The Athletic

Tottenham Hotspur have played a cruel trick on their supporters this season. Every time Ange Postecoglou’s side appear to take a huge step forward, they stumble the following week.

It happened just before the October international break, when they recorded what felt like a statement 3-0 victory against Manchester United at Old Trafford only to then throw away a two-goal lead over Brighton to lose 3-2 in their next fixture. In their first game after that window, Spurs ripped West Ham United apart 4-1, then feebly lost 1-0 at Crystal Palace.

Getting beaten 2-1 at home by Ipswich Town — the promoted visitors’ first top-flight win since 2002 — on Sunday, a week after demolishing top-four rivals Aston Villa 4-1 on the same pitch, is the latest instalment in this series.

Tottenham have only won back-to-back league games once this season. It is a pattern which they need to correct quickly if they want to be successful and fulfil Postecoglou’s so-far-factual statement that he “always wins trophies” in his second year at a club.

The underlying data suggests Spurs are a much better team than this time last year, when they won eight of Postecoglou’s first 10 league games following his summer arrival from Scotland’s Celtic. They score more goals and do not concede as many. They win the ball high up the pitch regularly and have become better at playing out from the back. Their squad has more quality and the players in it are fitter.

But it is difficult to keep preaching about the different ways they have improved when they have lost five times in 11 outings. This is still a young group overall, with significant room for growth, but the expectations are higher now.

Tottenham have a bizarre habit of letting their visitors take the lead — which feels unsustainable if they want to challenge for a top-four finish.

Since the start of last season, they have conceded the opening goal at home on 14 occasions — more than any other Premier League side, apart from Manchester United. They seem to enjoy making life difficult for themselves. Sammie Szmodics’ overhead kick was an impressive piece of skill but Jens Cajuste should never have been allowed the time and space to weigh up a cross into the box, and Brennan Johnson should have done more to challenge the Ipswich forward for the ball.

To give them some credit, Spurs have recovered from conceding the first goal to win 10 times (this includes away fixtures) under Postecoglou, which is the joint-most in the league, with Manchester City. They had a “mountain to climb” on this occasion though, because Ipswich scored a second.

The move for that goal actually started when goalkeeper Arijanet Muric’s pass was intercepted by Pape Sarr. Tottenham had around five players in and around the penalty area but Son Heung-min’s cross was cleared and Ipswich then cut through them on the counter. It was baffling how Spurs first threw away a great chance and ended up conceding.

Postecoglou constantly tinkers with the make-up of his midfield. In recent weeks, he has preferred Sarr to partner Dejan Kulusevski instead of James Maddison, while either Yves Bissouma or Rodrigo Bentancur acts as the holding midfielder. Sarr is combative in midfield and his runs from deep stretch defences, while Maddison’s creativity is his biggest asset.

On Sunday, Postecoglou did not make his first substitution until the 66th minute, when Sarr picked up a knock and was replaced by Timo Werner. And although Maddison played poorly in Thursday’s 3-2 Europa League defeat to Galatasaray in Istanbul, he should have been given more than 10 minutes to make an impact yesterday.

Spurs had 66 per cent possession in the game but apart from Pedro Porro’s corner which led to Bentancur’s goal, they did not give Ipswich too many problems. Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna said in his press conference that the pace of Liam Delap and Omari Hutchinson on the counter prevented Tottenham from completely trapping his side in their own territory.

Ipswich kept Tottenham at a safe distance and forced them to shoot from long range. Getting Maddison’s passing range on the pitch before his 84th-minute arrival would surely have helped them pose a bigger threat.

There have been too many times during this campaign when Postecoglou has described his team’s performance as passive. Is it an interesting quirk that all of their victories in the league have been by at least three goals, or is it a sign that when opponents frustrate them and prevent them from playing expansively, they struggle to find alternative ways to score?

The display against Ipswich was a mirror image of that Palace defeat and the second half of their 1-1 away draw with Leicester City in August.

Postecoglou rejected the suggestion that his squad are finding it difficult to juggle the Premier League and Europe. They did not return from Turkey until Friday morning, but he believes they are finishing games strongly, which would not be the case if they were fatigued. Although he did speak about how up and down their form has been.

“That’s down to me,” Postecoglou said. “That’s my responsibility. The inconsistency we’re having this year, ultimately it comes down to me and my approach and it’s something I need to try and fix and see if I can help the players in that area.”

This is the third international break in a row Tottenham have gone into on the back of a defeat.

Postecoglou now has a couple of weeks to fix things before they face Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on November 23 in the clubs’ next match.

It wouldn’t be a huge surprise if they beat City for the second time in a few weeks, following the recent Carabao Cup tie. But while this team are capable of producing some thrilling performances, any chance of significant progress is being held back by their inconsistency.

(Top photo: Clive Rose/Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur fell to a shock 2-1 defeat to Ipswich Town on Sunday afternoon.

Sammie Szmodics put the visitors ahead in the 31st minute. The ball dropped to him in the area and he hit an overhead kick, firing the ball past Guglielmo Vicario. Liam Delap then poked the ball home to double Ipswich’s lead.

Spurs seemed to have halved the lead in the 49th minute, only for Dominic Solanke’s goal to be chalked off for a handball by the video assistant referee. Rodrigo Bentancur pulled one back in the 69th minute, but Ipswich held out and collected the three points.

Here, The Athletic’s Jay Harris analyses the game and what it means for Spurs.

What does this defeat say about Tottenham?

Before kick-off, Tottenham supporters would have been forgiven for getting carried away thinking about where their team could be in the table after this weekend’s round of fixtures.

With Chelsea and Arsenal facing each other later, if Tottenham won they would have leapfrogged their London rivals and jumped into the top four. Spurs have been guilty of erratic performances this season but following up last weekend’s victory over Aston Villa by beating Ipswich would have been a strong sign they are becoming more consistent.

Instead, they head into the second international break in a row on the back of a defeat. They have lost five out of their 11 league matches. It will especially sting that Crystal Palace and Ipswich earned their first, and only, league victories this season over Spurs.

Things will not get any easier when the players return from international duty. Spurs’ next game is away at Manchester City before they face Fulham, Bournemouth and Chelsea. They had a great opportunity to build momentum on Sunday but failed to take it.

Slow starts are not sustainable

Tottenham’s bizarre habit of letting their opponents take the lead continued on Sunday afternoon. Since the start of last season, they have conceded the opening goal on 14 occasions at home — more than any other side apart from Manchester United (also 14). It makes you feel like this team only moves out of second gear when faced with jeopardy.

Most of the time, they find a way out of trouble. Tottenham’s squad is deeper and the players are much fitter than last season. Opponents struggle to match Spurs’ intensity for 90 minutes, which means gaps open up in the second half. The prime example came in last month’s 4-1 victory over West Ham United when they scored three times in 15 minutes after the break. Under Ange Postecoglou, they have recovered to win after conceding first on 10 occasions in the league, the most alongside Manchester City.

The problem is that constantly giving your opponents an early advantage does not feel sustainable. It means Spurs have to chase the game and commit more players forward. This risks leaving them exposed defensively, which is exactly what happened for Ipswich’s second goal. Pape Matar Sarr intercepted Arijanet Muric’s awful goal kick but when Ipswich recovered the ball lots of Tottenham’s attacking players were caught out of position. They ended up causing their own problems.

Is Son fully fit yet?

Son Heung-min has struggled with his fitness this season due to a persistent hamstring injury. He was perplexed when he was taken off after an hour during the 4-1 victory over Aston Villa last weekend but Postecoglou insisted that was always the plan as they carefully manage his workload. Son produced a fantastic assist for Brennan Johnson against Villa and showed flashes of his brilliance against Ipswich on Sunday but it is clear he needs more time to regain his sharpness.

Son looked electric in the opening 10 minutes. He whipped a cross into the box from which Johnson should have scored and then he weaved past multiple defenders before curling a shot that Arijanet Muric saved.

In the second half, as Spurs grew frustrated in their search for an equaliser, he was guilty of shooting from long distance on multiple occasions. Muric tipped the South Korea international’s first effort over the bar but the rest were not even close to being on target. The 32-year-old is still one of this team’s best players but it is important to remember as he grows older that it will take him a bit longer to return to his top level after injury and he cannot save Tottenham every week.

What next for Tottenham Hotspur?

Saturday, November 23: Manchester City (Away), Premier League, 5.30pm UK, 12.30pm ET

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The Football Association (FA) has charged Tottenham Hotspur in relation to homophobic chanting during their Premier League game against Manchester United in September.

The Athletic reported from the game that the “Chelsea rent boy” chant — a homophobic slur aimed at the west London club’s current and former players and fans — was heard coming from the Spurs fans’ section at Old Trafford around the same time as Mason Mount’s introduction as a substitute.

Another chant, relating to striker Dominic Solanke and Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, was also heard.

An FA statement confirming the charge said it’s alleged that Tottenham failed to prevent fans from “using words… with either an express or implied reference to sexual orientation”.

The two breaches of FA Rule E21 for misconduct in relation to crowd control are alleged to have taken place in the 49th and 76th minute of the match, which Tottenham won 3-0.

The north London club said they were aware of the “abhorrent homophobic chanting” in a statement following the game.

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The statement added: “We will be working closely with the police and stewards to identify anyone instigating or joining in with the chanting — we shall take the strongest possible action in accordance with our sanctions and banning policy.”

In January 2023, the FA added homophobic chanting to its list of rule breaches and said it can pursue action against clubs whose supporters use them at matches.

In 2022, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed that it considered the term a homophobic slur and therefore a hate crime.

Spurs have until Wednesday, November 13, to respond to the charge.

(Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur vice-captain Cristian Romero has avoided a serious injury but forward Richarlison faces a “little while” out with a left hamstring problem.

Romero and Richarlison sustained injuries during Tottenham’s 4-1 Premier League win over Aston Villa on Sunday. Both had to be withdrawn in the second half, with Richarlison playing fewer than 20 minutes having come on early in the half for Son Heung-min.

Richarlison posted about his injury on social media earlier on Wednesday and Spurs head coach Ange Postecoglou gave an update on his squad when speaking ahead of Thursday’s Europa League game at Galatasaray.

“From the weekend, Richarlison, unfortunately, injured his hamstring, we’re still getting all the information, but he’ll be out for a little while,” Postecoglou said. “Romero… nothing too serious, hopefully, so still a chance for the weekend.

“Timo (Werner) has been carrying a bit of a groin complaint, which is still there, so he didn’t travel. Mikey Moore picked up a bit of a virus yesterday, so we left him at home as well. Everyone else who is fit and eligible is here.”

Romero had injured himself when he fouled Villa’s Matty Cash, with both players having to go off and the Argentine booked. Richarlison appeared to suffer his problem while setting up Dominic Solanke for Spurs’ third goal.

“Difficult moment that will be overcome again,” Richarlison posted. “Was very happy training and playing. And suddenly the injury comes again. Hard to talk at a time like this. I only ask that you pray for me and that God gives me protection.”

Tottenham are already down one central defender with Romero’s first-choice partner Micky van de Ven not expected to return until after the international break with a right hamstring injury.

Following the trip to Turkey, Tottenham host Ipswich Town on Sunday ahead of the November break.

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Angeball is working: The numbers suggest Spurs are improving on last season

(Photos: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Think back to this time last year. After 10 Premier League games, Ange Postecoglou looked like he could walk on water.

Tottenham Hotspur had started the season, started the whole Postecoglou era, better than anyone could ever have expected. Eight wins, two draws, 26 points, top of the table, on top of the world. They were playing a brand of football their fans had been dreaming of for years — dazzlingly bright light after years in the footballing darkness.

It felt vaguely miraculous. Everyone was prepared for early-season teething pains, a learning curve, getting used to life without Harry Kane. But Spurs had skipped all that. They started as if they had been doing this for years. Postecoglou looked like he had fixed the whole football club within weeks of arriving from Scottish champions Celtic.

Compare that to where Tottenham are today.

You can just take a quick look at the league table. At this point in 2023, Spurs were two points clear of Arsenal and Manchester City. They were picking up points so fast, they were on track for a 98-point season — which would have been their best ever, by a distance.

But now? Spurs are seventh, with 16 points, 10 fewer than they had 10 games into last season. They are seven points behind champions City and nine adrift of first-placed Liverpool. Last season they were leading the field, with only open road ahead of them. Now there are faster cars they will somehow have to catch up to.

The honeymoon period of Postecoglou at Tottenham — which lasted almost three months — is over. The halo effect has dissipated. The Australian has lost his sheen of divinity. He stands in front of Spurs fans now as a flawed, human figure, as contested as any manager in the club’s past. Many of the fans still love him. Some are impatient with him, as the reaction to last month’s away defeats at Brighton and Crystal Palace showed. Plenty are caught in the middle.

But just because Tottenham have not started this season as well as they did the previous one, it does not necessarily follow that they are a worse team today than they were last November. In fact, take a look under the bonnet and you will see that Spurs are better now than they were at this stage of last season. More shots, more xG per game and more goals scored; fewer shots conceded, fewer xG conceded, fewer goals conceded. They lose the ball less in their own defensive third, and win more high turnovers than ever before. By every useful metric, they are a better team now than 12 months ago.

Remember that 2023-24 was about more than just those first 10 games. As thrilling as they were, Spurs probably overperformed during that hot-streak start. Half of their eight wins were by single-goal margins. They benefited hugely from a VAR error against Liverpool in one of those four matches. And when things went wrong — starting with the 4-1 home defeat against Chelsea a year ago today — they took months to recover.

What stands out about that Monday night now, with the benefit of hindsight, was how brittle Tottenham were.

They lost Micky van de Ven to a hamstring injury and James Maddison to an ankle problem, while Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie were both sent off. Of course, any team would suffer from losing four in-form first-teamers during one game under any circumstances. Especially given that Van de Ven would be out for two months and Maddison almost three. But Postecoglou soon found himself having to call on players who would not otherwise have been starters: Eric Dier, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Emerson Royal, Giovani Lo Celso, Bryan Gil. None of those five are still at the club (although Gil is only out on loan, at Girona in La Liga).

The team today is far more recognisably Postecoglou’s than it was last season.

Tottenham have not had a crisis comparable to that one so far this year, and when they have had injuries they have coped. They look less reliant on their best individuals than they were last season.

Van de Ven got injured early on against Manchester City a week ago but Radu Dragusin has comfortably slotted in for the two games since. Son Heung-min has missed games — and has not always looked 100 per cent when he has been available — but Spurs have found a way to score goals in his absence. Maddison, on whom the team almost looked too dependent at the start of last season, has not started the past two games. But with a different tactical balance, his colleagues found a way to win them both.

To see how much stronger the squad is now, just compare that Carabao Cup win over City last Wednesday with the FA Cup defeat against them in January.

That Friday night, City brought on Belgium internationals Jeremy Doku and Kevin De Bruyne in the second half. Postecoglou brought on reserve midfielder Oliver Skipp, Maddison to end his long lay-off and then teenager Dane Scarlett. City scored the winner with two minutes left.

Last week, Postecoglou turned to Udogie after Van de Ven’s first-half injury, then Yves Bissouma at half-time to help his team regain a footing in midfield, then Ben Davies to protect Romero, and finally Richarlison and Mikey Moore to maintain Spurs’ threat on the break. Spurs won 2-1, and should have scored more goals in the second half than they did. The difference in depth is there for all to see.

So last week, Postecoglou was asked whether Spurs were a better team now than they had been during their eye-catching start to his debut season. He admitted that he knew last season’s miraculous early form would never last, and that Tottenham are far more robust now.

“We’re more consistent in our football, more consistent in our performances,” Postecoglou told reporters. “The results last year were great and we were playing with a lot of enthusiasm and real energy. I knew that wasn’t sustainable and pretty quickly we found that out, for several reasons. Whereas this year we’ve already had injury disruptions and handled them a lot better. We’ve got a more well-rounded squad to handle what’s ahead of us. We’ve got a heavier games programme, but we’ve held together. We’re in a better place — but we need to be.”

So what does this better place look like?

Check out this table for starters, which shows how Tottenham compare between this season and the previous one. In all the key metrics, they are better now than they were then…

Let’s start with the ball.

‘Angeball’ is nothing if it is not a plan for proactive attacking football. It exists to create chances and score goals. And at times last season, it looked perfectly calibrated for that. But as the season went on, Spurs started to get bogged down. They stopped cutting through opponents, and by the end just resembled any other Premier League team who wanted to keep the ball and play through the thirds.

Of course, 10 games into this season is not a big data set, and we know from last year’s experience that it is not necessarily predictive of the remaining (almost) three-quarters of the season. But, so far, Spurs are the best attacking team in the division.

They have scored the most Premier League goals, with 22, ahead of Manchester City (21) and Chelsea (20). If you think that is too subject to variance and would rather look at expected goals (xG), you will find Spurs are also top there — their 20.13 xG (or 2.01 per game) puts them narrowly ahead of City (20.07), with a gap to third-placed Liverpool (18.43). Or if you want to look at simple total shots, Spurs are second to City, with 172 to their 197.

Compare this to the recent past and you can see the huge improvement.

If Spurs stay just above 2.0 xG per game, that will be by far their best record in the time for which we have solid data. Last season, they averaged 1.81 xG per game — this is 11 per cent better than that. Even in the peak Mauricio Pochettino years, the average was significantly lower: 1.72 in 2017-18, 1.68 in 2016-17.

So what explains Spurs’ improvements?

When Postecoglou was discussing this last week he said that “players have developed in the last 12 months to another level” and he mentioned two in particular: Brennan Johnson and Dejan Kulusevski.

Last season, those two effectively rotated at the same position on the right wing, although Johnson played a few games on the left, and Kulusevski filled in as a midfielder during the autumn injury crisis.

This time, the thinking has been much clearer. Johnson is the first-choice right-winger, trusted to play high and wide and stretch opponents. Kulusevski has made himself first choice as the right-sided No 8, driving Tottenham forward through the middle of the pitch. Johnson has seven goals already in all competitions and is showing the confidence that comes with always being in the team. Kulusevski also looks liberated by the new role. With two goals and five assists in 15 appearances, he has been comfortably their best player.

This simple change has unlocked Spurs overall. If you look at this graphic below using The Athletic’s playstyle metrics — which outlines how a team look to play compared with Europe’s top seven domestic leagues — you can see they are more efficient in their use of the ball this season. They circulate the ball less (Circulate: 68 out of 99) and attack faster (Patient attack: 83 out of 99). And with a more orthodox winger on the right, rather than someone who always wants to drift inside, they play more through wide areas, progressing the ball through the middle far less often (Central progression: 35 out of 99).

That graphic also points to another big improvement from last season to this one: they are far better at chance prevention (measured by non-penalty xG conceded per 90) than they used to be.

Looking firstly at goals conceded, Spurs are on 11 from their 10 games, joint-fourth best in the league behind Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Newcastle. If we go by xG conceded per game, they are a bit further back in seventh, although on shots conceded they are joint second-best, alongside Liverpool and behind only City.

This is an even more dramatic improvement than in Tottenham’s attacking numbers. Last season, they were too defensively porous to achieve anything, especially vulnerable against both set pieces and counter-attacks. They conceded 61 goals, more than twice as many as Arsenal (29), even more than Crystal Palace (who finished 10th), Everton (15th) and Manchester United (eighth). Conceding 1.7 xG per game was their poorest return in Opta history, even worse than the brief Nuno Espirito Santo era (1.42), the start to 2019-20 that doomed Pochettino (1.50) or Jose Mourinho’s share of that same season (1.44).

But now that number has come down to 1.16, and Spurs have a solid defensive base again. They have clearly tightened up on set pieces, and even though they conceded from a corner against Aston Villa on Sunday, their overall record in those situations is better than it was last season — they have scored more than they have conceded on set pieces so far.

There have been moments when Spurs have been cut through on the counter — especially against Leicester and Newcastle at the start of the season — but they are better in these situations too. This was something Van de Ven pointed to during a press conference before the Europa League game against AZ Alkmaar when asked to compare 2024-25 Tottenham with last season’s version.

“This season, we have more control of the games,” Van de Ven said. “Last season, you saw in a lot of games that we lost control a little bit. Also, when we lost the ball we were quite open and got a lot of counter-attacks. We know better positions for the players and I think players help each other more than maybe we did last season.”

This is clearly a reference to Spurs’ organisation without the ball, and by eye this is better now than it was last year. Tottenham’s PPDA figure is also down, meaning that they press with more intensity and allow opponents less time on the ball.

Put all of this data together and you can see they are far better at both ends of the pitch than they were last year. They are comfortably in xG credit, in the sense that their xG-for far outstrips their xG-against.

The next graph shows that Spurs’ xG credit now is better even than it was in the peak Pochettino years. The only time it was better than it has been this season was during Antonio Conte’s part of the 2021-22 season, as he took over a team going nowhere in early November and propelled them up into a fourth-place finish. This is what a team functioning well looks like. Far more so than going on a hot streak, like Tottenham did at the start of last season.

Remember too that these figures are for Premier League games.

So far this season, Spurs have had 10 of those, with another five in the cups — two in the Carabao Cup and three in the Europa League. They have won all five of those latter fixtures, a feat of resource allocation that Tottenham never had to concern themselves with in 2023-24.

So where will this take them?

Of course, this team are still far from perfect. Their away form is inconsistent, winning just one of their five league games on the road. That may eventually be the difference between finishing in the top four and not. Only time will tell whether the second-half collapse from two up at Brighton to lose 3-2 was a freak occurrence or something more fundamental.

But what we can say from our limited vantage point is that Tottenham look more complete, more robust, more identifiably belonging to the manager than they did last year. They have the depth to change games and maybe even to survive bumps along the road. They are better with the ball and without it than they were last season, and going forward they are better than any Spurs team of recent years.

Nobody knows where this season will end up but if there is another disaster along the way, like that Chelsea game one year ago, they look better equipped to survive it.

And while they have not flown out of the blocks this season, they might just be picking up speed.

Additional reporting: Mark Carey, Duncan Alexander

(Photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)

English non-League side Harborough Town have announced the signing of former Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers midfielder Sandro.

Sandro had retired from football in September 2023 at the age of 34, having also played for Internacional, West Bromwich Albion and Antalyaspor, as well as the Brazil national team.

Harborough manager Mitch Austin told the club’s website that he had a “chance conversation” with Sandro which led to the 35-year-old signing for the seventh-tier side.

Harborough have made headlines in recent weeks after beating National League South side Tonbridge Angels in the first round of the FA Cup, setting up a second-round tie against League One Reading on November 30.

“What an unbelievable signing for the club, I really cannot express how I am feeling,” Austin, a Tottenham fan, said. “I had a chance conversation with Sandro a couple of weeks ago and we got talking about football, told him about Harborough Town FC and the journey we are on and he has been messaging me ever since to sign on.

“Totally unbelievable and gobsmacked is how I would describe this signing. These sort of signings don’t happen every day but when you get a chance to sign an ex-professional footballer who has played at the highest level in the Premier League and Internationally with Brazil, you just cannot turn it down.”

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Sandro made 105 appearances for Tottenham and told the club’s official podcast that he was working on his coaching badges when he retired. He was part of the Spurs side which reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 2010-11.

Sandro also spent time in Italy later in his career, playing for Benevento, Genoa and Udinese in 2018 and 2019. He then spent time at Brazilian side Goias and Portuguese club B-SAD.

“Credit to Sandro, he has kept himself really fit and is an absolutely great guy, down to earth, who when the chairman and I met with him came across very genuine, polite and humble, you could really sense there was a real desire to get the signing done on his part, I am absolutely delighted to have him at our club,” Austin added.

“I think the players and staff around the club can learn great things from him and develop and watch his professionalism and understand what is needed if they want to progress and play at the highest possible level of the game. However long he stays we will all become better for it.”

(Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)

Before Tottenham Hotspur’s brilliant 4-1 victory over Aston Villa on Sunday, Dominic Solanke had not registered a shot on target across his last six appearances in all competitions.

The forward, who joined Spurs from Bournemouth in August for a club-record fee of £65million, scored the equaliser in a 3-1 victory over Brentford in September and the third goal in a memorable 3-0 win at Manchester United, but he was still waiting to produce a breakout moment; a piece of individual skill, an assist or a goal that earned his side all three points.

But how could the man who is expected to fill the goalscoring void left by Harry Kane succeed when he so rarely shoots? Was the 27-year-old struggling to adapt to Ange Postecoglou’s style of play, or was he just not in sync with his new team-mates? How much longer could this go on before it was time to hit the panic button?

Solanke’s performance against Aston Villa — he scored twice in five second-half minutes and won the free kick James Maddison curled into the top corner in stoppage time — reminded everybody of his quality. The England international’s intelligent run and beautiful chip over Emiliano Martinez was a reminder, were it needed, of his quality.

Judging Solanke just on his goalscoring output alone would be foolish. What he offers Postecoglou’s side out of possession is equally as important as what he does inside the penalty box. This is not the first time in Solanke’s career that his form has been questioned — it took him 18 months and 39 games to register his first goal for Bournemouth after signing from Liverpool for £19million in January 2019.

“We didn’t speak about the lack of goals,” Junior Stanislas, who played up front with Solanke for four years at Bournemouth, told The Athletic earlier this season. “His quality was evident in training. His hold-up play, skills and willingness to run in behind — he was someone you always wanted on your team. He brought so much more than goals.”

Solanke did not touch the ball once in Manchester City’s box when Tottenham beat them in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup last week, but he was still integral to one of the best results during Postecoglou’s time in charge.

In the first couple of minutes, City were trying to attack down the left wing. Matheus Nunes shifts the ball inside towards Ruben Dias. Before Nunes even connects with his pass, Solanke starts running in Dias’ direction. Solanke cuts off the defender’s options and ushers him towards the touchline, where Nunes hits the ball all the way back to goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.

Solanke is not satisfied so he hunts down Ortega, who passes it to John Stones. The England centre-back has lots of time and space until Solanke accelerates. Solanke and Timo Werner look to have Stones trapped, but he wriggles away.

If Solanke or Werner had won the ball, they would have been through on goal. City may have kept possession throughout this sequence but Solanke’s selfless running means his defence have pushed much higher up the pitch.

Solanke constantly disrupts the opposition’s build-up by harassing their defenders and this is one of the reasons Postecoglou was so keen to sign him. Nine of the 10 players to cover the most distance in the top flight last season were central midfielders. Solanke was the exception as he ranked eighth by covering 396.9 kilometres.

Postecoglou admitted a couple of months ago that Spurs had previously considered signing Ivan Toney from Brentford in the summer. Toney had been a more consistent goal threat than Solanke in the Premier League over the last couple of years and contributed to England reaching the final of the European Championship in the summer. Solanke may not have been included in Gareth Southgate’s squad, but he is a far better tactical fit.

In his press conference before Tottenham faced Aston Villa, Postecoglou was asked if it mattered that Solanke had not been taking a lot of shots. “I am delighted with him,” Postecoglou said. “I couldn’t be happier with the way he is leading that front line.

“He was a major reason we won the game the other night because (Manchester) City will grind you and pin you right back for the whole game if you let them, but he just didn’t allow that to happen and just kept running and pressing — and he had the quality on the ball. Any other night he would have had a couple of assists as well. I know everyone talks about the goals. He will get his goals. If he plays at that level every week for us, that is going to make us a really good football team.”

When Spurs won at Old Trafford, Solanke caused Matthijs de Ligt and Manuel Ugarte no end of problems.

This incident in the 28th minute nearly leads to a one-v-one situation with Andre Onana until Noussair Mazraoui covers for De Ligt and concedes a throw-in. Defenders are never safe in possession when Solanke is around.

It was the exact same situation when Tottenham played Brentford. After Bryan Mbeumo gave Thomas Frank’s side the lead in the first minute, Spurs swarmed them for the rest of the half. Solanke set the tone by repeatedly pinching the ball from Sepp van den Berg and Vitaly Janelt.

“We know they are a good pressing team; they press with a big intensity and we need to be able to deal with that,” Frank told The Athletic afterwards. “I thought today in spells we were good and in others we could have done better. That said, Tottenham are also one of the most aggressive teams in high pressing.”

Spurs won possession in the final third on 13 occasions against Brentford. Only once has there been more from a team in a single game this season — also Spurs against Newcastle.

The most impressive example of Solanke’s work out of possession came in stoppage time against Aston Villa. The angles of his runs force errors. Diego Carlos is right-footed but Solanke intelligently approaches him in a way that makes a short pass to Pau Torres risky, so he goes back to Martinez. This sequence ends with Solanke tackling Torres and Brennan Johnson wins a free kick. Solanke has created a potential goalscoring opportunity from the set piece out of nothing.

“Dom has been unbelievable since he joined. He is working so hard,” Micky van de Ven said ahead of Tottenham’s Europa League match against AZ Alkmaar. “He keeps running the whole game and I am watching him and thinking, ‘Phwoar, how are you even doing this? (You just) keep sprinting over and over again’.”

Solanke has helped Spurs reach the next stage of their evolution under Postecoglou. They are an aggressive, front-footed pressing team who have scored the most goals in the league (22) with eight different players chipping in. They do not need to over-rely on Solanke like they did with Kane and have with Son Heung-min in the past.

“Don’t get me wrong, if Harry was here I’d be a very happy manager,” Postecoglou said last week. “We’d find a way to fit him in. But you’re right, part of him leaving is that opportunity for people to grow and we’re still in that phase.

“There’s more that the guys have in them. I keep saying that some of them have a really high ceiling. Some of them are still trying to stick their head up a little bit more every time. Then you have a performance like (Crystal) Palace and you feel like, ‘Nah they’re going to cower again and not stand up even further’.

“But you need to go through those experiences. I can definitely see that growth. Once I can cajole and convince them to just keep going, don’t be afraid, don’t fear failure and stumble, criticism and scrutiny. There is that opportunity for us and it’s the only way we’ll become the team we want to be. We won’t do that by bringing in another Harry. Those players are rare. For us it’s going to have to be a collective effort to get to where we want to.”

Solanke’s sacrificial running epitomises Postecoglou’s ethos.

(Top photo: John Walton/Getty Images)

At the start of last week, Ange Postecoglou was facing calls from some of the extreme fringes of the internet for his dismissal as Tottenham manager.

Spurs had lost 1-0 at Selhurst Park last Sunday, an afternoon when the players never really got off the bus. It almost felt, from some of the reaction, as if this season or even the whole Postecoglou project might never get fully off the ground.

One week on, Postecoglou can look back on two of the best wins of Spurs’ season so far: two huge scalps of teams who both finished ahead of them last season.

On Wednesday night, they knocked Manchester City out of the Carabao Cup, summoning up all of their energy and belief to win 2-1. At the end of that game, the players looked exhausted, emptied out by the physical effort of overcoming City.

And on Sunday, they did it all over again. Aston Villa were almost the worst possible team to face four days after City. They came to north London to be disciplined, physical and efficient, doing everything they could to stop Spurs from playing their football. They took the lead from a corner and then decided to slow things down even more.

But Tottenham kept going and going in the second half, raising the tempo, looking back inside themselves and raising it again. They forced their way through to equalise, got bogged down again, got back to their feet, and then blew Villa away. By the end, Spurs were flying down the home straight, roared on by the crowd, leaving Villa looking like they had long run out of gas. Above all, they worked hard enough to earn the right to play their football.

There is something familiar about this type of Tottenham win now.

They did it against Brentford. They did it against West Ham. They did it plenty of times last season, too. They can afford to start slowly or even go behind at home because they always back themselves to make up lost ground in the second half. They can hit and maintain a second-half intensity that few other opponents can live with. But Villa were the team who beat them to Champions League football last season, a side who have looked smarter and more solid than Spurs in recent months. Tottenham needed to show they could beat them.

Put the two performances together — first City and then Villa — and you are looking at the best week Tottenham have had maybe in the whole Postecoglou era. As ever, Postecoglou did not see it quite this way in his post-match press conference, suggesting that the Palace defeat was also part of this same week, but weeks start on Monday, so here we are.

Looking back to the start of this week, the day after Palace, Postecoglou said the most important thing was that the players did not arrive feeling sorry for themselves.

“We had to come in and get our heads straight,” he said, “and work back towards being the team we want to be. That’s what’s happened but it doesn’t mean that that’s the end of it now.”

It was also a poignant week at Tottenham. Sunday would have been the 52nd birthday of Ugo Ehiogu, Tottenham’s youth coach who tragically passed away in 2017 at the age of just 44.

Spurs senior assistant coach Matt Wells worked with Ehiogu at Tottenham and this week, he spoke to the players about Ehiogu, the impact he had on him as a young coach and his legacy at the club. “When you hear things like that, and how people affect your life, it helps give clarity to the players about what we’re trying to do here,” Postecoglou explained afterwards. “It’s important that his legacy lives on.”

Postecoglou does not want Spurs to rest on their laurels after their win over Villa. They have another big week before the international break: flying to Istanbul to face Galatasaray on Thursday, then coming back to host Ipswich Town on Sunday. Thursday does not feel especially high stakes after Tottenham’s strong start in the Europa League, but fail to win on Sunday and the mood will shift back again — just as it did before the last international window when Spurs lost at Brighton & Hove Albion.

But just because Postecoglou does not want to look back does not mean we should ignore what a big week this was. At this stage of the season, everything is provisional, but Spurs are starting to find answers to some of the questions they face. They have now won nine of their last 11 games in all competitions, a run going back to the Arsenal defeat on September 15, and as painful as the losses at Brighton and Palace were, they increasingly look like the exceptions rather than the rule.

Tottenham will always get accusations about their perceived flakiness or bottle, questions which are as inevitable as the weather, but both of their recent statement wins have been against top sides, teams who won here in the league last season, and who made it as difficult as possible for Spurs in their own ways. Whether holding onto the lead against City or chasing the game against Villa, Tottenham dug deep, survived the difficult moments and stuck to their plans.

Postecoglou himself has faced questions about his own tactics and substitutions, and his ability to change games that were going against him. But on Wednesday, Yves Bissouma came on at half-time and changed the flow of the game, giving Spurs a more solid base in midfield. On Sunday, Richarlison came on and set up the third goal before James Maddison was introduced and scored the fourth.

We could talk about individuals, about Son Heung-min’s cross for the first goal, Dejan Kulusevski’s reverse pass for the second, Pape Matar Sarr’s influence or Dominic Solanke’s selfless work rate, or his first goals since September.

But above all, this was a collective effort: the result of a group of players running and working for each other and for the manager’s ideas.

This is what Postecoglou’s second season is meant to look like. Just don’t expect the manager himself to talk about defeats avenged or corners turned.

“You don’t fall off cliffs and you don’t climb mountains within a week,” he said. “It’s all part of the same process for me.”

GO DEEPER

The Briefing: Tottenham 4 Aston Villa 1 - Solanke's best game so far, Spurs' back-post threat, and another defensive injury

(Top photo: Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty Images)

There was a distinct feeling in the air at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday night. Something that had been lacking for the past year or so, maybe even for most of Ange Postecoglou’s reign. But the crowd felt it and fed it. The players felt it and channelled it. It was both the fuel and the flames of one of Spurs’ best wins of the season so far. You could even give it a name: big game energy.

Spurs had won five home games before this one and at times played very well. But Everton and West Ham United were so poor when they came to Tottenham it did not feel much of a contest. Brentford, Qarabag and AZ Alkmaar were professionally dispatched. But Wednesday was different. You could see it at the end when the fans celebrated the final whistle and the exhausted Spurs players fell to the ground.

The reward for winning this is another home game seven weeks from now, against a Manchester United side who might be a very different prospect under their new manager. The hope for Spurs is that the players and fans can summon up the same energy, the same force that they did this week. Win that and Tottenham will be in the Carabao Cup semi-finals, their first semi in three years.

Before then there are seven more Premier League games, as well as three more in the Europa League. This starts with Aston Villa coming to Tottenham this Sunday. This will be billed as a gigantic game, a crunch clash, the chance for Spurs to get one over on the team who pipped them to Champions League qualification last season. For Villa, it will be an opportunity to avenge their 4-0 defeat to Spurs in March, which at the time looked like it marked Spurs’ supremacy in the race for fourth. (In fact, Spurs took 13 points from their last 11 games and Villa strolled over the line in front of them.)

But maybe this is wrong. Maybe no league game in early November can ever be as important, tense or momentous as a last-16 cup tie against Manchester City. Maybe the obsession with their Premier League finishing position has gone too far if it means seeing Wednesday as a warm-up or springboard for Sunday.

For all the talk of Postecoglou changing the mentality at Tottenham, this debate, this tension, is far bigger than the manager himself. It has been here for much longer than he has. It will survive long after he has left. It is a question as old as time: should Tottenham try to win a cup? Or should they try to finish as high as possible in the league?

People can disagree on this in good faith. There are merits to both positions. Fans are allowed to change their minds. There was certainly a time, under Mauricio Pochettino, when it felt like establishing Tottenham as a regular Champions League contender was the right thing to do. (You could call it the ‘Top Four’s Our Everything’ era.) Pochettino upset some fans when he said that winning domestic cups “only builds your ego”, rather than helping the club, especially given he said that immediately after cup exits to Crystal Palace and Chelsea. But he said that from a position of strength after three consecutive top-three finishes. He could point to the example of his own work.

That was almost six years ago now, most of which Spurs have played in one of the best new stadiums in the world. That has done a lot for their global status, their cachet and their revenues. But not a lot for their trophy cabinet. In fact, it almost feels as if the clock has ticked louder in their new home, now almost 17 years on from the 2008 League Cup win. How can a team who plays in a stadium like this never win anything? Fans who pay so much for their tickets want a reward, a day out at Wembley (or Bilbao next May) that they will remember forever.

This has not felt like a winning argument in the past few years. Remember that the last time Spurs were in a final, the 2021 League Cup, they sacked Jose Mourinho six days beforehand. They wanted to give Ryan Mason six league games to try to save Spurs’ European hopes for the following season. Spurs ended up finishing seventh.

When Antonio Conte came in a few months later, he invested everything in a top-four finish and he nailed it. But he never gave the slightest indication of being interested in the cups. Middlesbrough, Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United all knocked Spurs out of cup competitions on Conte’s watch. His standing with the fans never recovered from playing a weakened team at Bramall Lane. He only lasted four more games.

Of course, no Spurs manager is making these decisions in a vacuum. When Daniel Levy was asked about fixture congestion at a fans’ forum in September, he did not exactly give a ringing endorsement of the importance of the Carabao Cup. “I agree there’s too many games,” he said. “But the problem we have, the particular problem in England is we have an extra cup competition compared to the rest of Europe.” Levy said that Tottenham “would like to see less games but higher-quality games”. “So if that means we have to see some changes in some of our competitions, then so be it.”

Since Postecoglou came in last year, we have all waited to see which side of the fence he would be on. To put it bluntly, would he be a cup man or a league man? Postecoglou, perhaps understandably, does not like being put in boxes like that. Last season he was very clear that the top four was not his target, saying that it was not a “Willy Wonka golden ticket” to success. (It would be impossible to argue otherwise after Spurs’ forgettable 2022-23 Champions League campaign.)

But then when Postecoglou was asked before the City game about this old debate, he gave an answer that would have been familiar to Spurs fans. “Progress in the league is a better indicator,” he said. “That’s still where I think our most meaningful progress lies.” A cup win would be great for many reasons, he continued. “But it’s not a panacea for everything, obviously.” It sounded like a more rounded version of the arguments Pochettino used to make in the same room.

No one is suggesting radically deprioritising the Premier League. No Spurs manager, or coach of any club, would last very long if he did. The beauty of those first three wins in the Europa League is that Spurs are on course for a top-eight league phase finish, even if they take a weakened team to Galatasaray next week. Manchester United in the Carabao Cup quarter-final is still a long way away.

But even if Spurs lose to Villa on Sunday, or even Ipswich Town next week, or if the top four or five starts to look beyond them, that does not mean this season should be written off. There is a huge amount to play for, three chances to make memories, three chances to make history. There is no shame in being a cup team. Tottenham just need to embrace nights like Wednesday, whatever the cost.

(Top photo: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

Follow all the action as Tottenham make the short trip across London in a bid to boost their chances of qualifying for next season's Champions League