good morning everyone!
Welcome to another edition of Trending Up / Trending Down, where we at Hoddle Headquarters investigate what around Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is trending up, and what is trending down.
Let’s get to it:
Trending Up:
Tottenham Hotspur women
What a couple of weeks for the women’s squad! First, a historic FA Cup win against Manchester City. And they backed that up a week later with a win agains Leicester. There are six matches to go this season and Spurs are already four points better off than they were at the end of last season.
And the FA Cup semifinal will be played at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Nice.
Tottenham with Micky van de Ven
This is a different team with Micky van de Ven in the squad.
Of the 18 Premier League matches in which he’s participated in, Spurs have only lost two.
He also set a new Premier League record for fastest-speed recorded during Tottenham’s match against Brentford. Spurs need him and those quick legs of his on the pitch.
Trending Down:
Tottenham without Micky van de Ven
Now, without van de Ven? After Saturday’s loss, I believe they’ve lost 5 of 10. That’s not to pin any blame on Radu Dragusin, who seemed okay.
It’s more of a, “Tottenham Hotspur can afford to lose just about any player, but please don’t let that player be van de Ven.”
Yves Bissouma
A rough couple of days (weeks? months?) for Yve Bissouma. I’m not quite sure what’s become of him lately. But I think I join others in thinking it could do him and the squad a little bit of good if he’s on the bench when Spurs return from international break.
Fitzie’s track of the day: Magic, by Jordan Mackampa
And now for your links:
Alasdair Gold’s latest Tottenham loanee roundup with Djed Spence and more
Charlie Eccleshare ($$): How Spurs went from best to worst performance within a week
Long read: ESPN with a deep dive on USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter
Legislation for independent football regulator in UK introduced