I don't usually write up post match thoughts like this, but we're now at an interesting point of the season as Spurs picked up 3 points against a dogged Leicester City side over the weekend, which saw the return of club icon Ashleigh Neville - who ended up scoring the crucial own goal to give Spurs the win. We're also still not even halfway through the winter transfer window (at the time of writing) and Spurs have certainly been busy in the past 2 months, doing a lot of business before the window even opened, with 5 new faces walking through the door at Hotspur Way. Signe Gaupset (who I'll talk about more later) was announced back in November for a club record fee from SK Brann in Norway. Then Hanna Wijk and Matilda Nilden were signed at the tail end of December, both from BK Hacken in Sweden. Finally, Maika Hamano's loan was announced at the start of the month as she'll finish the season with Spurs before going back to Chelsea in June, and Julie Blakstad was announced shortly after Hamano joining The Lilywhites from Hammarby.
All of the new signings, with the exception of Blakstad, were named in the matchday squad against Leicester, with Gaupset starting as the LW/left-sided number 10 in a 4231. The Norwegian starlet immediately showed her ball carrying prowess as she looked equally comfortable staying narrow to drive into central areas, while also looking dangerous slightly wider where she could also run onto balls in behind. Gaupset formed an attacking midfield trio with Olivia Holdt as the central 10 and Matilda Vinberg as the right-sided mdifielder. The 3 of them gave Spurs' midfield pivots of Eveliina Summanen & Drew Spence decent options to play line-breaking passes into, as Holdt in particular would call for the ball in central areas and look to turn her opponent, carry the ball into space or quickly release the ball to a teammate in space. Progression into the opposition half and, by extension, getting the ball consistently into the final 3rd has been an area that Spurs really need to level up to cement a place around the European spots (if you'd have told me that I'd be thinking like this at the start of the season, I'd have thought you were bonkers), and it looks like this is something that is coming along fairly well.
The first half was really impressive on the ball from Spurs, with Gaupset in particular looking like a real ceiling-raiser for this team. As the game wore on, when Spurs were off the ball they did get stretched at times when Leicester had the ball as with some quick passes, and some general sloppy play Leicester did end up creating more shots before the 83rd minute (when Spurs had a late flurry of shots as they got some control back). There has always been a worry that with Spurs looking to play more expansive football in recent seasons (even if it failed pretty miserably last season) that the high defensive line they use could be exploited by pacy forwards, and in Leicester's case, flying wing-back Sarah Mayling was able to get in behind the back line and create dangerous chances. Even though Spurs didn't get burned against Leicester, it's something that other teams have looked to use against them and will continue to do so. Spurs' wide areas will also need tightening up defensively as the season goes on, as Amanda Nilden has done fairly well this season on both sides of the ball for the most part but, since she has a green light to bomb forward, Spurs can be left open in transition moments when she's out of the defensive line. That said, Martin Ho seems a fairly adaptable manager so far so I'm not too worried that this will be a persistent issue and he should be able to find a competent workaround.
I'm curious to see how new full-back Hanna Wijk settles in as the season goes on as upping the offensive balance on that right flank will add a new dimension to this Spurs team. In the first half of the season this has probably been one of the weaker areas of Spurs' attacking capabilities. Jess Naz suited the right wing fairly well in front of the right-back but she generally suits the left flank more (get well soon, Jess), Olivia Holdt is so much more dangerous as a 10 in central areas and Olga Ahtinen was used as a false rw almost right at the start of the season where she could be more of a 10 on the ball. Now Matilda Vinberg seems to be favoured there which seems to suit her fairly well after mostly being played as a tricky LW that can carry the ball confidently, but now the angles are beneficial for her to get into more central areas where she can play look to play the final pass (something that I think she will keep improving on). Going back to Wijk, from what I've read she's not the most attack-driven full-back which isn't the end of the world but it does put more emphasis on Vinberg and Holdt (drifting over from the centre) to create in those wide right areas. Charli Grant and, when she returns, Ella Morris are more adventurous, right-sided full-backs that could add a good balance when both return to the squad (Morris will likely be next season).
To wrap up, I want to look at the midfield pivots. Eveliina Summanen and Drew Spence have both been crucial for Spurs this season on the ball in build-up and they've both been part of Spurs' attacking threat with Summanen bagging 2 goals and 1 assist and Spence has an assist which was to Olivia Holdt to complete the comeback win against Aston Villa in December. They're both excellent players which has seen Martin Ho put his faith in them from the start of the season, and they've partnered each other in every game, other than the one game Drew Spence missed against Chelsea even when Olga Ahtinen and Maite Oroz were match fit.
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| The two midfielders compliment each other well with both ranking well for defensive actions (data from FBRef and chart from FBCharts) |
The midfield profile(s) that I do think that Spurs need is someone that can back up Eveliina Summanen from the bench but to have a near total emphasis on shielding the back 4 as it's still been too common for Spurs to get overrun in transition, and even in non-transitional moments, as that is one area where neither Summanen or Spence excel. The other thing you might notice from that graph is that neither of them rank especially highly for successful take-ons or progressive carries. It'd be a bonus to get a mobile player that could play in that pivot and be press-resistant with their carries as well as their passing. That player would be something of a unicorn if they really do exist. With Maite Oroz out until next season at least and with Olga Ahtinen suiting Spence's role of playing slightly higher on the midfield axis, I hope it's an area that Spurs at least keep an eye out/have players in mind for.
Thanks for reading.
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