Cartilage Free Captain

Tottenham Hotspur Women kick off their new Women’s Super League schedule this Sunday afternoon at home against a favorable opponent — newly-promoted Crystal Palace. This is a good thing, though it might add a little extra pressure to the first match of the season; Tottenham have a fairly killer early schedule, with upcoming league matches at Aston Villa, home to Liverpool, at United, and at Chelsea in their first five matches.

That’s a rough schedule against four formidable opponents, which makes an opening fixture against a club widely expected to drop back down to the Championship next season all that more important. So a fast start for Robert Vilahamn’s women is desperately needed, or Spurs face the daunting prospect of an early season hole unless they play extremely well early on.

What to Watch For

In what has been an extreme rarity the past number of seasons, we actually have a pre-match injury report for Spurs Women! According to Jamie Spangher, Spurs will be without new defensive signing Ella Morris, central defender Amy James-Turner (who just signed a new extended two year contract with the club yesterday) and China international striker Wang Shuang for this match.

Tottenham blitzed through their preseason friendlies, winning every one including matches against Feyenoord, Manchester United, and Chelsea (!). Unfortunately, none of them were televised or streamed, and most of them weren’t even reported on so there’s very little we can glean about Vilahamn’s intentions, or the context in which the matches were played. That’s frustrating, and means we won’t really know how good (or bad) this Spurs team is until we see them in action.

The absence of James-Turner, who was a regular in Spurs’ defensive line last season, could mean a week 1 defensive partnership of vice-captain Molly Bartrip and new Australian defender Clare Hunt, who has reportedly impressed in preseason. Luana Bühler is the other option to pair with Bartrip in the back line. I’d expect to see, at least initially, Amanda Nildén and Ashleigh Neville at the fullback positions.

Elsewhere, it’s an open question as to how Vilahamn will set up his squad against Palace. New signings Haley Raso and Maite Oroz are exciting players, but it’s not clear yet whether they’ve had enough time at the club in the offseason to break into the starting lineup immediately. Jessica Naz proved to be a stalwart attacker, and you would probably expect club captain and record signing Beth England to get the nod at striker over Martha Thomas.

With Grace Clinton out of the side and back at Manchester United, along with the long term injury to Kit Graham, Spurs’ midfield is also a question. Anna Csiki was brought in from Vilahamn’s old club BF Hacken, but Oroz would be the natural fit to start at the 10 ahead of Eveliina Summanen and Drew Spence, if Maite is ready to go after a shortened preseason. Up top, it’s hard to bet against Vilahamn starting club captain Bethany England, but he could throw a curve and bring in Martha Thomas, who started last season on a hot streak.

But who knows! This is a mystery box team, and we won’t know where they are until we see them play. Here’s a predicted lineup that could be incredibly and hilariously wrong:

Opposition View

I’ll hold up my hands and admit that I am not a Women’s Championship watcher, so Palace are a bit of an enigma to me. However, Kim McCauley, writing for The Transfer Flow newsletter, notes that Palace lost their leading scorer and Championship Golden Boot winner Elise Hughes to a torn ACL this summer, and while Palace have reinforced their squad with fourteen new players (including former Spurs captain Josie Green) it’s a team of a bunch of assembled spare parts. Palace are widely tipped for relegation along with Leicester City and West Ham, so in theory this should be one of Tottenham’s easier fixtures. That said, it’s the first week of the season and nobody really knows how good Palace might be, and as the men’s team already knows it’s never good to underestimate a newly-promoted side in week 1.

How to Watch

Tottenham Hotspur Women vs. Crystal Palace

Sunday, September 22, 2024

Brisbane Road, London, UK

There’s bad news and good news for Tottenham Hotspur on the injury front ahead of tomorrow’s Premier League home tie against Brentford. The bad news is that Ange Postecoglou, speaking in his pre-match press conference, has confirmed that Wilson Odobert’s injury is significant and we will be out for an undisclosed amount of time.

“Wilson doesn’t look good. Still waiting for it to settle down. He’ll definitely be out for the next period. Bissouma trained today so he should be available for tomorrow. Timo is ok.

“[Richarlison] is a fair way off. You’re better off not asking about him until I give an update because he’s not with the first team.”

Well, that’s not great. I was hoping that Odobert walking off of Coventry’s pitch midweek under his own power meant that his injury wasn’t that bad, but this news plus Ange’s “fairly significant” comment about Wilson’s injury likely means it’ll be a while before we see him play, which sucks because he’s really our only dribbly wide guy. Richarlison, meanwhile, appears to be just plain broken.

But there’s good news! Yves Bissouma now appears fully recovered from the injury he picked up while on international duty with Mali, and whatever the hell happened to Timo on Wednesday doesn’t appear to be anything worrisome, which is good news whether you’re at Timo Believer™ or not.

And there’s also this news, provided yesterday from Alasdair Gold: BIG WILLY LANKS is back!

That’s exciting. Not that Lankshear is a panacea for whatever ills are befalling Tottenham’s offense, but just that he’s a viable second striker who can come and provide a change if Dominic Solanke needs a rest or if Ange decides he wants to shake things up.

Brentford’s a quality team with a good offense and an even better manager in Thomas Frank so don’t expect Saturday’s match to be a walk in the park, but a good performance on Saturday would do a lot to increase the vibes around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Remember good vibes? They were fun to have around. Let’s get those back. The match kicks off at 10 a.m. ET / 3 p.m. BST, and is streamed on Peacock in USA.

The start to the 2024/25 season for Tottenham Hotspur could be a future case study on analytics. Many of the numbers believe this squad is off to a solid start: dominating possession, controlling the pitch, but ultimately getting a bit unlucky in terms of actual goals and results. Of course, this meant that Wednesday’s terrible outing against Coventry had to end up in a victory.

Whether this was the result needed to finally get on track or just a lucky 10 minutes against a mid-table Championship side will be determined over the next couple weeks. Spurs return to league action against a beatable Brentford side, and a quality outing will start validating the frustrating opening month to the year. Anything other than three points, however, may make the midweek success look like a meaningless blip.

Tottenham Hotspur (t-13th, 4pts) vs. Brentford (t-9th, 6pts)

Date: Saturday, September 21

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

Location: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London

TV: Peacock (USA)

Brentford has alternated wins and losses to start the season, with the defeats coming against Liverpool and City. The Bees do have a pair of League Cup triumphs, including a win over Leyton Orient on Tuesday to advance with Spurs into the next round. After finishing just outside the relegation zone last year, Brentford is expected to end up down there again. The club already sits at 15th in xGD on the young season.

Tottenham earned a point at the Gtech to open up the 2023/24 campaign, with Cristian Romero and Emerson Royal getting on the scoresheet. The reverse fixture had plenty of intensity, with Destiny Udogie, Brennan Johnson, and Richarlison quieting the antics of Neal Maupay in an eventual 3-2 victory. Spurs are just 2-3-1 against Brentford since its promotion to the Premier League, however.

Avoid the sting

While the metrics debate has mostly focused on Spurs’ inability to convert possession into goals, there is also the lingering issue of too easily conceding when the ball is lost. Goals against Leicester and Newcastle were emblematic of this issue, and despite the quality across the Tottenham backline, opponents are more than happy to take their chances on the counter.

Spurs will get a little relief in this department with the injury to Yoane Wissa. The Brentford forward already has three goals and an assist in the league, and with Ivan Toney gone and Igor Thiago out as well, there is not an obvious place to look for scoring now. What this means is the home side has no excuse to not lock down in defense and keep a clean sheet. Letting these lapses continue to cause dropped points is inexcusable and damaging.

Unlocked combination

Spurs came into the season with dozens of options for the top half of the formation but after five matches — and some injury-forced decisions — it is starting to look more clear as to who Ange Postecoglou must select. Dejan Kulusevski seems like an awkward fit at basically every spot, but he simply offers something that no one else does. Brennan Johnson is a flawed product, but he looks closest to a Postecoglou winger and did well to finish the comeback against Coventry.

Brentford gave City all it could handle, and Thomas Frank’s press will try to make Tottenham uncomfortable on the ball. While there are many more matches ahead, including the start of the Europa League journey next week, it might be beneficial to roll with the best XI for a bit and find that groove against a side that is fifth-worst in xGA. How Spurs respond, especially the regulars who were subbed on midweek, will show if these team is truly capable of finally capitalizing on so much early possession.

good morning!

Great news for all you candy enthusiasts out there: M&Ms released its first new flavour in two years this week.

The latest edition: Peanut Butter & Jelly (that’s jam for all you non-Americans out there).

It’s a pretty bold choice for the candy maker. After all, peanut butter M&Ms are already the second-best M&M out there (behind peanut M&Ms).

According to the press release, this new flavour is supposed to remind us of one of our favourite sandwiches, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich (that’s jam for you non-Americans).

PBJ is a solid snack sandwich, but as an M&M? I’m not sure. One-third of what makes a PBJ so memorable is the bread (which goes all the way up to one-half if you count both slices of bread). I’m a little weary.

But hey, I’m willing to give these a shot. After all, they’re M&M’s, and can’t be any worse than the pretzel ones.

We do enjoy M&Ms here at Carty Free, in fact Dustin dedicated not one, but two player themes to it.

All in all, this is a pretty good way to end the week.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Sunshine Getaway, by JD McPherson

And now for your links:

Jack P-B ($$): Can Spurs win over Coventry be a turning point for Postecoglou’s club?

Dan KP on disconnect between fans and club over Tottenham priorities

Tottenham Hotspur hasn’t had the greatest luck when it comes to its new players staying healthy. First there was the foot injury to record signing Dominic Solanke in Tottenham’s week 1 draw at Leicester City that kept him out of the following match and slowed his adaptation to Tottenham’s squad. Now, new dribbly winger Wilson Odobert could be out for an extended period after picking up what looked like a mild hamstring injury in Spurs’ last-gasp League Cup win over Coventry City on Wednesday night.

It’s early days and we don’t know the full extent of Odobert’s injury or how long it might take him to recover, but Ange Postecoglou said in his post-match press conference that it looks like the injury could be “fairly significant.” Timo Werner also picked up an injury that caused his substitution, and his status is also currently unknown. Eep.

“Hard to say, Wilson looked fairly significant, so we’ll just wait and see. Timo, again not really sure if it was just fatigue but yeah, a bit unfortunate for both of those. Obviously, both play in a similar position as well. We’re hoping it’s nothing too significant.”

That obviously has implications for Tottenham’s next stretch of matches, which is pretty brutal — Tottenham host Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday before welcoming Qarabag to London in the first Europa League match of the campaign, and with upcoming matches at Manchester United and Ferencvaros in Hungary. Both Odobert and Werner were expected to play key roles, either as starters or rotation options, for Spurs during this stretch, and if either or both are out for any extended length of time then it will put a real strain on the remaining Tottenham attackers.

I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but Odobert was able to walk off the pitch under his own power. I hope that means it’s a relatively minor hamstring injury as far as injuries go — perhaps a mild strain or a grade 1 tear. That’s the hope. But Ange’s “fairly significant” comment could mean that the physios have a different opinion, and that could suck. Nothing to do but wait and see what comes out in the next day or so.

The good news is that Destiny Udogie’s halftime substitution was NOT injury related and was instead a planned sub for Djed Spence. Ange confirmed that he wanted to give Udogie some additional minutes to aid his transition back to full fitness, but Spence was always going to play in the second half.

“Yeah, it was always the plan for [Udogie] to play 45 tonight. He missed a lot of pre-season so it is a balancing act with him to get us some game time because he is not 100 per cent fit. Tonight it was always the plan to play him 45 and play Djed 45.

“...[With] Djed, and as you said with Brennan, you know I spoke about it yesterday that he comes in, works hard at his game and when you’re an attacking player, you’re always kind of getting measured against certain things. I said, if he can get through this period and just be positive and and play like he can, he can be a significant contributor to us and credit to him. He got a good goal tonight.”

The injuries to Odobert almost certainly means Brennan Johnson will start on the right again against Brentford. Hopefully his late match winner against Coventry in the League Cup is a galvanizing moment for him and he can kick on and become the important player that Ange Postecoglou and Spurs fans believe he can be in this next stretch of games.

good morning! Fitzie did not realise Tottenham Hotspur had a match yesterday until maybe 7.15pm ET. Spurs won, apparently! Huzzah. Would be most obliged if a hoddler coudl summarise the match in two to three sentences

——

For those of you who didn’t watch the football this weekend, Plymouth Argyle got their first win of the season this past weekend. It was their first win under manager Wayne Rooney.

They did it in some style, too, beating a previously unbeaten Sunderland 3-2 at Home Park Stadium. Mind you, this was a Sunderland without one of their best players (Jack Clarke). Still, a terrific win.

Check out the highlights below:

Biggest takeaway here is a dramatic finish to the game. Former Spurs player Romain Mundle leveled it for Sunderland in the 86th minute before Argyle captain Joe Edwards pounced on a rebounded shot to deliver the win in stoppage time.

It’s a terrific win for Argyle, who did very well to stay up last season. It’s going to be another rough one for them but they’re out of the drop zone for now.

They’ve got four brutal games coming up: West Brom, Luton Town, Burnley and Blackburn. If I were an Argyle fan, I’d settle for one point out of that before the Cardiff City fixture.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Eve Was Black, by Allison Russell

And now for your links:

Dan KP: Big Ange following Bill Nicholson mantra

BBC says there is ‘no quick fix’ for Spurs

Paulo Gazzaniga has a bad day

There’s no match reaction thread today — my fault. I had a miscommunication with Matty, and it was my turn to do it and then I had to make dinner, so... sorry about that.

But it does give me an opportunity to just quickly pivot to an article I already had planned for tonight — my usual “things we learned” article after cup and European matches.

So what did we learn after a come-from-behind last gasp 2-1 League Cup win at mid-table Championship side Coventry City? Some potentially hard truths about this Tottenham team and its depth.

Good win, terrible match

OK, real talk — getting match winning goals from Djed Spence and Brennan Johnson was nice and fun and exciting, but this was a TERRIBLE game of football from Tottenham Hotspur overall. Spurs’ issues with converting possession into attack persisted into this game, only it was even worse than before, with the majority of Spurs’ reserve players looking even more like headless chickens who have no idea what to do with the ball once it gets into the box.

Timo Werner and Wilson Odobert were both pretty awful, and I feel bad saying it because both went out with injuries. In Odobert’s case he looks like he just needs more time to adapt. In Timo’s case, he just looked hapless and without any sense of what to do with the ball once he got it. Pape Sarr buzzed around a lot but didn’t make runs into the box like what we saw last season. The less said about Rodrigo Bentancur, the better.

Even when Ange Postecoglou subbed in his first team players like Son Heung-Min and James Maddison, they weren’t able to convert their xT into meaningful xG... until right at the death. At one point in the second half, Spurs had 73% possession and an xG of 0.10 to go along with a fully deserved 1-0 defecit. That’s simply not good enough.

Only the two late goals prevented this from being the worst Tottenham Hotspur performance I’ve seen since they lost to a Europa Conference League team whose manager was in jail. Don’t get me wrong — I’m glad we won! It was cool, and we now get a chance in the next round to do better and hopefully get to a point where we have a chance to win the competition.

Maybe today was just a bad day at the office. Those happen sometimes. But Tottenham’s problems today sure looked like a continuation of the problems we’ve seen in the first four Premier League matches, and that’s very very troubling.

Spurs desperately need to step away from Fraser Forster

This may sound harsh, but after that match I have zero confidence in Fraser Forster as a backup goalkeeper for Tottenham. He started out the match with a major error that nearly gifted Coventry a goal in the opening few minutes, and while he did make a couple of stops and looked semi-confident on set pieces, he was slow both on his line and off his line, and continued to dive like a felled redwood tree falling over. When Spurs were tied heading into injury time, I expected the match to go to penalties, and Spurs lose — again, like last season against Fulham — because Forster is a liability on PKs.

I don’t know what Brandon Austin has done to earn the ire of Tottenham’s coaching staff, but I did see a lot of him in preseason and he looked at least like a keeper who can do things in goal without making me sweat. If Forster really is Tottenham’s second choice keeper, than we better pray that Guglielmo Vicario never gets injured because we’ll be in real trouble.

Back from the Djed

We all wondered why exactly Djed Spence didn’t start the match today. Because he’s not in the Europa League squad because Postecoglou preferred to include Fraser Forster, we all assumed he’d get the nod here because there are now minimal matches in which he’ll actually get decent minutes, barring an injury to either Pedro Porro or Destiny Udogie. He finally came on as a sub at halftime and while he didn’t have a perfect match he looked pretty decent. Djed was one of the few players out there who looked committed to getting the ball forward and running at Coventry’s defenders, and he was rewarded with Spurs’ first goal (off of a lovely flick from Dejan Kulusevski). I still don’t know if Djed Spence is the real deal or not, but I do feel like he’s earned the chance to play more minutes and I’m not sure why he didn’t tonight.

We’ve given Brennan Johnson a lot of stick on this blog — much of it deserved, unfortunately — but I was very very pleased to see him take and score that winning goal. If nothing else because a) it proved he can be effective as a late match substitute, something which is probably his best role right now, and b) because it is a big thumb in the eye of the idiot Spurs fans who bullied him into deleting his instagram with some absolutely vile abuse. I don’t think BJ has played especially well this season, but he does not deserve the crap that he gets on social media, and I’m very happy that he scored tonight. Hopefully this is the boost of confidence he needs to improve his performances in the league, because if Wilson Odobert is out for any length of time, it’s Johnson who is going to have to pick up that slack.

Welcome to the (insert sponsor here) EFL Cup! Tottenham Hotspur are getting their campaign started in the third round, kicking things off against James Maddison’s boyhood club, Coventry City. Coventry have squeaked through to get to this point, beating Championship rivals Bristol City and Oxford United by a solitary goal each, and their reward is to now be David to Tottenham Hotspur’s Goliath.

Here’s hoping this story doesn’t end the same way.

This will potentially be an opportunity for Ange Postecoglou to experiment and rotate, with fixtures now starting to come thick and fast; but it won’t be a cakewalk. Coventry will be up for this challenge, and Spurs will have to work to take care of business here.

COYS!

Lineups

Live Blog

How to Watch

Coventry City vs. Tottenham Hotspur

The Coventry Building Society Arena, Coventry, UK

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Time: 3:00 p.m. ET, 8:00 p.m. UK

TV: Not televised in USA; Sky Sports Football (UK). Check international listings at livesoccertv.com

Streaming: Paramount+

Match thread rules

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

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

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

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

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

NO SPIDERS!

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

Have fun, and COYS!

This article is overdue. I apologize for that. But it’s still important — the Women’s Super League summer transfer window closed last week, which means it’s time to take a look at Tottenham Hotspur Women’s overall business, just like we did with the men’s team.

Here’s a quick summary of all the player ins and outs for Spurs Women this summer.

Players In

Amanda Nilden (DF) — Juventus, loan option activated, fee undisclosed

Ella Morris (DF) — Southampton, fee undisclosed

Clare Hunt (DF) — PSG, fee undisclosed

Anna Csiki (MF) — BK Häcken, fee undisclosed

Hayley Raso (AM) — Real Madrid, fee undisclosed

Katelin Talbert (GK) — West Ham, half-season loan

Maite Oroz (AM) — Real Madrid, £60k

Players Out

Asmita Ale — Leicester City

Ellie Brazil — Charlton Athletic

Nikola Karczewska — AC Milan

Gracie Pearse — Charlton Athletic

Ria Percival — without club

Ramona Petzelberger — without club

Shelina Zadorsky — West Ham

Gracie HIckman — Billericay Town

Bethany Hartigan — Indiana University Indianapolis (college)

Stella Villalta — Santa Clara University (college)

Evie Underhill — St. Bonaventure University (college)

Ella Houghton — Billericay Town

Barbora Votikova — Slavia Prague

Ellie Bishop — Watford

Celin Bizet — Manchester United

Elkie Bowyer — Watford (loan)

Maia Lazarro — Watford (loan)

Rosella Ayane — Chicago Red Stars (loan)

Transfer Summary

Tottenham Hotspur Women have made some active moves this summer, but it’s difficult to say whether they’ve actually improved from last season’s campaign, which finished fifth in the WSL and made a historic run to the FA Cup finals. On one level, while they’ve left things late they were able to make a couple of very exciting offensive signings in Maite Oroz and Hayley Raso, both from Real Madrid.

Raso, formerly of Manchester City, is a dynamic and direct winger who has torched Tottenham in the past, and I’m very excited to see what she can bring to an offense that has at times struggled to score goals. Oroz is a small player at just 5’1” and may need some time to adapt to what is a more physical league, but she has both domestic and international cred from her years at Madrid — if you’re going to get excited about a single player this window, she’s the one to get excited about.

Elsewhere, it’s a bunch of unknowns. Anna Csiki is a midfielder known to Spurs Women manager Robert Vilahamn, and has played in the Champions League with Häcken, but it’s hard to say whether she can fill that Grace Clinton-shaped hole in midfield. Making Amanda Nilden’s loan permanent was something of a no-brainer; we’ve already seen what she can do and she’s a plus add on the defensive side. Clare Hunt and Ella Morris seem like decent enough defensive reinforcements, and Katelyn Talbert is an exciting young American keeper who styles her game on former USWNT starter Hope Solo, but a half-season loan is a bit odd.

Spurs have lost winger Celin Bizet to Manchester United, which sucks, Kit Graham to another long-term knee injury, which REALLY sucks, and Rosella Ayane to the NWSL, which maybe doesn’t suck as much. Grace Clinton returning to United is a massive loss, but one hopes Csiki and Oroz can mitigate that. Tottenham will hope that Raso, along with Jessica Naz on the other flank, can unlock the offense and get Beth England and Martha Thomas more goals.

Transfer Window Grade: B

This grade would’ve been a lot lower, but I do find myself excited by the (late) signings of Raso and Oroz, who I think will really help this team. I continue to be frustrated by Tottenham’s seeming lack of willingness to juice the market with some huge signings for relatively small fees, and Spurs will eventually need a permanent replacement for keeper Becky Spencer, who is now 33. Spurs have apparently won all of their preseason behind-closed-doors matches, including (reportedly) wins over Chelsea and Manchester United, which bodes well. Maybe they’ll surprise us, but without actually seeing them in action, Spurs Women are a giant box with a “?” on the side, and it’s hard to make predictions under those circumstances. So I hope I’m wrong and Spurs go on to surprise this season!

First Match

As an American Tottenham Hotspur supporter, who was not yet married to the club in 2007/08, I have never seen the League Cup as more than a nuisance. Sure, the two finals (and even two semifinals) losses over the past decade were annoying, but in general I would rather focus attention on any random Premier League fixture than a cup tie.

However, Wednesday feels like an important moment for Ange “I always win things in my second year” Postecoglou. This season has not started well — four points through four weeks — and it is not as if last season ended super well either. Though Postecoglou tanked the Second Round tie last year against Fulham, he may have no choice but to give it an honest go against Coventry City on Wednesday if he is going to stand behind his claim.

Third Round: Coventry City vs. Tottenham Hotspur

Date: Wednesday, September 18

Time: 3:00 pm ET, 8:00 pm UK

Location: Coventry Building Society Arena, Coventry

TV: Paramount+ (USA), Sky Sports Main Event (UK)

Luckily for Postecoglou, Spurs have drawn a Championship side for their first League Cup contest. Coventry has won just one in five in the league, though did beat fellow second-tier mates Bristol City and Oxford United to progress in this competition. Tottenham has fallen to lower sides before, but there is a sizable gap in quality between these opponents.

Since Coventry left the top flight, the clubs have met three times this century in cup competitions, all early on in their respective tournament. Tottenham won all three by a combined 8-0, so hopefully that trend continues, even if it has been 11 years since the teams have shared the pitch.

Showing one’s hand

With all due respect to the hosts, the most interesting part of this match will happen off the pitch. How Postecoglou chooses his lineup will say a ton about how he views this competition, his side’s trajectory, and the form of many of his regulars. His post-match comments Sunday clearly indicate he is still feeling very confident, but actions speak much louder than words.

It is not my goal to predict lineups here, but my personal preference would be to rotate the essentials without playing a complete second XI. Players like the entire back four, Heung-Min Son, and former Coventry youth product James Maddison need the rest, but otherwise select some first-choice attackers and show some desire. Postecoglou’s honeymoon period is on the way out, and dropping this one would do him no favors.

Opponent invariant

The second-most interesting part of Wednesday evening’s clash also has less to due with Coventry and more how the Spurs attack looks. Regardless of who actually sees the pitch, Tottenham is going to enjoy a ton of possession — if this is true against top teams in the Premier League, it will certainly be the case against inferior sides. Turning that possession into something meaningful, though, remains elusive.

It sounds overly simple, but to me it all comes down to positioning in movement. Spurs are so stale with the ball in the final third, with no one making runs or getting into dangerous areas. It seems like all the best chances come off counters or situations when players are charging down the flanks; once the low block is set up, it is game over. Coventry should provide 90 minutes of practice for this underperforming Tottenham attack, and more struggles midweek will only serve to exacerbate this issue.