The Athletic

As Tottenham Hotspur prepare to start 2025, they are dealing with questions and strategic choices they often seem to face.

Firstly, are they moving in the right direction in year two under head coach Ange Postecoglou?

Their 4-0 away win against reigning Premier League champions Manchester City last weekend certainly suggests that they are, as does their overall improved performance level in recent months. They are trending upwards, but still have a habit of switching off and losing games they shouldn’t. Spurs are still a team in development, which means they are a team in need of patience and trust.

Then there is the question of how to speed up and strengthen that improvement.

This is very much Postecoglou’s squad now — his players, all of them able to play his brand of football. The age profile of the squad has been transformed with a raft of younger signings but the first XI could possibly still do with some extra star quality, which is hard to buy. This was the situation Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs eventually found themselves in a few years ago, and they struggled to find that additional pizzazz in the market.

So, should Tottenham go big on a top-class winger this year? Is the move to reinforce positions that could do with some help? Not least in goal, now first-choice Guglielmo Vicario is facing a lengthy injury lay-off. Or do they patiently continue their policy of bringing in young players, trusting the process, and hoping it will all pay off for them further down the line?

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What positions will they be looking at in 2025?

The injury to Vicario, who had ankle surgery this week, could force a change in Spurs’ plans in the winter transfer window. Fraser Forster will have to come into the side now, but he has only played four first-team games in Postecoglou’s 16 months and as a player he is not as comfortable with the ball at his feet as Vicario is.

Tottenham have avoided buying a more like-for-like backup for Vicario in the past three windows but if 36-year-old Forster struggles — or gets injured himself — it could force them to go into the market in January for a short-term solution until the Italian recovers. Although, Postecoglou insisted in his press conference on Wednesday that Spurs would not be adding a currently unattached goalkeeper as a temporary solution. “That’s not going to happen,” he said. “I don’t think us signing a free agent now is going to help us.”

Beyond that, there are always questions about whether Spurs have enough depth at centre-back. With Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven currently injured, they are stretched to the limit, and have Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies starting in central defence at the moment. But with January signing Dragusin improving and summer addition Archie Gray also able to fill in there, they might be able to get through to the end of the season.

There are also questions about the squad’s quality in wide areas. They signed Wilson Odobert from Burnley in the summer but he has been unfortunate with injuries, has only started three games for the club and hasn’t played for a month. But Tottenham do need players who can beat full-backs one-against-one, so there may be a need to look at their firepower out wide again next year.

Postecoglou admitted in a press conference last week — before Vicario’s injury — that Spurs’ winter-window activity could be dictated by player availability going into the second half of the season. Especially given the injuries to Odobert and forward Richarlison.

“January is always a tricky one,” Postecoglou said. “You don’t really plan for significant things in January. But a lot of that will be dictated by how we are at that time. We’re a little bit short there (in wide areas) but it just depends. If by January we get two or three back, we may not need to. But we’ll see as it goes.”

Are there players they are already looking at?

Tottenham have worked hard over the past year to do their transfer business in more secrecy than it was previously conducted with, so few names have emerged yet in terms of who they will be targeting next year.

Again, Postecoglou did say clearly on Wednesday that Spurs will not be going for a free-agent goalkeeper in January. If, for whatever reason, that policy changes and they do look for a short-term cover in goal, then attention will naturally turn to Keylor Navas, 37, and 31-year-old Loris Karius, the two highest-profile keepers who are currently free agents. If Tottenham could agree a deal for either of them, they could quickly slot in while Vicario continues to recover from his ankle operation.

Who will they be looking to sell?

Tottenham made big progress over the summer in terms of moving on those players in the squad who were not part of Postecoglou’s plans. Assuming Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s season-long loan to Marseille is, as previously agreed, made permanent when that deal ends, the most sellable asset the club have left is Richarlison.

The Brazil international forward has only scored 12 Premier League goals since joining from Everton for an initial £50million ($63.4m at the current exchange rate) ahead of the 2022-23 season. He was linked with a big-money move to an unnamed Saudi Arabian club in the summer — which could have seen Spurs make their money back — but he decided to stay. Since then, Richarlison has worked hard on his fitness but has only started once, against AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League a month ago. He broke down again during a brief substitute appearance in the Aston Villa match on November 3, and Postecoglou said that he will now be out for a “significant amount of time” with a hamstring injury.

Richarlison, 27, will still have two years left on his contract come the summer. If he can regain fitness over the second half of the season, it would not be a surprise to see him back on the market again later in 2025.

There has been plenty of interest in Dragusin from clubs looking to take the former Juventus and Genoa defender back to Italy — especially Napoli — but there is no prospect of Spurs letting him go in the coming window. The 22-year-old Romania international wants to stay to fight for his place and continue his development under Postecoglou.

What moves have they made already?

Yang Min-hyeok will join in January. The 18-year-old South Korean winger was signed from Gangwon FC in July but stayed to complete the K League season, which ended last weekend with his club finishing as runners-up. Yang played all 38 league games, starting 37, and scored 12 goals with six assists. Depending on how he adjusts to English football, he could add to Postecoglou’s options in wide areas in the second half of the season.

Last year, Tottenham agreed a deal to sign Luka Vuskovic from Hajduk Split. The Croatian centre-back is currently on loan from Hajduk to Westerlo in Belgium’s top flight. He is still just 17 but has a reputation as one of the best young defenders in European football. Once he turns 18 in late February, he will be able to join Spurs, and, along with Yang, he represents the next stage of the club rejuvenating their squad for the future.

Who will make the key decisions over the year’s two windows?

Postecoglou is given a big say in transfer activity and works closely with Johan Lange, the technical director who joined the club in October last year, and with chairman Daniel Levy. Since Lange’s arrival, Tottenham have worked to try to update and modernise their recruitment process.

Which players’ contracts are expiring? Who is expected to renew?

Tottenham’s two longest-serving players, Davies and Son Heung-min, are on deals that expire after this season. But in both cases, the club have an option they can trigger to keep them on for 2025-26. And in both cases, the club intend to do so, meaning 31-year-old Davies and Son, 32, will still be at Spurs this time next year. Given how much experience has been lost from the squad in recent windows, the pair are crucial to the dressing-room balance, and have important roles in helping to settle the next generation of Tottenham players.

Timo Werner’s second loan from RB Leipzig in as many seasons runs until the summer, and Tottenham have an option to turn it into a permanent transfer for £8.5million.

Forster’s contract also runs until the season’s end, although his future may be tied to whether the club sign another goalkeeper in January, and Sergio Reguilon’s deal is another to expire then. The 27-year-old Spain international full-back is unlikely to be offered a new one, having not played for Spurs since April 2022 and spent the past two completed seasons out on loan, although he was on the bench for September’s Carabao Cup tie against Coventry City.

What is their PSR position?

Tottenham have always had significant PSR (profitability and sustainability rules) headroom as they run themselves in a sustainable way, rather than relying on a benefactor’s financial injections. They have some of the highest revenues in English football since the opening of their new stadium five years ago, but their wage bill was just the sixth-biggest for the 2022-23 season, meaning they do not necessarily have to sell players just to scrape through the PSR restrictions.

(Top photos: Getty Images)

Goodness gracious me, now Tottenham should be ahead.

Mile Svilar came for a cross but flapped at it, leaving the net unguarded.

Brennan Johnson brought it down well and poked it goalwards, but it was brilliantly blocked on the line by the diminutive Angelino.

Dominic Solanke tried an acrobatic bicycle kick on the rebound, but Svilar recovered to block it with a mixture of his body and face.

It was superb play from the Italian side.

They look really confident on the ball, Dybala (of course, who else) at the heart of everything they're doing. He's dictating things right now.

Kone, I think, zipped a pass into his feet and he turned it on first time to El Shaarawy, who smashed it goalwards on the volley.

It was beautifully clean contact and it whistled into the bottom corner beyond a diving Fraser Forster.

Roma's fans erupted with joy but have to calm down again now.

It wasn't fantastic defending from the centre-back pairing of Ben Davies and Radu Dragusin in the build-up to that Ndicka goal.

First, Davies rather slashed at a lofted ball forwards, the ball squirting sideways. As it dropped, Dragusin needlessly barged into Manu Kone right under the referee's nose. Clear foul and free kick.

Paulo Dybala bent in a testing delivery, defender Evan Ndicka had too much space inside the area, and it looped up off his shoulder and in.

Claudio Ranieri claps, pleased.

Paulo Dybala looks the most likely to score for Roma. His movement is a thorn in the side of Tottenham right now!

And a clever pass carves the hosts open, giving Dybala a chance to shoot from a very tight angle.

Forster is off his line quickly and blocks it, before gathering the ball at the third attempt after some rather nervous juggling.

Haha, he's not short of confidence, is he, Paulo Dybala?

The little magician sees Forster a little off his line and slams it goalwards from probably more than 40 yards out. Forster scuttles back anxiously but it went wide.

At the other end, Son drives into the box from the left, but Dejan Kulusevski's touch lets him down and Angelino swipes it away.

Dominic Solanke’s off-ball work in the first 15 minutes has been exceptional.

He’s giving Roma no time in build up and pressing the goalkeeper especially well, meaning they have to play long or into trouble.

His repeated sprint ability is fantastic — Postecoglou praises his work rate a lot — and it’s details like that which matter a bit more on European nights.

A brilliant inswinging cross from Paulo Dybala, who looks lively, and Radu Dragusin has to intervene to nod it out for a corner. This is when teams would typically target Guglielmo Vicario, who isn't the best from set pieces.

But the Italian is out injured, with 6ft 7in Fraser Forster, usually his deputy, between the sticks. Forster and Spurs conceded from a corner at Galatasaray when it was worked to the edge of the box for Yunus Akgun to smash home.

And Roma try the same trick! Dybala out to Angelino in a sort-of reverse 'Paul Scholes volley against Aston Villa' set-up. Angelino scuffs it back to Dybala, who cuts inside and bends one narrowly wide of the far post.

Lovely shape on it, great technique, but Dybala was offside, as it turns out.

There was a brief pause in play as Roma midfielder Manu Kone went down after Pedro Porro fizzed the ball past him.

Not sure what happened there, it wasn't a contact injury. Think he jarred his ankle when jumping to block Porro's pass.

Anyway, after some treatment, the Frenchman is back up on his feet and back in the match.

VAR took an age to decide if Pape Sarr was fouled or not (the referee went to the monitor) but it was lovely link play by Dominic Solanke in the build-up.

He dropped in and worked the ball out to the right, where Pedro Porro made a run beyond, then Sarr came in on the underlap.

Surprised Roma haven’t been more aggressive with their centre-backs and had one step out touch-tight.

Solanke had two passes inside the first two minutes and had already been fouled.

Tottenham looked a little discomfited in possession, forced backwards by the Roma press, with Davies and Dragusin going back to Forster.

It was a nice move building up from the back, with Son fouled by ref Glenn Nyberg playing a good advantage.

Tottenham continued playing, crossed into the box, and Pape Sarr got a toe to the ball before Mats Hummels clipped him.

I have to say, it looked a penalty in real time. And VAR concurs!

Nyberg points to the spot. Son to take...

Tottenham Hotspur intend to trigger the option in Ben Davies’ contract, keeping the Wales defender at the club for next season.

Davies’ contract expires at the end of this season, his 11th at the club, but Tottenham plan to retain him for 2025-26 too.

Davies, 31, is the longest-serving member of the Tottenham squad, having joined from Swansea City in the summer of 2014 when Mauricio Pochettino took over.

Ange Postecoglou, the fifth permanent Spurs manager Davies has played for, has started Davies six times so far this season.

He has filled in for Destiny Udogie at left-back and more recently moved to centre-back to cover for the injured Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero.

Davies signed a three-year deal in the summer of 2022 when Antonio Conte was manager.

Like his close friend and Spurs captain Son Heung-min, Davies’ contract expires at the end of this season.

In both cases, Tottenham intend to trigger the option that will keep the veteran players at Spurs for next season too.

“Davies is highly rated by Postecoglou and everyone at Spurs”

Even though Davies is no longer an automatic first-choice player at Tottenham, it is clear how highly is rated by Postecoglou and everyone at the club.

He does not have the physical power of Destiny Udogie but is very capable of filling in at left-back when required. And when brought in to centre-back recently he has been immaculate.

He was excellent at the Etihad Stadium last Saturday alongside Radu Dragusin, as they shut out City and put Spurs on track for one of the club’s greatest-ever victories.

When Spurs beat City in the League Cup last month, Davies had to come on for Cristian Romero in the second half and helped them see out the win.

What is so telling about Davies is that he tries to defend as Postecoglou would want him to: high up the pitch, aggressively trying to win the ball back.

When Spurs beat Villa on 3 November, the crucial goal that put them 2-1 ahead came when Davies aggressively stole the ball from Ollie Watkins, setting up an attack that ended up in Dominic Solanke scoring.

He is a loyal and adaptable player who tries to carry out the manager’s instructions to the letter, just as he has been for different Spurs managers for over 10 years now.

Davies is the longest-serving Spurs player left, having joined in the summer of 2014 when Pochettino took over. That makes him and Son the last links left with that era and makes their experience especially important at the club today. At the start of this season, Postecoglou talked about how vital that was for the new generation of Spurs players.

“They [Davies and Son] are both great guys, they understand what the football club is about,” he said. “It’s great when you have 18-year-olds walking into a dressing room and probably two of the first people who will go and greet them are Sonny and Ben.

“They are outstanding people apart from being fantastic footballers. I think it is great and only right they get heralded for not just their longevity, but the service they have provided.”

Now Son and Davies are both set to continue that service into next year as well.

GO DEEPER

Maddison's focus, Dragusin and Davies deliver, Postecoglou's plan - how Spurs stunned City

(Ahmad Mora/Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur had barely 48 hours to celebrate the best result of Ange Postecoglou’s reign before disaster struck.

On Monday evening, the club released a statement that first-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario fractured his right ankle. The 28-year-old suffered the injury during the first-half of Saturday’s stunning 4-0 victory over Manchester City at the Etihad but completed the full 90 minutes and produced a series of crucial saves. It was only when he limped through the mixed zone after the game that people started to worry about the true extent of the damage.

Vicario has had an operation on his foot and will be unavailable for months. This is potentially the worst injury Tottenham’s squad could have suffered and it is not an exaggeration to say this will have huge ramifications for their season.

It means they head into the busiest period of the campaign, which includes league games against Chelsea and Liverpool as well as a Carabao Cup quarter-final tie with Manchester United, leaning on Fraser Forster to step up. Forster, 36, is an experienced keeper who has made nearly 150 appearances in the Premier League. He played 14 times for Spurs during the 2022-23 campaign after an injury to Hugo Lloris. Forster has not played in the division since a 4-1 victory over Leeds United on the final day of that season. This table shows that he slightly underperformed by conceding 24 goals from an expected goals on target conceded rate of 21.4.

The alternatives to Forster are Brandon Austin and Alfie Whiteman, both of whom came through Tottenham’s academy but have never made an appearance in the Premier League — Whiteman played the final eight minutes of a 4-0 Europa League win over Ludogorets four years ago this week. Given neither has played a minute of competitive football under Postecoglou, it seems reasonable to assume it will be Forster who steps in.

Austin, 25, played five times in the MLS for Orlando City in 2021, while Whiteman, 26, spent a couple of years on loan in Sweden with Degerfors IF.

Since he joined Spurs from Italian side Empoli in June 2023 for €20million, Vicario has started all 50 top-flight games under Postecoglou. During that time, he has faced 216 shots and conceded 74 times with the underlying data showing that he prevented 5.7 goals. The Italy international’s shot-stopping prowess was on display against Manchester City as he denied Erling Haaland on multiple occasions.

The loss of Vicario will have the biggest impact on how Spurs build out from the back. Postecoglou expects his goalkeepers to be composed on the ball and draw in the opposition’s strikers before fizzing a pass between the lines. Vicario has had the fourth-highest number of touches (530) for a goalkeeper in the top flight this season behind Mark Flekken (720), Andre Onana (568) and Robert Sanchez (564). Will Forster be comfortable receiving the ball as much as his team-mate?

There is a perfect example of what Postecoglou expects from his No 1 in Saturday’s win against Man City. Vicario remains calm under pressure and, despite appearing to have a limited number of options, picks out Pape Matar Sarr with a beautiful pass. The sequence ends with James Maddison winning a free kick from Ilkay Gundogan.

Only seven per cent of Vicario’s passes from open play this season have gone beyond the halfway line. Postecoglou explained why this was integral to his style of play in October.

“The shorter pass means you’re going to start off with possession,” Postecoglou said. “We don’t want to give away possession. The kind of team we are, we want to set things up so we have control of the game and the shorter pass guarantees that and from there you move your way forward. A big part of our build-up play is to manipulate oppositions as much as we can as we move up the park rather than go long to a contested ball and hope we get the second ball. We’re just not that kind of team. But within that context, there’s enough variety there that we still make it difficult for teams to stop us from achieving that.”

This is the challenge Forster faces and the evidence suggests he will find it difficult. Look at what happened in the opening minute of Tottenham’s 2-1 victory over Coventry City in the Carabao Cup. At first glance, it appears that Lucas Bergvall’s slip leads to Jack Rudoni’s shot but he is actually overstretching for the ball because Forster misplaced his pass.

Another crucial element of Postecoglou’s brand of football is the high defensive line. Tottenham’s players aggressively push up the pitch to try to contain their opponents. It means they need to have a goalkeeper who is comfortable sweeping up huge spaces behind the defence. This clumsy incident against Coventry indicates Forster is not at the same level as Vicario.

You could even argue that if Forster was positioned on the edge of his box at the beginning of this sequence, Coventry’s goalkeeper Ben Wilson might not even attempt the pass to Bobby Thomas because of the unlikelihood of it succeeding. Vicario is regularly positioned on the edge of or just outside his penalty area and you can always hear him barking instructions to the defenders.

It will be crucial for Forster to develop a better understanding with his centre-backs to prevent a repeat of what happened. Postecoglou will have to consider if his team needs to play slightly deeper to compensate for Forster’s weakness in that area.

There were multiple occasions during Tottenham’s 3-2 defeat by Galatasaray where Forster’s passing put them in trouble. In his defence, he made multiple saves to prevent Victor Osimhen from scoring a hat-trick including one in the second half when he was diving in the opposite direction to the ball’s trajectory but flung his legs out to stop the shot.

Forster will need to work with goalkeeping coach Rob Burch on his distribution in training but across his three appearances this season there have been a few encouraging signs. He often tricks strikers into thinking he is about to hit the ball with his right foot before quickly sweeping it away with his left. He is accurate when he throws the ball and sometimes prefers that option. There was a cheeky lofted pass which flew over AZ’s winger and into Archie Gray’s path but he saved his best moment for Istanbul.

Osimhen and Mauro Icardi are pestering Forster but he picks out Maddison with a clipped left-footed pass. Maddison spins away from former Arsenal midfielder Lucas Torreira and Spurs find themselves in a promising counter-attacking situation with numerical superiority from Forster’s bravery. He found himself in a similar situation to Coventry but there was a positive outcome this time which shows he is learning.

Forster would be an ideal third-choice goalkeeper. He could perform a similar role to Scott Carson at Man City where he passes his experience onto the next generation and sets the standard as a senior member of the dressing room. He is a well-loved member of the squad who is known for his practical jokes. He has strong relationships with Son Heung-min, Ben Davies and Gray.

The former Celtic and Southampton goalkeeper will come under the spotlight over the next few weeks but it is important to remember that he will be asked to play in a way which does not suit his strengths. Legitimate questions need to be asked of Tottenham as to why they did not foresee this potential issue if Vicario ever suffered a long-term injury.

They have space within their squad to sign a free agent, or somebody on loan when the January transfer window opens, but for now it is Forster’s time to shine.

(Top images: Getty Images)

At the end of a strange fortnight for Tottenham Hotspur, the defining image will be Ange Postecoglou triumphantly raising his fist into the air on the touchline at the Etihad Stadium.

Spurs lost at home against Ipswich Town in their previous fixture just before the international break (the promoted visitors’ first league win of the season at the 11th attempt), announced a bizarrely timed redesign of the club’s badge and drew criticism for appealing Rodrigo Bentancur’s seven-match ban from the Football Association for making racist comments about his team-mate and captain Son Heung-min. The pressure was on before this trip up north to avoid a sixth defeat in 12 games.

This was supposed to be a special evening for Manchester City.

There was a presentation for Rodri before kick-off to celebrate the midfielder winning the 2024 Ballon d’Or award as the best footballer in the world over the previous year, and this was also the first game since Pep Guardiola signed a two-year extension to a contract that was due to expire next summer.

What nobody anticipated was Tottenham thrashing City 4-0.

This is how they beat the champions for the second time in four weeks.

The roots of Tottenham’s stunning victory can be traced back to Postecoglou’s press conference after that 2-1 defeat at home to Ipswich. The Australian took responsibility for their underwhelming performance and admitted he would consider tweaking his approach. The two-week break international break that followed gave him time to think, and the biggest beneficiary of that was James Maddison.

Most of the club’s first-team squad were away on international duty, but Maddison was left out of England’s plans for the games against Greece and the Republic of Ireland. Maddison’s form has been inconsistent this season, and he has been named on the bench for Spurs’ two Premier League fixtures before last night. It felt like a big call starting him against City in a match where when a lot of defensive work would be required.

“He was really good for us earlier in the season and he had a couple of flat games, but the whole team has,” Postecoglou said. “I also believe there’s more in Madders and that’s on me. I always say that’s my role as a manager. If I’m not getting the maximum amount out of the players, the team against Ipswich, or individuals, then it’s about some self-reflection of, ‘Can I do something different with them?’.

“The thing about Madders was he obviously didn’t go away on international duty. He had two weeks with us and the coaches worked really hard with him and he was working really hard at training. I could see, and said, he was ready for a big game.”

Maddison’s two goals to put Tottenham 2-0 up after 20 minutes last night will grab the headlines, but his all-round performance was phenomenal. He intercepted a through ball from Phil Foden, snapped into a challenge on Bernardo Silva and knew how to take care of possession.

He drew City’s forwards in before fizzing balls past them to launch attacks. It was the perfect way to celebrate yesterday being 28th birthday.

“I came out of the team for a couple of games and when you come out of the team and you’re a bigger name or a leader of the group, people start to question and point fingers, but I feel really good,” Maddison told BBC’s Match of the Day highlights show. “I never have any doubt in myself. Sometimes you go through tough times, I had a couple of bad games, but I have the self-belief to know I am going to come through that and be there for my team and I was today.”

Maddison has been overshadowed by Spurs team-mate Dejan Kulusevski this season. The Sweden international’s permanent move to a central attacking midfield role has turned him into one of the best and most exciting players in the division. Kulusevski returned to his previous position on the right wing against City, though, and wreaked havoc. The 24-year-old told reporters afterwards that this game “suited us perfectly”.

GO DEEPER

“Kulusevski? What a player!” - how he became Tottenham's best

“City have a lot of the ball, so sometimes we can rest when we defend,” Kulusevski said. “There’s also so much space up there, we play one against one and then it’s always dangerous because we have a lot of quality. It’s always great to play great teams because they always want to play football. When you play lower teams, sometimes it’s not. There’s not much football played because there are a lot of fouls, a lot of injuries and it’s slow going.”

Kulusevski was talking about their opponents’ man-marking approach. City tried to win the ball high up the pitch, but if Tottenham bypassed their press, Dominic Solanke, Son and Kulusevski would often find themselves in dangerous counter-attacking situations. Pedro Porro’s goal to make it 3-0 early in the second half is a prime example. Kulusevski nutmegged Ilkay Gundogan in the middle of the pitch and Spurs took advantage of the cavernous gaps that opened up.

“We knew we were going to have to defend at different times and with (Kulusevski) and Sonny out there, I thought if we could get the ball to them really early, City are pretty aggressive with their approach,” said Postecoglou. “They (City) like to defend almost man on man because they’ve got outstanding defenders who like to defend, but with Dom there as well, we like that sort of setup where we can get the ball to them earlier.

“That’s the theory. The practice isn’t always that easy because they put pressure on you, and I thought our build-up play today, at times we got a little bit stuck, especially in the second half, but we just persisted in trying to hit those areas that we needed to.”

This result is even more remarkable because Tottenham pulled it off without both their first-choice centre-backs — Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero — due to injury. Ben Davies, usually a full-back, started for the first time in the league this season and was partnered in central defence by Radu Dragusin.

Romania international Dragusin had a horrible evening against Victor Osimhen in the defeat to Galatasaray last month and Ipswich striker Liam Delap caused him problems, too. He was caught out by Savinho’s tricks on a couple of occasions last night, yet he constantly pressured Erling Haaland and hit a clever long ball that directly led to Maddison scoring the opening goal. The 22-year-old has looked shaky in possession since he joined Spurs from Genoa in January for £25million ($31.4m). This was only his eighth start in the top flight and Postecoglou clearly trusts him to improve.

“You have to be (great) against City because obviously they’ve got big Erling up there, but the way they deliver the ball, the areas they consistently probe, you’ve got to be focused the whole time and I thought Ben and Radu were really focused,” Postecoglou said. “(Goalkeeper Guglielmo) Vicario behind them was really positive as well with his positioning and the way they communicated. I thought Biss (midfielder Yves Bissouma, despite being booked 18 seconds into the match) was important to that.

“The key for us was we had to do it as a collective. When you play City, you can’t rely on individuals to find solutions out there and, collectively, I thought we defended really well, but credit to those two guys and not just defensively, we had to play out from the back. It was the only way we were going to deliver balls to the areas we wanted to and Ben and Radu didn’t shy away from that. It wasn’t always easy, but they were consistently looking for the ball and for us to play out from the back.”

Tottenham failed to beat any of the other members of the ‘Big Six’ away from home last season. In comparison, they have taken six points from their two trips to Manchester in this one, scoring seven goals and keeping two clean sheets.

If beating United at Old Trafford in late September was impressive, last night’s achievement is on another level. This is the joint-biggest defeat in Pep Guardiola’s managerial career. The last time he lost 4-0 at home was in April 2014, when Real Madrid thrashed Bayern Munich in the second leg of a Champions League semi-final.

It is baffling how Spurs seem to veer from one extreme to the other, but they should revel in this moment. They just have to make sure it is not another false dawn, like others this season.

(Top photo: MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur showed Pep Guardiola how much work he has in front of him after signing his contract extension to stay at Manchester City until summer 2027 with a comprehensive away victory over the champions.

Guardiola confirmed his new deal on Thursday but could do nothing to prevent his side sliding to a fifth defeat on the spin, his worst ever run as a manager, against Ange Postecoglou’s rampant team.

The recalled James Maddison, on the bench for the previous two league games, scored twice inside 20 minutes, on his 28th birthday, to put Spurs in control. Erling Haaland had missed two chances before Maddison made it 1-0 in the 13th minute from a wonderful Dejan Kulusevski cross. Josko Gvardiol’s poor pass was then pounced on and the England midfielder clipped in his second from Son Heung-min’s clever reverse ball.

Tottenham were constantly on the front foot and the game was as good as over seven minutes into the second half when right-back Pedro Porro finished off good work from Dominic Solanke.

The Etihad Stadium crowd were stunned and City fans left in droves long before the final whistle — so missing Timo Werner’s brilliant work in setting up Brennan Johnson to add a fourth in the third minute of added time.

Guardiola has his hands full if City, who will be eight points adrift of leaders Liverpool if they win at last-placed Southampton tomorrow, are to win a fifth successive title now.

The Athletic’s Sam Lee, Jay Harris and Anantaajith Raghuraman dissect what happened tonight in Manchester.

Has Maddison silenced his critics?

Maddison’s performance in the 3-2 Europa League defeat away to Galatasaray just before the November international break was alarming. He drifted through the game, was bullied off the ball and failed to make an impact. It was supposed to be an opportunity for the midfielder to impress Postecoglou after some underwhelming performances in the Premier League. He has not completed 90 minutes yet this season, and was even taken off at half-time in October’s 4-1 victory over West Ham United.

It felt like a bold call to start him against City in a game where Tottenham would have less possession than they are accustomed to and would have to do a lot of defensive work. But it turned out to be a masterstroke from Postecoglou as Maddison celebrated turning 28 today in style.

Maddison’s first proper involvement was to make a darting run into the box and steer a left-footed volley past Ederson in the 13th minute. From that point on, he ran the show. He pulled off difficult reverse passes in his own half which snaked between City’s players and launched Tottenham attacks, and nutmegged Rico Lewis when it appeared he was stuck near the corner flag.

After the disappointment of losing at home against promoted Ipswich Town in their previous game, Tottenham needed their leaders to step up today and Maddison certainly did. He told his team-mates when to time their tackles and where to direct their runs. He cleared the ball from corners and intercepted one dangerous through ball by England colleague Phil Foden.

Maddison has been overshadowed by Kulusevski this season but this was a statement performance capped by a beautiful second goal. It stemmed from Solanke and Maddison pressing high up the pitch and latching onto Gvardiol’s sloppy pass. Maddison then exchanged passes with Son before delicately chipping the ball over Ederson.

Postecoglou said that Maddison needed to provide “compelling evidence” to be recalled by England as they enter the Thomas Tuchel era. It does not get much better than masterminding a four-goal away victory over the four-in-a-row champions.

Jay Harris

When does a City blip become a crisis?

Going by the pre-match energy in the Etihad, you would think that City were about to be crowned champions again. Guardiola’s new deal, Rodri was back in town with his Ballon d’Or award; throw in a light show, some banners and a guard of honour, and you have yourself a celebration.

The reality, of course, was that City had lost four matches in a row and while Guardiola ending any talk of him leaving next summer is good news, and Rodri’s individual achievements are worth celebrating, there are issues that cannot be patched up by vibes alone.

A few clubs have taken advantage of that already this season and, unfortunately for City, Spurs always had the potential to be another (and next weekend, it’s Liverpool at Anfield). The City midfield has looked slow and weak at times this season, and during the international break that unit lost Mateo Kovacic to injury, making matters worse.

They have looked short of goalscorers this season, too, which means that when Haaland misses his chances it is a big problem. Even bigger when Gvardiol, who is obviously an excellent player but still young and fallible, makes a couple of mistakes which turn into goals.

The good vibes did not last long, and it might be a while before they return, but with Guardiola in charge, they surely will.

Sam Lee

How important will this win be for Postecoglou?

Tottenham have beaten City for the second time in a month. If critics could argue their 2-1 home win in the Carabao Cup was against a significantly weakened team, then it is only fair to point out that Guardiola used all of the best talent available to him here.

This is a huge result for Postecoglou after the disappointment of losing to Ipswich. Tottenham failed to win any of their away matches against the five other members of the ‘Big Six’ last season but have torn Manchester United and now neighbours City apart without conceding a goal in either game.

Postecoglou deserves credit for tweaking his approach for this match. Kulusevski, magnificent in a central role this season, stayed high and wide to provide a devastating threat on the counter-attack. It is no surprise the Swede was directly involved in two of the goals, setting up Maddison’s opener and playing another superb pass in the move for Porro’s thumping third.

The visitors were missing both first-choice centre-backs, Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, but it did not affect them after they survived a nervous opening 10 minutes. Radu Dragusin bounced back from being pushed around by Galatasaray’s Victor Osimhen and Liam Delap of Ipswich to keep Haaland quiet.

Spurs and Postecoglou have been rightly criticised for some of their results this season but it is easy to forget they are still only 18 months into this project under a new manager and post-Harry Kane.

The aim is to produce performances like they did today on a more consistent basis.

If they follow this up with a win at home against Fulham next Sunday, belief will flood back into the fanbase.

Jay Harris

How will City strengthen their midfield in January?

The thing with Guardiola’s renewal and even the return of City’s other injured players is that Rodri is still going to be missing for the rest of the season and that their midfield is still going to be lacking a certain profile of player — one who is physical and mobile.

Kovacic had been doing a decent job in Rodri’s absence but he is not the type of player they need, and even he is injured now. Lewis and Ilkay Gundogan seem not to have the legs to do the job either. Matheus Nunes has the legs but not the nous.

Foden, Kevin De Bruyne and James McAtee obviously add legs (in theory, given we do not know how fit De Bruyne is after his own injury issues) but are not the solutions in deep areas.

And so it seems the only solution to that problem lies in the transfer market. Who will that be?

Sam Lee

Why Solanke is so crucial to Spurs

Solanke’s summer arrival from Bournemouth came with questions over Spurs spending £65million ($81.5m at the current exchange rate) on a striker with only one prolific Premier League season to his name and about to turn 27. However, his performances in games like these, where he was one of their best players without getting on the scoresheet, are testament to why Postecoglou’s side needed him.

He ended a match he’d played every minute of with one shot on target and fewer than 10 passes completed. However, his off-the-ball effort was crucial. As the leader of Tottenham’s press, Solanke forced a couple of indecisive passes that helped them regain possession or won fouls with clever body positioning to slow the tempo down after City’s early intensity pinned the visitors back.

When Spurs had the ball, the England international repeatedly dropped deep, dragging a City defender with him to open passing and running lanes for his team-mates.

Solanke’s efforts ultimately got him an assist in the second half. With Kulusevski overhitting his pass from the left flank on a counter-attack, Solanke’s perseverance led to Ederson staying on his line rather than charging out to try to collect the ball. Once Solanke picked it up on the right side of the box, City’s midfield failing to track runners allowed him to play a simple cutback that Porro converted to make it 3-0.

It was just reward for a tireless performance by Solanke, whose work rate allowed his team-mates to flourish.

Anantaajith Raghuraman

Bissouma’s booking — after 18 seconds

The opening 15 seconds of the game provided a peek into how the first half may have transpired if Spurs had made errors in possession.

As the visitors kicked off, Solanke found Ben Davies, who passed to Yves Bissouma dropping between two City players. However, as Bissouma turned, Bernardo Silva rushed towards him to cut the passing angle, forcing the Mali midfielder to turn into danger. Bissouma took a heavy touch and that allowed Gundogan to tackle him, resulting in a loose ball Foden latched onto.

As Foden bore down on goal in what could have become a four-versus-two in City’s favour, Bissouma dove in to make a tackle from behind.

Referee John Brooks showed no hesitation in brandishing the game’s first yellow card, according to Opta after 18 seconds, making it the earliest caution of the past three Premier League seasons at least, six seconds sooner than the next quickest — Ryan Christie’s for a foul on Luis Diaz during Bournemouth’s 3-0 loss away to Liverpool in September.

Hardly the start Spurs would have envisioned away to the champions, but they weathered the early City onslaught before those two moments of Maddison magic handed them a healthy advantage at the break.

Anantaajith Raghuraman

What did Pep Guardiola say?

Guardiola told BBC Sport: “We are fragile at the moment, we could not defend properly. We started well, struggled to score and then conceded. Then the situation is more difficult. I’ve been here as a player, maybe not as a manager — first three games at Barcelona, we lost. The only chance we have is stay there. Last eight years, the results have been there. It would be a mistake to change the approach.

“There are not fairytales in life and sport, sometimes you have to live through these situations. You have to accept it. You can’t blame each other. Stay together, continue to do what we have done. Run away? Absolutely not, we have to stand up more than ever. What will define us is when we fail, we stand up and face it.

“I don’t know what will happen this season, but not for one second will I not believe in these players. There is no team in the world that can sustain success for eight, nine, 10 years in a row. Of course everything is not fine, but what we try to do is analyse it, let’s go to the next game and see what happens.”

What did Ange Postecoglou say?

Postecoglou told BBC Sport: “Proud of the lads. City at their place is a daunting prospect. It challenges every part of you. We had to be disciplined and work hard — and play decent football — and we did that. Our football was the difference today. Outstanding performance.

“You have to be clinical. They won’t give you too many opportunities. There was a calmness and maturity about how we handled the ball. Against City, you can get spooked and don’t want to play against them. But you have to play. They test you in every way — mentally, physically, tactically. Our flat spots have been really flat and something we need to eradicate. We’re a much better team this year than last year. We just need to find consistency.”

On Maddison: “Not just the goals. He was going to be key for us in getting control of the midfield. He worked hard defensively. He’s gone through a bit of a lean spell but he’s stayed with us during the international break. He was determined to get back to the levels he wants to be. It was a perfect game for him. He hasn’t been that badly out of form. He just sets high standards. Part of that is on me — I have to get the best out of the players.”

What next for Manchester City?

Tuesday, November 26: Feyenoord (H), Champions League, 8pm UK, 3pm ET

What next for Tottenham?

Thursday, November 28: Roma (H), Europa League, 8pm UK, 3pm ET

Recommended reading

Guardiola is staying at Manchester City. Where else could he have gone, really?

How Dejan Kulusevski became Tottenham’s best player

Shopping for Rodri replacements: Who should City consider in January?

Spurs’ inconsistency is costing them – Ange Postecoglou needs to find a solution

(Top photo: Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

All it took for Dejan Kulusevski to become one of the best players in the Premier League was to go back to his roots.

Back in the summer Kulusevski was at a crossroads. He had worked hard in Ange Postecoglou’s first season as Tottenham Hotspur head coach without ever quite playing his best football. He never seemed a natural fit for what Postecoglou wanted from a winger — someone to play high and wide, stretching the play, even if that meant seeing less of the ball.

So Postecoglou started to think of a solution.

When he got the Spurs job in summer 2023, he had looked into Kulusevski’s history as a player. Past the Kulusevski who had played on the wing for the Premier League club under predecessor Antonio Conte. Past the Kulusevski who played out wide in Italy for Juventus sides managed by Max Allegri and then Andrea Pirlo. And past the Kulusevski who played his first full Serie A season on the wing, with loan club Parma in Roberto D’Aversa’s 4-3-3.

Postecoglou had looked to Kulusevski’s time at his first professional club, Atalanta, also in Italy. And he saw that long before Kulusevski was pushed out wide, he had played through the middle. And not just as a No 10 who created chances between the lines. But as a No 8 who drove forward with the ball, fulfilling his desire to be deeply involved in the game.

So why not do that again, and for good? Kulusevski had filled in as a No 8 during Postecoglou’s first season, especially last December when James Maddison was out injured. Moving him there permanently could solve three issues at once: the need for Brennan Johnson to play high and wide on the right, Spurs’ lack of dynamism in the centre of the pitch, and Kulusevski’s personal desire to be as involved in the games as possible.

Not everything has gone right at Tottenham this season. They go into tomorrow’s game away to Manchester City just 10th in the 20-team league table. Their most recent game was a 2-1 home defeat against Ipswich Town — the visitors’ first league win of the season at the 11th attempt and first in the top flight since 2002 — which has destroyed what was an improving mood. But there have still been quite a few high points, such as the victories over Manchester United, City (in the Carabao Cup) and Aston Villa.

In all of Spurs’ good moments this season, Kulusevski has been clearly their best player, head and shoulders above the rest. While their stars of 2023-24 — Son Heung-min, Maddison, Cristian Romero — have struggled for consistency, Kulusevski is the only one of the current squad who could argue he has been on top of his game since the campaign kicked off in August.

Go through all the best moments of Tottenham’s season, and Kulusevski has been integral to every single one.

The 4-0 against Everton in August started with his clever lay-off for Yves Bissouma’s opening goal. September’s come-from-behind win at Coventry in the Carabao Cup — which started a five-game winning run — was turned when Kulusevski took control of the game and set up Djed Spence’s equaliser with two minutes of the 90 left.

When Spurs beat United 3-0 at Old Trafford just over a week later, their best away victory under Postecoglou, Kulusevski scored the second with a flying volley reminiscent of his hero and Swedish countryman Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He was the best player on the pitch that day by a distance.

They eventually thumped West Ham 4-1 on October 19 but were 1-0 down and going nowhere when Kulusevski changed the game, surprising goalkeeper Alphonse Areola with a powerful low shot to his near post from the edge of the box. Tottenham were suddenly level late in the first half and never looked back.

When they beat City 2-1 in the Carabao Cup, one of the decisive factors in the game was Kulusevski’s energy, his ability to drive forward with or without the ball. Spurs’ early opener that night came from one such run, a thrilling counter-attack before he crossed perfectly to Timo Werner. He assisted Pape Sarr’s eventual winner too, doubling the lead, and in the second half City could never relax with Kulusevski threatening to slice through them on the break.

And then when Villa visited four days later, the goal that put Tottenham 2-1 up came from a genius reverse pass from Kulusevski through to Dominic Solanke to finish. They went on to win 4-1.

This is a personal highlight reel comparable to any other player in the Premier League this season. It is hard to imagine where Spurs would be if they did not have his drive and creativity in the middle of the pitch. They would have been even more subject to the variations of form of their less consistent players. Which probably doesn’t bear thinking about.

So what is it about Kulusevski that makes him so good?

We can start with his physicality.

Kulusevski has always been an unusual sort of athlete. He is powerful rather than fast. One of the reasons why he looked slightly unusual as a winger was that he never had the lightning-fast top speed you would expect from someone playing out wide in elite football. When Tottenham first signed Kulusevski on loan from Juventus in January 2022, some wondered why their new winger wasn’t faster in transitions.

But there is more to power than just pace. If you watch Kulusevski up close, you are blown away by how strong he is. He can hold off defenders with ease and never gets knocked off the ball. In a Spurs team still adjusting to being without Harry Kane 15 months after his departure to Bayern Munich, he is one of the few players (along with striker Solanke), who can reliably hold onto the ball under pressure in the opposition half.

This is testament to Kulusevski’s own hard work on his physique; the morning gym sessions before training, his reluctance to ever take a day off. Kulusevski is obsessive about his own body — Cristiano Ronaldo is another of his heroes. He also loves to read books and watch documentaries about winners in other fields, recently mentioning basketball duo Michael Jordan and the late Kobe Bryant. Like many modern athletes, Kulusevski is painfully careful about everything he eats. He tests the pH value of water (a way to determine its quality) before he drinks it.

Perhaps Kulusevski’s most important physical trait is his running power. Even if he is not the fastest, when he gets going he is very difficult to stop. And he has the capacity and hunger to keep making those forward runs, with or without the ball, over and over.

“He has an unbelievable capacity to run, on and off the ball,” Postecoglou told reporters in early October. “His physical numbers are ridiculous and he has the quality to hurt teams with that.” After seeing him rip through West Ham two weeks later, Postecoglou said Kulusevski was “relentless in his running capacity”. There is certainly something unforgiving about his physical output, as he keeps bursting forward through the opposition lines, forcing players on the other team to go to areas they do not want to go.

The other side to this is Kulusevski’s ability to win the ball back.

It was painfully clear at the end of last season that Spurs’ press was fading. They needed more aggression in the middle of the pitch, someone to harass the opposition and win the ball back before they could put it over the top of the Tottenham defence. No wonder Postecoglou was such a big admirer of Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher, before his move to Atletico Madrid. But Kulusevski has managed to solve that issue himself. From his new midfield position, he leads the league for possession regains in the final third with 16. Bryan Mbuemo of Brentford and Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo are next-best with 12 each. At times, Spurs’ press has looked better than it ever did last year.

But Kulusevski is more than just a cardio monster who never stops running. He is also a brilliantly creative footballer, technically precise, inventive, just as able to wiggle out of small spaces as to burst through large ones. Of course he has always had that ability, which is why he played as a No 10 as a youngster. But now that he is a No 8, he is getting the ball in central areas more than ever before. And he knows how to use it.

For much of last season, Maddison was the creative brain of this team, but he has struggled in this one and has even been on the bench in recent weeks. So responsibility has fallen to Kulusevski to play that role, picking the perfect pass through to the runners beyond him. Tottenham often face narrow low blocks, with very little space between or behind the opposition lines. The pass has to be perfect. Just like it was for Spence that night in Coventry. Or for Werner against City. Or Solanke in the Villa game.

Maybe we are guilty of just looking at outcomes here rather than processes. But rank everyone in the Premier League by chances created this season and Kulusevski is joint-top, on 30, with Andreas Pereira of Fulham (Chelsea’s Cole Palmer is one behind with 29). Look at chances created from open play and Kulusevski and Palmer lead with 25. Or at completed passes in the opposition penalty area, where only Fulham’s Alex Iwobi is ahead of him, 36 to 34.

So far, this is the most creative season of Kulusevski’s career. He is averaging 3.1 chances created per game, up from 2.2 and 2.0 in his previous two Premier League campaigns. He is more involved in sequences leading to shots than ever before as a Tottenham player: 6.7, compared with 6.1 and 5.4.

This is exactly what Kulusevski wants. He has always thrived on a sense of responsibility, always sought to be the one who seized control of the game and dictated it. He wants to be the leader on the pitch, involved in everything. This is why it has meant so much to him to be Sweden’s captain in recent months.

This is also why the specific role Postecoglou gives to his wide players never fitted naturally with how Kulusevski wants to play the game. Even though he was deployed there more often than Johnson was last season, it was the Wales international signed from Nottingham Forest that summer who was the better fit for the position.

“With Deki, the way we get our wingers to play probably doesn’t suit him,” Postecoglou said about Kulusevski in a media session earlier this month. “Not his skillset, more his personality. He’s a player who’s much more engaged in the game when he’s constantly involved. Bringing him to the central area means he’s constantly doing that.”

Postecoglou knew that staying high and wide and running in behind was not Kulusevski’s natural game. “At times with us last year, when he was on the wing, and with the way our wingers play, you’re not involved all the time,” Postecoglou added. “There’s a discipline in keeping your position. Sometimes not receiving the ball is part of that process. We put our wingers where we do to pin back oppositions. I could see he was… not frustrated, he just wanted to give more.”

That is exactly what Kulusevski has done in this season’s opening months. He took roughly eight touches per game in the central third of the pitch (the space between the two wings) during 2023-24. Now, his average is over 14. This graph shows how much more he is creating in central areas now compared with last season.

Kulusevski is revelling in his new licence to attack where he wants to. “They can’t know how to defend me when I don’t even know where I am going, because it’s all instinct,” he smiled in an interview with Spurs’ media team after that West Ham win. “Finally, I have that freedom. My team-mates trust me, the coach trusts me. Because when I play like this, this is my position, it’s all instinct and I can hurt defenders in every kind of way.”

For years, Kulusevski had been a hard-working winger in teams who liked to play out wide, from Parma to Juventus to Conte’s Tottenham. “It’s not that he can’t play out wide,” Postecoglou told reporters. “He got put in that position because he was effective out there — particularly in teams that played counter-attacking football, which allowed him the space to run at people.”

But for a team who want to play the way Spurs aim to, Kulusevski needs to be in the middle of the pitch. Just as he was as a youngster coming out of the academy ranks at Atalanta. “I looked at his background, when he was growing up, and when he first broke into the first team,” Postecoglou said. “That was his position.”

Kulusevski was 16 when Atalanta signed him from his first club, Brommapojkarna in Stockholm, for 100,000 euros. (£83,000/$105,000 at current exchange rates). He emerged into Italian national consciousness when he drove Atalanta to the Primavera (under-19) championship in 2018-19. He was their standout player that season, arguably the best player of his age in the country.

If you watch the final, against Inter at the Ennio Tardini stadium in Parma, you see something very familiar.

With seven minutes left and the game goalless, Atalanta clear their lines and Kulusevski bursts forward to win a loose ball that should never have been his. Skipping past one opponent, the 19-year-old drives on through the middle of the pitch, more energetic than anyone else on it. Deep in Inter territory, he pauses, looks up and stabs a pass that takes five opposition players out of the game. Ebrima Colley runs onto it, finishes well, and the title is on its way to Bergamo.

That is the Kulusevski — physically dominant, desperate for responsibility, desperate to be decisive — that we have seen at Tottenham this season. Postecoglou knows that for a player so committed to achieving greatness, there is no limit to how good he can be. “If you speak to him, he’s got pretty lofty ambitions for himself as a player, and what he can do,” Postecoglou said when talking to reporters earlier this month. “The exciting bit is that I think there’s a lot more to come.“

Pep Guardiola knows exactly what City are likely to be up against if Kulusevski plays at the Etihad on Saturday evening.

There is a viral clip of him in the post-match press conference after City beat Spurs in January last year. “Kulusevski”, Guardiola says before blowing out his cheeks dramatically. “What a player.”

And after Kulusevski orchestrated that cup win over the Premier League champions last month, this reporter wanted to get Guardiola’s thoughts on one of my favourite players. How good did he think Kulusevski had been that evening? “Really good,” Guardiola smiled. “He’s a really, really good player.”

So, what did he like about him? “Everything.”

GO DEEPER

“Kulusevski? What a player!” - how he became Tottenham's best

Additional reporting: Anantaajith Raghuraman

(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Kelsea Petersen)

International breaks are usually quiet periods for Premier League clubs, but Monday turned out to be a busy day at Tottenham Hotspur.

In the morning, the Football Association confirmed Rodrigo Bentancur had been banned for seven matches and fined £100,000 in relation to comments he made about club captain Son Heung-min while the former was in his native Uruguay over the summer.

A couple of hours later, Tottenham announced they had “remastered” their brand identity. For anyone left confused by that phrase, don’t worry, you were not alone.

The Athletic has broken down what this ‘remastering’ means, how fans have reacted to it, and the potential impact it will have.

What does “remastering brand identity” actually mean?

The phrase “remastered brand identity” sounds like it belongs in a press release from a 1990s boy band reuniting after 25 years. What it actually means is Tottenham have slightly tweaked their badge.

The last time they did this was in 2006 when they removed their Latin motto ‘Audere est Facere’ — ‘To dare is to do’ — and the THFC monogram, a stylised version of their initials (Tottenham Hotspur Football Club). The motif of a cockerel standing on a football became more prominent, while streaks of yellow and red were taken away to ensure the only colours in the badge were white and navy blue.

A copper statue of the cockerel was first placed on top of the West Stand at the old White Hart Lane ahead of the 1909-10 First Division season, while the bird has featured on Spurs’ shirts since the 1921 FA Cup final when they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0.

Now, the club have also removed the words “Tottenham Hotspur” from the bottom of the badge, which gives it a more simplistic look (this is how it has generally appeared on the shirt itself since 2006 anyway) and they have also created a silhouette version. One of the main reasons teams across different sports have done this over the past few years — Aston Villa and Juventus are two recent examples in football — is to make it easier to produce their logo digitally on replica shirts and other various pieces of merchandise.

After ditching the THFC monogram nearly two decades ago, Spurs have now decided to bring it back with a refreshed look. It has not been added to the new badge but will be reused — you can probably imagine waking up on your birthday or a future Christmas and being gifted a coffee mug with those initials across it.

Spurs have produced new colourways, patterns and hallmarks, too, which can be linked to key features of the club’s heritage in their section of north London, including the Seven Sisters trees and Bruce Castle. Just in case you were interested, Paxton Purple, Hot Terracotta and Elm Green are the names of some of the new colourways that will be introduced. The final change has been to turn the club’s font into a “dynamic, variable family of fonts”. The text has been expanded slightly and there is now a lowercase version.

So, perhaps unsurprisingly, it turns out that a “brand remaster” is a fancy way of saying they have made some minor cosmetic changes.

Ange Postecoglou’s side face Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, so the first real opportunity for fans to see these sparkly new updates around the stadium will be when Spurs host Roma in the Europa League next Thursday.

How have they done this?

Tottenham’s new badge is the result of a nine-month partnership with Studio Nomad, which describes itself as a “strategy and brand experience company”. According to its website, Studio Nomad’s other clients include Sky Sports, the Premier League, the Women’s Super League, Nike, Rolls-Royce and Disney+.

Tottenham say they spoke to over 300 current and former players, coaches, key members of staff and fan groups during the process. It seems like their plan was to determine what the most iconic images of the club’s history are and then give them a facelift.

GO DEEPER

Tottenham's badge: 'Harry Hotspur', a cockerel and a schoolboy dream

Why have they done this?

As previously mentioned, lots of clubs have modernised their badges so they are easier to replicate on shirts and merchandise. On their website, the club mention a “particular focus on clarity in digital environments”.

The last time Spurs updated their badge, almost two decades ago, Facebook had been around for only a couple of years and Twitter (now called X) had just been created, while other popular social media platforms including Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram hadn’t been launched at all. Part of Tottenham’s strategy is clearly about having a badge that can be reinterpreted to suit different online platforms.

“This is a club that drives, that forges, that innovates, that is relentless both on and off the pitch,” says executive director Donna-Maria Cullen. “This phenomenal exercise has been about bringing it all together, defining it, taking it to the next level.

“The reimagined brand embraces all the excitement, all the innovation and shows that we’re going to be brave, we’re going to be exciting and we’re going to have some fun – this is where we should be with our brand right now. We have taken aspects from our history, our emblems, our imagery and we’ve taken them forward — we’ve now got something that we have built from listening to everyone at the club, on and off the pitch, and the consistent message coming through. This is something that everyone can unite behind.”

What has been the reaction from the fanbase?

The primary responses on social media appeared to be a mix of indifference and confusion.

But Martin Buhagiar, chair of the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust (THST), tells The Athletic: “We have two board members from the THST who sit on the club’s fan advisory board (FAB) and they were spoken to about this a few months ago, but with no indication of when it was going to be released.”

GO DEEPER

Yes, another Pochettino column. Five years since his sacking, there are still things to say

“I liked the shield badge from the 1980s and 1990s, so when I heard they were changing it, I hoped they would go back to that design. I was fairly underwhelmed (by what the club came up with). I watched the video and was expecting something grand, but they just removed the words Tottenham Hotspur. I’m not that concerned by it because I know what the badge means and I know all about our identity. My issue is why now and what’s the purpose of it? We are all surprised by the timing. This seems like something you do in the summer, before the season starts along with a new kit.

“I remember the (former) Hull City owner (the late Assem Allam) a few years ago wanted to call them Hull Tigers. The board at Spurs know about the traditions of this club and they would never seek to change the name, the colours or the badge drastically, so we are grateful for that.”

(Top image: Tottenham Hotspur FC)

Three things happened in 2019 that set the course for the modern future of Tottenham Hotspur.

First, the opening of the new stadium on April 3. Then the defeat in the Champions League final to Liverpool on June 1. And, finally, the sacking of Mauricio Pochettino on November 19.

Over 2019, the club was transformed, striding into the new decade unrecognisable from how it started that year. This was the year that made the modern Tottenham and nothing that has happened to them since — no hiring, no sacking, not even selling Harry Kane — can remotely compare.

You can view any of those three events in isolation, but put them all together and they are three sides of the same triangle. Pochettino’s dismissal only makes sense because Tottenham had moved stadium and then lost the Champions League final just months before.

I am sure some readers will say: no, please, anything but this. Anything but yet another pensive reflection on the Pochettino era. Anything but another relitigating of the events of 2019, or the strategic choices made by the club at that time. Anything but another discussion of the summer 2019 transfer window, and whether Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso were the wrong players or the right players at the wrong time. Anything but this. Surely Spurs fans have suffered enough recently. The defeat to Ipswich Town was only nine days ago.

And yet despite all that, this fifth Pochiversary is still worth marking. Whether you want to think about it or not it is still real, the unavoidable shadow, the sound still ringing in your ear. It is something that has to be confronted and understood, even if that feels like staring directly into the sun.

How do we even begin to assess an event this big? The simplest way would be to look at what Tottenham have achieved in the five years since sacking their greatest manager of the modern era. And the answer, frankly, is not very much.

Spurs’ best league finish in these last five years was fourth, in 2021-22, when Antonio Conte arrived in November and then supercharged the team up the table into the top four, but burnt them out in doing so. They came fifth last season, having faded at the end of the campaign. But they have never truly been consistent or competitive in the league. Certainly nothing to compare to their run under Pochettino himself (fifth, third, second, third, fourth).

Well, what about the cups? Spurs have at least reached one final in the last five years, in the Carabao Cup in 2021. You can be forgiven if you don’t remember it as clearly as you feel like you should. It was played in front of only a few thousand fans at Wembley, at the beginning of the end of pandemic restrictions. It also took place at the end of a week in which Tottenham had signed up for the European Super League, sacked Jose Mourinho, appointed Ryan Mason and then withdrawn from the European Super League. It almost felt like an after-event.

Beyond that? Spurs got to the semi-final in the League Cup under Conte in 2022. They have done absolutely nothing of note in the FA Cup for six years now. They did lose two semi-finals under Pochettino, to Chelsea in 2017 and Manchester United the year after. Both were painful defeats that have left a lingering sense of frustration. But at least they made it there.

And in Europe? Spurs have had two utterly forgettable Champions League campaigns since Pochettino was dismissed. The first one, which Pochettino himself started, ended with last-16 elimination to RB Leipzig in 2020, just before the pandemic. The second, under Conte, ended with him replacing Dejan Kulusevski with Davinson Sanchez, the moment that lost him the faith of the crowd. Spurs lost 1-0 to AC Milan in the last 16 without ever making any impression on the tie. It made you wonder what the whole point of being back in that competition even was.

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Put it all together and the total is not very much. Of course, the last five years have not been plain sailing off the pitch. The pandemic hit at the worst possible time, less than one year after the opening of the new stadium. It cost them an estimated £200million ($250m) in lost revenue before the stadium fully reopened in August 2021. While the pandemic impacted clubs at every level, it was especially painful for one who had just opened a new £1.2billion stadium and was relying on increased matchday revenues.

But this is more than just a bad-luck story. And November 19, 2019, was about more than just replacing one manager with another. The change was necessary and inevitable by that stage. The vibes at the club had been broken by the defeat to Liverpool. No one had returned from pre-season with any enthusiasm or motivation. The team had gone stale and the summer signings (including Ndombele and Lo Celso) had arrived too late to make a difference. The players were fed up and Pochettino had lost his energy. The milk had gone sour and there was little Daniel Levy could do to make it good again.

Some fans argue that Pochettino should have been backed and retained, but the moment to back him was the summer of 2017 or 2018. The whole Pochettino project effectively ended with Moussa Sissoko’s handball in Madrid. With hindsight, it would have made more sense to part ways that night, win or lose. Ending it six months later was a blessing for both parties.

Perhaps the mistake was not in sacking Pochettino, but in throwing out the logic of Pochettino. It was more than just a managerial change, it was a pivot in the organisation’s whole strategy. After five years of patience and organic building, Tottenham started to act differently. They had just opened the best modern stadium in world football. They had just reached the Champions League final. They saw themselves as a ‘superclub’ and wanted to act accordingly. How better to achieve those goals than to replace their manager with Jose Mourinho?

So much of what has happened at Tottenham in the last five years can be viewed through that prism. The Amazon documentary, the European Super League, the appointment of Fabio Paratici and then Conte — these are the moves of a club that wants to be among the biggest in Europe.

It has only been in the last 18 months that Tottenham seem to have remembered how they got to 2019 in the first place. The appointment of Ange Postecoglou in 2023 was an attempt to get back to some of the values of the Pochettino era. Appointing a manager for whom this job was the peak of their career, rather than a payday after their earlier achievements. Trying to play a style of football that the fans wanted to see. Generating the unity between players, fans and club that had been missing.

At points under Postecoglou, you can sense some of that energy and togetherness is returning, but there have been plenty of moments recently — not least Ipswich — when the team has failed, and it has felt as if all the angst and frustration of the last five years has risen to the surface. No one knows how the Postecoglou era will work out but it has no chance if the players, decision-makers and fans do not show patience.

The question is whether the last few years have left everyone too restless to try. Is there any way back onto the path they turned off five years ago?

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(Top photo: Pochettino in November 2019; by Justin Setterfield via Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur are expecting midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur to be hit with a lengthy ban over comments he made relating to team-mate Son Heung-min.

Bentancur was charged with an alleged breach of Football Association (FA) rules in September over the comments.

The 27-year-old apologised after saying that South Korea international Son and his cousins “all look the same” on television programme Por la Camiseta, which is broadcast in his native Uruguay.

Bentancur said of the Spurs club captain, “Sonny, or a cousin of Sonny, they all look the same”. He later issued an apology to Son on social media while also doing so privately.

“Sonny, brother! I am sorry for what happened, it was a joke in bad taste,” Bentancur wrote. “You know that I love you and I would never disrespect you or hurt you or anyone. I love you brother!”

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Bentancur was accused of acting “in an improper manner and/or used abusive and/or insulting words and/or brought the game into disrepute.” The FA added in a statement that the charge further constitutes an “aggravated breach” under FA Rule E3.2, as it allegedly involved references to nationality, race, or ethnic origin.”

The exact length of the suspension is yet to be communicated but is expected to be significant and take in a number of matches.

Tottenham’s upcoming Premier League games include meetings with Manchester City, Fulham, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Southampton and Liverpool while they also face Manchester United in a Carabao Cup quarter-final in December.

Speaking later in September, Son said that Bentancur had “almost cried” when formally apologising for his comments.

“The process is with the FA and that’s why I can’t say much about it, but I love Rodrigo,” Son said. “I repeat: I love him, I love him.

“We had a lot of good memories, we started playing together when he joined. He apologised straight afterwards, you know, when we had a holiday.

“I was at home and I didn’t even realise what was going on. He just sent me a long text message that you could feel was coming from his heart. Afterwards, when he came back to the training ground for pre-season, he just like felt really sorry and almost like cried when he apologised publicly and also personally as well. It felt like he feels really sorry.”

Bentancur has featured in 10 of 11 Premier League games for Tottenham this season, missing the 4-0 victory over Everton due to a head injury sustained in the previous match, a draw against Leicester City. He has also appeared in three of their four Europa League matches.

(Malcolm Couzens/Getty Images)