A roundup of the past week for Spurs as the season begins to take shape
A much changed side got the better of Doncaster on Wednesday evening but a weak performance against Wolves raises questions about the squad selection and fatigue this early in the season.
Petering Out
I think it was clear as soon as Jay McGrath put the ball into his own net to double Tottenham's lead within in 20 minutes that the home side would be going through to the next round of the Carabao Cup. A very low attendance of 42,000 watched the next 70ish minutes of pretty dull passing around pretty much knowing their teams fate.
Despite this, cup football is the chance for rotation and we did see that on Wednesday. I personally enjoyed watching Gray play in his actual position after the initial worry that he had been moved back into defence.
It was nice to see Kinsky play and he proved himself with a very strong save in the first half. I think the jury is still out on Tel, it would be foolish to not recognise his excellent movement and work rate but the finishing touch is just not there.
Brennan Johnson on the other hand, gives the team what Tel hasn't yet shown, as he slotted away a third goal in stoppage time. Meanwhile Palhinha has already fallen into the category of loan players that I have fallen in love with, after a smart overhead kick opened the scoring.
Also a special shout out to Luca Williams Barnett, the 900th player to represent this wonderful club, very fitting that its a youth product.
St James' Park Curse
The next round faces a trip to Newcastle in the week. Aren't we lucky? Of course, Spurs haven't had the best record in the northeast recently but for some reason I'm holding some optimism. Frank still hasn't got the best out of this Spurs side and there is no reason why we can't build and go on to win the competition... as long as we don't get Chelsea...
One Point Gained, Not Two Points Dropped
That's what it felt like once the final whistle blew to end Spurs' lacklustre evening performance against Wolves. We seem to have such a psychic fanbase as almost every fan appeared to be more nervous in the leadup to this game, rather than any of the other tests this season, mainly due to the visitors' awful start to the season.
Questions were raised when the team were selected as I, as well as many, were baffled with the decision to put Xavi Simons back out wide after showing what he is capable of in the middle against Brighton.
I also wondered what Sarr had done to have been left out of the last two league games as opposed to Bentancur, who has had similar amounts of minutes without performing as well.
any game that doesn’t have Pape Sarr starting in it, i just assume we lose.
— Guswira (@Sergus31) September 27, 2025
It seemed like a positive first half with Kudus seemingly running the show and perhaps we should have been more clinical, but as half time drew to a close, I felt quite confident that the game would be wrapped up by the 75th minute. I thought wrong and obviously forgot, who I had supported my whole life as Bueno's opening goal took me back to corner calamities from the season before. The second half was pathetic, to be frank and when Palhinha placed his stoppage time finish into the bottom corner I thought we were very lucky to have not been beaten. Serious shout out to Palhinha, who did have his critics when he first joined. I think his football has silenced those doubts. These sorts of games show just how important someone like Maddison or Kulusevski is, they're missed when a pretty dull game needs a spark. Their return will be a breath of fresh air.
Tired Already?
It seemed as the game continued, some of our players needed a rest. Bergvall had a positive first half but became scrappy in the second and I worried that his frustrations would land him a second yellow. Richarlison as well didn't provide much threat, despite a lot of service in the first half. His hold up play lacked, which he seemed to had worked on in the first few games of the season. Vicario frustrated me, as his wayward passes were more often than they should've been, whilst fingers were pointed towards him for the first goal. With a trip to Bodo/Glimt coming up this week, I wonder whether Kinsky is being considered to give Vic a rest.
No Rest for the Weary
With a trip to the arctic circle around the corner, Frank will have another few days of real consideration about who should be in the squad. These games are coming thick and fast, non-stop really until the next international break. We have proven ourselves in Norway before, with a special Europa League semi-final in May, there is no reason Thomas Frank's men can't do it again.
COYS!
