Announcement!!
Before we get into this week’s blog, we at Lilywhites ladies and Women’s Soccer Fans would like to offer our apologies to the travelling Leicester fans. After yesterdays upsetting defeat a Tottenham “fan” decided to swear and abuse a group of Leicester fans for celebrating their victory in the FA Cup. No one likes to see their team lose but football/soccer is a family game and the woman’s game has always been family-oriented with lots of young children around.
We are unsure if Tottenham Hotspur is aware of what happened after the game. We who are independent of Tottenham Hotspur would like to thank the quick reactions of the Hives security team and fellow Tottenham fans who confronted the individual who was hurling abuse at a group of Leicester fans. Had the brave Tottenham fans and security team not responded the situation could have turned violent and that’s something that we never want to see again at a match. If anyone has any information on who this individual was please report them to the Hive and Tottenham Hotspur Football club as this individual is not a fan but a trouble maker and these types of people are not wanted at future Tottenham women’s games.
The FA Cup is back.
There was no WSL action this week because the famous FA Cup was back. Our Lilywhites hosted Leicester City at the Hive. Tottenham was looking to respond to last weekends disappointing defeat to Manchester United in which our Lilywhites fell to a 3-0 loss. Highlights of last weeks defeat to United can be seen below on our YouTube channel.
Lineups.
Tottenham 4-3-3: Spencer in goal, Ale in at right-back, Bartrip and Zadorksy in the centre of defence with Neville in at left-back. The Tottenham midfield was made of Percival, Clemaron and Addison with the Tottenham front line being made up of Ayane down the right, Naz down the left with Williams in the middle.
Leicester 3-4-3: Lambourne in goal, Brougham, McManus and Plumptre as a back three with Howard and Purfield as wing-backs. The Leicester midfield was made of Pike and Barker with support from the wing-backs while the Leicester front line was made of Sigsworth, O’Brien and Gregory.
First Half.
Tottenham started the game the strongest from the first whistle. The Hive is slowly becoming a fortress with the last defeat coming on May 2021 against Chelsea. Tottenham dominated possession with Leicester struggling to get out of their half. Tottenham’s first chance came in the 17th minute after pressure by Tottenham led to a corner. Percival swung the ball in with Williams connecting well only to have her header cleared off the line by Plumptre to deny Tottenham an opener. Tottenham continued their high pressure and in the 27th minute, Tottenham had another clear chance to take the lead. A good interception by Addison started the Tottenham attack, she found Naz with a pass before playing through Ayane who blasted over the bar from point-blank range.
Leicester tried to catch Tottenham on the counter and in the 30th minute, the visitors had a chance to snatch a goal after Gregory took on Ale before centering into the Tottenham box with Sigsworth connecting with a diving header unmarked but fortunately for Tottenham her header was just over Spencer’s bar. Tottenham kept coming at Leicester and came close again in the 37th minute after good work by Ale down the wing, she found Ayane with a pass who crossed into the box finding Williams who found herself 1 on 1 with Lambourne but the Leicester keeper was off her line quickly to put off Williams before she was able to pull the trigger.
Leicester had a penalty claim turned down in the 42nd after a collision in the Tottenham box between Clemaron and Sigsworth but the referee waved play on. The 4th official indicated a minimum of one minute added time as Tottenham looked to snatch a goal before the break.
Second Half.
Tottenham again started the second half in complete control. Addison came close in the 48th minute after a good run by Williams found Addison with a defence-splitting pass. Addison found herself one on one with Lambourne but the Leicester keeper was quick off her line as Addison was unable to turn the ball in for Tottenham. Ayane came close for Tottenham in the 51st minute after spinning away and unleashing a shot that was saved by Lambourne. Tottenham kept coming at Leicester and Neville came close to get breaking the deadlock in the 58th minute after latching onto a loose ball and shooting from the edge of the box but her effort sailed just wide of Lambourne’s goal.
Tottenham finally got their breakthroughs in the 69th minute when Naz took on Plumptre down the right before getting her cross into the Leicester box as Addison slid in to knock the ball in to give Tottenham a well-deserved lead. Tottenham continued to dominate the game but a rare error from Captain Zadorksy who lost the ball to O’Brien who took full advantage and let loose a thunderous shot into Spencer’s top left-hand corner to draw the Foxes level with less than 10 minutes to play. With a minimum of 4 mines added time, Tottenham tried to seal the game and avoid extra time. Tottenham came close to closing the tie in the 93rd minute after a good run by Neville finds Naz with a pass who shoots from an angle but her effort was somehow saved by Lambourne to deny Tottenham at the death before the game was called to an end.
Extra Time.
Extra time for off to the worst possible start for Tottenham as Leicester took the lead a minute into the half. A long ball from Plumptre found Howard in the Tottenham box, a miss-timed challenge by Zadorksy allowed Howard to get to the ball first who lobbed the ball over Spencer to give the Foxes the lead against the run of play. Tottenham came straight at Leicester as they searched for an equaliser. A good ball by Zadorksy in the 105th minute found Williams who played Neville down the right. Neville put in a wonderful ball into the Leicester box but no one was able to connect with the ball to turn the ball in for what should have been 2-2.
Tottenham kept searching for an equaliser in the second half of extra time but was unable to break down a solid Leicester defence. Tottenham had to gamble and pushed everyone forward as they searched for the goal to keep them in the FA Cup tie but unfortunately, Tottenham was punished in the 119th minute when Tottenham was caught with just one player back. Leicester under pressure booted the ball anywhere to ease the Tottenham pressure. The ball reached the half-way line as Naz tried to beat Baker in the air for the ball, Naz managed to get a touch in the ball as Zadorksy came back to clear up the loose ball but Spencer came rushing off her line missing the ball and the loose ball was walked into an empty Tottenham goal by De Graff to give Leicester the victory and knock our Lilywhites out of the FA Cup with less than a minute left to play.
Player of the match.
For the second week in a row, Molly Bartrip is our player of the match. Others like Angela Addison proved once again that she should be a regular starter and even got on the score sheet. Bartrip was solid in defence and was asked to play out of position in place of Clemaron and did a fantastic job in midfield and has proved what an important versatile player she is.
Post match analysis.
The FA Cup continues to surprise year in and year out. Firstly we would like to congratulate Leicester on their victory and wish them all the best for this years FA Cup.
So what went wrong for our Lilywhites? Tottenham dominated the game but once again we do not have the players to finish games off. Our bench was mostly defensive and to make matters worse Addison was substituted for Harrop, a defender at 1-1. Credit has to go to Leicester for hanging in there and never giving up, but they were allowed to get back into the game because Tottenham still can not finish games off.
There is no way we could fault Skinner’s team selection because with players away at the Asia cup it makes the selection more difficult, but rather than bringing in players in positions we don’t need, we should have been looking at bringing a forward and winger to the club. Things haven’t been going as well since the Christmas break and our fear is that if things continue going as they are it will start to affect the team’s confidence. It’s been a tough start to 2022 with points dropped to West Ham, defeat to Manchester United and now being eliminated from the FA Cup. The team now needs to focus and pull themselves up as this week will see our Lilywhites take part in one of the biggest games in their history as they look to make their ever first cup final.
The last time our Lilywhites faced Manchester City our Tottenham side ran out 1-2 winners under controversial circumstances but plenty of positives could be taken from that performance. Our team has grown since that game back in September and must believe that we have a good opportunity to make our first final. Highlights of our victory against City can be seen on the following link on the Tottenham Hotspur Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsNf0aCnwFQ.
As disappointed as we all feel with the recent run of results we need to show the team our support this Thursday in the Conti Cup semi-finals. If you are heading to Manchester be sure to make plenty of noise and give your backing to the team, we believe in the team and wish our Lilywhites the best of luck for Thursday COME ON YOU SPURS!!!
Breaking news.
This week’s breaking news is that our cancelled away match against Chelsea which was due to take place on January 7th has been rescheduled for Wednesday, March 23rd at 19.45 and the match will be broadcast live on Sky Sport.
In other breaking news, new signing Evaliina Summanen now has Visa clearance and has joined up with the team and made her debut against Leicester as a substitute in Extra time.
Our very own Tinni Korpela sat down with the new recruit to get her first impressions of joining Tottenham.
So who is Evaliina Summanen? Summanen is a 23-year-old Finnish midfielder who has played for Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (HJK) in Finland, KIF Örebro in Sweden and Kristianstads in Sweden before making her move to Tottenham until 2023. Summanen also has 20 caps to her name with the national team with two goals to her name.
In other breaking news, Tottenham also announced the loan signing of Austrian defender Viktoria Schnaderbeck from Arsenal this week.
So who is Viktoria Schnaderbeck? Schnaderbeck is an experienced defender who has played for LUV Graz and Bayern Munich before making the move to Arsenal in 2018. Schnaderbeck also has 53 caps for Austria after making her debut in 2007.
Next match.
Tottenham’s next home match will take place on Sunday, February 6th at 14.00. The match will also be broadcast live on the FA Player if you are unable to attend the match. Tickets for our next match and future home matches can be purchased over at https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/tickets/buy-tickets/women/match-tickets/.
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Tottenham vs Brighton
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