeping Mazraoui in check and also gliding into space behind United’s lines. Just a really, really good match. He might be our best fullback, full stop.

That Spurs goal was just a nicely worked offensive set. A good cross to the back post by Porro, a blocked shot by Son, a Bergvall follow-up that forced a save, and a well-timed run to the back post for Maddison to tuck the ball home. Spurs looked like an actual team! It was neat!

The difference between the two teams’ midfields was striking today. Putting a (good) Rodrigo Bentancur and a mobile Lucas Bergvall against the shambling corpse of Casemiro was always likely to favor the Swede, but Bergvall and Bentancur together just passed and moved straight through the center of the pitch. I’ve bagged on Bentancur quite a bit for a few weeks now but gotta say he played well today.

Kevin Danso has some wheels. I was surprised at his speed, particularly against Zirkzee. It makes me feel better about Tottenham’s needs in the summer, regardless of what happens with Cuti Romero.

Spurs played well but United had their moments. There were extended stretches in both halves where their situational press gave Spurs some trouble, and United were able to hang onto possession and give Tottenham things to think about. It made the second half a lot nervier than you would’ve thought at halftime.

The substitution of Sarr for Maddison and Johnson for Bergvall was probably about both managing minutes of the starters and also getting BJ some time on the pitch. I worried about Spurs’ midfield passing, but shifting Deki back central helped.

Need to give some credit to Spurs’ subs — Sarr really opened things up with his running, and Odobert had some really nice moves in a limited cameo appearance. Johnson had a couple of nice runs and Bissouma filled in capably for an exhausted Bentancur.

This win was Tottenham’s first win in a match decided by one goal this season, snapping an 0-12 streak. Yes, we’d like it to have been more comfortable, but it’s nice to have THAT monkey off our backs.

The win puts Tottenham up to 12th, level on points with Crystal Palace and Everton. That feels better than 15th, doesn’t it?