good morning!
I’m introducing a new feature to the hoddle today. Welcome to “Trending Up / Trending Down”
The idea’s kinda simple in that it takes an overall look at how players are performing on a week-to-week level, how they’re getting on with the system and more. Think of it as a less in-depth power rankings.
This won’t be a weekly thing. Maybe every couple or so – we’ll see!
And it won’t just apply to players! While they aren’t featured in today’s inaugural post, coaches and front-office staff can also appear.
So let’s get started —
Trending up
Pape Matar Sarr: A first goal in Lillywhite for Sarr! What a performance from a player who was absolutely everywhere on the pitch. The midfield three of Sarr-Maddison-Bissouma is very intriguing, even if it boxes out fitzie’s beloved Oliver Skipp.
Destiny Udogie: Equally impressive was Udogie, who’s showing much of the promise we saw as we monitored Udinese last season. He played with such a fearless spirit the entire game against United. This is the player we’ve been waiting for!
Ticket prices: Tottenham fans rallied before the game to protest against the club’s rising ticket costs.
A piece from The Athletic ($$) saw that match-day ticket prices increasing by £17 for the premier home matches this season adn £3-£15 for the others. Bumping up other clubs into Category A and B – while leaving fewer Category C matches – will also cause a drain on match-day supporters who can’t afford a ticket.
Tottenham like to point out they froze season-ticket costs for the 2023-24 season, but it still impacts only a fraction of the fans in attendance on match days.
Yves Bissouma: Back-to-back POTM awards speak for themselves.
Trending down
Eric Dier: We got a post up about his potential departure yesterday, but I’d be remiss to not include Dier. Up until this point, he seemed to be in favour with every manager since the Mauricio Pochettino eras. He’s now missed the squad in two successive matches. Not looking good for our boy.
Djed Spence: You know things are bad when it’s reported that a player has “absolutely failed to impress” Ange Postecoglou. It’s been a disastrous spell for Spence here. A shame, as I thought he could be an interesting future player for Spurs. But it appears he’s not rated at all. At the moment there’s at least a few players ahead of him.
His future definitely will not be at Tottenham (unless they fail to sell or loan him out).
Richarlison: There were some good things to like about Richarlison’s performance on Saturday, but he was hardly ever in a position to score. And when you’re in the No. 9 role, that’s a big part of the job. It was easy to see the frustration with Richarlison when he was subbed off.
It’s a hard ask to replace Harry Kane. Richarlison believes his goal drought will end soon. So, too, will I then.
Fitzie’s track of the day: All My Dreams, by The Heavy Heavy
And now for your links:
Dan KP: Ange Postecoglou offers hope as Spurs fans protest against THFC board
Alasdair Gold with the latest on how the transfer window’s looking
The Athletic ($$) with a long read on Manchester United’s “U-turn” with Mason Greenwood (potential trigger warning)
