Cartilage Free Captain

Earlier in the season, a game of football threated to break out during a boxing match from which representatives of Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United were involved. The FA tends to frown on such things, and so charges were laid in the aftermath of that match, which we covered. Now, though, it’s official: all parties have accepted those charges doled out by the FA and their relevant punishments.

Mohammed Kudus, who took it upon himself to try and fight the entire Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, accepted his charge of violent conduct, taking with it a £60,000 fine and an extension of his ban from three to five matches. West Ham also accepted a fine, totaling £30,000, due to failing to ensure their players didn’t... ya know, throw punches.

As for Spurs... they were also charged with failing to ensure their players acted with the proper decorum after being punched in the face, so were charged as well and accepted their fine of £20,000 late last month, which somehow, we missed reporting.

I don’t have too much to say on this. It feels a bit ridiculous Spurs were even charged in the first place, but as I mentioned in the previous article the FA hates vigilante justice. On the other end of the stick, Kudus’ punishment almost feels too light, with actions that could have landed him an assault charge in other contexts resulting in the same layoff as a mild hamstring injury, with the fine a likely blip with the wages he will be earning.

Whatever. I’m just glad it’s over and dealt with.

Good morning!

One thing that always blows me away is the limitlessness with which a child can think. A couple of days ago, my wife asked our eldest daughter as to what she thought might be a good idea for a business.

Her response?

“We should sell dinosaurs.”

She pretty much just came up with Jurassic Park at age 4. And I was so preoccupied with whether or not she could, I didn’t stop to think if she should.

The fact that dinosaurs are extinct? A mere inconvenience. There is no thought to the fact that there may be no market for dinosaurs, which of course there’s a market, duh. When asked where the dinosaurs should live, she responded, “Here.” When questioned how a dinosaur would fit in our backyard (it absolutely wouldn’t) her answer was, “It could lie down”.

That’s before we even get into what we would feed it.

The way kids’ brains work mean they aren’t limited by the same patterns of thinking as us grown-ups. Sometimes that’s a negative - critical thinking is a valuable skill!

But sometimes you encounter situations in which you just need to throw off any self-imposed limitations with regards to your thinking. Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is. I could use that creativity sometimes.

What’s the craziest idea you’ve ever had, that might just work?

Matty Flatt’s Track of the Day: Child of Vision, by Supertramp

And now for your links:

Check out Ange Postecoglou’s press conference ahead of the match against Galatasaray, courtesy of Alasdair Gold

The Athletic ($$$) on the reasons for optimism after Spurs’ mixed start to the season

Tottenham Hotspur are en route to Istanbul, Turkey ahead of Thursday’s Europa League match against Galatasaray. And as usual, Spurs’ social media team posted a video of players boarding the plane, giving us a bit of an idea of who we might expect to see play when the match kicks off.

There’s a good number of senior players traveling, including Ben Davies, Son Heung-Min, Fraser Forster (why you gotta do the camera like that, Fras?) Guglielmo Vicario, Mikey Moore, Archie Gray, James Maddison, Pape Sarr, and Radu Dragusin.

But while I’m pretty adept by now at recognizing player faces out of context of what’s happening on the pitch, there were some players in that video I didn’t recognize. Some quick gleaning of Spurs online sources reveal that Tottenham are bringing a bunch of youth academy and U21 players along with the first team, including Callum Olusesi, Alfie Dorrington, Dante Cassanova, and Luca Williams-Barnet — and those are just the ones we know of now.

Two players we know will NOT be on the plane are Cuti Romero, who has a strained toe ligament and is set to miss Spurs’ next two games before (apparently) reporting for Argentina duty, and Richarlison, who pulled his hamstring in Spurs’ 4-1 win over Aston Villa this past Sunday.

Now, Tottenham also brought a bunch of youth players to Hungary in Spurs’ win over Ferencvaros, and Ange Postecoglou later said they made the trip for training purposes and not because they were expected to play senior European minutes. But could things be different this time? Spurs are 3-0 in the Europa League group stage so far and Galatasaray away is almost certainly the trickiest fixture they’ll face thus far. Considering the minutes in the first team players’ legs already, it wouldn’t necessarily be a surprise if Big Ange decides to roll with a B-C team away in Europe, and some of the youngsters could be beneficiaries to that decision. It’d be a bit of a departure for Ange who famously wants to win every match, but who knows!

Good morning!

Matty Flatt here, your deputy to the managing editor, back taking over Hoddle duties for the remainder of this week while Fitzie attends to “real life”™.

And as you know, Fitzie often likes to talk about other sports, like tennis (to which I am also partial), so I am making the most of this opportunity to SHOUT SOMETHING FROM THE MOUTAINTOPS.

The Black Caps have won a test series in India.

Look, you probably don’t want to talk about this today. But I don’t care. Let me expand a bit, as that may as well have been Dutch to a good chunk of you. New Zealand’s international cricket team, the Black Caps, have defeated India IN India in a three-match series. And they didn’t just win the series, they swept it 3-0.

Let’s give that a bit more perspective.

New Zealand up until this point had NEVER won a test series in India. NZ’s last test win in the subcontinent was 36 years ago, and before this series, they had won a grand total of two matches from 37 contests between the two in the South Asian country.

Test cricket in India is HARD. The format is played across five days with around 8 hours of play each day. The conditions are brutal, with temperatures typically in the 90’s (talking Fahrenheit for my American friends) with humidity regularly over 50%, sapping the endurance and fitness of even the best conditioned fielders and bowlers. These conditions have a huge impact on the playing surface as well, with the pitch extremely dry and deteriorating heavily over the five days, resulting in an extremely alien environment especially to visiting batsmen with cracks and footmarks causing uneven bounce, sharp spin, and basically turning every delivery bowled into a figurative hand grenade. And you are taking on a player pool totaling ten figures.

Everything is against you when you play a test in India.

This was New Zealand cricket’s Everest. It was something I almost expected to never see in my lifetime. And not only did they win one match, or the series, but they won every match. What makes it all the sweeter is India were the top ranked team in the world going into the series; New Zealand had just collapsed in a series in Sri Lanka and were missing their best player to injury, and had seen a number of their modern greats either retire or age into seeming mediocrity in recent years.

A fair few people predicted a 3-0 clean sweep going into the series... to India.

The Black Caps have conquered their Everest, and in stunning fashion. It’s one of the best sporting moments of my lifetime.

So let’s reminisce together. What are some of the sporting Everests you have seen conquered?

Matty Flatt’s Track of the Day: “Heroes”, by David Bowie

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold decides to make a comparison between Ange and Antonio Conte, for some reason

The Athletic ($$$) on just how much Dominic Solanke offers this Spurs side

They also do a bit of a dive into racism towards Asian footballers, if you would like a slightly more depressing read

Tottenham Hotspur earned an excellent, if somewhat pyrrhic, victory over Aston Villa on Sunday. Excellent in that the 4-1 win restored the vibes around the club and put Spurs in a position where they’re now just two points behind fourth-place Chelsea (and also Arsenal!) in the table. Pyrrhic because of injuries sustained by Richarlison and Cuti Romero during the match that makes Spurs’ depth even thinner. Romero was subbed off early in the second half limping heavily with what appeared to be a foot injury, with Ben Davies his capable replacement.

But there’s contextually good news about Romero this morning. Argentine journalist Gaston Edu tweeted that Romero’s injury isn’t as bad as what it might have, and while it will likely keep him out of action for Tottenham’s two upcoming matches and also possibly Argentina duty in the upcoming international break, Romero is unlikely to be out more than a couple of weeks at the most.

Cuti Romero has an injury to the ligaments of his right toe. There is no bone injury (fracture or crack). It’s milder than it could have been. He’s going to be off for a week or ten days. Argentina’s list will be released in the next few hours.

So that’s good, as far as injuries go. I’m sure it’s a painful one (it must have been for Romero to signal that he needed to be subbed, he’s a tough hombre), but toe ligament damage is certainly better than a broken foot.

We have not yet heard back anything about Richarlison’s injury status; he was subbed off immediatelly after assisting for Dominic Solanke’s second goal and was seen holding his hamstring.

Romero’s injury means he’ll certainly miss Spurs’ upcoming matches against Galatasaray on Thursday in the Europa League, and the home Premier League fixture against Ipswich this Sunday. But if he’s kept out of Argentina’s roster, he’l have the next two weeks to recover and regain fitness ahead of the trip to Manchester City on November 23.

What a game! Tottenham Hotspur won their ninth match in their last 11 played on Sunday, riding a second half wave to four goals and a come-from-behind 4-1 victory over Villain Matty Cash and Aston Villa Football Club. It’s fun when Ange-Ball hits its potential and Tottenham soccer balls go goal and

Cartilage Free Captain has a “no electoral politics” rule that has served it very well for a long, long time. I suppose I’m toeing the line a bit here with this theme, but it’s also Election Day, and that’s significant. We’re not going to talk about the election here (something that will be ruthlessly enforced today, you’ve been warned), but it feels appropriate to have a theme that’s about something uniquely American and that can bring us all together in a time of extreme partisan division.

So here goes: I think that if there’s one thing most Americans can agree on it’s that the Star-Spangled Banner, the United States’ national anthem, is a trash song. It’s long, boring, and stupidly hard to sing, with an octave and a half range. The tune is “To Anacreon in Heaven,” a Colonial-era drinking song, and the lyrics, taken from a poem about the bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812, glorify conflict and violence.

We can do so much better.

So on Election Day, here are my Tottenham Hotspur player ratings to the theme of songs that would make a much better American national anthem than the one we’ve got. Carty Free is a big tent, so put your (carefully selected) song ideas in the comments. Musical takes are welcome, partisan political takes are not.

Look, let’s just come out and say it — this is The Choice. It’s a lovely tune, lyrics that speak to the aesthetic loveliness of the American land, and it’s in a key people can actually sing. I’m putting it here because there are so many other options and I just want to acknowledge that, yes, this is the best one and probably always will be. For today’s example, you get Ray Charles.

Erik Lamela (Community — n/a): Wait, Erik Lamela doesn’t even play for Tottenham anymore, why does he get a billion stars? Answer: because he does, f—k you.

Did you know that America had a different, unofficial national anthem from 1789 to 1931? It’s true! Hail Columbia was the closest thing this country had to an official anthem until Herbert Hoover bowed to public pressure to codify “Star-Spangled Banner.” Hail Columbia is still the official anthem of the Vice President of the United States, but if you ask me, this is a much more “anthemy” anthem than our current one. Can’t you hear this being played over the tannoys during the Olympics, or before USMNT takes the pitch during the World Cup? I sure can.

Pape Matar Sarr (Community — 4.5): A little leggy in the first half but Spurs’ best player on the day in the second. Can run for days, was excellent on both sides of the ball, racing across the midfield to both cut out and set up attacks. Outstanding. That performance perfectly encapsulates Sarr’s potential and is a reminder of just how young a player he is.

Dominic Solanke (Community — 4.5): It was shaping up to be one of those matches where Solanke does all the hard work in the press and off the ball but doesn’t end up with much attacking output... and then he went and scored a brace. That second goal — chipping Emi Martinez — was outstanding and he fully deserves the accolades today.

Ange Postecoglou (Community — 4.5): What can I say? Big Ange got it right. The CFC chat was skeptical about the midfield’s lack of passing and it was a big call to trust Sarr in the box to box role, but he nailed it, and Ange’s subs were all impactful and good.

OK, I know it’s a war song, but I chose this song this high stars for two reasons. First, this version repurposes the original tune, “John Brown’s Body,” a Civil War marching song that celebrates Civil War-era abolitionist and anti-slavery icon John Brown, something that feels like a worthy platform on which to build a national anthem. And second — this is a Tottenham Hotspur blog.

Radu Dragusin (Community — 4.0): Much better. You do worry about Radu in the high line due to his (comparative) lack of pace compared to Van de Ven, but he is a capable on the ball defender as he showed yesterday. Solid work against a very good Villa team.

A triumph of American musical exceptionalism, Copland’s “Fanfare” is one of the most recognizable pieces of American classical music ever composed. It is rousing, glorious, hopeful, and while it’s not short, it’s captivating. It also has no lyrics, so we don’t have to worry about bad pop stars improvising on it and screwing it up before sporting events — just put on this recording of Bernstein conducting the NY Phil and call it good.

Guglielmo Vicario (Community — 3.0): Saw a lot of stupid, lazy takes blaming him for Villa’s only goal when he actually did well to get free and make an instinctive close-range save of what was potentially an own goal. Can he improve? Yes. Was he at fault for that goal? No. Did he play well on Sunday? Yes.

Dejan Kulusevski (Community — 4.0): Looked to be well in his element in this match, though he struggled to make an impact (along with the rest of the team) in the first half. Still Tottenham’s most important player on the season, which is wild. His ball to set up Solanke was exceptional.

Brennan Johnson (Community — 4.0): For a while there looked like it was another of THOSE matches for BJ before he made one of those trademark back post runs and was in the right position to tap in Sonny’s cross. Did a lot of running in this match, a lot of it fruitless, but was in the right spot at the right time to make an impact and had a role in a lot of Spurs’ buildup play.

Richarlison (Community — 4.0): Set up Solanke and injured his hamstring in the process. Normally he wouldn’t get a rating due to minutes played here but that assist was spectacular and also I feel so damn sorry for the pigeon, I hope his drumstick heals quickly.

James Maddison (Community — 4.0): I’m not sure I’ve seen many Tottenham free kick goals that were better than Madders’ on Sunday. Gareth Bale, probably. Maybe Christian Eriksen. Certainly not Harry Kane, lol.

Yves Bissouma (Community — 4.0): Came in and immediately stabilized the midfield, adding defensive structure and reinforcing the spine that was potentially shaky after Romero’s substitution.

Ben Davies (Community — 4.0): Honestly, I have been so pleasantly surprised by Davies’ defensive play over the past two games. He’s not flashy, but he’s been very, very solid and has proven himself to be a guy you want to have around, even if he doesn’t play much.

A glorious, sweeping musical work — slow, stately, and singable, it has the ability to rouse even the most curmudgeonly heart. It’s also uniquely American and definitely has nothing to do with any other nation, composed out of whole United States cloth to be a patriotic American anthem; nobody can take that away from us. Look at all that patriotic imagery in the above video, how can you possibly dispute its divinely American providence? U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

Destiny Udogie (Community — 3.5): Looked to be picking up his head a little more in this match and was more impactful going forward than I’ve seen from him in a while. I do worry about his fitness considering how many matches he’s played consecutively, though.

Son Heung-Min (Community — 4.0): Looked to be shaking off the rust in the first half. Was settling into a lovely spell of play before being hooked at the hour mark in a planned substitution. His cross to Johnson at the back post was incredible.

I love this song. It’s way more patriotic than a lot of the other songs on this list, and it perfectly encapsulates why American citizens love America. It’s been mooted as a replacement national anthem for decades, but at the core it’s just a wonderful folk song, and should probably remain so. It’s hard to mess with perfection.

Rodrigo Bentancur (Community — 4.0): Got well stuck in during the first half to the point where he was lucky not to get carded. Did well enough, but notable that Tottenham’s spell of dominance didn’t really kick in until after he was subbed off for Bissouma.

Pedro Porro (Community — 3.5): Not as influential going forward as we’ve come to expect but put in a solid defensive shift on Sunday. Flashed a couple of shots (well) over the bar.

Cuti Romero (Community — 3.5): One of the rare games in which he was outshone by his defensive partner, but still a solid enough defensive performance. Subbed off in the second half after picking up a knock, hopefully it’s not serious.

If national anthems are about bringing people of all walks of life and beliefs together for a common cause, then what better to use than one of the most recognizable sports themes of all time? I dumped the NFL for soccer years ago and even now hearing this theme makes me want to stand up and salute. Plus, there aren’t any lyrics so we can all bond as a nation while screaming out BAH-BAH-BAH BAAAAAAAAAAAH (DA DUM, DA DUM) at the top of our lungs.

No players in this category.

Look, it just slaps, okay? Plus, it continues a long tradition of appropriating the best stuff England makes for our own purposes and pretending it was ours all along.

No players in this category, and for that I say Hallelujah!

OK, it’s not exactly inspiring, but it’s still an improvement over what we’ve got now and if nothing else will will lull over-stimulated people into a more pliable and even torpor.

No Tottenham Hotspur players were as bad as white noise, but white noise is still better than “Star-Spangled Banner.”

Tom Carroll Memorial Non-Rating

Archie Gray

Erik Lamela Memorial Shithouse Award

Hoddler-in-chief’s note: Your hoddler-in-chief will be unable to hoddle from Wednesday through Friday this week. But fear not, for there will be a subsitute hoddler-in-chief to carry on the hoddles until my return.

Please be on your best behaviour for your susbstitute hoddler-in-chief.

———-

Welcome to another edition of Trending Up / Trending Down, where we at Hoddle Headquarters take a look at what around Tottenham Hotspur is trending up, and what is trending down.

It’s been a good month or so since the last edition, so now’s the perfect time to check back in on all things trending THFC.

Trending Up

Ben Davies appearances: That’s two off-the-bench appearances in two games for Ben Davies, and he performed admirably in both. First against City, and then a fine display against Aston Villa on Sunday.

And it was Davies’ crucial interception in the second half to set up Dominc Solanke for his brace.

You’ll never see your hoddler-in-chief complaining about seeing Ben Davies on the pitch. Thrilled we got to see him in consecutive games.

The Professional Footballers’ Association also announced yesterday that Davies was elected to the PFA Players’ Board. Nice!

Dejan Kulusevski: I feel like there are two players who are making huge leaps this season. The first is Dejan Kulusevski. I only have the most basic stats to share with you: two goals and five assists across all competitions this year. I’m really liking what I’m seeing from him aside from that though.

Took me a while to appreciate what he brings to the squad. I used to think he’s a bit predictable in the cutting in with his left foot, but his game seems much more varied this year (although he’s still very good also at the left-footed thing).

Pape Matar Sarr: The other player making a big leap this season - Pape Matar Sarr.

The stats don’t seem to do him that much justice. I find him such a creative, forward-thinking player who is very gifted at finding progressive passes to link the midfield and forwards. He was my Man of the Match on Sunday.

Trending Down

Available players: Micky Van de Ven earlier this week. Cristian Romero and Richarlison on Sunday. We’re still waiting for Wilson Odobert to get back to full fitness also. The VDV-Romero double is a huge blow.

Of course we don’t want to see our staring CB pairing out, especially with matches coming in waves during a very difficult month.

Consistent Premier League results: It’s been a good amount of time since we last had our Trending Up/ Trending Down installment. It was September 24 back then, and Spurs had just beaten Brentford 3-1.

Since then it’s been a bit of a roller-coaster in the Premier League. A 3-0 win at United, a 2-3 loss at Brighton, a 4-1 win against West Ham, a 0-1 loss at Palance and a 4-1 win against Villa.

That’s W-L-W-L-W.

Tough to generate upwards momentum in the table like that. Those two losses are so infuriating too. But hey, we’re scoring bags of goals when we win. Just gotta score more of them away.

Fitzie’s Track of the Day: Elected, by Alice Cooper

And now for your links:

Dan KP: Pedro Porro donating wages to aid search for Valencia flood survivors

Alasdair Gold’s talking points from Tottenham’s 4-1 win over Aston Villa

Jose Mourinho pans refereeing after Fenerbahce score dramatic late-game winner

I swear I’ve written this article three times over the past few months, but it’s news again so let’s just do it again, huh? According to Mike McGrath at the Telegraph, Tottenham Hotspur are planning to activate (or potentially already have activated) a clause in Son Heung-Min’s contract that will extend his deal for another year through the 2025-26 season.

As stated, this isn’t exactly new information. There have been suggestions that Spurs were planning to do this as far back as early last summer, since Sonny is technically in the last year of his contract. There were some discussions about a new contract for even longer and bigger wages, but talks kind of sputtered out. This is both a can-down-the-road-kicking and also a buffer so both Spurs and Sonny can decide the best thing for the Tottenham club captain’s long term future.

Like it or not (and no, I do not like it), Son’s career is starting to wind down. I have no doubt he’ll play football well into his 30s, but he will reach the point where he’s no longer able to play consistent football at the highest levels in the club game. It happens to all players. Even Lionel Messi is now in MLS, and it wouldn’t shock me if we see Sonny there eventually too. Or maybe he just decides to hang up his boots, marry some hot Korean model, and start making future Tottenham youth academy players, who knows.

But a future Tottenham Hotspur without Son Heung-Min is coming, and this would give Spurs a little extra time to figure out what’s best for both the player and the club. At minimum we know (or we think we know) that we’ll have at least one more year with Sonny, so we can bank and treasure those memories while we can.

A woman with ruby-red hair is covering Bananarama’s Venus in front of a pillar of flames. There’s a mashup of Miley Cyrus and Oingo Boingo. Fred Armisen is interviewing a lobster in front of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Is this hell?

No! It’s The B-52s - LIVE!

Fitzie’s track of the day, part one: Lava, by The B-52s

Most Halloweens I like to stay home and watch Kill Bill, Vol 1 but this year I decided to do something different. Donning my Grateful Dead t-shirt, I disguised myself best as I could among a throng of people in lobster costumes, discotechque outfits and other ghoulish creatures.

We were all there to see the self-proclaimed “Greatest Party Band in the World” - the B52’s.

I love The B-52’s. Their self-titled album is one of my favourite new-wave records. 6060842, Dance This Mess Around and Rock Lobster are just three absolute bangers on the 1972 album.

Thursday’s nights dance party at The Anthem was a veritable display of the weirdness adoped by The B-52s and their fans. I mean, the giant screen on stage beckoned people to dance unburdened by humility or shame.

How, I say, can anyone have shame enjoying a band whose most iconic tune is titled Rock Lobster, the red-shelled crustacean that has become a de facto symbol of the Georgian troupe.

All this is to say, for all the partying and merriment, the remaining touring members of the band don’t have it anymore. It would be fair to partly blame this on the sound at The Anthem (it’s never been great).

Cindy Wilson sounded more loud than anything, and Fred Schneider seemed behind during at least a couple of songs (most notably during Private Idaho). Kate Pierson is still incredible, though, and she absolutely carried her two original bandmates that night.

This band’s been around forever. Forty-five years! So, of course, you can’t expect them to keep up to Pump or Party Out Of Bounds like they used to. And the sooner you recognised that, the better the concert became.

It was, by far, the strangest concert I’ve ever attended. And I quite enjoyed it. I enjoyed a band and audience that didn’t take themselves too seriously. It was quite fun seeing Pierson wear the lobster claws during the encore.

The B-52s will always be remembered as one of the great acts to come out of the new wave era. And I can’t find a serious challenger to the “Greatest Party Band in the World” claim.

So, of course, The B-52s can dance and dance and Dance This Mess Around. Whilst their quick-stepping foxtrotting days might be behind them, they’re welcome to dance at any speed they like til the lights go off.

Fitzie’s track of the day, part two: Roam, by The B-52s

And now for your links:

Dan KP: Spurs’ depth shines as Tottenham deliver ‘one of best wins’ under Big Ange

The Athletic’s talking points ($$) from Tottenham’s 4-1 win over Villa

Mansfield defeat sixth-tier Curzon Ashton to reach second round of FA Cup

Tottenham Hotspur put together one of their better overall performances of the season on Sunday, roaring back from a 1-0 halftime deficit with four second half goals to defeat Aston Villa 4-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. But that win may have come at a significant cost. Spurs were forced to substitute central defender and team vice captain Cristian Romero with what looked like a foot injury midway through the second half, and impact substitute Richarlison appeared to pull his hamstring after assisting Dominic Solanke’s second goal and had to be likewise pulled.

Utility defender Ben Davies was a capable replacement in central defense for Romero, but Richarlison’s injury felt particularly cruel as he had only recently returned from a separate injury and now potentially faces another spell on the sidelines.

Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou was asked about his team’s injuries in the post match press conference, and while he didn’t have a whole lot of information to share, he did acknowledge that it could put Spurs into a tricky situation heading into next week’s matches against Galatasaray in the Europa League and next weekend’s Premier League fixture against Ipswich Town.

“Richy obviously felt something in the action of setting the goal up, his hamstring, so we’ll see. Romero yeah, it was in that challenge again. He felt his foot was sore. I don’t have any sort of further information. obviously, he’s a pretty tough cookie for him to come off, it must be sore, but yeah, look it’s not ideal. But again it’s another game where we’ve had to reshuffle our back line.

“Radu [Dragusin] has played left centre-back, right centre-back, left centre-back, right-centre-back, Ben Davies has had to come in at different times and Destiny midweek and the boys are handling it really well. As I said it’s not ideal but, hopefully both are not too serious.”

With Micky van de Ven also out with a hamstring strain until after the upcoming international break, Spurs face the prospects of a makeshift back line for the next two matches. It’s ironic as well that a similar string of injuries and suspensions hobbled Tottenham around this time last season. This time, however, Spurs have at least nominal depth, with Radu Dragusin playing well in relief of Van de Ven and Davies showing he can be a serviceable central defender. Archie Gray has also played central defense this season and could slot into the lineup in a pinch, though it’s more likely he’ll be needed at right back in Istanbul this coming Wednesday.

Fans were also edgy after Tottenham’s captain Son Heung-Min, himself back for his first match after missing a couple of weeks with another muscle injury, was subbed off by Postecoglou at the hour mark. The decision turned some heads, but Ange clarified that pulling Sonny early was always the plan as he wanted to manage his minutes upon his return from injury.

“He was never going to play more than that today because,, obviously he had an injury, came back and last time it was around the 60 minute mark where he kind of got fatigued last time. So he was never going to play more than sort of 55/60 minutes irrespective of how the game was going.

“The great thing was that he made a pretty important contribution, before that, the great ball in for our first goal and we got our equaliser. So, you know, again, we got more battles ahead and we’re going to need him. So he was never going to play more than that.

“I didn’t see any difference in Sonny. I’d be surprised if any player likes coming off and they’re feeling all right. But no, no, I didn’t need to discuss it with him. And you know, like I said, for us, what’s more important is the overall picture.”

Tottenham’s players received perhaps a little extra motivation ahead of this match as they played on the birthday of Ugo Ehiogu, the former Tottenham academy coach who passed away after a heart attack in 2017. Ehiogu was a huge influence on that generation of Spurs academy players, some of which are still at the club, and commemorating his life with a win on his birthday was obviously meaningful. Postecoglou noted that assistant coach Matt Wells, who coached the academy alongside Ehiogu, gave a meaningful team talk about Ehiogu’s life and legacy this week.

“I’m really proud of the lads. It was an important day for us today. Because it’s also the birthday of the late Ugo Ehiogu and he had a big influence on Matty Wells here at the club, I know he played for Villa but he was obviously a coach at our football club. Matty spoke really strongly about him. When you hear things like that, and how people affect your life, it helps give clarity to the players about what we’re trying to do here. Obviously for his wife and his son probably a tough day, but hopefully they get a little bit cheer from the fact Wellsy made it a really important point, that he may be gone but he’s not forgotten.”

Spurs will need to wait for more info before they learn how long Richarlison and Romero will remain sidelined, but with the international break coming after this coming week’s fixtures, it’s a timely break that could give both players a chance to rest and heal. Spurs’ next match is Wednesday evening in the Europa League against Galatasaray in Istanbul.