Last year a bunch of Spurs supporters predicted how we thought the team would do in 2022/23 and we were soooo wrong (you can check it out here). But we’re trying again for 2023/24, each answering 10 questions about the upcoming season.
1. What position do you think Spurs will finish in the WSL?
Lauren: 7th. But it does feel harder to predict than any other season so far given the change of manager, system, new players and not having seen us play yet in preseason.
Harsh: 7th, maybe 6th if things go really well.
Rachel: Most of the WSL have strengthened so it won’t be easy to get back into the top half. Assuming the team gells quickly under Vilahamn, 7th seems slightly optimistic but realistic, and It’s not entirely inconceivable that we do better. Conversely, should there be injuries to key players or Beth England’s rehab take longer than expected it could be a long painful season.
Caroline: 6th—but I would love to be underestimating them.
Dustin: I wish I had a more optimistic answer but I’ve just seen Spurs go through a very underwhelming summer transfer window while the clubs around them have improved. Unless Vilahamn is magic, I unfortunately think 6th is this club’s ceiling. I predict 7th and desperately hope I’m being a curmudgeon.
Dave: Bearing in mind that I know much, much less than everyone else contributing, my novice knowledge of how other teams have strengthened (or not) over the summer leads me to say… 8th! Progress over last season but I don’t think we’ve taken the leap we needed to compete with the top four or last season’s closest challenger Villa and I suspect that Leicester and Brighton have strengthened better then we have.
Sian: 7th
Bill: 8th
2. Who do you think will win the WSL?
Lauren: Chelsea. They’ve done smart business and done it early.
Harsh: Chelsea
Rachel: Chelsea. They know how to win. And they’ve strengthened in the summer window.
Caroline: Chelsea—their squad is just too stacked to be stopped.
Dustin: Chelsea. Again. Arsenal look like they could take a step back, City is coming off of an underwhelming season, and I still don’t think United have the juice.
Dave: Chelsea. Emma Haynes just has them running efficiently and carrying out their summer business smartly.
Sian: Chelsea
Bill: Chelsea
3. Who do you think will get the other two Champions League spots?
Lauren: Arsenal and Manchester City.
Harsh: Arsenal, Manchester City.
Rachel: Manchester City, Manchester United (though would like Villa to overtake one of them).
Caroline: Arsenal and Manchester United, with Aston Villa just missing out (and Manchester City continuing their gradual decline).
Dustin: I’m going to go with United and Arsenal, though I think City and Arsenal will end up close.
Dave: Arsenal and United. United have been weakened by player departures but should have enough to stay up there while City seem to be treading water and might be hard pushed by Villa.
Sian: Man City and Man Utd
Bill: City and United
4. Who do you think will get relegated?
Lauren: Bristol. It’s a real struggle for newly promoted teams to settle in the league so I think it will be difficult for them.
Harsh: Bristol City
Rachel: It’s probably between West Ham and Bristol City in terms of squad strength, but I am going with West Ham because I’d prefer that outcome (sorry, Rehanne).
Caroline: Bristol City—barring a strong January transfer window to gain an edge over West Ham, whom I think will also struggle.
Dustin: I think West Ham and Everton are both going to really struggle this season. They’re my two picks to go down, though I’m not ready to stick my neck out quite yet as to which one it’ll be.
Dave: Purely from ignorance I will go with Bristol City as I have idea how the newly promoted team will look!
Sian: Bristol
Bill: Bristol or West Ham
5. Which new Spurs player are you most excited about watching and why?
Lauren: Olga Ahtinen. Definitely feels like a signing specifically for RV’s system so I’m excited to see how she controls our midfield. Also looking forward to how she leads the team in her vice captaincy role.
Harsh: Olga Ahtinen, excited to see how her passing from midfield helps the team, specially her long range passing.
Rachel: Olga Ahtinen is a player that Vilahamn knows well and was his first signing. The fact that he’s made her Vice Captain already shows how central she is likely to be to his project. She was MVP in the Swedish league last year and has already played alongside Eveliina in the Finnish national team which may help her to settle quickly. And she’s a ball playing midfielder coming into a midfield that too often struggled to win and hold the ball last year. So much needed. I’m also kind of excited about Zhang Linyan who seems to have a good left-foot, flair and makes runs into the box. But not sure she’ll get many minutes given our plethora of attacking wingers/#10s.
Caroline: Luana Bühler—I think she will add a much-needed dynamism to our backline when it comes to building out possession from the defense. Plus, I enjoyed watching her (limited) performance at the World Cup.
Dustin: None of them set my heart racing, but I think Luana Bühler could be a stabilizing presence in the back line this season and I’m curious about Zhang Linyan and Martha Thomas under Vilahamn’s more offensive tactics.
Dave: Olga Ahtinen – to so rapidly find herself in the leadership group she must have made an immediate impression and she always seems to be prominent for Finland.
Sian: Zhang Linyan seems like she could be an exciting prospect or Olga Ahtinen if she can marshall the midfield in the way we need someone to do.
Bill: Olga. Being given the vice captaincy shows there’s something there in terms of what type of character she is, and I’ve heard good stuff about the way she plays.
6. Who do you think is going to be Spurs’ standout player(s) for 2023/24?
Lauren: Beth England – when she’s back on the pitch (hopefully soon!). Don’t think I need to state the obvious by explaining why LOL.
Harsh: Beth England is probably an easy shout once again, but I am going to say one of Kit or Drew Spence. Whoever plays as the #10/closest player just behind or next to the striker, will probably be the one to score the most goals.
Rachel: Depending on how soon she’s back from rehab, probably Beth England. Though can see Ashleigh Neville shining (again) in a more front-foot attacking team.
Caroline: Beth England after recovering from her hip surgery, Celin Bizet as the standout young player, and Ash Neville as our stalwart.
Dustin: I mean, it has to be Beth England, right? She’s clearly the most talented player on the roster and this year’s team may go only as far as she can carry them. I still remain invested in getting Ash Neville an England cap so I’ll mention her as well.
Dave: Hard to see past Beth England again!
Sian: Ash Neville and Beth England.
Bill: Celin, Ash and Beth when she’s back.
7. Which player do you think will be the most improved in 2023/24?
Lauren: Celin Bizet. I’ve had my stocks in Celin from her first game for us because I think she’s a baller in the making. Hoping our new possession based football will enable her to express herself more.
Harsh: Celin Bizet, I feel Robert’s coaching will have a big impact on her 1v1 ability and her movement into the box.
Rachel: Either Celin Bizet or Eveliina Summanen. Both showed signs of improvement last year and both should thrive within Vilahamn’s pressing, energetic, box-to-box style. If pushed I’d say Celin because she had fewer minutes last year and has more scope to obviously improve. But would really love to see Eveliina coming into her own and dominating midfield.
Caroline: Asmita Ale—as long as she isn’t frozen out again.
Dustin: Considering she’s still basically a giant box with a question mark on it, I’m going to say Ramona Petzelberger. (Did we ever get an update on what the deal was with her last season?) But I think Asmita Ale has the possibility to improve a ton this season if she can nail down a regular starting role.
Dave: Last season was Eveliina’s season, this year I think Celin will come into her own.
Sian: Celin Bizet
Bill: Celin
8. Which Spurs game are you most looking forward to?
Lauren: West Ham. Purely because I still haven’t gotten over “have some of that” so I need us to beat them home and away by lots of goals.
Harsh: North London Derby, hopefully we get at least a point out of it this season.
Rachel: Bristol City at home. Our first home game and the first time to really get a measure of how this new Spurs will fare against teams that are not Chelsea.
Caroline: Both Aston Villa fixtures, because I think they will serve as a useful barometer for where we’re at relative to where we should be.
Dustin: I always look forward to the big matches — the North London Derby especially, but any of the games that will be at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. One of these years we’re going to do the thing (without a dodgy handball) and it’ll be awesome.
Dave: Everton. Last season we massively under-performed against them, so I feel this season will be the benchmark game to see if we’ve progressed.
Sian: Chelsea away, I just want to get the season started.
Bill: Brighton away. It’s at the Amex which is one of my favourite stadiums.
9. Which game are you most dreading?
Lauren: Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. We’ll have a lot of new fans post World Cup with high expectations and full of excitement for the first game. But those of us who have been following our team for a while know how horrible this fixture usually is.
Harsh: Chelsea away, first game of the season. A team with a new coach and no recognized left back playing away at the reigning champions. Can the start of the season get any harder?
Rachel: Arsenal away (one we may have to play twice – in the WSL and Conti Cup group). Obviously if we scored or got a point it would be beautiful. But the odds are against that and any success for Eidevall’s (ever-whiter) team hurts.
Caroline: Chelsea—I mean, do I need to say anything more? But also Manchester United because it lowkey feels like we’re cursed when it comes to playing them.
Dustin: For me, it’s going to be the teams expected to struggle — West Ham and Everton have been our bogey teams in recent seasons and this is a season where we can’t afford to drop cheap points.
Dave: Manchester United. Marc Skinner is so petulant and whiny, I will just be in a bad mood at the thought of him, regardless of the game.
Sian: Man U away
Bill: Chels away, and NLD.
10. If you could make one decision about the team (tactics, players, positions) for Robert Vilahamn what would it be?
Lauren: The team may have been working on this already considering we’ve only conceded one goal in pre season but learning how to defend crosses into the box, whether from open play or set pieces. We’ve conceded far too many goals in this way in the past so would like to see us make ourselves harder to score against.
Harsh: If Angharad is indeed playing left back all this pre-season, then I would not play her there. Rather play Shelina or Asmita there.
Rachel: It’s hard to say because we know so little about how he’s setting the team up. A season in which we do not see Amy Turner at right-back would be an improvement. Would have perhaps said Eveliina Summanen given more chances to play as a false 10 or Ash Neville as a winger, but Vilahamn has brought in so many attacking players that think they’ll both be needed further back. So maybe just find a way to use that whole attacking line up by more strategic use of substitutes than we’ve seen in previous seasons.
Caroline: Just be more willing to make adjustments, whether that’s adapting the starting XI from game to game, being proactive with substitutions, or rethinking a player’s role across the season.
Dustin: I can’t really answer this question because we have no idea how this team will play or what they will look like. Ask me again after week 3 or 4.
Dave: I’m just going to ask him for clear communication which he seems good at so far, I primarily hope that he’ll be asked decent questions!
Sian: Given how little we’ve seen of pre season at this point I choose to trust his judgement.
Bill: Play players in their strongest position, can’t watch players out of position again this season.
That’s it for now. If you want to agree or disagree with these predictions, or add some of your own, you can in the comments section below.
You can also follow the Spurs fans who participated in this Q&A on twitter where you’ll find links to their many other Spurs thoughts and Spurs-Women activities.
Bill @Spursxlionesses
Caroline @cgstefko
Dave @DavidPuckridge
Dustin @DustinGM
Harsh @SimplyWink
Lauren @laurencoys
Rachel @spurswomenblog
Sian @Sian_Wallis
Spurs Women Blog 
At last we have someone reporting on Spurs Women since the demise of last season. Yes we have a new Manager “Bob the new builder” only on a 2 year contract but a vocal stance by Levy about investment and sustainability killed it for me. Yes he is investing in infrastructure and land development for the women but if they get relegated then this area can be easily turned into something else with no loss of investment, the team however will not be saved – such is life at Spurs Women. We have yet again for the 6th season brought in a number of players on the cheap (unknowns bar Buhler – like for like or with minimal Opta stats). The nail in my optimism for the new season was offereing Ayanne (a constantly underperforming player for us) an extra 2 years and then not signing a proven “Left back”, then to cap it off, taking the armband away from Shelina for no apparent reason. Don’t get me wrong Beth will an amazing Captain but a presentation with no reference to Shelina didnt fall right with me. We are back to a squad of 25 but in reality we only have 3 top players in the top drawer category so my answers to your points are as follows and based upon that … 1… We are really fighting for the top spot of the bottom 4 (anything else is a bonus) … so 9th for me as all others have signed better players than us – fact2… Chelsea because they have been allowed to collect players like “match attax cards” as they do with Men’s team to basically stop other teams from signing them. Jealous or what – you bet I am.3… Arsenal and Man City (I hope they put Man U back this sason)4… I agree it will be Bristol or West Ham as I do not think RS can keep this team up … it will all be down to their best player, their goalkeeper.5… Celin as long as Bob doesnt keep playing her on the wing and subbing her too early like the previous management. Her best position is just behind Beth in attack – she has so much skill and finess to show off this season. I am concerned however other teams will be coming to try take her off us come January once they get to see how good she really is and Levy will sell.6… Beth (followed by Celin)7… I am hoping this will be Gracie Pearse if she is given games and not just preparing oranges for half time from the bench all the time8… Bristol City at Home next week as this is the only game we will have the chance to score from open play. If this fails it cements the possibility we will have another poor season until Beth gets back (whenever that is) … because where are the goals going to come from? You cannot win matches without scoring – fact, we learnt that last seasonWe were so lucky Beth chose to come to us .. I however think had Arsenal not waited for Russo in January she would have joined them.9… This Sunday against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge … titled “by how many”. With no proven left back signing (I was hoping we would go get Ashleigh Plumtre but then I remembered Levy aint interested in this team – is he?) … the back door will be left open to let the cat in whilst we collect balls from the back of our goal net. Fate compli….”by how many”10… For me it is simply “Do not play” Ayanne, she should have been moved on when Ubogagu left – sorry. We need to find a Hemp and a Kelly clone for our wings but we did’nt go looking by the sound of things. Fingers crossed but one thing that really annoys me is the fact our club backroom management have not even bothered to update our squad page with 5 of the new signings as of the time of this email to you …. 2 days before the start of the WSL – embarrasing or what? Derek
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Have heard, albeit secondhand, that Spurs dominated Man United at St George’s Park.
Pinned United in their own half for large periods of game.
Goalscoring without England going to be an issue but from all accounts, Spurs will surprise a few this season.
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They certainly seemed like they were a team transformed in the game against Chelsea so perhaps your sources are on point!
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