Tottenham Hotspur Women

24 Sep 2026

Mature man working on old computer Look, it’s a Thursday in the first week of a three week international break. Tottenham Hotspur’s mens team has the week off and are away either playing with their national teams or… whatever it is that club footballers do when they’re not training. Spurs Women don’t play again until Sunday morning. It’s a slow day. There’s not much news. So how about a community prompt instead? This is a large community, and many of you have been around a LONG time. And all of you had to choose a username/handle when you signed up to comment on Cartilage Free Captain. So let’s dig into that. What is the origin or explanation of your chosen username? I post under my real name now, but when I was a mere commenter-American and even for a few years after I first joined the masthead as a writer, I posted under the name “MennoDaddy.” Old heads here still call me Menno, and newer posters sometimes wonder why. Here’s why: I’m Mennonite by birth. Mennonites are a religious denomination that originated with 16th century Dutch Catholic priest Menno Simons, who left the church to join with the burgeoning (but then persecuted) Anabaptism movement; his followers later created the Mennonites. My father was born Amish and my grandparents left the Amish church when Dad was a baby, so I can say I am the son of an Amishman, which is a super fun bit of trivia, since I definitely don’t look Amish. I discovered Cartilage Free Captain in 2010 when my youngest child was two years old. At the time I was scratching my writer’s itch with what was then super popular — a parenting blog on BlogSpot called MennoDaddy. Seemed like a good username at the time, and it eventually stuck. I dropped the moniker (and the dad blog) a long time ago now, but that’s the origin of the name. What about you? What’s the origin of your username or handle? Have you changed it? From what, and when? Put it in the comments and let’s chat.

23 Sep 2026

Enjoy a photo from our last time out against West Ham (Photo by Keeran Marquis/NurPhoto via Getty Images) | NurPhoto via Getty Images Tottenham Hotspur Women must’ve used up all their goals against Crystal Palace over the weekend, because the team found everywhere but the net in a quiet, Wednesday night stadium. Their unsuccessful attacking performance was rewarded with a penalty shootout. Spurs lost the shootout 4-3 and will take 1 point home for their showing, while West Ham will take 2. Martin Ho chose a somewhat rotated lineup from the side that dispatched Crystal Palace 7-0. Selma Panengstuen got her first start in goal, and Alice Sombath joined stalwart Amanda Nildén for her start. Ella Morris and Hanna Wijk lined up as fullbacks. Eveliina Summanen and Olga Ahtinen formed a Finnish double pivot ahead of Olivia Holdt, and Matilda Nildén and Matilda Vinberg were on the wings with Shekiera Martinez ahead of them. The first half didn’t have too much action. Matilda Nildén had an excellent early interception that led to an Olivia Holdt chance that West Ham cleared. In general, the team maintained possession further back the pitch than I’ve seen in recent matches, which seems like a smart thing to when you’re facing a West Ham side with Vivianne Asseyi and Kelly Gago running counters. But as such, Spurs seemed to struggle to cap off all that excellent passing with attacking threat. Just at the close of the half, West Ham put one in the net via Vivianne Asseyi, but she was offside. The second half went much the same way as the first, though Spurs’ later substitutes grabbed a bit more of a stronghold as the game went on. Both sides traded shots, though none were too threatening. The best chances fell late in the game as both sides tried to secure victory. West Ham nearly scored off a free kick that Selma Panengstuen couldn’t quite manage to clear, but Alice Sombath deflected the resulting shot.  Shekiera Martinez put a cross off the post in the 87th minute, and West Ham got back to deflect Matilda Vinberg’s last minute shot on our free kick. The penalties in this cup are always a little funny – it’s not a knockout, so the stakes are lower. But the winner of the shootout takes home two points while the loser takes home one, so it’s not nothing! West Ham took their penalties excellently, and it was only through luck and skill that Selma Panengstuen managed to save Ebony Salmon’s. Our penalties seemed a bit less confident (although maybe that was just me). After Caitlin Dijkstra’s early miss, it fell to former Hammer Shekiera Martinez to send Spurs to the sixth penalty, and, well… she skied it.  Going home with one point is not an ideal start for a cup that is actually attainable for us given none of the champions league teams will be in this one. But there’s a long way to in the group stage, and we have plenty of time to win back points necessary to finish in the top 8 of the 23 teams so we can proceed. Our remaining group stage games are against Brighton, Bristol City, Crystal Palace, Leicester City, and Ipswich Town. Once we get through a few more of these games, we’ll have a clearer picture of what needs to be done. Thoughts on the match This was not the most exciting game. Nevertheless, we had a lot of debuts and first-in-a-while starts, so I have some thoughts. First of all, Alice Sombath looks good — her passing has a nice zip to it. She’s got attitude too, which I love. She got a pretty good boop to the knee at the end, so hoping she rests up well and we see more of her very soon. The more she plays and beds into this side, the better she’ll be. Selma Panengstuen had a comfortable game except for a little shakiness on set pieces and that mistake at the end of 90. She maybe could’ve gotten a hand to one more penalty, but sometimes it’s just like that. It was an encouraging performance for a young newcomer, though I have to admit I did miss Lize Kop’s big personality in a penalty shootout. That kind of thing will come with time, too. Matilda Nildén looks a bit more able to hold her own. She had some crucial interceptions and moments where she retained the ball super well, and she’s starting to turn it into end product. Ella Morris is looking like her old self more and more. I saw some attitude from her, even, making herself an annoyance to the opposition and generally putting herself about. I’d like to see her getting more starts ahead of Cailtlin Dijkstra (who is very solid, but not as exciting going forward as Ella). Hanna Wijk looked more comfortable and dynamic than she did at times last year, though I would still like to see her improve her defending. I was interested to see that both she and Matilda Vinberg were on opposite sides of the pitch than they usually are. I was pretty cool with that – even though we had players out of position and a new keeper and centerback, West Ham didn’t manage to cause us too many organizational errors.  Shekiera Martinez is still looking promising. She’s getting into good positions, and I love her ability on the ball. She’s still looking a little more timid than I expected her to, but I think the more she gets used to the system, the better she’ll be. I came away from this game feeling like we didn’t get the ball to her (or Olivia Holdt or Kirsty Hanson) in good enough positions. I’m not sure if that was because West Ham were defending particularly well, if we were sitting back farther to anticipate their counterattacks, or because we didn’t have 100% of our best players on the pitch all at once. I feel like not scoring is a problem this team sometimes has. Maybe it’s one of those things, or maybe it’s just a thing that happens to teams – sometimes ball not go goal. I did like to see, especially in light of all the rotation, that the players were super supportive of each other, even ones in direct competition for the same role. Lize Kop gave Selma Panengstuen a big hug at full time, and Tinka Tandberg did the same to Shekiera Martinez after she missed her penalty (as did most of the team). All very nice to see! I love what they’re building there, and despite this small setback, I have a lot of hope for the future.  Looking Ahead Spurs face Aston Villa on Sunday at 7:00 AM. That’s the last game against a midtable side before a difficult run against London City, Chelsea and Arsenal. With a cup game against Brighton mixed in there, Martin Ho will want to continue to balance managing minutes while putting out the best side possible. Should be very interesting to see what he does, so stay tuned!!!

23 Sep 2026

Spurs Women took full advantage of a Crystal Palace red card to make a statement to the rest of the WSL, but Spurs Men enter the international break at the bottom of the PL table.

6 Sep 2026

Some thoughts post Spurs 3-1 West Ham  There's the famous expression that "comparison is the thief of joy." In this case couldn't be further from the truth when you compare Spurs 1st game of the season this year compared to last year. Today Spurs came out winners once by 3 goals to 1 against West Ham at home in a very confident display compared to the same fixture last season where Spurs narrowly squeaked a 1-0 win. In a way it was kind of perfect that they got the chance to play the same team for the first game, two seasons in a row. This game was the kind of performance that shows how a team can improve when you invest smartly and early so that players have the chance to have a full pre-season.  The player of the match today was Kirsty Hanson on her competitive debut for The Lilywhites. Maybe somewhat surprisingly she started on the right wing of Martin Ho's base structure of a 4231, which saw give West Ham's back-line hell for the entirety of her time on the pitch as she caused havoc on & off the ball in behind, going down the line and cutting onside on her stronger(?) left foot (which was on full display for her 2nd goal). Compare this to last season where, honestly for half of the season, that right flank was a problem without Ella Morris at Rb & with there not really being a natural right-sided winger (Jess Naz, Olivia Holdt & Olga Ahtinen all got minutes there early last season where they were either not great or serviceable at best) and Spurs look so much more dangerous down that side now.  The actual starting lineup took most by surprise as one of Spurs' best players from last season in Olivia Holdt was left on the bench to allow Signe Gaupset (who had an involvement in the first 2 goals with 1 goal and the assist for Hanson's first) to start in the number 10 role, which allowed her to flourish today. Gaupset is so confident bringing the ball up the field and receiving between the opposing midfield & defensive lines and her being allowed to be the player that Spurs really look to get the ball to in the 2nd phase of possession and transition. Spurs opened the scoring with Gaupset getting on to the end of Julie Blakstad's knock down after some effective counter-pressing on the right flank saw Spurs awarded a throw, where Caitlin Dijkstra then found herself in a pocket of space on the right to deliver the ball into the box. This goal basically summed up Blakstad's performance as a flying wing-back seeing her basically act as Spurs auxilliary Lw, as she repeatedly looked to get into the box for crosses and she very nearly got on the scoresheet herself. This also allowed Matilda Vinberg to have a floating number 10 role on the inside left where she had a fairly underwhelming game but still picked up an assist.  Spurs on-ball structure looked more of a 325, which is really what Martin Ho tried to implement last season with starting Rb Caitlin Dijkstra tucking in as a wide Cb in a back 3. This has a built-in rest defence structure when Spurs have the ball higher up the field with 5 attackers and 5 deeper players. Martin Ho's philosophy involves retaining most of the ball, baiting the press in central areas to move the ball upfield and exploiting gaps between the lines. This also allowed Spurs to make use of the wide areas now with Blakstad and Hanson being incredibly dangerous out there with the help of Gaupset & Vinberg who were able to play in the inside-wide/half-spaces channels and link the play. Record signing Alice Sombath missed out today due to Martin Ho taking a cautious approach with her due to her injury history but because she can play either as a Rb or at centre-back, she should suit that role quite nicely. Drew Spence and Eveliina Summanen anchored the midfield well as the double pivots ahead of the defensive unit, as they were able to shuttle the ball to the front line and they were generally solid defensively. Cathinka Tandberg was the starting 9 today and had a quiet game but with a seemingly increased emphasis on crosses this season, she should still be ok as the season goes on. For as well as Spurs played today there are still some defensive concerns which will need to be looked as they will get exploited against bigger teams. Due to Spurs playing with a high defensive line and pressing player-to-player aggressively, West Ham did exploit the Spurs right flank as Dijkstra and, to a lesser extent, Toko Kōga got spun a few times which allowed West Ham into the final 3rd a bit too easily. The goal they conceded came from Asseyi receiving a through ball from newly signed Saki Kumagai, who had too much time and space just ahead of the centre circle to pick out a pass, allowing the Frenchwoman to slot past the onrushing Lize Kop to pick up a consolation goal.  Overall this was a near perfect start to Spurs' WSL campaign and they'll be looking to continue this momentum next week against Liverpool in St Helens.

4 Sep 2026

Spurs Men capped off a disappointing first few weeks of the season with some confusing transfer decisions and more manager red flags, but Spurs Women are in a good position to start strong in the Women's Super League.

4 Sep 2026

Rachel Cohen. 4th September 2026. The WSL returns today and Spurs play their first game on Sunday against West Ham. In case you haven’t been paying attention, there are three (big) reasons why it is time to get excited about this team. 1. We retained our best players. That might sound like a low bar, … Continue reading "Reasons to be excited about the return of Spurs Women."

N17 Women

Leaving Points in Liverpool

Spurs Women dropped points on the road, but at least improved on last season's result at Liverpool and remain unbeaten to start the WSL season.We chat:• Unchanged lineup• Liverpool's press• Tinka's injury• Signe scoring again (sort of)• Aerial issues• Delayed substitutions& morePlus, we discuss ...

Hometown Glory

“If I Were A Boy”

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