Cartilage Free Captain

Ange Postecoglou showed his cards a bit with a rotated lineup against Manchester City, despite no match over the weekend for Tottenham Hotspur. The manager knows that this season — and potentially his future — rests on the Europa League, where Spurs remain the betting favorites to lift the trophy. However, all cups leave little room for error, and it only takes one bad night for everything to fall apart.

Tottenham absolutely cannot let that happen against AZ Alkmaar in the Round of 16. Spurs are widely expected to advance, but they will head into Thursday’s first leg taking nothing for granted. This is a rematch of a 1-0 League Phase encounter back in October, but the stakes are much higher this time around. The visitors do not need to wrap up the tie in one leg, though heading back to North London with a solid advantage would certainly be welcome.

Round of 16 (1st Leg): AZ Alkmaar vs. Tottenham Hotspur

Date: Thursday, March 6

Time: 12:45 pm ET, 5:45 pm UK

Location: AFAS Stadion, Alkmaar, Netherlands

TV: Paramount+ (USA), TNT Sports 3 (UK)

AZ Alkmaar finished the League Phase in 19th place, posting a 3-2-3 record, including a win over Roma in January. That advancement led to an upset of Galatasaray in the Knockout Playoff, which spared Tottenham from seeing more of Victor Osimhen; the first leg in the Netherlands saw Galatasaray go down to 10 men, and AZ capitalized with a 4-1 win. This was enough to boost them into the Round of 16 and set the stage for another opportunity to play spoiler.

It would be surprising if more than three starters remained the same from when these two teams met in North London. Players like Fraser Forster, Ben Davies, Timo Werner, Mikey Moore, and Richarlison all rotated in as Postecoglou had limited options at the time. Though the performance was not the prettiest, it got the job done, and an xG spread of 1.9 to 0.4 highlighted the gap between Spurs and their opponents, even with the fringe players stepping in.

Thursday could see the return of the two starting center backs and two key strikers, though some of them might only feature in the second leg. Regardless, Spurs have received reinforcements across nearly every other position, and the names on this week’s team sheet should be more than enough to get the desired result. In a perfect world, these returnees would not even be needed for the home leg, but they are expected to be available then if they are not ready this week.

Avoid the pitfalls

The script here is no different than any other Europa League knockout tie. AZ has recently shown an uptick in scoring, but they looked relatively harmless in North London and are only seventh in goals scored in the Eredivisie. Still, this team is obviously capable of putting the ball in the net — six different players scored against Galatasaray, including Troy Parrott (!!) — so Spurs will need to put in a solid defensive performance. Fortunately, there are enough quality pieces at the back to inspire some confidence.

If the defense does its job, Tottenham’s attack only needs a few clinical moments to take control. Even without the potential involvement of Dominic Solanke or Richarlison, there are several viable attacking options. It was great to see Wilson Odobert back in action, and Mathys Tel has been highly motivated to make an impact. These two, along with Moore, could use the next two weeks to prove their worth and secure valuable minutes down the stretch.

With a potential matchup against Ajax or Eintracht Frankfurt on the horizon, and teams like Lazio, Roma, and Manchester United (lol) alive as well, it can be tempting to look ahead with three rounds remaining. However, Galatasaray saw firsthand what happens when an underdog blitzes at home, and Spurs absolutely must avoid this trap. Postecoglou has recognized the weight of this competition and is playing his chips strategically. Starting with Thursday, excellence is a requirement for everyone involved from here on out.

It’s here - it’s the Europa League knockouts!

In honour of the latest stage of the competition, now is as good a time as any to take a quick look (and I mean quick) at some of the leagues across Europe. Be prepared for little-to-no analysis:

Eredivisie: Gotta start here with AZ Alkmarr on tap later today. The AZ squad is currently sixth in the table. If Arsenal can score seven against second-placed PSV, what can Spurs do against AZ?

Belgian Jupiler League: The only league that matters with some of our Belgian boys in it. Unfortunately, Genk is running away with it. The club is currently nine points ahead of second-placed Club Brugge. Jan Vertonghen’s Anderlecht are currently fourth.

Bundesliga: Is Harry Kane on his way to his first league title? It seems so. Kane leads the league with 21 goals so far, and Bayern are eight points ahead of Leverkusen.

La Liga: An interesting title race here with Barcelona, Atletico and Real Madrid separated by three points. If it weren’t for League One and St John’s basketball, this might be the most interesting race in sports so far.

Superliga: A tight race at the top between Copenhagen and Midjylland. Copenhagen defeated their title rivals just a couple weeks ago, giving them the inside track to the title. Certainly they should at least hold the lead after playing Sønderjyske this coming weekend.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Baby Outlaw, by Elle King

And now for your links:

The Athletic ($$): “Mousa Dembele, the Alkmaar years: The one-in-three forward who became a unique midfielder”

Dan KP: “Kevin Danso relishing challenge after Spurs welcome back key duo”

Good news, everyone! Tottenham Hotspur have brought their first team central defense pairing and their first choice striker to the Netherlands for tomorrow’s Europa League match vs. AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands. According to Ange Postecoglu in his pre-match press conference (still going on at the time of this article publishing), the trio of Cuti Romero, Micky van de Ven, and Dominic Solanke have all made the plane and will assumedly be available for selection for the match.

The news isn’t so good for Ben Davies, Dejan Kulusevski, and Richarlison, all of whom have remained in London to train and continue their rehabilitation.

“In terms of haven’t traveled, Deki Kulusevski is the only one. He got a knock on the foot and he’s not sure when really. He’s been able to train and play over the last few weeks. We’ve done some further investigations and no real clarity. Unlikely to be back before the international break, but nothing serious and no surgery or anything. Ben Davies is also back [home] at the training ground with Richarlison.”

As far as injuries go, that wouldn’t be too bad, but keep in mind that this is just a guess from Postecoglou (and he’s been known to lie about injuries in press conferences too).

For Thursday I’d be surprised if any of Romero, Van de Ven, or Solanke start in this match. We really don’t know where they are in their rehabilitation and so all of this is guesswork, but if they are slowly worked into the lineup, it wouldn’t surprise me if one of them plays tomorrow in some capacity and the other against Bournemouth, if only so Spurs don’t have to make two CB substitutions in one match. Having a rotation of Romero, Van de Ven, Danso, and Archie Gray for three games seems pretty doable, even if it likely means Cuti and Mickey don’t initially start together. It’s about freshness and match minutes in the legs at this point, and there are plenty of games to play.

At any rate, Spurs should be able to put together a pretty strong lineup tomorrow in the Netherlands, and have the horses on the bench to make impact subs as well. Should be fun.

Dear hodddlers, we’ve gone through a lot these past few weeks. I must thank you all for your patience and understanding as I go through but a small portion of Queen’s discography. We began with the mystic My Fairy King to the overlooked Brian May tune Long Away, Freddie Mercury’s farewell The Show Must Go On and their bombastic Seven Seas of Rhye.

Today we wrap it all up with your hoddler-in-chief’s favourite Queen songs.

There would be no Track of the Day without Queen. This hoddle format would not exist were it not for Queen. No other musical artist shaped me like Queen did. Queen was my awakening to what the world could sound like. John Deacon is my favourite bass player. Brian May is my favourite guitarist. Freddie Mercury is my favourite vocalist. Roger Taylor is my second-favourite drummer (behind Tommy Ramone).

And so as we conclude the end of our brief journey through Queen’s discography, I want to share with you my favourite Queen songs of all time.

Enjoy your hump day all, and Keep Yourself Alive !

Impossible to rank. Bohemian Rhapsody

Where can I put this song? Anything other than #1 feels ridiculous. Is it my favourite Queen song? I’m not sure. It’s their greatest. It’s a monolith, really. Truth is I’ve spoilt it for myself to the point where I can listen to it but only a couple times a year. Bohemian Rhapsody is its own category.

But where do the rest of my favourite Queen songs rank? Let’s take a look ...

#20-11: Radio Gaga, Liar, Who Wants to Live Forever, Don’t Stop Me Now, All Dead All Dead, Fat Bottomed Girls, I Want To Break Free, The Millionaire Waltz, Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy, Love of My Life

The first of three songs with “Queen” in the title. This is the first, setting up for a bonkers Side Two on Queen’s second album. Oddly enough this one was written by Brian May.

My favourite song from Queen after News of the World. There’s the more disco-centric/anthemic Queen, and the more hard rock. This falls closer to the hard rock version. I love it.

A few hoddlers mentioned this Brian May song when I featured Long Away a couple weeks ago. I said it in the comments: 39 is much better. What I enjoy most is how John Deacon’s double bass carries it.

What more can I say after last week’s TOTD?

John Deacon’s finest song. And done in a gorgeous ballad that became one of Freddie Mercury’s best vocal performances.

One of two songs from A Day at the Races, but this is the hard-rocking song that instantly hooked me more than a decade ago. It’s also the song that I used to turn fitzie sr onto Queen.

A tour de force of a song, using the collective strength of three incrediblly strong singers to deliver something superb.

The penultimate song on News of the World, and the band’s strongest song from that record. This song is sort of split into three different parts blended very well by Brian May and Roger Taylor. It’s quintessential Queen and essential listening.

This song is absolutely bonkers and sets itself up as the perfect “little sister” to Bohemian Rhapsody. The lyrics are astonishinghly mesmerising:

Here comes the Black Queen poking in the pile

Fi fo the Black Queen marching single file

Take this take that bring them down to size

March to the Black Queen

There is so much to uncover with this song. Too much to break down in this post. But it’s incredible. Chaotic good. Chaotic evil. This is the song that showed us what Queen could be. Two records later, they delivered BoRap.

Lucious, grandiose and in-your-face. That’s who Queen are. What other song encapsulates that better than Killer Queen? References to a top-shelf liquer and deceased French monarch open the lyrics to this glamourous 70s tune.

It’s also something that my favourite song from Queen features some of the most understated work from all four members. This song is so tight. It never gets old.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Killer Queen, by Queen

And now for your links:

Football London: “Ange Postecoglou granted new Mathys Tel opportunity to enhance future Tottenham plans”

Dan KP: “Ange Postecoglou facing big Tottenham selection decisions as injured players return”

The Athletic ($$): “Is it time to bring the Premier League and English Football League back together?”

Tottenham Hotspur have fresh injury concerns today after Sami Mokbel reported in the Daily Mail that Dejan Kulusevski has picked up a foot injury in training and will be out for an indeterminate period of time.

Deki posted a photograph on Instagram of him wearing a protective boot, and Mokbel writes that while the full extent of the injury won’t be known until at least tomorrow, Kulusevski will be sidelined for at minimum Thursday’s Europa League first leg match against AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands, and the weekend match against Bournemouth.

This is, obviously, not great news, but it’s ameliorated a bit by the fact that Spurs are set to have Cuti Romero, Micky van de Ven, Richarlison, and Dominic Solanke back as soon as the AZ match or in the near future. And honestly, I’m a little surprised that Deki hasn’t broken down a bit sooner — he’s got a lot of miles on the tires already this season, and maybe it was too much to ask to have him skate through fortunately like Pedro Porro.

In truth though, if we were going to lose Deki for a period of big matches, this might be about the best time to do it. Brennan Johnson is likely Deki’s replacement in the side, and Johnson’s directness and back post runs might actually be a better fit against AZ than Deki’s close control in and around the box. Not that I’m happy he’s not available, but with Spurs edging closer to full fitness it’s not as dire an injury as it would’ve been, say, a month ago.

It’s also possible that Deki will be out longer than just two games; that protective boot isn’t a good look, but we won’t know anything until the physios have a chance to evaluate him.

On Monday we took a look at the Championship. Who will join Tottenham in the Premier League next year? That remains to be seen. But what about two years? LONGER????

Such questions demand us sending our attention towards the next three levels of the English football pyramid. And I would be negligent in my duties as hoddler-in-chief if I did not deliver the latest and greatest most mediocre update to the hoddle on what’s going on. With that, let’s go.

EFL League One:

What the heck is going on Leyton Orient? The last we checked you were flying high in the league with Jamie Donley and Josh Keeley tearing it up. They’ve lost three straight and now sit outside the playoffs. But this might be the most exciting league in the pyramid currently with three clubs within a shout at the second automatic place. Keep tabs on this race!

EFL League One:

Top six:

Bottom four:

EFL League Two:

Poor Morecambe. They have had such a rough time in the last year or so with their ownership structure and I am seriously concerned about the future of this club. I don’t know what relegation would bring to them. I hope I don’t have to find out.

Top seven:

Bottom two:

National League:

The race for the lone automatic spot is a little tighter today than it was a couple years ago but the picture hasn’t changed too much with Barnet still at the top of the table. Your hoddler-in-chief’s former ‘local club’ was indeed Barnet FC and of course he remains quite fond of it (even though he never attended a game).

Top two:

Fitzie’s track of the day: Compositional Theme Story, by Charles Mingus

And now for your links:

The Athletic ($$): “Spurs loanee Jamie Donley is thriving at Leyton Orient: ‘He sees things quickly, so he wants to play quickly’”

Dan KP: “Ange Postecoglou facing big Tottenham selection decisions as injured players return”

Alasdair Gold: “Cristian Romero and the Argentina decision that will feel familiar at Tottenham”

Vice (from 2017): “Meet One of the Last Shrimp Trawlers in Morecambe Bay”

Timo Werner. We all know the situation around him this season — he’s here on loan but hasn’t exactly been setting the world on fire with his performances and has found him sliding down the pecking order at Spurs to the point where he’s basically a late impact sub or deep rotation option.

The writing’s been pretty much on the wall about Timo’s future since Ange Postecoglou criticized his work ethic in a press conference a couple of months ago. So we should not be at all surprised that we’re now getting reports suggesting that Tottenham will not be triggering his purchase option this summer, and that he’ll return to RB Leipzig at the conclusion of his loan.

That’s the story from the Mirror (lol, yes I know) anyway, which pretty much says exactly that. Now, we don’t usually use the Mirror as a primary source at Carty Free Towers for a pretty good reason — they’re generally unreliable. In this case, however, I think it’s safe to say the Mirror’s reading the tea leaves, which coincidentally are artfully arranged to spell out the words “TIMO IS NOT STAYING”. Doesn’t take a genius to figure that out, frankly.

I like Timo. I think he’s a swell dude and a good teammate, but Tottenham need players that Ange Postecoglou can regularly rely upon, and this season Timo has proven that he’s not that guy. Timo’s Leipzig contract expires next summer (2026) and there are reports that clubs in MLS could be interested in bringing him in, but that depends on whether he wants to stay in Europe or seek a new challenge.

Not signing Timo means more opportunities for Wilson Odobert, and also potentially opens a slot for someone like Yang Min-hyeok, Jamie Donley, Alfie Devine, or someone completely new and different. After this season, “new and different” sounds pretty okay to me.

Cuti Romero hasn’t played a match for Tottenham Hotspur since the home loss for Chelsea in early December, and has been slowly rehabilitating an injured foot since that time. We are still waiting for his return to Tottenham’s first team squad, though he was apparently photographed in full team training, which was posted on Tottenham’s social media channels this morning.

That said, to absolutely nobody’s surprise, Romero was named to Argentina’s preliminary squad ahead of the upcoming international break, which starts the week of March 16. Argentina are playing two World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay on March 21 and at arch-rivals Brazil on March 25.

This is annoying, certainly. Both Romero and Giovani Lo Celso when he was still at Spurs seemed to always be willing to come back from injury to play for their national team, sometimes to their detriment. While I’m too lazy to look up the details, I can certainly remember them pushing to recover in time for international matches half a world away, only to pick up another knock or an injury while playing for Argentina causing them to lose even more time for Tottenham.

That said, this really does feel like one of those unfortunate coincidences. The good news this time is that Tottenham have a few matches upcoming BEFORE everyone disperses for the international break, including both legs of the Europa League Round of 16 against AZ Alkmaar, and Premier League games against Bournemouth and at Fulham. If Romero is available to play in a few of those matches, I’ll feel a little better about him jetting across the Atlantic during the break, since he could potentially use those games to increase his fitness. And there’s always the chance that he doesn’t make Argentina’s final squad for the break, though that feels unlikely.

Just as long as he doesn’t pick up another stupid injury.

Welcome to the latest edition of the EFL Championship Roundup, where hoddle headquarters takes a look at what’s going on in the second tier of the English football pyramid.

This time, we’ll be looking at the race for the playoffs. There are only 11-12 games left to play and a few teams are still jockeying for position. I see a smaller pool of candidates this year with #1-4 out of reach. There are also a lot of bad teams in the table this year.

So how many clubs are competing for the final two playoff spots? I count seven.

The inside track: Coventry (53 Pts), West Brom (52 Pts)

The two clubs which currently occupy the final two spots. First is Coventry, who have had a remarkable turnaround since Frank Lampard took over the club at the end of November. They’ve been one of the hottest clubs since January as well, going 8-2-1. One thing going in their favour: Josh Maja, who is third in the golden boot race with 12 goals.

And then there’s West Brom, who’ve seemed a bit wobbly since manager Carlos Cobreran left the club on 24 December. They’ve also got the most draws in the Championship at 16 (!).

Outside looking in: Blackburn (52 Pts), Middlesbrough (50 Pts)

This is becoming a familiar scene for Blackburn: Start strong and fade towards the end. They’re 4-6-2 in 2025 with a few bad losses against Oxford United, Swansea and QPR. They’ve been without last year’s star striker Sammie Szmodics, and it shows. Adreas Weimann currently leads their goal tally with six.

Boro are also in it, but I’m less convinced and don’t think they’ve been a serious playoff contender this entire season.

Also hanging around: Bristol City (49 Pts), Watford (49 Pts), Norwich City (48 Pts)

Four or five points adrift of sixth isn’t insurmountable, but I feel like it may as well be for these wildly inconsistent clubs. None are particularly inspiring and I can’t see them making a run.

Would it matter anyways? I guess any club that makes the playoffs has a chance at promotion (it’s only three wins, after all), but this year it really feels like it’ll come down to whichever of Leeds, Sheffield United, Burnley or Sunderland fail to obtain the automatic spots.

Top six:

Bottom three:

Fitzie’s track of the day: Funky But Chic, by David Johansen

And now for your links:

BBC: “Dele makes first squad in two years as Como lose at Roma”

The Athletic ($$): “How Tottenham became the biggest Premier League club on TikTok”

Dan KP: “Kevin Danso reveals rugby offers as new Tottenham hero reflects on start”

Tottenham Hotspur’s men’s team has the weekend off as it’s an FA Cup weekend. That’s good for them as it gives them more time to rest, recuperate, and prepare for the midweek tie at AZ Alkmaar in the Europa Leauge.

But that’s not to say that there isn’t a Tottenham Hotspur team playing football today. Spurs Women are in action at home vs. Bunny Shaw and Manchester City, hoping to snap a three match losing streak against one of the best teams in the league. It’ll be a tough challenge. But surprises happen every day, that’s why you play the matches.

This is your open thread.

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