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Time for change – Tottenham fans plan protest for Man Utd clash

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Spurs host Manchester United in the Premier League looking to bounce back from a horror week, having crashed out of the Carabao Cup and FA Cup in the space of 72 hours.

It increased the pressure on Ange Postecoglou, who has battled with a huge injury crisis for the best part of three months which has left the club 14th in the table.

Discontent amongst supporters has grown with regular chants for chairman Daniel Levy to leave the club and a protest has been arranged for before and after Sunday’s 4.30pm kick-off by fan group Change for Tottenham.

A “peaceful march against the board” is set to occur to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before fans are called to congregate inside the South Stand concourse pre-match. After full-time, supporters are urged to “no matter the result applaud the players” before a sit-in protest to show the club board “enough is enough”.

Change for Tottenham member Christina Zandes told the PA news agency: “Even if we do get a win on Sunday, it doesn’t matter – we still want change to happen. This cycle is on repeat and we can’t keep going on with this.

“We’re tired. A lot of the fans are disconnected completely from the club and it’s a horrible feeling to see how bad we’re struggling right now and it should not be happening.”

Frustration has often centred on Tottenham’s lengthy trophy drought, with the 2008 League Cup their last silverware.

Data released by financial experts Deloitte last month has also been used against chairman Levy and the club’s majority shareholder ENIC.

Spurs placed ninth in Deloitte’s list of the world’s richest clubs with revenue of £520million from the 2023-24 season, but the club’s spend of 42 per cent of its revenue on wages was the lowest of any team in the top 10. It was also lower than all eight Premier League clubs in Deloitte’s top 20 with West Ham, Newcastle and Aston Villa spending more of their revenue on wages.

While Spurs signed Dominic Solanke for £65million from Bournemouth last summer alongside a number of highly-rated teenage prospects, it has failed to translate into consistent results with Postecoglou’s squad unable to cope with the demand of extra cup fixtures.

The Europa League remains Tottenham’s last hope of silverware this term and potentially their best chance to ensure they play in Europe again in 2025-26, with qualification via the league currently unlikely.

Change for Tottenham recently sent a letter to the club board outlining its concerns regarding the role of chairman Levy in addition to the direction of the club.

A Spurs response seen by PA noted: “Improved performances on the pitch is paramount and we all need to be unified and focus on support for our players – home and away.”

“It came to a point where we wanted to do something because we’re having this similar cycle at Tottenham where you feel progress is coming, but sadly we always take a step back,” Zandes added.

“We’ve built this world-class, incredible stadium and we have a world-class training facility. It all looks beautiful from the outside, but on the inside it is not there.

“Everyone just laughs at us now. It is known we haven’t won a trophy in a very long time and the fans are coming to a point where we all feel disconnected to the club.

“It’s something I feel is quite sad because for such a beautiful club and for what it could be, there is not much achievement on the pitch and this is what we want to do. We want to make change.

“We’ve had discussions about Daniel Levy and if you feel he could leave, is it a risk?

“It’s come to the point now where I am willing to take the risk because it feels like it’s going to be a never-ending cycle.”

Tottenham have been contacted by the PA news agency for comment.

Caleb Williams finds room for improvement despite strong show

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The Bears rallied to their fourth win of the NFL campaign on a day where Cole Kmet and Keenan Allen both managed two touchdowns apiece.

Rookie quarterback Williams, the number one pick of this year’s draft, missed an opportunity for another touchdown to DJ Moore.

His pass was intercepted in the second quarter before his side cruised to victory.

When asked what he credited his performance to, Williams said: “The offensive line, coaching, progress, leadership and the mindset of ‘keep going’ and I think us getting out there and believing in each other is what I credit it to.

“DJ was wide open. I didn’t put enough juice on it and the safety had an easy interception. I need to be better because that would have got everything going. We can’t have turnovers and that’s something I pride myself on, it affects the whole team and the momentum.”

Williams’ fine performance came after his two touchdown throw performance against the Panthers earlier this month.

The victory mounted pressure on the Jags, with Doug Pederson’s side suffering their fifth defeat of the campaign.

Bears coach Matt Eberflus spoke on Williams’ progression, adding: “It’s always great, right, because that’s consistency. You make the progress and you want it to be linear but it’s not always that way.

“I felt he and the football team took a step in the right direction by playing that complimentary football with him being able to distribute the ball. He did a nice job today.”

Kmet came in as an emergency long snapper following an injury to Tyler Scott during the match.

The 25-year-old tight end caught a 31-yard pass from Williams to claim the first touchdown score of the match.

“It was a great play concept,” Kmet told reporters.

“They presented a good defence for us to run that and we had a bunch of screens. My guy was blocked for a second there, gave a good fake and I was able to break a tackle and get into the end zone.”

Ange Postecoglou hails Tottenham endeavour after win over Qarabag

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After kick-off was delayed due to the late arrival of Qarabag’s team bus, Radu Dragusin’s night lasted only seven minutes when he received a red card for a cynical pull on Juninho as Spurs’ last-man.

It failed to significantly knock Tottenham off their stride though, with Brennan Johnson able to score for a third successive match five minutes later before Pape Sarr doubled the hosts’ advantage in the 52nd minute.

Qarabag did regularly threaten and Tural Bayramov fired a spot-kick over after Sarr’s strike, which all but ended the visitors’ hopes and Dominic Solanke made it back-to-back goals with 22 minutes left to ensure Tottenham earned a third win in a row before Sunday’s trip to Manchester United.

Postecoglou said: “We want to be a team that tackles whatever challenge we have in a certain way.

“When you go down to 10-men invariable at times you can’t be as aggressive or keep the ball as much or play as fluently but for the most part the intent was there.

“The first goal comes from us pressing. We were pressing with 10-men and we win the ball high up, which is what we wanted to do and we ended up scoring a goal from it.

“I think for the most part the boys showed that intent. That’s the kind of team we want to be and whatever challenge we have before us, is to tackle it that way.”

Spurs boss Postecoglou was left with some late concerns after Son limped off in the 71st-minute before Archie Gray appeared in pain late on.

Johnson was also withdrawn at half-time after he continued his rich vein of form, but the Australian played down concerns.

“I haven’t spoke to him. He said he felt a bit tired, but I haven’t spoken to him or the medical team yet,” Postecoglou said of Son.

“Yeah Brennan’s fine. It was just tactical. I thought we would need Deki Kulusevski because the way the game is going, Deki is a like a hybrid midfielder and can also break out on that right wing. It was just a tactical switch, but Brennan is fine.”

On Gray, Postecoglou pointed out: “He didn’t stop running though so can’t be that bad.”

Solanke made it back-to-back goals with a slick finish in the 68th-minute after Son’s shot had been spilled and earned the praise of his manager after a selfless display in attack.

“He is getting there and probably played longer than I wanted for him to play tonight, just the circumstances of the game, but the one thing about him is he just keeps going,” Postecoglou reflected.

“Great for him to get another goal but his all-round performance was really strong.

“When you’re down to 10-men, you need your striker to be able to hold up the play and do some hard running, which I thought he did.”

Kick-off was delayed by 35 minutes after Qarabag only arrived a short while before the scheduled 8pm start and their manager Gurban Gurbanov revealed they had been stuck on the team bus for two-and-a-half hours.

Gurbanov said: “Imagine being caught in traffic for two-and-a-half hours? I don’t want to make excuses, but it shouldn’t have happened because we had to come by ourselves.

“We had no police to escort us and obviously it had a big impact on our footballers, but it doesn’t take anything away from our opponent. They were a good team.”

Tottenham overcome early red card to brush aside Qarabag in Europa League

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Brennan Johnson (left) opened the scoring with this shot (Nick Potts/PA)

It gave Tottenham a precious lead and continued Johnson’s rich vein of form since he deactivated his Instagram account following abuse after the home loss to Arsenal.

Postecoglou’s team dominated possession despite their numerical disadvantage but Qarabag, who were minutes away from knocking out Bayer Leverkusen in the round of 16 last season, were able to regularly run through their two-man midfield.

After Bahlul Mustafazade ran through and fluffed his shot, Spurs threatened again when Johnson latched onto Archie Gray’s impressive ball but the in-form forward could only side-foot wide from 18 yards after he got past Qarabag goalkeeper Mateusz Kochalski.

The half ended with a flurry of opportunities for the visitors. Juninho inexplicably side-footed wide from Elvin Jafarguliyev’s cross with only Guglielmo Vicario to beat, before the Italian slid in to deny the same player after he had tackled Ben Davies in an incident similar to Dragusin’s red card.

Dejan Kulusevski replaced Johnson and instantly had an impact with a fine run down the right able to force a corner, which created Tottenham’s second goal seven minutes into the second half.

Kochalski, under pressure from Davies, could only get a faint touch on Kulusevski’s corner and Sarr was on hand to volley home at the back post.

Spurs’ joy appeared short-lived three minutes later when Yves Bissouma caught Jafarguliyev inside the area but Bayramov drilled his penalty over.

There were further chances for Juninho, who fired straight at Vicario and sent another effort against the post from a narrow angle, before Tottenham wrapped up the points.

Sarr and Kulusevski combined to tee up Son Heung-min and while his curler was saved by Kochalski, Solanke was on hand to slide home for his first Europa League goal.

Son limped off minutes later in a rare sour note on a positive night for Tottenham.

Wales boss Craig Bellamy confident Brennan Johnson will prove his value to Spurs

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Johnson weighed in with 10 assists and five goals after joining Spurs from Nottingham Forest last season, during which he made 23 Premier League starts and 32 appearances in total in the competition.

But the 23-year-old has often drawn criticism from Tottenham fans on social media, with many believing Johnson has yet to prove value for money following his arrival in north London exactly 12 months ago.

Johnson’s new Wales manager Bellamy, however, is in no doubt that Tottenham have a “really elite” player on their hands who will only get better.

“I see an incredible footballer in Brennan,” said Bellamy, who starts his Wales reign next week with Nations League fixtures against Turkey and Montenegro.

“He hits all the marks you’d want him to hit. I believe there’s so much more to come because what he can offer is elite. He’s really elite.

“If I was the manager at Spurs for instance, would I have signed him? Yes. Would I have paid 50 odd million? And more.

“So that gives you a certain level of what I see with this player. And I’m looking forward to that as well.”

Johnson – who has started Tottenham’s first two league games ahead of their trip to Newcastle on Sunday – was considered the natural attacking heir to Gareth Bale after making his Wales debut in November 2020.

But despite official data recognising Johnson as among the quickest players in the Premier League and evident scoring ability during his Forest days, Johnson has yet to shine for Wales on a consistent basis.

He did not start a game at the 2022 World Cup, coming on in all three matches as a substitute, and has scored only three times in 28 appearances.

Bellamy said: “Now maybe he needs to be a little bit more selfish and ruthless to back the ability he has.

“I’d like to be able to see that with Wales as well. I’m sure it’s going to come very soon.

“That’s exciting for me as well. Just to get a feel for him.”

Bellamy made several high-profile moves during his own top-level career that saw him play Liverpool, Manchester City and Newcastle among others.

Asked about Johnson’s big-money transfer to Tottenham, Bellamy said: “It takes time. It does. The expectation goes up and the competition goes up as well.

“Even though I carried myself as very confident – and at times I definitely was – there was always doubt deep down. It’s normal.

“Some players get to it straight away. They are like a duck to water and off they go.

“Some take a little longer. But I believe if you have the genuine quality then it will come. It always comes out in the end.”

Yves Bissouma back with a bang as Son Heung-min stars for Spurs

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Bissouma put himself back in Ange Postecoglou’s good books after the Spurs boss likened him to a naughty child who was now behaving himself, having been suspended for one match by the club for taking laughing gas.

Restored to the starting line-up, the Mali international instantly repaid Postecoglou’s faith with a stunning 20-yard strike to open the scoring.

It was Bissouma’s first Spurs goal, in his 57th match for the club, and he marked it with a contrite celebration before running up to the touchline to hug his manager.

Jordan Pickford then blotted his copybook when his dreadful error allowed Son to double Tottenham’s lead.

Cristian Romero headed a third and Son struck again late on to leave Everton slipping towards full crisis-club mode just two games into the season.

In a frenetic start Pickford had actually made three top-class saves before undoing all of his good work.

First, he made a point-blank stop to deny Romero after the visitors failed to clear a corner, and moments later the England goalkeeper was at full stretch to tip Son’s deflected strike wide.

Pickford was then out quickly to block James Maddison after he latched on to Romero’s ball over the top.

But a goal was coming, and it arrived in the 15th minute when Dejan Kulusevski skipped past a couple of challenges in the area and laid the ball off to Bissouma.

The 27-year-old let rip with a fierce, first-time drive which crashed off the underside of the crossbar and into Pickford’s net.

Pickford could do nothing about that, but he held his hands up for the mistake which gifted Tottenham their second.

James Tarkowski played the ball square to his keeper from a throw-in but as Pickford tried to switch feet, he took a poor touch allowing Son to nick the ball and tap into an empty net.

Just half an hour into their second game and Everton, on the end of a chastening 3-0 home defeat by Brighton on the opening weekend, were in utter disarray.

Substitute Jesper Lundstrom had their best chance of getting back into the game with an angled drive, beaten away by Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario.

But the Toffees were condemned to start a third straight season with back-to-back defeats after Romero headed in Maddison’s corner and Son drove home the fourth to leave them still without a win on the road in 2024.