Nice one, Pedro!
Ps. When is the Asian Cup over, again?
As our 3rd round FA Cup match with Burnley progressed (regressed?) scorelessly into the late stages of the second half, I had an inner monologue as to whom I would name the Upstate Spurs Man of the Match:
Who should it be? Brennan Johnson? He’s found joy down the left but not much came of it…Bentancur? It’s great to have him back but he’s only had so much control of the match as a 6… Richarlison looks out of sync…Vicario hasn’t had to do a lot… Should I be saucy and pick Emerson, if only because I didn’t want him to start at CB and he’s made some key interceptions…Hmm, it hasn’t necessarily been a standout game for Pedro Porro but he’s a baller…let’s see, maybe OH MY GOD YES PORRO IT’S YOU PORRO IT’S YOU IT’S ALWAYS BEEN YOU!!!
As we often do, we started the match strongly, drawing triangles in and out of the opposition’s box. Johnson had a slew of touches in the Burnley end while playing on the left in our captain’s absence, but aside from a fine curling effort he attempted in the first half and a volleyed attempt at second, the end product was lacking. Richarlison came into the match in form but looked like he did before his groin surgery. With our no. 9 out of step, Deki and Gio had trouble connecting the dots. Far too many crosses landed in the hands of the Burnley keeper (who almost earned MOTM honors himself when he raced up for a corner in the game’s final moments and headed a ball down to an unmarked teammate in the box for an almost-assist).
As has become habit, after our promising start, we let the other team back into the match, and Burnley had the best scoring chance of the first half. Ange has revolutionized this team in year 1 A.H., but take our captain and leading scorer, out of the lineup due to international duty in the Asian Cup, and we look like a decent team that’s missing a generational attacker or two. Starting Skipp as the 8 and Bentancur as the 6 seemed backward, and even with Bentancur and Lo Celso, we missed Sarr’s box-to-box dynamism looked to be destined to headed to a replay at Turf Moor until our starting right back—the league’s best right back?—took an opportune moment to score his first goal of the season.
What. a. strike. I haven’t like that after a goal since Kane’s stunner v. Crystal Palalce.
Old Trafford awaits, and our skipper will have some choices to make as we resume play in the Premiership next weekend—especially if Ben Davies has done his hamstring now?? I missed how this happened and I don’t think anybody knew about it until Ange mentioned it after the match…but isn’t it just our luck that we lose Davies just as his story arc has taken him to a string of surprising, season-saving performances as a straight-up CB. Hopefully, Mickey vdV will be ready to start next week…but we’re just not allowed to have depth, are we?
It was good to see Ange give minutes to Jamie Donley, Dane Scarlett, and what’s this…? Ryan Sessegnon entering a Tottenham match?? There’ve been times I’ve forgotten Sess was still on the squad, such has been his bad luck with fitness, and he did seem like a fish who’s just returned from a desert. Does he have a future with the club? Vicario was seen giving him a stern lecture at the match’s conclusion—and sending away players looking for post-match handshakes as he did. Their interaction had more of a “teaching moment” feel than the dust-up between our former captain and our current one back in 2020, and hopefully we may witness a future moment in which our keeper commends Sess for a job well done.
The USMOTM and winner of the First Annual Stephen Carr Award: Pedro Porro, my right back. I feel a special affinity for the Spaniard because my son was a training player with our local Travel team this past fall, working out primarily as a RB, and he was selected for the squad at the end ‘23, so part of me sees our RB in the #23 kit as somewhat of a personal talisman. Also, because he is awesome and scored a screamer that sent us into the 4th Round of the FA Cup. Oh, and because he dedicated his match winner to…
Spur of the Moment: Harry Pitman, the 16-year-old Spurs fan who was fatally stabbed on New Year’s Eve. Ange Postecoglou joined the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium crowd in an ovation for Harry in the match’s 16th minute. Young Harry, taken from this world far too young, had a good head of red hair…stick a Van Dyke on him, and that’s what I looked like for much of the ‘90s. I send so much sympathy to his family, and to all the families of children who are the victims of violence. It’s a heart-wrenching story and nothing on or off the pitch can remotely make up for what he and his family have lost. But my hope is they can take even the smallest bit of comfort in the fact that, for one minute, he was the center of the universe for the club he loved, and while he has been taken from his family, that one minute—and every minute of his life—stand recorded in the annals that record us all.
A look forward: The club are talking to Genoa for Radu Dragusin. While those negotiations enter the “Just get it done, Levy!” stage, out of the blue came the reports that we’d acquired Timo Werner on loan from Red Bull Leipzig with an option to buy for a modest fee. Maybe not the dribbly winger some of us wanted, and he’s not a exactly a goal machine, but if we have two speedy wingers in the team and Ange wants both of them, then hello, Timo! Meanwhile, Eric Dier is rumored to be on his way to…join Harry Kane at Bayern Munich? If you saw that coming, you should just take over this newsletter for me. I’ve got no time for Dier haters, though. He’s past his prime, no doubt, but he can’t help that, and I daresay he’s never been the same since his appendectomy in the 2018-19 season. But many people seem to forget he was a key figure in that Peak Poch XI as a hybrid CB/DM. If he joins up with our greatest player from the past half-century, best of luck to them both!