Can Spurs Women Make The Champions League?

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The short answer is “yes, but it’ll be a challenge.”

But please read on.

by Wilson Wilding

Tottenham Hotspur begin the second half of their WSL campaign on Sunday, a week later than they were supposed to thanks to a Covid postponement of the Chelsea match. I was looking forward to that match because Chelsea are soaring, easily one of the best teams in the league and boasting an incredibly dangerous attack. I’m looking forward to seeing how Spurs match up against Chelsea, but we’ll have to wait until the match is rescheduled to find out.

So now Spurs take on West Ham, a team responsible for one of Tottenham’s two defeats on the season. Spurs finished the 2021 calendar year in third place in the WSL, good enough for the third and final Champions League spot. They’ll start the game tomorrow in fourth place with a game in hand, thanks to the Chelsea postponement and Manchester United’s win on Saturday. Manchester City, the other serious contender for third spot (and the consensus preseason favorite) also won Saturday, so it’s getting tight at the top. United on 21 points, City on 19, both with 11 games played. Spurs, having played 10 matches, have 20 points. Margins indeed.

So Tottenham Hotspur will have to keep playing like they’ve been playing if they want to stay in the race. And while there’s been a bit of luck and a bit of VAR nonsense that have steered Spurs this season, the more significant factor is the team’s considerable improvement from last year. We can’t predict luck, and we certainly can’t predict VAR, but there’s plenty of reasons to think that Spurs can continue improving under Rehanne Skinner.

If Manchester City is the team most likely to finish third, and thus Tottenham’s biggest obstacle, it’s important to keep in mind that Spurs have already beaten them once this season. At the time, it felt like a shock, a giant-killing. With the benefit of hindsight, this is really where City’s slow start to the season began to hinder their progress, and also where Tottenham began to form an identity and find success in the WSL.

In that match against City, all the way back on September 12th, Spurs showed great defensive tenacity. City were potent in attack, and Spurs held strong defensively, but were a bit lucky as well. City worked the wings and crossed into the box with ease, getting their lone goal in the match from a basically uncontested header off a corner kick. It was a magnificent header, and the ball in was perfect, but Spurs basically stood still. Not a great sign. And the pressure from City didn’t let up for quite a while. It was impressive that Spurs headed into the locker room at half time only down 1.

At the half, a Josie Green injury forced a substitution, and the more attacking-minded left wing Chioma Ubogagu came on to replace her. Skinner made the right move here. Ubogagu’s presence out wide helped neutralize the City attack a little bit. They still worked the wings but looked a lot less threatening. Ubogagu also helped with the counter-attack and created a few chances in Spurs’ very few pushes forward with the ball.

Around 60 minutes, Kit Graham came on for Kyah Simon. This was Simon’s debut, and Spurs were pretty much pinned back in their own half for most of the time she was on the pitch. Not an ideal first match for a forward, and she wasn’t involved in much, but by the time Graham came on, City were starting to wear down.

Spurs took advantage almost immediately. Ubogagu had a chance to cross the ball in from the left as Spurs flooded the box. I think she was looking for Graham, making a run in the middle in tight coverage, but the ball ended up cutting through to the far side of the box, where Rachel Williams drilled it in to tie the game. Spurs’ resiliance had stolen them a point, and turned the momentum of the game.

Spurs would score an eventual winner in the 85th minute, a good cross from Angela Addison off a smart free kick into space on the right. In a lucky break in terms of VAR, the cross hit Rosella Ayane on the arm on the way in, then deflected off a City defender’s shoulder and dribbled in. A messy, chaotic, goal, but not necessarily an undeserved one. Spurs had worn City down. Becky Spencer had put in a tremendous performance in the net, and they defended well as a team, blocking shots and getting in the way of crosses.

In terms of the underlying numbers, this was Spurs’ worst games of the year for xGA, and pretty much any 5-minute snippet from the first 65 or so minutes will show you exactly why. City were relentless. And yet here was the Tottenham defense keeping the ball out of the net, quite often against the odds. If both teams approach their next matchup (March 13th!) in the same way, City will almost certainly find the goals they couldn’t back in September. But on the bright side, Spurs are a much stronger team than they were then too. Simon is more bedded in, Shelina Zadorsky has been a rock in defense. The goalkeeping from both Spencer and Tinja-Riikka Korpela has been crucial. The rematch will be spicy, but the point remains: Tottenham Hotspur are right where they deserve to be heading into the match against West Ham.

The last time Spurs played West Ham was definitely a missed opportunity for three points. Spurs had control of possession, and plenty of chances, but the finishing wasn’t there. The midfield, too, began to stagnate, losing battles. This didn’t particularly lead to too many West Ham chances (they too were unconvincing in the final third, goal aside), but it led to a much more even match than it should have been, with xG ending at an even 0.6 for both teams. By that reasoning, perhaps a draw would have been the most fair result, and even that is a lost point for Spurs in what will be a tight race for 3rd place.

But things could have been different. Notable for this match was the lack of team captain Shelina Zadorsky in the back line, as she was away on international duty with team Canada for this game. Additionally, Kit Graham, one of Spurs’ strongest players going forward, was subbed off early due to injury. And their absences were definitely felt. Chioma Ubogagu replaced Graham, again not a like-for-like substitution, and actually had the ball in the back of the net in the first half, before a very curious whistle for offside. Another player was off in the buildup, but the ball through to Ubogagu was completely onside. This wasn’t the only tough offside call in the game, and Spurs had a second goal whistled for offside as well.

These are brutal breaks when the standings are tight, but I tend to think these refereeing errors all come out in the wash. You get a few you don’t deserve, you don’t deserve a few you get. Still, Spurs looked the better team for long stretches of this game without two of their best players. There are worse ways to lose.

So despite the recent history, Spurs should be feeling pretty confident coming into the game on Sunday. They know how to beat this team. They SHOULD beat this team. And in terms of staying in the hunt for the Champions League, they NEED to beat this team.

The match that for me best typifies this Spurs team and what they’ve been capable of this season was, of course, the North London Derby. Not just because it’s Arsenal, but because Arsenal are the team to beat in the WSL right now. For the first half of the season they looked unstoppable. But here was Tottenham Hotspur going toe-to-toe with a powerhouse, frustrating some of the best players in world football.

It ended 1-1, but it could have been 3 points for Spurs. Much like the City match, the defense absorbed a ton of pressure and chances, especially the first half, which saw Arsenal hit the post twice among several other great looks. Fantastic goalkeeping was once again a factor. And when Spurs got their chance, they took the lead, bungling the ball into the net off an otherwise pretty organized attack that got the ball into the box. In the end, Spurs just couldn’t outlast Arsenal for the whole 90. Vivianne Miedema managed to head one in in the second minute of stoppage time at the end of the game to rescue a point. It would have been a world-shattering WSL upset if Spurs had hung on, but in the end it was still not only a respectable performance, but a statement game from Spurs. This team wasn’t going away easily.

And they haven’t! No one would have predicted this team would be in third place in a tough league and yet here we are. Spurs are buying international players, finding their regulars, and looking like a brand new squad under Skinner’s tutelage. There was always going to be an expectation of improvement this season, but Skinner and the team have outdone themselves thus far. They know how to win, they know how to tire teams out. Even great teams. The only thing keeping them from securing Champions League football would be serious regression over the next 12 games, and I think this team has shown too much fight to let that happen.

Match Previews – Tottenham Hotspur vs. Crystal Palace / Southampton vs. Tottenham Hotspur

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Tottenham Hotspur vs. Crystal Palace – Sunday December 26 – 10:00 AM EST – USA Network

Southampton vs. Tottenham Hotspur – Tuesday December 28 – 10:00 AM EST – NBCSN

by Wilson Wilding

Happy Festive Fixture period, Spurs fans! We’ve got a lot to be thankful for as we look back on a truly chaotic 2021, a year during which Tottenham Hotspur employed four(!!) first team managers, had a COVID outbreak, dealt with their franchise player trying to leave, and somehow this team still landed on its feet! Antonio Conte is at the helm now, and there’s been tangible progress toward his goals. Spurs are still unbeaten under Conte’s tutelage, although there has been a forfeit due to COVID along with some straight-up postponements. Harry Kane is still here, and the Conte appointment seems to be precisely the kind of ambition he was hoping the club would show. He’s finally off the goalscoring mark in the Premier League, and I have a feeling the floodgates will soon burst in that department. And perhaps most vitally, the team is now mostly healthy following the COVID outbreak, outside of a few lingering knocks to Romero and Sessengon. Things are looking up as the calendar flips over to the back half of the season.

That healthy, deep squad was on display this week in the Carabao Cup quarterfinals, as was Conte’s vision for this team. Steven Bergwijn got the start, despite skepticism from some corners of the fanbase and rumors that Conte was looking to move him on in the January window, and rewarded his selection with a goal and an assist! Bergwijn looked right at home in the lineup, and both goals were “team goals” that required astute awareness, hustle, and precision. While Bergwijn’s Spurs career has at times been start-stop, he seemed right at home in the attack on Wednesday night. He’s still a young, exciting, incredibly talented player, and I hope the January rumors are nothing more. I think he’s a great guy to have in the mix, especially if he’s found his scoring touch.

Putting in a similarly impressive performance against West Ham was Harry Winks. And his upward trajectory has been trending positively for a few games now. There’s been a lot of talk about Ben Davies’s rebirth under Conte, and Harry Winks looks like an entirely different player than the conservative, uncertain midfielder he was under Mourinho and Nuno. His passing has been much more creative and progressive, he’s hustling to break up passes and apply pressure in defense. He looks like a real midfielder again! He was another player with his eye on the exit door a few months ago, but I wonder if his tune has changed since the new manager has come in. Conte seems to like using him, and knows how to get the best of him. Another player I’d love to see stick around.

And while we’re on the topic, let’s talk about Dele and Davinson Sanchez for a moment, two players who could both be grouped in with the fringe players who’ve seen a renaissance under Conte. Dele has started to look like his explosive old self, and while the goals haven’t come just yet, the chances he’s helping to create seem tailor-made for a player of his style. He looks like he’s having fun again! Maybe it’s just for the shop window, but whatever happens it’s just nice to see that there’s life left in Dele’s boots.

Davinson Sanchez has probably benefitted from the Romero injury, seeing as Dier and Davies have been locks to start in Conte’s back line, but Dav’s really risen to the occasion. Conte’s system definitely gives the center backs a little more comfort and purpose than either Mourinho’s of Nuno’s setup, both of which put way too much responsibility for cleaning up the mess on the back four. Conte’s back three, and his guidance in that style, has really helped all three of the aforementioned defenders shine. And Sanchez not only has a gorgeously aggressive goal from a corner kick to his name under Conte, but this past week at West Ham he was involved in the attack enough that there were times he was almost running into the opposition box! Romero is probably the most ideal Spurs player for Conte’s roaming, freewheeling middle-of-the-three CB position, but let’s not forget that at Ajax this was exactly the kind of player Sanchez was. He’s been great filling in and probably deserves game time even when Romero is back in the mix.

As impressive as some of the performances in the West Ham match were, the Liverpool match last weekend was even better. Between some family obligations and the fact that no one seemed sure if the match would even be played, I didn’t do a preview for this one. The first game back from a COVID pause, against one of the best teams in the league. It had the makings of a disaster. And yet I was feeling optimistic! I don’t think I was alone in this feeling amongst the fanbase, either. Maybe for the first time in a long time there was some hope. And quite often hope can lead to disappointment when we’re talking about Tottenham Hotspur. But once again, the trust in Conte is paying off. This game felt like a real turning point for Spurs, like they’re truly a Conte side. The game ended in a 2-2 draw, but Spurs could have won it. They hung in there with Liverpool, and didn’t look like they were looking up to their opponent. This was an even, intense, and extremely entertaining game. Spurs looked like a top team because they’re well on their way to becoming one, especially if they can play like this every week.

It’s more positivity than any of us could have expected at Christmas even a few short months ago, wallowing around mid-table, playing excruciatingly boring football, dozing off on the couch instead of being thrilled by the team we love. But here we are! So let’s look forward to this week’s games. It’s a busy time in the schedule for every English team, and Spurs will spend Boxing Day hosting Crystal Palace. Palace punished Nuno’s Spurs at Selhurst Park back in September, scoring 3 deflating goals and keeping a clean sheet. But that game may as well have been a million years ago. Spurs are reborn under Conte, while Palace (still a strong side with some absolutely dangerous players, don’t get me wrong) have come back down to earth a bit. I’m hoping for something of a “revenge game” here, but more pragmatically I’m just looking for consistency. We’ve seen how good this team can be when they execute Conte’s game plan, and if they keep doing so against Palace, they shouldn’t have too much of a problem picking up all 3 points. Maybe I sound too confident, but that confidence comes from what I see on the pitch, the way this team creates chances, recovers possession, and RUNS. A well-oiled Conte machine won’t struggle against Palace like we did back in September. I’m really looking forward to this match.

On Tuesday Spurs then travel to Southampton, who’ve been struggling this season and currently sit 15th in the league table. I’ll be interested to see who’s available in the squad, as rotation will be key for these two games is vitally important (bear in mind we play again Saturday at Watford, then the Carabao Cup Semifinal against Chelsea midweek). Hopefully the West Ham match wasn’t a blip, and Conte has figured out how to rotate this squad without losing purpose or consistency. It’s an aspect of management Mourinho and Nuno (and even to some extent Poch!) had difficulty with. But Palace and Southampton are both beatable teams, and certainly Conte is looking for all 6 points this week.

I don’t have too much more to say about Southampton, honestly, in part because I forgot about this game and was halfway through writing a Watford preview before I caught my mistake. That preview will be out next week!

In addition to the next match preview, I’m going to have a Spurs Women first half recap dropping next week as well. The WSL is in a winter break, but it’ll be out before their next game on January 7th. Keep an eye out!

Also, hey, it’s the holidays! I hope you’re all having a good time this week, taking it easy if you can and staying healthy against the odds. Thank you for reading these posts this year, they’ve been fun to write and I appreciate anyone taking the time. COYS!

-WW

Match Preview – Tottenham Hotspur vs. Norwich City

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Tottenham Hotspur vs. Norwich City – Sunday, December 5 – 9:00 AM EST – Peacock

by Wilson Wilding

The PL matches come hard and fast this week, so today’s match preview is going up less than 24 hours from kickoff! Not great for my engagement stats, but what are ya gonna do? I’ll keep it brief, I’m still in recovery mode from seeing one of the best bands in the world last night: LCD Soundsystem!

It was only 2-0 in the end on Thursday, but there were a ton of positives to take from the win against Brentford. As expected, the patterns of play are starting to pay dividends. The second goal, a tremendous ball from Kane to Reggie, across to Son in front of a wide-open net, was pure Conte perfection. The clean sheet was an excellent reward for the organization at the back, with special commendation for Ben Davies, who looks comfortable, confident, and brilliant on the left of Conte’s back three. He doesn’t even seem like the same player Tottenham have had for years. It’s been a great boost to the defensive structure, and Davies just seems like a sweetheart. I’m thrilled to see him excelling in a Spurs shirt, however long it may last.

Son looked like his full-powered self on Thursday, which is a great benefit to the team and also just entertaining as hell to watch, a master in his element, causing havoc with his speed and finishing brilliantly. Kane looked more like the Kane of old yesterday, but he still can’t find the net. It’s coming. You can tell. His head is in the game. Conte is challenging him to be as great as he can be and Harry Kane is more than capable of rising to the occasion. If there was worry about his poor form at the beginning of the season, I think this is different. This feels like progress.

And of course I can’t talk about the Brentford match without singling out Oliver Skipp for praise. The midfield maestro! He played some passes that made me gasp with delight, and looked so solid in the middle of the pitch. It’s Brentford, sure, but it’s starting to feel like Skippy is capable of that kind of performance against anybody at this point, and Conte clearly has belief in his abilities. It’s all starting to come together for this squad: continued conditioning, continued improvement, increasing success.

Norwich are bottom of the table. With all due respect to Dean Smith’s new project (and they’ve looked much better under him than they did under Farke earlier this season, to be fair), I’ll be disappointed if Spurs don’t take all 3 points from this one, and I think that’s pretty much a universal feeling heading into the match. It’s the right opponent at the right time. The Spurs fan in me (indeed, in all of us) might feel like this is a trap game, and I’ll always be anxious heading into a PL match, but this should be comfortable. And Spurs could use the points! Despite the chaos to start the season, Tottenham are in a great position to compete for a Champions League place, and they’ve got the right manager at the helm to pull it off, something that seemed near-impossible even a month ago.

Despite the quick turnaround, I doubt we’ll see much rotation from Thursday. The team did have a week off before that one, after all. So it’ll be Conte’s steady hand, Conte’s fitness expectations. Spurs could have made it 3, 4, maybe even 5-0 against Brentford if a few more shots and a few more movements broke their way. Against Norwich you have to imagine they’ll get another chance to pile on. At the risk of getting too optimistic, I’m hoping for a fireworks display.

Enjoy the game, everybody! We’ll talk next week.

Match Preview – Tottenham Hotspur vs. Brentford

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Tottenham Hotspur vs. Brentford – Thursday, December 2 – 2:30 PM EST – Peacock

by Wilson Wilding

I was a bit under the weather last week (I’m fine! Thanks for asking!) and didn’t do a match preview for the trip to Burnley this past Sunday. It turns out there was nothing to preview: the match was snowed out! I’m not sure I’ve seen that happen before in the Premier League, which I’ve been following for over a decade now. 

Unfortunately, that meant the bad taste of the NS Mura defeat last Thursday lingered all week. On the other hand, I missed that match too! I was planning to watch a replay, but once I saw some of the real-time fan reactions and ultimately the result, I didn’t bother.

So onto Brentford. The best thing to do is just look forward. Conte is starting to figure out what he wants to do with this team, and who he wants to use, so I think even with whatever minor turmoil ends up happening off the field, I think we’ll still see Conte’s ideas taking shape on the pitch. The Mura squad was pretty rotated, I think we’ll see the regulars on Thursday. The regular players carrying out the patterns Conte wants.

Brentford are no slouches, they’ve won some surprising points against tough teams this season, their first in the PL (the opening weekend defeat of Arsenal was especially delicious, in my opinion). And this morning brings the news that Cristian Romero’s injury will keep him out until at least January. That’s rough. Spurs have NINE games this month, starting with this one. December will be a tough task for the likes of Eric Dier, Davinson Sanchez, Joe Rodon, Japhet Tanganga, and Ben Davies. But they need to step up. Dier and Davies have looked more solid under Conte, and despite Sanchez’s apparent nightmare at Mura, he had an excellent game against Leeds. There’s a player there, and if the manager trusts him, I trust the manager. 

A busy December will also be a good test for Conte’s fitness routine. All Spurs fans long for the days of peak Pochettino, when the players pressed like a swarm of angry hornets and scored when they wanted. But so much of that team’s ability and success came from Pochettino’s conditioning. They were simply more up for the game in its closing stages, when the other team began to tire out. That’s what Conte wants to get back to, albeit in his own way. With the snow day, he’s now had a full week to work these players, both tactically and fitness-wise. I’m not saying we’ll run Brentford off the pitch tomorrow, but we might see a competitive edge as the fixtures pile up. Poch’s teams always turned the corner during the festive period, when other teams got leggy with the twice-weekly fixtures. If Spurs can avoid the injury bug, this is a great time to get back into the mix for  top 4. This team has a long way to climb, but they can do themselves some big favors this month. And that starts tomorrow with Brentford. Without getting ahead of ourselves, 3 points would put Spurs 6th, and just one point off the Champions League places. As bad as this season has been at times, as painful as Thursday was, Tottenham Hotspur still have everything to play for.

Enjoy the game everybody! Thank you for reading. We’ll talk again before Norwich on Sunday. COYS!

Match Preview – Tottenham Hotspur vs. Leeds United

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Tottenham Hotspur vs. Leeds United – Sunday November 21 – 11:30 AM EST – NBCSN

by Wilson Wilding

The international break is over! And despite not having a full selection of players (many of them were off scoring goals for their country, including Harry Kane, Steven Bergwijn, and even Ben Davies), Antonio Conte has had time to settle into his role at Hotspur Way. So Conte gets his first home league game in charge of Tottenham against a tough but not-unbeatable Leeds team, one that should match up tactically well against Conte’s system, still in its early days of implementation for Spurs.

With the international break, of course, comes international break injuries. It looks like Cristian Romero will be out for a few weeks, and Gio Lo Celso is a game-time decision for Sunday. But regardless of the personnel on the field, I think we’ll see Conte continuing to roll out his patterns of play. He’s had a full two weeks to drill players like Tanguy Ndombele, Dele Alli, and Harry Winks, who all seem to have been brought in from the cold, and two weeks with a manager like Conte is tremendous experience for these players, any of whom could be in the starting XI this weekend.

Bergwijn’s goal for Holland was fantastic, and Harry Kane continued his climb up the all-time England scoring ranks. Sonny buried one from the penalty spot for South Korea. These are all great signs for a club that needs to start scoring, and even just getting shots on target. That’ll be one of the main things to look out for against Leeds, shot creation. Conte knows it, the team knows it, and it’s time for Spurs to take action on the pitch. The ball movement has been notably better under Conte than it had been under Nuno and Mourinho, and it’s time for the finishing to take the step up too. If Conte has had a productive few weeks, and he doesn’t strike me as a manager that wastes time, all the pieces should be in place for this team to improve materially. And that starts Sunday.

While the break left very little going on in the way of Tottenham news for the men’s team, Spurs Women had a hell of a week. Last weekend’s North London Derby was one of the best games of soccer I’ve ever watched: passionate, tense, and unrelenting until the final whistle. A late equalizer from the basically-unstoppable Vivianne Miedema denied Spurs their first-ever NLD victory, but Spurs played tremendously well and are legitimately contending for the Champions League places. I don’t think anyone considered that a possibility at the start of the season.

And how did they follow up a great WSL performance on the weekend? By absolutely trouncing Watford in the cup midweek. 11-0 was the final score. Not a typo. Spurs scored ELEVEN goals, including hat tricks from Rosella Ayane and Angela Addison. The only shame of it all was that the match wasn’t televised or streaming anywhere. I thought my FotMob app was glitching, that’s how quickly the goal updates were coming in.

The ongoing transformation of Spurs Women and the success the team is starting to enjoy make a great case for investment in the women’s game. It doesn’t take all that much to compete with the heavy hitters in women’s soccer, and Tottenham have lately been getting it right. Long may it continue! They take on West Ham Sunday morning, a great appetizer to the men’s game that’ll start shortly after that one finishes.

As for the men, after Leeds on Sunday, a Thanksgiving Day (not that anyone on that side of the Atlantic cares) Europa Conference League trip to Maribor to take on Mura, and then a trip up to Turf Moor to meet Burnley next Sunday. Again, I won’t be previewing the ECL until at least the knockout stages, but I’ll be back with a Burnley preview next week, hopefully with a lot to talk about and some positivity from Conteball.

Thanks for reading, enjoy the games!

Nuno and Antonio

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by Wilson Wilding

He wasn’t the first choice, or even the second or third. Most reports had him somewhere between the 7th and 10th choice for the manager’s job at Tottenham Hotspur this offseason. And the search was a public one, an embarrassment of open speculation and widely reported near-misses (some good names, some absolutely terrible ones) that would put the New York Mets to shame. That’s the vote of confidence Nuno Espirito Santo had as he took his place in the manager’s office at Hotspur Way. No, not THAT manager’s office, that one’s too nice. Fabio Paratici took that one. A smaller office. The indignity.

And that’s about commensurate with the confidence the players had in him. They’ve been lackadaisical, at best showing up for a moment of individual brilliance, more to help themselves than any greater cause. Sure, there’s still the team-above-everything captain’s blood of players like Hugo Lloris and Pierre Emile Hojbjerg, and the quiet professionalism of Son Heung-Min and Oliver Skipp, but this team was not playing like a team. And they definitely weren’t playing for the manager, one they knew was a stopgap, one whose tactical setup didn’t suit these players at all.

It’s understandable, in that context, why that low level of confidence is exactly what the club and the fanbase got back from Nuno. The players looked disinterested on the field, but Nuno looked disinterested all the time. Training, press conferences, on the bench. Like he wasn’t invested in the job. How could he be, really? He was set up to fail. After a fairytale win against Manchester City to open the season, there was no momentum left. That was it. A string of inconsistent results and painstaking football followed, culminating in player malaise and what certainly felt like quickly-snowballing fan revolt. Paratici had seen enough too, storming off midway through the second half of Saturday’s match and not returning to his seat. Reports suggest the higher ups had been planning for life after Nuno since way back at the Arsenal defeat, but Saturday was the final nail in a coffin that was already shut. Nuno was officially fired on Monday. 

It speaks to just how bad the situation got that it felt like Nuno was here for an eternity. It was 10 league matches and a couple of cup games. On the calendar it was barely 4 months. But it had to happen. No one involved was happy and that was very plain to see. The chaos of another managerial change was less dangerous than the chaos of allowing the misery to fester at Tottenham.

https://twitter.com/SpursOfficial/status/1455504660949778433?s=20

But there’s no chaos today. Instead, Tottenham have gone from their tenth choice manager to their first. After turning the club down in the summer, Antonio Conte has walked through the door. Already a legend of the game, and one who’s had a close working relationship with Paratici from their time together at Juventus, Conte is the ideal man for the job: someone who can quickly settle into the manager’s office (I bet he gets the big one!) and stamp his authority on a talented but disgruntled team. This not only bodes well for next season, but Conte is the kind of manager who’ll consider 75% of the current season plenty of time to get the results he wants. The sky is suddenly the limit in this pretty wide-open race for the Champions League places, and no doubt that’s exactly what the club has its sights set on.

Conte is famous for getting a tune out of players who’ll put in the work. And these players are hungry to play for a confident manager again. At Chelsea, he turned Victor Moses from a perennially-loaned-out castaway to an integral piece of a title-winning team, and studiously tinkered with the team’s formation until they were a well-oiled powerhouse. Remember how incredible Spurs were that final season at the Lane? They didn’t lose a single game at home. They pressed like a swarm of bees. Son, Kane, Dele and Eriksen all had incredible seasons. And Spurs finished second. Because Conte’s Chelsea were a behemoth. 

This isn’t harkening back to the glory days of 5 or 10 years ago, either, like another semi-recent managerial appointment at N17. Conte won Serie A this past season with Inter, only leaving because the club was broke (and while Conte can be financially demanding, it didn’t really have anything to do with him, Inter’s finances were already a mess). This is a manager still in his peak, one of the most brilliant minds to ever grace the game. And for a little while now, he’s Spurs. He’s ours. For the first time in at least 4 years, it feels like anything is possible.

Bellissimo, bellissimo!

Match Preview: Tottenham Hotspur vs. Manchester United

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Tottenham Hotspur vs. Manchester United – Saturday October 30 – 12:30 PM EDT – NBC

by Wilson Wilding.

Manchester United come to town fresh off a 5-0 drubbing at home from Liverpool. Spurs finally have another home game in the midst of a torturous run of losses. I jokingly referred to this game as The Down Bad Derby, my fun little attempt to laugh away the pain of watching this team lately. And this game absolutely feels like a trap: Man U are in crisis, the game is on national television, and another case of “Dr. Tottenham” may indeed be in the cards. This past Sunday at West Ham, Spurs were flat. A few good chances in the first half stuck out like a sore thumb amidst some pretty tepid play. The second half saw Spurs create ZERO shots, a statistic that feels both pitiful and entirely typical of the style of play so far this season. It’s bleak times at Tottenham Hotspur.

Spurs are back home for this match, their first game at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium since the Villa match back on October 3rd. And the home crowd will be unforgiving if Spurs come out looking like they did last week. Maybe Nuno needs to hear it. On the other hand, they did win the game against Villa, and they looked alright doing it. Maybe some home cooking is what this team needs to right the ship.

And that’s all Nuno really needs to do: right the ship. It’s not even November. He isn’t getting fired anytime soon. He’s not in the same boat as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, his counterpart on Saturday. If Tottenham can get their ducks in a row on Saturday, there’s certainly a chance it’ll be Ole’s last match in charge of Manchester United. Their board, however, may still stay the course, but Solskjaer’s back is against the wall in a way Nuno’s just won’t be for at least another month or two.

As poor as Spurs have been, a win at West Ham would’ve sent them into the top four. That’s a pretty wild state of affairs, probably more indicative of the volatility of the league table right now than the state of things at Tottenham Hotspur. But the fact remains that a few wins strung together will keep Spurs afloat in the European places. That’s where a squad of this caliber should be, so anything else is a failure of management.

The individual quality within the squad is perhaps the most frustrating aspect of this season. Nuno is currently going with a A and B squad rotation, and both squads, on paper, look pretty good. The B team currently features Dele, Gio Lo Celso, Davinson Sanchez, and Steven Bergwijn. These are solid players! They should be beating the lower-quality teams they’ve been matched up against, but they haven’t.

The A Team, of course, hasn’t fared much better, despite being basically every Spurs fans “ideal 11” on paper at the start of the season (with the possible exception of Eric Dier, who’s really looked a lot better this year next to Romero, so the hate is undeserved. This team isn’t losing because of Eric Dier). So if the A team can’t win, and the B team can’t win, it’s time to change things around. Yes, it’s almost November, but I do still feel some sympathy for Nuno and how little time he’s had with these players on the training ground. Between the Euro hangover, the midweek matches, and the seemingly needless dearth of international breaks, the training situation is still very stop and go. It’s not a good enough excuse, especially with players this good, but I can’t imagine this is the fingerprint Nuno wanted to stamp on this team when he took the job over the summer. The problem is that he’s running out of time to make his mark. The fanbase is restless almost to the point of apathy. Things can’t continue on like this. It’s change or be forgotten.

“Mediocre people do exceptional things all the time…”

So what happens Saturday? Two teams with tremendous players, both seemingly hampered by their managers, will face off against each other in what the In The Pocket podcast refers to as a bum fight: two bad teams getting it on. It may end up making for a pretty entertaining game! Individual quality might win out! But Spurs have played so conservatively lately that it’s hard to feel confident. It feels like whichever team wins will have to get lucky, and Man United have had slightly more luck on their side of late than Tottenham. At least United managed a thrilling comeback in the Champions League last week. Spurs couldn’t even win in the lowly Europa Conference.

It’s hard to bet on anything besides more of the same from Spurs heading into this matchup. I hope I’m wrong, but there’s very little to convince the fanbase otherwise. I think we’re all looking at this matchup on the calendar with dread. If Tottenham keep playing like they have the last few weeks, they just might save Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s job, and if that happens we’re in for another nightmare weekend of supporting this stagnant club.

On that note…yeesh. Enjoy the game everybody! Keep the faith if you can. I’m trying. It’s always darkest just before the dawn.

Wilson At The Movies: Dune (2021)

On By wilsonwildingIn MoviesLeave a comment

Welcome to the first edition of Wilson At The Movies, a fancy little title for a semi-regular series of movie reviews. Today we’re looking at the recently-released movie Dune.

Dune, released this past Friday in theaters and on HBO Max, covers part 1 of the 1965 science fiction epic novel by Frank Herbert. Visually stunning, the film pulls you immediately into a world of distant-future sociopolitical struggles and the place of the protagonist, Paul, played wonderfully by Timothee Chalamet, within it. Beyond Chalamet, there are excellent performances all around, most notably from Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, and Rebecca Ferguson, all of which bring life and warmth into the cold, almost incomprehensibly vast universe of Herbert’s creation. The story, while compelling, is incomplete by design, but this makes the ending of the movie somewhat unsatisfying. The film runs 2 hours and 35 minutes, most of which is setup, so the story ends right as the viewer’s appetite is ready for the main course. 

I watched Dune on HBO Max, from the comfort of my own home, and I can hear the scoffs of stodgy elitists who insist something this massive in scope can only be fully appreciated on the big screen. In truth, it looked fantastic on my TV, and sounded incredible in my headphones, so I have no complaints there. I loved the performances, which really elevated the movie above other, more generic sci-fi fluff. However, not being familiar with the novel or the story in general, I was a bit disappointed that the movie ended where it did. It felt like two and a half hours of place setting.

Dune is in some ways an irresponsible film, but one typical of the current state of the film industry. Instead of adapting the expansive sci-fi novel into a compressed, single-film narrative, director Dennis Villenueve chose to split the film in two, with this film covering roughly the first half of the novel. If the second part of the film is of a similar length, the adaptation will take about 6 hours. This is all well and good, but right now the studio has not greenlit any other Dune film except the one currently sitting in your HBO Max queue. This is a high-budget, gorgeous movie, with an impressive attention to detail and a perfect cast. Getting the planets to align for this film is an accomplishment in and of itself, and if I’m skeptical, it’s hard to see lightning striking twice. Could actors hold out? Could there be budget cuts? Could simply the scale of this film, no doubt a massive undertaking, take years to come together and make a sequel? With no official word from the studio, the only answer we have is “who knows?” That’s unsatisfying! And for now, that hangs over this otherwise excellent film. I’d like to keep the faith, and think we’ll be able to wrap up this tale of Paul and his space friends within the next couple of years, but even that feels too far away. Maybe in a decade this waiting period will feel insignificant. If Part Two is as good as this film, Dune will have exceeded my expectations, and I imagine the expectations of die-hard fans as well. But right now it feels like too many what-ifs, like too much could go wrong between then and now.

But these are all worries beyond the scope of this movie. And this movie is pretty great. The growth of Paul is captivating, and the characters are very fun, despite the world of the movie being pretty bleak and cavernous. But even the world itself is beautiful to take in: enormous mining machines, giant worm-monsters, crazy detailed costumes on the seemingly thousands of foot soldiers, desert bandits, and imperial diplomats that make up the universe of the story. Dave Bautista, playing the villainous muscle of the film, doesn’t have a ton of screen time, but he makes the most of it, playing an entertaining foil to Paul and his family’s more peaceful mission. I’m really interested to see where the story goes, and therein lies my only flaw with the movie: it’s almost three hours long and it left me wanting more. That’s a pretty impressive accomplishment, but until “more” exists, that slight tinge of dissatisfaction hangs over an otherwise awesome movie. It’s hard to give a full grade to this film, but Dune is still well worth a watch. I think fans of the book will be delighted, and newcomers such as myself will find a compelling, crazy world to dive into for a few hours. My main qualm with the film is that the rest of it doesn’t exist yet. That’s a pretty good indication I enjoyed part one.

Match Preview: West Ham United vs. Tottenham Hotspur

On By wilsonwildingIn soccer, Tottenham HotspurLeave a comment

West Ham United vs. Tottenham Hotspur – Sunday October 24 – 9:00 AM EDT

by Wilson Wilding

Spurs play Vitesse in the Europa Conference League today. I don’t really have much of a preview for that one. I’ve mostly stuck to the Premier League so far this year. Maybe in the knockout stages that will change, but I expect a pretty well rotated 11 for the midweek match, and I’m looking for offensive positivity on the whole. Players like Bergwijn and Lo Celso could factor and I’d like to see them creating goals, if not directly scoring them. It’d be nice if Joe Rodon got a chance to shine as well, he was so impressive for Wales in the Euros, but has mostly rode the pine to start the year back in N17.

Now, onto the matter at hand: West Ham on Sunday in the League.

What a difference a few weeks and a few wins makes. Tanguy Ndombele is no longer on the fringes, Harry Kane is no longer goalless, and the team as a whole are no longer playing negative, reactive football. These are all good signs! Granted, they’ve come against relatively weak opposition, especially this past week up in Newcastle. But if Spurs had lost, or even drawn, or even just played more conservatively at St. James’s park on Sunday, we’d all have the same concerns we had before the international break. Instead they looked solid. Good, even. Progressive. There are a lot of positives to take from that game and a lot of good momentum heading to the London Stadium to play a bitter rival. This team goal alone is enough to be pretty pumped up about the weeks ahead for Nuno and the boys.

So the next test is the eternally pesky West Ham, and in terms of form it’s a pretty even matchup. But if Spurs can continue this upward trajectory, they should have the upper hand. It won’t be easy, and London teams have stymied them all season, but with Kane opening his PL scoring account, Son playing like a bat out of hell, and Tanguy Ndombele finally working his magic in regular minutes, I’m more hopeful than I was a week ago.

This is a daunting bit of the schedule, and squad depth is going to be tested. After Vitesse and West Ham it’s a midweek League Cup match away to Burnley before Spurs finally get another home game, their first since Villa, against a surging Manchester United. Despite all of the controversy around Ole Gunnar Solskjær, United are still scoring when they need to.

We’ll preview the United match in full next time, but the point is: that’s 4 games in the next 10 days. And with all respect to Vitesse, Burnley may require a bit more firepower midweek, which could screw with the current League/Cup/League rotation. Nuno has his work cut out for him, but a win away to West Ham not only puts Spurs back in the top 4, but sets a course for a nice run during a packed time in the schedule. It’s time for this team to start hitting their stride.

Enjoy the games, everybody! We’ll talk next week.

-WW

Match Preview – Arsenal vs. Tottenham Hotspur

On By wilsonwildingIn soccer, Tottenham HotspurLeave a comment

Arsenal vs. Tottenham Hotspur – Sunday Sept. 26 – 11:30 AM EDT

by Wilson Wilding

Before I get into an emotional spiel about Arsenal-Tottenham, I’d like to note that at 9:00 AM EDT on Sunday, just a couple of hours before the North London Derby kicks off, Spurs Women take on Reading FC. It should be the perfect entree to the men’s match, with the WSL returning from an international break and Spurs having most recently beaten the powerhouse that is Man City for the first time in their history. This Spurs Women team is building something, and it’s been fun to watch. Get into it.

It’s never easy at the Emirates. Just a few miles across North London but an entirely different world. The last time Spurs won a league game away to Arsenal was 11 years ago, and fans could be forgiven for lacking confidence about Sunday’s match. Despite strong first halves against Chelsea last weekend and Wolves midweek, this is an unconvincing team right now. There are bright spots peaking through the dreary darkness, sure: Tanguy Ndombele’s bag of tricks has helped create chances, Bryan Gil looks skilled beyond his years, Son is healthy enough to play, and the defense is still pretty stingy from open play. But for about a month now it hasn’t been enough to win games. Now take that run of form to a place where Spurs haven’t won in over a decade. The outlook is bleak.

Arsenal, it should be noted, aren’t in great shape either. They kicked off their season with an objectively embarrassing defeat to newly-promoted Brentford, followed by losses to Chelsea and Man City. They haven’t played anyone too strong since, admittedly, but they do come into the weekend with 3 straight wins in all comps, which provides at least the appearance of the pieces falling into place.

So this is an early test for both sides of the Best Rivalry in English Football, pretty evenly matched teams still figuring out how to make it work with new personnel, with questions about the coaching style prevalent in the conversation for both teams. On paper, it should make for a fun, entertaining match, especially for the neutrals. I, on the other hand, am planning to nervously bite my nails throughout. This isn’t a game to be taken in with cool, analytical aloofness. This is a North London Derby. Fans live and die with each change in possession, each stoppage in play, each refereeing decision. Forget about the last few weeks. Forget about the question marks of the squad. If this team shows up for this match, and manages to capture all 3 points away to Arsenal, a lot of good will comes flooding back into the conversation around Tottenham Hotspur.

And in that sense it’s almost a free hit, right? Because a loss or a draw away to Arsenal can be disappointing, sure. But Spurs fans won’t be surprised. And we’re already a little disappointed, a little uncertain of how exactly this season’s going to play out. This is a rough patch, and a poor result on Sunday is just a continuation of that rough patch. It won’t really tell any larger stories than that, unless there’s some serious tragedy of a refereeing call that hands us defeat. If Spurs play boring, or fall apart in the second half, or Harry Kane has a quiet 90 minutes, that sucks. But it already sucks! A loss wouldn’t be fun, but the way September has gone for this club, would it really surprise any of us?

A win, on the other hand, would be glorious. Historical. We won’t shut up about it all week (at least!). And Spurs can beat Arsenal this weekend. I don’t know if they will, and if I’m being cynical I’ll go ahead and predict a draw, because it feels like it’s always a draw against them lately, even when Spurs do something magical. But we’re all, as fans, already prepared for the worst. So I’m hoping for the best, for the mood to break, for the sun to shine, and for the away end at the Emirates to rock like it did back in 2010. I still remember it so fondly, but I need it again. I’m not getting excited, but let’s win this thing.