Spurs Women: Disappointing North London Derby but redemption in the Cup
Once again another late Spurs Women blog update and another TOUGH one to write about, though at least one victory to talk about which I’ll come on to later on.
The WSL North London Derby took place on Saturday 16th November with many fans not feeling confident that The Lilywhites could get another win over their bitter rivals like in the previous season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and also that they’ve had heavy losses to top table WSL sides.
Manager Robert Vilahamn opted for a different formation this time compared with the way he set his side up against Manchester City. The Swede decided to play a 5–4–1 and play more defensive against an Arsenal side that are known for playing attacking football.
Prior to the fixture, Arsenal were on a high after thrashing Brighton 5–0 and Juventus 4–0 in the Champions League respectively.
We saw Hayley Raso back from injury, she had been severely missed for the N17 side, regular players such as Molly Bartrip moved back into defence, and Jess Naz who partnered with Drew Spence upfront against City moved to the wing.
It took the away side just seventy seconds to score. Mariona Caldentey played a through ball to England international Alessia Russo who slotted past Becky Spencer’s right hand corner to make it 1–0. In the previous game against City, it took Spurs less than a minute to concede, Khadija “Bunny” Shaw being a menace all game and scoring a hat-trick for The Citizens.
The home side got a real sense of Déjà vu from the City game as Arsenal doubled their lead in the twenty second minute. Kim Little found Frida Maanum in Tottenham’s box, the former Linköping player similar to Russo, drilled a low shot past Becky Spencer.
I don’t remember many opportunities for Spurs on the attack (they lacked a lot of attacking creativity!) but one standout was from Beth England before half-time. Drew Spence took the ball off Kim Little and made a darting run and found Beth England to her right. The thirty year old striker fired from just outside of Arsenal’s box, keeper Daphne van Domselaar parried her effort to safety.
Arsenal’s dominance continued in the second half and they tripled their lead in the sixty sixth minute. Mariona Caldentey played a well-timed through ball to Stina Blackstenius who calmly slotted past Becky Spencer. The Lilywhites’ defence continually left gaps in the game and were exposed on so many occasions, they were lucky it was just 3–0 especially with the likes of Russo, Maanum and Caldentey causing the home side issues.
Robert Vilahamn mentioned after the game:
“Tough results, tough to not make our fans happy and proud of us. I feel like it’s a tough loss. Tough start of the game, we don’t really make ourselves in the right position to get the game going. We have a few chances in the first half to get ourselves back in the game. Beth didn’t have a good finish as well, but the first half is disappointing in one where we defend a lot and we don’t really nail that. Second half is actually so much better, I think the players showed attitude that fans want and we felt that we actually tried to get back in the game with the fans. A little bit unlucky when you’ve got to change formation and they score a goal exactly like that moment, but after that I’m quite actually proud of the players because after that they try to press high, they try to go for it and the fans come with us in that journey in the last twenty five minutes or so and if you look at that, that’s actually really good character and I hope the fans can see that, but obviously it’s very tough to make them disappointed today.”
I personally find Vilahamn a bit of a ‘happy-clapper’ some may think that’s harsh and I am not calling for him to be sacked or anything like that, however, for a North London Derby there was little fight, the defence looked like headless chickens and as previously mentioned gave too much space for the opposition when they were going on the attack. It’s interesting that the team were positioned with five at the back but this clearly didn’t work. I wonder if Robert will return to his more favourable 4–2–3–1 formation that we’ve seen him use so far this season.
The N17 side currently sit in seventh place on seven points and are just two points behind the bottom three teams (Leicester City, West Ham United and Crystal Palace. The Lilywhites face Everton at Brisbane Road on the 8th of December, this a huge game with The Toffees currently sitting in 9th place and just one point behind Spurs, a real six pointer! The last time both sides met at Brisbane Road was in early November last year and finished 1–1, Grace Clinton scored on the stroke of half-time, however, Aurora Galli scored from the penalty spot in the 85th minute. A frustrating game for Spurs who dominated and had twenty shots compared with only two efforts on target from the blue side of Liverpool. Let’s hope it’s a Lilywhite win! 🤞🏻
Spurs: Spencer, Neville, Buhler, Hunt (Ahtinen 68), Nilden, Bartrip, Summanen, Spence (Thomas 79), Raso (Vinberg 85), Naz (Gunning-Williams 85), England ©. Substitutes (not used): Heeps, Grant, Morris, James-Turner, Csiki.
Attendance: 28,852.
From doom and gloom in the league to making it two wins in two in the Women’s League Cup Group Stage, Spurs Women were victorious last Saturday at home against Aston Villa.
The Lilywhites had faced the Birmingham side in the league back in late September and drew 2–2 with Beth England grabbing a last minute winner.
Spurs manager Robert Vilahamn this time went back to his 4–2–3–1 formation and made a handful of changes, standouts included Eleanor Heeps between the sticks, Amy James-Turner featured in the back four and Anna Csiki in midfield.
Throughout the game Spurs had many chances, they had a total of eighteen shots, eight on target. Opportunities included an acrobatic attempt from Beth England who connected with Hayley Rasso’s cross from the right hand-side. However her effort was denied by Sabrina D’Angelo in the Villa goal. Martha Thomas also tested the Canadian keeper earlier on. The away side also had opportunities including Ebony Salmon finding space in the Spurs’ box, however she fired her effort over, in addition, Adriana Leon’s tap in was ruled out for offside.
The main talking point of the game was Eveliina Summanen’s 40 yard goal in the sixtieth minute. The Finnish international’s effort sailed into the top right hand corner and definitely up there with one of Spurs’ top goals of the season so far.
After that Spurs had a few good chances including a couple of efforts from Hayley Rasso and Beth England who were both denied by D’Angelo in the Villa goal.
Tottenham are currently top in the Women’s League Cup in Group E. They travel South of the River on the 11th of December and face Crystal Palace in the next Group E fixture. The Lilywhites played The Eagles in the WSL season opener and won 4–0, players such as Raso were key standouts in the game, now she’s back fit, she’ll be one player in particular that will continue to cause Palace problems.
Let’s hope it’s another entertaining one! COYS!
Spurs: Heeps, Morris, Bartrip, James-Turner, Nilden, Summanen, Csiki, Naz (Vinberg 81), Thomas, Raso (Neville 89), England ©. Substitutes (not used): Spencer, Talbert, Grant, Hunt, Wang, Dennis, Gunning-Williams.
Attendance: 820
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