TBR Football

Tottenham Hotspur will be coming up against an old foe on Thursday night when Roma come to town in the Europa League.

Ange Postecoglou’s side remain in top eight of the new format European competition and will be looking to pick up from where they left off on the weekend.

There are going to be plenty of obstacles for Tottenham to overcome on Thursday without Guglielmo Vicario who will be sidelined for months.

And the Lilywhites will be coming up against the former Leicester City manager who denied them the Premier League title in Claudio Ranieri.

But the 73-year-old has already admitted he has warned his Roma side about something specifically ahead of the game in north London.

What Claudio Ranieri warned Roma about Tottenham

Speaking to the media ahead of the game on Thursday, the former Premier League winner admitted he has been so impressed by Spurs under Postecoglou.

“No, I’ve never been here before. We’ve studied Tottenham. I like the way they attack, like a powerful car going full throttle,” said the newly-appointed Roma manager.

“I’ve told my players that we must be tactically astute. When we have the ball, they’re capable of snatching it off us so we have to move it around quickly.”

Tottenham were hailed for the victory over Manchester City on the weekend with Spurs running riot at tje Etihad Stadium.

Even Roma’s Mats Hummels shared his love for Tottenham during the press conference as he spoke alongside his manager.

Claudio Ranieri’s record vs Tottenham

Ranieri’s time in Rome has gotten off to a losing start with a 1-0 defeat on the weekend to Napoli but the 73-year-old has previous with Tottenham.

Infamously, Ranieri was the man to deny Spurs the Premier League crown in the 2015/16 campaign with Leicester defying the odds to lift the trophy.

And it has to be said that the 73-year-old’s record against Tottenham is one that should fill him with confidence ahead of Thursday.

Tottenham have not won any of their last four against the Italian with their last win against Ranieri coming back in 2016.

Tottenham Hotspur are back in action on Thursday night with a tricky Europa League clash against AS Roma.

Despite beating Manchester City on the weekend in emphatic fashion, it has not been the best of weeks for Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian has now been left without his starting goalkeeper for months with Guglielmo Vicario forced to undergo ankle surgery.

Tottenham have fared well in Europe this season, but their previous outing provided their first defeat in the tournament against Galatasaray.

And Thursday is expected to offer another tough clash against an established European outfit in Roma.

However, their centre-back Mats Hummels has been speaking extremely highly of the Lilywhites ahead of their trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

What Roma’s Mats Hummels said about Tottenham

Speaking to the media ahead of the game on Thursday, the World Cup-winning centre-back admitted that he does actually have a soft spot for the Lilywhites.

“Tottenham have great players such as [Heung-min] Son who always makes you suffer, they’re one of my favourite teams,” he said.

“They are a team that will put us under pressure tomorrow and will want to involve the stadium.”

Ironically, Tottenham held talks with Hummels over the summer with the former Borussia Dortmund defender becoming a free agent.

But he opted to make the move to Serie A where Roma are currently slumped down in 12th position; it has been a similar story in the Europa League with Roma struggling in 20th place.

Tottenham have excelled in Europa League so far

Thursday night is going to offer Postecoglou’s side with a huge chance to settle the nerves following Vicario’s injury.

There are other injuries to be concerned about with Tottenham also missing Cristian Romero and Mikey Moore.

But Spurs remain one of the favourites in the competition following their strong start which has them sat in seventh spot on nine points.

A win for Tottenham on Thursday would keep them inside the top eight which automatically qualifies through to the Round of 16.

Tottenham Hotspur are currently in the midst of a rebuilding job as Ange Postecoglou looks to mould his team into a world-class outfit.

Since Postecoglou took the Spurs reins, a host of players have left the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and a multitude of new signings have arrived.

However, Tottenham have several stalwarts in their ranks who have been at the club for years, through the ups and downs.

Son Heung-min is one of those, and Ben Davies is the other, with both players having been at Spurs since the Mauricio Pochettino era.

Davies’ contract runs until the end of the season but TBR Football sources say Tottenham are going to be taking up the option to extend his deal by 12 months.

On Wednesday, Postecoglou spoke to reporters ahead of Spurs’ Europa League meeting with Roma, and he was asked about Davies.

Ange Postecoglou says Tottenham defender Ben Davies is ‘very highly respected’

Football.london’s Alasdair Gold asked the Tottenham boss whether he feels the £10million man ‘doesn’t get the credit he deserves outside these walls for his reliability’ amid speculation over his future.

Postecoglou replied: “It’s hard to say with perceptions because it depends what your barometer is.

There’s so many these days, where depending on what rabbit hole you go into, you can get any outcome you want.

“I doubt anyone who has any sort of real passion for this football club or real passion for football wouldn’t say that he’d be very highly respected within or outside of this football club.”

Davies trusted by every Tottenham manager from Mauricio Pochettino onwards

Postecoglou also noted how the likes of Pochettino, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte all trusted Davies when they were at the helm of Tottenham.

“He’s captain of his country,” continued Postecoglou. “Testament to his ability is the fact that a number of coaches at this football have all trusted him at different times.

“Whether that’s my opinion or Jose, Antonio or Mauricio or anyone else he’s been managed by. It just goes to show that Ben’s very well-respected within the game.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that Ben’s well-respected within the game. And he’s still performing at a very good level. He’s captain of his nation.

“With us, he’s really grown into that defensive role of playing centre-back. At the weekend, him and Radu were outstanding.”

In addition, Son Heung-min said Davies is his favourite to ever play for Tottenham, which shows just how valued and respected the Welshman is at N17.

Tottenham are at home twice in a row this week, first facing Roma in the Europa League on Thursday night before hosting Fulham in the Premier League early on Sunday afternoon.

Tottenham Hotspur take on AS Roma in their fifth Europa League game of the season.

The mood around Spurs before the international break was really poor as they had lost back-to-back games against Galatasaray and Ipswich Town.

However, things have completely changed now following Tottenham’s 4-0 hammering of Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium over the weekend.

Up next for Spurs is Roma at home, and a youngster could make history in the game against the Italians.

Luca Williams-Barnett could break Tottenham record vs AS Roma

Tottenham have a number of hugely talented young players coming through from their academy.

Ange Postecoglou has already given opportunities to the likes of Mikey Moore, and the teenager has impressed almost every time he has played.

The Tottenham boss has shown that he isn’t afraid to give chances to youngsters. That is good news for all the teenagers coming through the ranks.

Ahead of the game against AS Roma, 16-year-old Luca Williams-Barnett was spotted in Tottenham’s first-team training session on Wednesday.

The teenager is one of the most talented youngsters at the club. He has played eight times in the U18 Premier League, scored nine goals and provided four assists, which is a stunning return.

Williams Barnett, who has been hailed as a ‘spectacular’ finisher and included in London’s top 50 youngsters list, was on the bench in Tottenham’s defeat against Galatasaray.

He could be named as a substitute against Roma as well, and if Postecoglou gives him a few minutes, he will become Tottenham’s youngest player of all time.

That record is currently held by Alfie Devine, who was a few months older than Williams-Barnett when he made his debut in January 2021.

Three other youngsters were spotted in Tottenham training ahead of AS Roma clash

Postecoglou named a few youngsters on the bench in the game against Galatasaray last time out in the Europa League, and he could do the same when they face Roma.

Williams-Barnett was involved in training on Wednesday and we expect him to be on the bench again.

Along with him, 16-year-old Malachi Hardy, 17-year-old Callum Olusesi and 19-year-old Maeson King all trained with the senior side.

With Guglielmo Vicario out injured, young Luca Gunter was also involved at Hotspur Way on Wednesday ahead of their clash against Roma.

It will be interesting to see how many of the above players will be named on the Tottenham bench on Thursday night.

Few figures in the Premier League provoke mixed responses quite Tottenham chairman and co-owner Daniel Levy.

The 62-year-old Essex-born executive has presided over the most transformative era in Tottenham’s history, with the move to the new stadium in 2019 propelling the club into a new financial plateau.

On Daniel Levy’s watch, Spurs are now among the highest in Europe and their EBITDA, a metric used to evaluate the cash performance of a business, is expected to soar in the coming years.

To bedrock Spurs fans, however, this is just noise. To them, the only real performance market in football is achievements on the pitch, not in the balance sheet.

That coveted trophy continues to elude them, with the League Cup triumph in 2008 the last time a Spurs captain could be seen celebrating success on the podium.

There have been a few more misses since then – as detailed in the table below.

Levy and ENIC, who between them own just under 87 per cent of the club, are sometimes accused of holding Spurs back through their cost control.

The data shows that argument does hold water to an extent.

Tottenham’s squad cost (amortisation and wage bill) was 66 per cent of their total revenue in the last financial year. That was comfortably the lowest in the Premier League.

That restraint is partly why so many fans in N17 welcomed the news that Spurs are seeking minority investment, with Amanda Staveley among those to have been linked with a minority buy-in.

The hope is that the financier’s consortium’s capital can be used to take the handbrake off and bolster Ange Postecoglou and Johan Lange’s recruitment and retention budget.

Even with Levy’s infamous negotiation style taken into account, there is believed to be a great deal of interest in Spurs from investors in the United States and Middle East.

Their enterprise appeal is largely centred on how much they have diversified as a business.

And the latest news direct from Premier League HQ in recent days has hammered that point home.

Tottenham’s TV income to soar as Premier League enters new streaming era

In 2022-23, the last financial year on record, £208m of Spurs £550m revenue came from media sources – that’s the Premier League, FA, and UEFA’s TV deals.

Interestingly, that means they are tied with Liverpool as the club in the Premier League who are least reliant on media income as a proportion of their revenue.

That also means that, when the Premier League makes a big jump forward with the amount they pull in from broadcasting rights, no one benefits more than Spurs.

Why? Because although Spurs’ peers in the so-called Big Six all receive roughly equal broadcast monies, Spurs crowing non-media income gives them an advantage.

So when the Premier League revealed after its quarterly shareholder meeting last week that its TV rights will rise by 17 per cent to £12.25bn over the next cycle, a cheer will have gone up in Spurs’ boardroom.

Amana Staveley’s Tottenham investment plans: Premier League announcement could lead to Spurs value boom

News of the expanded TV pot was not the only significant item on the agenda at the shareholder meeting.

The Premier League has also now announced that it will take its international media rights in-house from 2026-27 onwards.

In layman’s terms, they will launch a pay per view or subscription streaming service which cuts out the middle man (overseas broadcasters) and is expected to multiply revenue.

Daniel Levy’s representative at the summit, which was dominated by Man City’s challenge to the league’s commercial rules, voted in favour as the motion passed unanimously.

Spurs are among the clubs who have explored selling the rights to their own competitive matches, just as they have done with pre-season tours in the past.

That was one of the conditions of the failed European Super League, which Levy and co supported.

The Premier League’s announcement about the in-house service is one step removed from that.

However, the likes of former Crystal Palace owner and talkSPORT’s resident football finance expert Simon Jordan has suggested it could one day quadruple revenues across the league.

That would be transformative for Spurs and their peers in the Premier League, potentially justifying the soaring enterprise values seen in the division.

It would also likely make clubs profitable in the long term, which would radically change the dynamic with regards to minority investments such as the one Staveley hopes to engineer in North London.

Minority investors don’t take a dividend and have relatively little control, which has led some in the industry to say that taking that sort of equity stake in a club is essentially a very expensive season ticket.

However, if clubs were profit-making it would open up the opportunity for them to pay minority investors, meaning they would not need an ‘out’ – i.e., someone else to sell their stake to.

Since he arrived at Tottenham Hotspur in 2023, Brennan Johnson has made 52 appearances scoring 13 goals and providing 11 assists.

In fact, Johnson has scored eight of those goals for Tottenham this season, meaning he’s currently top goal scorer for Ange Postecoglou.

Spurs paid a sizable amount to prise the Wales international away from Nottingham Forest, and the 23-year-old is beginning to prove why on the right-wing.

Postecoglou chose to drop Johnson for their brilliant 4-0 away win at Manchester City last weekend, but the winger was still able to come on and score in the second half.

Brennan Johnson shares what Ange Postecoglou always praises him for

That being said, when speaking in an interview with Optus Sport, Johnson has provided an interesting insight into life behind the scenes working with Postecoglou.

Johnson shared how Postecoglou’s advice has been benefitting him through good times and the bad, which has been delivered almost in equal measure in N17 of late.

He said: “I think when I first signed it was all quite rushed, it was right at the end of the window so we didn’t have loads [of time] to talk before I came.

“And since I’ve been here it’s been a really positive relationship, I think there’s times when I’m doing well and he kind of keeps pushing me to do more and never really thinks about the past – he always thinks about the next action.

“Also, when things aren’t going well, I think he’s very good at kind of signalling out why it hasn’t gone well and he gives really good advice to try and change that, because when things aren’t going well, I think he can see it with a real clear vision and he’s good at telling you.

Pressed on what kind of advice Postecoglou had given him, Johnson continued: “I think he gives a lot of praise for working hard and I think a lot of it can go under the radar, especially from outside our little bubble of Tottenham.

“I think a lot of hard work and when people are really trying for the team, it can kind of go under the radar.

“He’s good at making sure working hard for the team is rewarded.”

Is Brennan Johnson more effective as a striker?

Given Dominic Solanke’s arrival at Tottenham’s it’s rarely discussed if Johnson could still have a future as a striker.

The 23-year-old often played centrally for Forest, something he’s seldom done in north London.

As you may expect, Johnson’s goal ratio is significantly better whilst playing as a striker in his career to date.

Postecoglou often allows his winger to drift inside in fairness, but perhaps there’s still another area of the Welshman’s game to tap into in the future.

Son Heung-min is more effective on the wing at this stage of his career, and it’s not impossible to think that Johnson might be used as number nine once again.

Tottenham Hotspur were trained on Wednesday in front of the media ahead of Thursday’s Europa League game.

Ange Postecoglou’s side will be taking on the Serie A outfit AS Roma in north London following a chaotic past few days.

Just days on from Tottenham beating Manchester City in the Premier League, Spurs have lost their starting goalkeeper.

Guglielmo Vicario’s fractured ankle has underwent surgery earlier this week with Fraser Forster now expected to replace him between the sticks.

And on Wednesday, the media were able to get their first look at Vicario’s potential replacements in action at Hotspur Way.

Four Tottenham goalkeepers train ahead of Roma clash

Ahead of the game against the Italian outfit, there were four Tottenham goalkeepers training at Hotspur Way in front of the media.

Journalist Alasdair Gold was able to capture the four keepers heading out to training with Tottenham fans left guessing who could replace Vicario.

The four goalkeepers who were spotted at Hotspur Way on Wednesday were:

Tottenham loanee Joshua Keeley saved a penalty on Tuesday night for Leyton Orient during his loan spell away from the club.

Aside from Forster, it looks like Postecoglou is going to have to rely on some seriously inexperienced options with 19-year-old Gunter among his options.

Ange Postecoglou says how long Guglielmo Vicario will be out for

Following the news of Vicario’s surgery, there had been no timeframe put on the Italy international’s return by the club.

Postecoglou has now admitted that Vicario is going to be out for months with the Australian stunned the goalkeeper played an hour on Saturday with a fractured ankle.

“It’s not going to be weeks. It’ll be months. He’s had his surgery & because it’s Vic & I don’t like giving timelines as it puts expectations on them,” he said.

Tottenham Hotspur return to action on Thursday with the latest round in their Europa League campaign.

Having beat Manchester City in style on the weekend, Tottenham will be looking to bounce back following their prior defeat in Europe against Galatasaray.

Ange Postecoglou’s side have been hit with a major blow this week with Tottenham’s goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario undergoing ankle surgery following Saturday’s win.

Injuries have been a major issue for Spurs this season with Micky van de Ven currently sidelined through his own issue.

And fans have now been left concerned after Alasdair Gold has shared the latest injury update during Wednesday’s open training session at Hotspur Way.

Cristian Romero and Mikey Moore Tottenham injury latest

Cristian Romero sustained a foot injury ahead of the latest international break which even saw him miss some action for Argentina.

However, he is not the only Spurs player who is suffering at the moment with youngster Mikey Moore also sidelined.

Moore has been absent for a number of weeks now with a virus having kept him out of action in north London.

And on Wednesday, Alasdair Gold confirmed neither Moore nor Romero were spotted in Hotspur Way training ahead of Thursday’s game against Roma.

Considering Spurs are working around a number of injury concerns, this is far from what Postecoglou needs ahead of the busy festive period.

Tottenham fans worried about Moore’s injury

Moore has not played since early November when he made the bench against Aston Villa at the start of the month.

And some Tottenham fans think there may be more to his absence than just a virus with a potential injury being downplayed by the club.

One Tottenham fan claimed: ‘So clearly Moore doesn’t have a virus so why are they lying about his injury.’ Whilst another said: ‘How have we managed to break Mikey Moore already’.

Clearly, there’s a feeling Moore may be something more than just a virus with one fan adding: ‘Mikey moore situation is more serious than has been let on. Sounds like he’s gonna be out for a while yet’.

Dominic Solanke was wowed by Mikey Moore’s display for Spurs in the Europa League against AZ Alkmaar earlier in the campaign.

One fan admitted the situation was ‘very worrying’ whilst another fan said: ‘How ill could Mikey be!’

Tottenham Hotspur have been hit with a hugely disappointing surprise this week with a significant injury to their number one goalkeeper.

Guglielmo Vicario has undergone ankle surgery this week after suffering a fracture during the victory over Manchester City on the weekend.

This has now left Ange Postecoglou with a slight headache given Tottenham’s number two goalkeeper is the 36-year-old veteran Fraser Forster.

Spurs bounced back on the weekend in style, but any high spirits remaining from the weekend may have now been wiped away from this

However, there is one young goalkeeper who is currently impressing during his loan spell away from north London.

Tottenham’s Joshua Keeley impressing during Leyton Orient loan

The news of Vicario’s injury has come as a huge blow to Tottenham with Forster, Brandon Austin and Alfie Whiteman now to choose from.

But there is one young goalkeeper in Joshua Keeley who is out on loan at League One side Leyton Orient for the 2024/25 campaign.

And on Tuesday night – in the wake of Vicario’s surgery – the 21-year-old was able to save a penalty in Orient’s defeat against Huddersfield Town.

It has been a difficult start to the campaign for Keeley and Orient with the Londoners slumped in 21st spot of the table.

But during his previous spell on loan at Barnet, manager Dean Brennan hailed Keeley as ‘brilliant’ after a solid stint in the National League.

Following Hugo Lloris’ injury back in 2023, Keeley was called up to Tottenham training ahead of the game against Chelsea.

Tottenham tried to sign Ben Foster in 2023 during this period but the Premier League rejected the potential move from the Lilywhites.

Tottenham need to make January goalkeeper signing

Alasdair Gold has admitted Tottenham could sign a free agent goalkeeper ahead of the January transfer market.

However, Spurs must be eyeing a significant addition in the winter window when January does finally roll around.

Looking at the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool, Spurs do not have the same level of competition for their starting spot between the sticks.

Vicario has come under criticism at Tottenham of late but the reality is he does not have competition capable of disrupting his spot in the starting XI.

Tottenham Hotspur have been hit with a major setback over the last few days with their goalkeeper suffering a serious injury.

After what looked to be a hugely positive weekend for Ange Postecoglou and his Tottenham side, the Lilywhites have been brought back down to earth.

Guglielmo Vicario has undergone surgery this week on a fractured ankle which was sustained during the emphatic win over Manchester City.

Spurs may well have some options to replace Vicario between the sticks, but they are not exactly providing the fans with much confidence.

However, history may well suggest that the possibility of an emergency signing deal could well be a non-starter for the Lilywhites.

Tottenham had 2023 Ben Foster emergency signing rejected

Last year, during the 2022/23 campaign, Hugo Lloris suffered a knee injury which would keep him out of action for around two months.

This led to Tottenham scouring the market for potential free agents that could fill in for the former Spurs captain.

Tottenham had eyed up Ben Foster as a possible option to add to their squad at the time, despite him recently hung up his boots for retirement.

However, according to the Daily Mail, a potential move in the free agency market was going to be rejected by the Premier League.

Ironically, Foster said Tottenham needed to sack Antonio Conte shortly after the proposed move was rejected.

How Fraser Forster fared as Hugo Lloris’ Tottenham backup

With Foster’s move to Tottenham rejected, it was Fraser Forster who stepped in for the injured Frenchman.

Forster ended up playing a considerable amount of game time for Spurs that season after Lloris never returned following his half-time substitution during that defeat up at St James’ Park.

Frank Lampard named Vicario as Tottenham’s weakness recently but losing the Italy international at this stage of the season is going to prove a huge loss.

Despite only playing three times this season, Forster has been hailed as a positive character around Hotspur Way.

But now it is time to show he is able to fill in with for the number one with Tottenham set to miss Vicario for a period of time.