Eight Spurs supporters / commentators answered a dozen both serious and less serious questions about Spurs Women as we build up to our first game of the 2024-25 WSL season.
This will be Tottenham’s sixth season in the WSL and their second under the leadership of Swedish manager, Robert Vilahamn. Find out what our contributors think the 2024-25 season might have in store.
1, Describe Robert Vilahamn’s first season in a sentence
LAUREN: Brave, structured and encouraging.
CHRIS: Exciting Bobby ball reaches heights we weren’t expecting.
ROSA: Unexpectedly thrilling.
JACK: Enchanting – he gave us a plan, an identity and hope for the future which we were shorn of previously.
TONALIANA: Impressive but with room for further improvement.
HARSH: Encouraging and definitely a step in the right direction.
RACHEL: A new dawn.
CAROLINE: A pleasant surprise!
2, Thing you want Spurs to keep doing this season
LAUREN: remain true to our footballing identity
CHRIS: Playing on the front foot and being true to ourselves
ROSA: Making a cup final
JACK: Play football from the back. I am a purist and always want us to play from the back, not resort to hoofing it. Last season, at times we were a tad too quick to give up on passing and fall back into bad habits: playing long-ball, dropping deep and defending our box. We did this in all three games against Man United and got punished. We are Spurs, where it’s better to fail aiming high than succeed aiming low. Let’s truly commit to playing good football and even when times are hard, not renege on our principles.
TONALIANA: Build up from the back with those nice passing webs, mainly keeping the ball low and the tempo high.
HARSH: The deep build up and playing through the opposition’s press.
RACHEL: Passing the ball quickly and accurately.
CAROLINE: Exceeding our expectations.
3, Thing you want Spurs to do better this season
LAUREN: Create more high-quality chances.
CHRIS: Score more from set pieces.
ROSA: Playing in a cup final.
JACK: Create good chances in open play. Last year, while our possession play was often good, creating high-end chances often proved difficult. Whether it’s having better passing from midfield or more dribbling and precise crossing from our wingers, we need to do better fashioning good chances.
TONALIANA: Finishing!
HARSH: Find ways to make chances for Beth and Martha, especially in bigger games, and not be totally reliant on Naz’s pace to bail us out.
RACHEL: Chance creation (and aerial defence).
CAROLINE: Defending set pieces.
4, Game you’re most hyped for?
LAUREN: Beating Woolwich again
CHRIS: Chelsea
ROSA: Home NLD
JACK: Man United. For the FA Cup final, for Eveliina, for low release clauses, for women’s football training facilities and for good vs evil, we owe them big time.
TONALIANA: Opening game against Palace because I just missed watching them so much.
HARSH: Arsenal and Man. United, almost equally.
RACHEL: Impatient to see our new players and what the team looks like so hard to think beyond the first game: Crystal Palace at home.
CAROLINE: Manchester United.
5, Game you’re dreading?
LAUREN: Bunny Shaw because it’s not the City team, just Bunny
CHRIS: Manchester United
ROSA: Away NLD
JACK: Man United. Losing to them will sting. They’re not even that good but always get a result against us somehow.
TONALIANA: Chelsea at the big stadium.
HARSH: City away and Bunny Shaw
RACHEL: Man United. Despite the occasional draw we seem to have more games where we simply collapse against United than other teams (even better teams).
CAROLINE: Manchester United
6, What will Spurs’ final league position be?
LAUREN: 5th
CHRIS: 5th
ROSA: 4th. COME AT ME.
JACK: 6th – with Villa ahead of us and Liverpool behind.
TONALIANA: 6th
HARSH: 4th
RACHEL: 5th
CAROLINE: 6th again
7, Who will be Spurs’ top goalscorer?
LAUREN: Martha Thomas.
CHRIS: Beth England.
ROSA: Bethany.
JACK: Jess Naz – she took huge steps the second half of last season and made her Lionesses bow over the summer. If she stays fit and maintains her momentum, I can see her having an extended breakout year where double figures for goals in the WSL is possible.
TONALIANA: Beth England.
HARSH: Raso.
RACHEL: Martha Thomas.
CAROLINE: Martha Thomas.
8, Most potentially fun new signing?
LAUREN: Maite Oroz.
CHRIS: Katelin Talbert—proper GK vibes.
ROSA: Teeny tiny Maite.
JACK: On the pitch, Maite Oroz. Off the pitch, Katelin Talbert has amazing vibes and fantastic tattoos.
TONALIANA: Maite Oroz.
HARSH: Oroz.
RACHEL: Maite Oroz.
CAROLINE: Katelin Talbert doing her best Hope Solo impression.
9, Most likely to have a surprising season?
LAUREN: Maltida Vinberg breakout year to put the league on notice.
CHRIS: Lena Gunning-William. With all the talk of Beth and Martha, she might just steal the show.
ROSA: AJT will NOT be binned off.
JACK: Ella Morris to become a starter for us and get a Lionesses call-up. Though is it that surprising given the pre-season hype?
TONALIANA: Matilda Vinberg, her minutes are bound to go up this season and she is on the verge of having that breakout season. Talent is there, she just needs consistency in usage and performances.
HARSH: Bethany England. After having a not-so-great last season, I’m expecting a better goal tally from her.
RACHEL: Not sure it’s the most likely, but I’m here for the big Eleanor Heeps reveal.
CAROLINE: Lenna Gunning-Williams. I think she will make a bigger impact than is usually expected of a player in their first full season with the senior team.
10, Who would you describe as the ‘heart of the team’?
LAUREN: Jess Naz because she epitomises Spurs. Young talent who is only going to get better.
CHRIS: Jess Naz—proper Spurs.
ROSA: Jess. Pure COYS heritage PLUS a joyous number seven.
JACK: Molly. While there are suspicions she may have grown up supporting a claret-clad team from London, she’s Spurs through and through now and an amazing advocate for causes close to her heart.
TONALIANA: Molly Bartrip. She’s a leader, a vice-captain, looks like an important member of the dressing room and she always fires up the crowd and her teammates during games. Looks to be very welcoming with new signings as well. To me she’s truly the glue of the team.
HARSH: Bartrip and Neville.
RACHEL: In terms of the club’s journey, Ash or Jess. For her glorious ‘North London is white, lilywhite baby’ at the NLD, Molly. On the pitch, increasingly Eveliina.
CAROLINE: Ash Neville always.
11, Which player is most likely to get a red?
LAUREN: Ash Neville vs McCabe in the NLD.
CHRIS: Martha Thomas vs Manchester United.
ROSA: Don’t care, but make sure you take out Celin when you do it.
JACK: Eveliina. One of her bafflingly rash tackles to give away a penalty (baffling given how steady she is otherwise) may result in a red or second yellow.
TONALIANA: Ash Neville just because of position and precedents.
HARSH: Drew Spence.
RACHEL: How about Charli? She got a couple of yellows with minimal minutes last year. With more minutes I can see her getting sent off for one too many ‘robust’ challenge.
CAROLINE: Molly Bartrip with an emergency DOGSO [denying the opposing team a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity].
12, Which player is most likely to make a guest appearance in Eastenders (or soap of your choice)?
LAUREN: Molly Bartrip.
CHRIS: Molly Bartrip.
ROSA: Becky in some cool Netflix show.
JACK: Beth England gives me Emmerdale vibes, I couldn’t explain how but she does. Also, Charli Grant would be amazing in a Neighbours reboot.
TONALIANA: Amy James-Turner with her Two Sides truck.
HARSH: Lenna.
RACHEL: Molly. Or Jess doing a Lioness cameo (aka Lauren Hemp in Hollyoaks)
CAROLINE: Eveliina has a dramatic streak 😉
Thanks to all the supporters / Spurs writers who contributed. You can find most of them on Twitter (X):
- Lauren is @laurencoys
- Chris is @chrispaouros
- Rosa is Rosa_la
- Tonaliana is @tonaliana
- Harsh is @simplywink
- Rachel is @spurswomenblog
- Caroline is @cgstefko
- Jack is not on twitter
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