Planet Football

Tottenham Hotspur have won less points than Bournemouth in the Premier League since the start of November 2023.

After a fast start under Ange Postecoglou, who won eight and drew two of his first 10 league matches after taking over in the summer of 2023, Spurs have suffered an alarming dip in form.

The descent began with a madcap 4-1 home defeat to Chelsea where Spurs had two players sent off, and three defeats in their next four matches followed.

Postecoglou’s side slowly slipped out of the top four and finished fifth in the final 2023-24 standings, earning them Europa League football.

Despite their back-to-front campaign, Spurs fans were hopeful at the start of Postecoglou’s second season at the helm but the team has won just one of their opening four matches as criticism begins to mount on the manager.

Asked about his side’s weaknesses in defending set-pieces after their 1-0 loss to Arsenal, the Australian boss said: “For some reason, people think I don’t care about set pieces.

“It’s a narrative that you can keep going for ages and ages. I understand that. We work on them all the time but we paid the price today. It’s my burden to carry and I’m happy to do that.

“For us the way forward is to try and turn the football we are ­playing into something meaningful.”

After investing heavily over the summer, Spurs fans will be expecting Postecoglou to improve the side’s form quickly, but a look at the Premier League table of the past 10-and-a-half months suggests that might be easier said than done.

Note: all teams have played 32 games unless otherwise specified. Only teams that played in both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 Premier League seasons have been included.

READ NEXT: 6 former Tottenham players we can’t believe are still playing in 2024

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every player to score just one Premier League goal for Tottenham?

Arsenal underlined their title credentials with a dogged 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the north London derby.

The Gunners went into the game without their injured captain Martin Odegaard and the suspended Declan Rice, causing many to question their chances of winning the game.

Mikel Arteta’s side also knew that dropped points would see them slip further behind Manchester City, who had won all of their opening four matches.

But Arsenal produced a committed display, limiting Spurs to a handful of half-chances while posing a threat of their own on the counter-attack.

After a goalless first half, the winner came from a well-executed set-piece. Bukayo Saka swung the ball into the six-yard box and Gabriel thumped his header past a helpless Guglielmo Vicario.

Arteta’s side saw out the game comfortably and move into second in the Premier League table. They will face City at the Etihad next Sunday.

As the away supporters begin their celebrations, we’ve picked out 11 stupendous stats from Arsenal’s latest victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

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TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every Arsenal player to score vs. Tottenham in PL since 2000?

– This was Arsenal’s first Premier League without both Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice since the latter joined from West Ham in the summer of 2023.

– There were seven yellow cards in the first half of today’s derby, the joint-most cards ever shown in the opening 45 minutes of a Premier League match.

– Saka has been directly involved in more Premier League goals vs. Tottenham (6) than any other side he has faced during his career.

– The England international has now scored or assisted 87 goals for Arsenal in the Premier League, one fewer than Mesut Ozil managed for the Gunners.

– No defender has scored more Premier League goals than Gabriel’s 15 since September 2020.

– And the Brazilian has become the fourth Arsenal player to score 10+ headed goals in the competition.

– Three of Arsenal’s last four Premier League goals against rivals Tottenham have been from corners – only three of their previous 88 north London derby league goals had been from corners before this.

– And Arsenal have now scored 22 goals from set-pieces in the Premier League since the start of last season. No team has scored more.

– Sterling became the first player to make his competitive debut for Arsenal in a north London derby since Isaiah Rankin in December 1997.

– Mikel Arteta has become the first Gunners’ boss to win three successive Premier League matches away at Tottenham.

– This is also the first time Arsenal have won three consecutive north London derbies at the home of their arch enemy since September 1988.

Tottenham have played in every season of the Premier League era – but can you name every player to captain the side in the competition?

What we want you to do here is name every player to have been appointed club captain – not those who just wore the armband a couple of times – since the English top-flight was rebranded in 1992.

You’ve got 15 minutes to get to name all nine. Full marks should be well within your grasp.

Once you’ve completed this quiz, have a go at naming Tottenham’s 25 most expensive sales in history.

If you enjoy our quizzes, head to our new Football Games home where you can search an archive of over 1,000 quizzes and play them all in beautiful full-screen mode.

Good luck, and don’t forget to tweet us your scores at @planetfutebol.

Tottenham Hotspur have had quite the churn of players over the years, leading to a long list of former Spurs men that you’d be surprised are still turning out away from the spotlight.

Whether they’re cult heroes or players who barely scratched the surface at White Hart Lane, all of these have continued playing for a long time after leaving Tottenham. They’re clearly doing something right.

Here are six former Tottenham players we can’t believe are still playing in 2024.

Nacer Chadli

Is Nacer Chadli contracted to a club and actually playing football professionally right now? Well, no.

But the 35-year-old Belgian was turning out in his home country for lesser-known Westerlo, following three years away at Istanbul Basaksehir, as recently as a few months ago.

He was released at the end of last season and is presumably now looking for another club, having shown no intention of hanging up his boots just yet.

Feel cheated with that one? Well you can have Paulinho, Benjamin Stambouli, Federico Fazio and Jake Livermore as bonuses. All are in the same boat as Chadli, veteran free agents after leaving their respective clubs in the summer. Call it five for the price of one.

Vlad Chiriches

Another long-forgotten name from Tottenham’s infamous “sold Elvis but bought The Beatles” era, the Romanian centre-back Steaua Bucharest in that heady summer of 2013. He failed to convince during his two years in North London and was promptly sold on to Napoli, where he spent five years but was similarly underwhelming.

After almost a decade in Italy, 34-year-old Chiriches returned to Steaua last summer – albeit the Romanian club is technically a different entity nowadays, known as FCSB.

Lewis Holtby

The former Germany international was talked up as a technical midfield maestro when he signed from Schalke as a fresh-faced youngster way back in 2013.

But it soon became clear Eriksen Mk.II Hotltby was not and after a couple of loans away he signed for Hamburg in 2015.

A few years later he made an eyebrow-raising return to English football, going on to play over 50 times in the Championship for Blackburn Rovers.

Then he dropped off the footballing radar once again, signing for German second-tier outfit Holstein Kiel in 2021. He’s captained the club to promotion and is now playing in a major European league again for the first time in six years.

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TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every player Ange Postecoglou has used at Tottenham?

Iago Falque

Signed as a promising teenager from Juventus, Falque made a grand total of one Premier League appearance for Spurs.

The Spanish forward never quite convinced in a series of loans away, and eventually he was sold on to Genoa. He subsequently spent the next years as something of a journeyman in Italian football before the left-field switch to Colombian club America de Cali in 2022.

Now he’s turning out for Costa Rican giants Liga Deportiva Alajuelense.

Here at Planet Football, we love it when a European makes the lesser-travelled path across the Atlantic. Jamal Lewis at Sao Paulo will take some beating on that front.

Adel Taarabt

Better known for tearing the Championship a new one at Queens Park Rangers, the streets won’t forget Taarabt but they’re unlikely to remember his unremarkable time on the fringes at Tottenham.

The mercurial Moroccan made a grand total of nine Premier League appearances for Spurs before moving on to Loftus Road.

You might recall his latter years at Benfica, in which he would occasionally catch the eye on the European stage, but since 2022 he’s been playing away from the spotlight out at Al-Nasr – the United Arab Emirates club, not to be confused with the Saudi Pro League outfit that employs Cristiano Ronaldo.

Luka Modric

Look, we know we’re not telling you anything you don’t know here.

Modric is still turning out for the biggest club in world football, and just last season won his sixth Champions League title with Real Madrid. You don’t get much more renowned than that.

But take stock for a second and the fact that Modric is still turning out at such a high level is absolutely ridiculous.

He turns 39 next week and is still captaining his country on the international stage, having well over a thousand games and god knows how many minutes in his legs already.

The Croatian icon was almost 27 when he left Spurs for Los Blancos way back in 2012, and it’s now six years since he broke Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Ballon d’Or duopoly as a celebrated veteran.

So yes, taking the headline literally, we really can’t believe Modric is still going like this.

Now is the time when many of the Premier League’s young starlets are loaned out to various clubs to gain vital experience that might just help them fulfil their potential as footballers.

Tottenham have just made Alfie Devine, Jamie Donley, and Ashley Phillips available for loan, in the hope that a good club maybe abroad or a little further down the football pyramid will give their hot prospects some game time.

Do you know who’s not going out on loan, though? Mikey Steven Danny Moore, that’s who.

And, no, it’s not Michael Steven Daniel Moore—his name is straight to the damn point, it’s not wasting any time, it’s getting sh*t done as quickly as possible, and that is just as true of the kid to whom the name is attached.

Mikey Moore has just turned 17, he’s just signed his first professional contract, and it looks like he’s going to be brought into Tottenham’s first team under Ange Postecoglou this season, which tells us one thing with a baller of his calibre.

Breakthrough.

Spurs’ academy director Simon Davies recently told the Evening Standard of Big Ange’s desire to let the kids play, as the club looks to rediscover an identity in the form of being a hub for young players to prosper.

“I speak to the manager regularly and he’s got a real thirst for youth development. He understands the fans’ and the club’s ambitions to have several—not just one—but several of our own in the first-team.”

That’s smart because Moore might just be the catalyst for a new generation of success at Tottenham if things go to plan.

The teenager prefers to play centrally or on the left and appears to be equally effective in both roles. His close control is exceptional, his speed is scary, his passing is deft, his shooting is superb, and his vision is off the charts.

He seems to be able to go all Matrix bullet-time when he’s in possession. In fact, we reckon Keanu Reeves would’ve never gotten the gig if Moore had been born a little earlier.

Don’t just take our word for it, though. The proof is in the eye test.

More than once in the clip above, Moore is well outside the penalty area when he catches a keeper off his line and knocks the ball over him before anyone else on the pitch has figured out what’s going on.

He also has the presence of mind, even when surrounded by players in the penalty area, to notice the keeper is about to go to ground, and dink him from close range.

There’s a new MM in town. His mates must call him Eminem. Got Marshall Mathers wondering if he is, in fact, the real Slim Shady.

Moore doesn’t have a go-to trademark finish, he tailors his finishes depending on the situation, and that’s how you do bonkers numbers.

Of course, there were players like Thierry Henry and Arjen Robben who, more often than not, you’d know what they were going to, they simply couldn’t be stopped. But Moore seems to be able to rapidly assess the situation in front of him and execute the right finish at the right time.

READ NEXT: Tottenham’s 11 wonderkids on Football Manager 2024: Udogie, Sarr, Moore…

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It’s that presence of mind and lightspeed improvisation that is going to see Mikey Moore go right to the top, in our opinion. We shouldn’t get too carried away, though. Simon Davies won’t be happy with us.

“It’s encouraging that the manager sees something in Mikey but it is just potential at the moment. I spoke to him this morning while he was having his breakfast about staying calm and consistent and keep working hard every day, do the small things right [because] the small things get noticed.” Davies told reporters at the back end of last season.

Clearly, Moore has taken on Davies’ advice, because Big Ange has been playing the teenage sensation in preseason.

Against QPR, Postecoglou deployed the England under-17 on the right instead of the left. And while we reckon he’s probably far more natural on the left, where he can cut inside and drive at the heart of the defence, or even in the centre where his vision and awareness can shine, it’s about seizing the opportunity.

And seize he did. Throughout Spurs’ entire pre-season campaign.

Ultimately, it’s a waiting game now.

Spurs aren’t short of players in Moore’s position—Son Heung-Min, Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski, Dominic Solanke, Richarlison, and Timo Werner to name a few—but don’t be surprised if we see more of Mikey Moore in the Premier League or domestic cups this season.

We’ll let Simon Davies have the last word.

“He’s super mature for a young boy so let’s hope his potential is fulfilled. But, unfortunately, we haven’t got a crystal ball, so we just have to do all the small things right every day, and stay consistent and calm.”

Real Madrid, Barcelona, Tottenham, Leeds United, Argentina and Portugal all feature in our list of football matches we can’t believe have never happened.

There’s a strange quirk of fate when it comes to the luck of the draw, in which some of the biggest clubs in the world have somehow continually avoided one another. We’ve taken a look through the football history books and identified seven matches we’re sure must have happened at some point… but somehow didn’t.

Note: We’re talking competitive meetings only here, not friendlies.

Real Madrid vs Flamengo

Given the different orbits they inhabit, it’s perhaps not that much of a surprise that Real Madrid haven’t played against Flamengo.

But when you consider that Flamengo are one of the biggest clubs in South America, boasting the biggest fanbase in Brazil, you’d have thought that these two behemoths of their respective continents would have met at some point.

Madrid have been a frequent fixture of Club World Cups, given how often they win the Champions League. Los Blancos have faced off against the likes of Gremio, San Lorenzo and Boca Juniors in FIFA’s flagship intercontinental competition, but they’ve never faced Flamengo.

The Brazilian giants missed a golden opportunity to book a glamour tie against Madrid back in 2022. They won that year’s Copa Libertadores but lost to Saudi side Al Hilal 3-2 in their Club World Cup semi.

Barcelona vs Marseille

We scoured Barcelona’s all-time list of opponents and invariably almost all the elite clubs you’ve heard of feature. They’ve faced pretty much all the big dogs from England, Germany, Italy and France… apart from Marseille, who are conspicuously absent.

You could argue that Marseille are a bit… Europa League-y, so it’s not all that surprising. But historically they possess a fine European pedigree.

AC Milan vs Valencia

Some kind of Mandela effect thing going on with this one.

If you’d told us that Carlo Ancelotti’s Milan had beaten Rafael Benitez’s Valencia 3-1 over two legs of a Champions League Round of 16 in 2002-03 we’d have no reason not to believe you.

In fact, it’s downright weird that the two clubs didn’t do battle at some point in the early noughties. It just feels right.

Portugal vs Argentina

Okay, technically speaking, Argentina and Portugal have played one another quite a few times. On no fewer than eight occasions, in fact. But all of those are friendlies, admittedly with the 1964 ‘Copa das Nacoes’ and 1972 ‘Brazil Independence Cup’ debatable on that front.

Money-spinning Messi vs Ronaldo matches have been arranged in 2011 and 2014, with the latter at Old Trafford among the most dismally forgettable games this writer has ever attended.

Given their quality, each consistently making it out of World Cup groups and winning continental titles in recent times, it’s a bit odd they’ve not come up against each other at some point. But at least in avoiding it we’ve all been spared a Pessi vs Penaldo social media apocalypse of epic proportions.

READ NEXT: 12 forgotten footballers overshadowed by their superstar family ft. Messi, Maradona, Alonso…

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name the Premier League’s 25 most expensive foreign sales ever?

Leeds United vs Wrexham

We did some deep digging around the 92 clubs of the Football League to come up with an all-English British tie and this was the best we could muster in terms of profile of the respective clubs. Think you’ve got a better one? Let us know @planetfutebol.

Google tells us that Leeds and Wrexham did meet in a pre-season friendly back in 1964, with Leeds legends like Billy Bremner, Paul Madeley and Norman Hunter lining up at the Racehorse Ground.

They’ve never met in a competitive setting, which is a bit mad when you think of their odysseys up and down the English football pyramid and the countless times they’ll have featured in the same cup draws.

In 2024-25, Wrexham find themselves just one tier below Daniel Farke’s side. Might they find themselves in the same division some day?

PSV vs Celtic

Earlier on in this piece we stated that Flamengo and Real Madrid occupy different orbits. But PSV and Celtic are very much part of the same orbit, namely.. Champions League group stage numbers-makers-up, that might go on a run in the Europa League if they finish third or mess up the qualifiers.

Even Brenden Rodgers would nod along if you recalled the time that Celtic suffered a costly 1-0 defeat at the Philips Stadion in October 2017. Hirving Lozano with the only goal of an attritional game. But nope, never happened. Somehow.

READ: 8 sets of footballers we can’t believe were teammates: Messi & Ramos, Martial & Silva…

PSG vs Tottenham

What, you don’t remember the six-goal thriller in the… *checks notes*… International Champions Cup back in 2017? Spurs won 4-2 at the wonderfully named Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.

Talking proper football only, Spurs and PSG have never faced off. Which you’d expect would’ve happened at some point, with the two clubs being regulars in the Champions League throughout the 2010s, getting as far as the final in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

We’re not advocating for warmed balls, but some kind of system to offer more variety in the Champions League would be welcome. Manchester City vs Shakhtar Donetsk and PSG vs Barca seem to happen every year.

Over 275 different players have played for Tottenham in the Premier League – but can you name their top appearance maker for every initial in the competition?

No player with a surname beginning Q or X has played for Spurs in the Premier League, but that still leaves 24 players to get – and it’s not as easy as you might expect.

We’ve given you 15 minutes to try to name them all and have listed the number of games each player played for the club in the competition as a clue. An asterisk indicates the player is still at the club.

If you want another challenge after this, why not try to name every manager to take charge of Tottenham in the Premier League?

If you enjoy our quizzes, head to our new Football Games home where you can search an archive of over 1,000 quizzes and play them all in beautiful full-screen mode.

Good luck, and don’t forget to tweet us your scores @planetfutebol.

Tottenham pocketed over £80million for the sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid in 2013 – but can you name the seven players Spurs signed to replace their Welsh talisman?

Bale was named PFA Player of the Year in the season before his sale to Madrid, indicating the difficulty any team would have had in replacing him.

But Spurs infamously spent the money on a succession of duds, with only a few of the seven signings achieving any success at White Hart Lane.

We’ve given you 10 minutes and both the transfer fee and position of each player.

If you want another challenge after this, why not try to name every manager to take charge of Tottenham in the Premier League?

If you enjoy our quizzes, head to our new Football Games home where you can search an archive of over 1,000 quizzes and play them all in beautiful full-screen mode.

Good luck, and don’t forget to tweet us your scores @planetfutebol.

After years of being the butt of the joke when it comes to the Premier League’s traditional ‘top six’ it appears Tottenham have quietly gotten their act together in stellar fashion.

The Big Ange revolution of 2023-24 split opinion massively, with an explosive start to the campaign tailing off in the second half of the season and resulting in more tempered expectations.

However, there’s no denying the astounding influence Postecoglou has already had on the club, from their style of play, to the way he controls the media to protect his team and – crucially – their much more shrewd recruitment.

Spurs have tried everything to break their silverware dry spell. Quite literally.

The young up-and-comer in Mauricio Pochettino brought them close, then they turned to Jose Mourinho, and when that didn’t work they fell even deeper into the trenches with an Antonio Conte spell.

Postecoglou has only been in the hot seat for one year, but already things feel more sustainable.

And it’s signings like Min-hyuk Yang which play a huge part in that, as Spurs move away from the glitz and glamour of big names, in favour of giving young talent and rough diamonds an environment to prove themselves.

Fabrizio Romano reports that Tottenham are closing in on a deal to sign 18-year-old Yang from Gangwon FC. We bet you’ve never heard of him before in your life – and that’s part of what makes this deal so brilliant.

Born in 2006, Yang operates on either flank but does his most dangerous work when cutting in from the left-hand side.

He became the youngest scorer in Korea’s K-League since 2013 when he scored his first goal for Gangwon in March, and has already found the back of the net seven times after just 24 senior appearances for the club.

The obvious thing that jumps out here is inexperience, particularly at a competitive level, especially when coming to swim with the sharks in the Premier League. However, everything positive about Ange’s reign at Spurs so far has been centred around progression.

With their backs against the wall and everyone desperate to see them remain the butt of the joke, they’ve remained focused and hoovered up a catalogue of brilliant young talents who are all being primed to play in a team that plays some of the most thrilling and effective football in the league when done right.

Will Yang be a part of that immediately after signing? Probably not.

The lad can barely buy a crate of beers and will have to get to grips with just about everything in England from hard-hitting defenders, a sharp increase in quality, less time on the ball, navigating the tube, avoiding Oxford Street – we could go on.

But the key here is potential. And progression. Watching Yang in full stride, it’s clear to see why Spurs are keen to get a deal done. With the ball at his feet, the kid glides along the turf like you wouldn’t believe.

His dribbling looks effortless and elegant, but at the same time is sickeningly punching and direct, tying defenders up in knots. Take a look for yourself.

READ NEXT: The 10 clubs with the most valuable U21 players: Brighton above Man Utd…

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name Tottenham’s top Premier League assist maker for every initial?

Naturally, the South Korean winger joining Tottenham will prompt comparisons to Son Heung-min, a Spurs icon and royalty in South Korea.

However, there’s something devilish about Yang. Angel Di Maria strutted his best stuff on the right wing in his prime, but there are parallels in the way the 18-year-old is able to skip past players with impressive skills, sublime balance and agility, and either cut inside or take it to the byline.

There are clear limitations to Yang’s game right now. Physicality will be lacking, while his end product also lacks consistency and there is a tendency for him to keep his head down while in possession.

The raw minerals are there for all to see, though, and with Spurs putting together a pool of young talent which includes the likes of Mikey Moore, Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall, it’s clear that they’re willing to find a pathway for Yang to become the talent factory’s next project.

Some time to adapt followed by a loan away from the club feels like the probable first steps, but this is just the beginning of a very exciting journey – much like the Postecoglou project as a whole.

It’s extremely early days, but on profile and potential alone, there is no reason why Yang cannot aim high and set out a goal to follow in the footsteps of Son at Spurs.

Tottenham have participated in every Premier League season – but can you name their top 30 appearance makers in the competition?

We’ve given you 10 minutes to try and have listed the number of appearances each player made for Spurs as a clue.

If you want another challenge after this, why not try and name every manager to take charge of Tottenham in the Premier League?

If you enjoy our quizzes, head to our new Football Games home where you can search an archive of over 1,000 quizzes and play them all in beautiful full-screen mode.

Good luck, and don’t forget to tweet us your score at @planetfutebol.