Tottenham Hotspur Women 2 – 4 London City Lionesses: Spurs stung by speedy wingers

Last Sunday's highly anticipated match saw Tottenham Hotspur Women lose 4-2 to outstanding mid-table side London City Lioness. Spurs held London City to a two-goal deficit but were unable to prevent or respond to strikes in the 81st and 84th minutes.

Martin Ho, as of late, chose a relatively unchanged team, with Ashley Neville starting in place of Josephine Rybrink at right-back and Tinka Tandberg replacing Beth England at first.

Despite a strong start, we conceded early – almost at London City's first opportunity to attack. The goal came from a corner when the Lionesses' corner went to their talented young centre-back Sangara, who played the ball to Freya Godfrey at the top of the box. Godfrey's finish was one touch and no one managed to react in time to clear the ball. The sides traded attacks for much of the half, with London City enjoying themselves on both flanks, especially through Imuran, Parris and Godfrey, while Spurs found success in the middle. Spurs eventually equalized thanks to an attack orchestrated by Olivia Holdt. After several blocked shots, the ball fell to Drew Spence in the box and she was fouled for the penalty kick. Tinka Tandberg took the penalty and made no mistake. (Sidebar: Tinka Tandberg – long time fan of Harry Kane. Look pen and tell me if you see any stylistic similarities. That's exactly what I did.)

The Lionesses struck again early in the second half. Drew Spence lost the ball in midfield and the Lionesses broke down our left side. Amanda Neilden and Ash Neville were too far forward to help stop the counter-attack. Nikita Parris hit the far post and may have broken Lisa Kop's nose in the process. Liz wasn't replaced, but I'm not sure she looked good the rest of the game.

Eveliina Summanen equalized with a spectacular free kick in the 69th minute after Matilda Vinberg was brought down just outside the box (ICYMI, there's some good stuff to be found here). Here). But Spurs' attempts to put pressure were thwarted by an unsuccessful own goal in the 81st minute. Amanda Neilden raced towards the end line and was only able to put the ball into her own net when Aslani's deflected free kick suddenly fell at her feet. Moments later, Toko Koga passed the ball in midfield. Spurs tried to stop the attack but no one could stop Freya Godfrey from breaking inside and firing past Liz Kop. Spurs failed to capitalize on a couple of half-chances to reduce the deficit, that's all.

Martin Ho made a number of changes in an attempt to either improve the situation or change the game. Martha Thomas replaced Jess in the 61st minute, Beth England replaced Tinka Tandberg in the 71st minute, Lenna Gunning-Williams replaced Matilda Winberg in the 89th minute. Some of these choices seemed a little strange to me: Jess and Matilda only had good performances, but Martha and Lenna didn't show anything that made me think they could do better. However, I'm not sure who I would invite to take their place. I would also like to see Martin replace Amanda, who looked very tired, or Evelina, who may still be carrying broken ribs.

It was a demoralizing end to the game and a jarring reminder ahead of the North London derby that the Spurs side have not fully ironed out the sloppiness and misfortune that plagued the team last year.

Given the set pieces, the midfield markings and the speed up and down the flanks, it was obvious that London City were prepared for this game. I'm not sure we had a good enough plan in response. Most of our attempts to move the ball seemed to come from Olivia Holdt. London City ruled her out for the first 30 minutes and even when she got going, one person probably shouldn't do everything. To be fair, it was quite crowded in the midfield and Olivia is a player who is really brilliant at keeping the ball in tight spaces. I wasn't a fan of our attempts to play the ball down the flank into space as London City's quick defenders could easily match even Jess Naz, who is quite quick.

Martin Ho has given me no reason to think that he will not be addressing tactical issues in the coming weeks. But here's the thing: Godfrey and Rofiat Imuran had monster games in attack, as did some big names in midfield such as Aslani, Geyoro and Kumagai. London City and Michelle Kang have really invested. We've looked amazing under Martin Ho so far, but we still have mostly mid-level attacking talent. I can only hope that our club will address its depth and talent issues in the January transfer window.

I regret to inform you that we will have to face Arsenal next. However, there are worse times for this! Until last week, Arsenal were behind us in the table, and now they are only ahead on goal difference. They thrashed Bayern Munich 3-2 in midweek in the Champions League, in which they squandered a two-goal lead. They may be tired, they may be demoralized! Personally, I hope we repeat our famous 1-0 win over them in 2023. Wouldn't that be great?