Season Review and POTY Awards

I had a look back in the archives and noticed that I posted this for 2021 and 2022 but not last season, it was just too painful to look back on such an abysmal season.

It's that time of year again, our End of Season Review and POTY Awards, brought to you by our generous sponsors at CK's Underwater Cave.

2023/24 began with a flurry of summer activity. After a shorter and slightly less embarrassing version of our traditional manager pantomime, with strong candidates like Slot, Glasner, Amorim, Nagelsmann, Potter, Enrique and a strong grassroots Bring Back Poch movement dominating the headlines before a larger than life Aussie at Celtic appeared out of left field and was duly appointed Spurs manager on a four year contract.

DH immediately fell in love and started speaking in an Australian accent.

A busy summer transfer window which absolutely without question did not involve the services of Fabio Paratici because he is very carefully keeping to his 2.5 year ban from all football activities followed, but despite some positive signings, a large shadow loomed over everything. And no, I don't mean Tanguy Ndombele at sunset. I mean the spectre of Harry Kane leaving Spurs after one good season and eight mediocre ones.

The one season wonder eventually departed for a humourless life of sauerkraut and lederhosen, and Ange was left relying on a injury prone pigeon to score 25 goals a season.

Nerves caused by Kane's departure quickly evaporated in a plume of barbecue smoke as Ange got cooking with a phenomenal ten-game unbeaten run (nine if you support a certain club on Merseyside) which saw us top the table for three weeks and sweep multiple awards along the way. The only blip was a defeat in the Carabao at Fulham which saw Davidson Sanchez sign off on his illustrious Spurs career with a decisive missed penalty. Ange faced criticism for forgetting that A) we haven't won a trophy since the Audi Cup 5 years ago, and B) Davidson Sanchez isn't actually a footballer so had no business taking penalty.

The honeymoon period came shuddering to a halt as we faced the worst thing to happen to humanity since the Black Death, at home, and of course because they ruin every fecking nice thing we have, we finished the match with long term injuries to Maddison and VDV, with Romero and Udogie both sent off. Things got so bad that even Nicolas Jackson scored a hat trick, and he has the first touch of a Shetland pony with advanced arthritis.

With so many players ruled out just as we were hitting our stride, a tough run followed during which a draw away to City and home thrashing of AFC Beheading Journalists were the only real highlights, and we finished the calendar year with a hard fought victory over Bmouth before losing more key players to various international tournaments.

Fast forward to the other side of the winter break and Santa had a late present for us in the form of an early return for Rodrigo Bentancur in a respectable draw at Very Old Trafford. This kick started a mini unbeaten run which was mighty admirable given our absentees, until that was brought to a halt by our bogey team who have replaced our old bogey team, who were also from the Midlands.

In the interim, City scored their first ever goal at our new stadium to knock us out of the FA cup, as Spurs fans resigned themselves to yet another season without somewhere nice for Levy to store rejection letters from potential managers.

Impressive wins against Palace and Villa masked growing and glaring weaknesses in the team, which were brutally exploited by Fulham, who typically have been crap since, and again shortly after by AFC Beheading Journalists, Arsenal, Black Death FC and a Liverpool side determined to pretend they were still in the the title race. Four defeats on the bounce didn't read well for Ange, who had most of his squad back and fit, and growing pressure was eased slightly by an uncomfortable win over Burnley which saw the Clarets relegated and Spurs putting one foot in the Europa League door.

It's been an eventful season, to say the least. Some really impressive moments mixed with some genuine concern. But the green shoots of growth are clear and obvious and we hope that given proper backing this summer, Ange will get that back barbie cooking again.

So there you have it, the 2023/24 Season Review brought to you by CK's Underwater Cave Ltd.

Now for the award categories:


Player of the Year
Young Player of the Year
Most Improved Player
Best Signing
Worst Signing
Favourite Game
Least Favourite Game

 

An excellent read and I could not have put it better myself! I will go early with this so....

Player of the Year
Mickey Van de Ven

Young Player of the Year
Mickey Van de Ven

Most Improved Player
Pedro Porro. I can remember seeing that painful debut and I think he has pushed on a lot since.

Best Signing
Mickey Van de Ven

Worst Signing
Difficult as none have been that bad but I will plump for Solomon - only because I think I only saw the poor guy play once!

Favourite Game
LIverpool at home. I still can't stop laughing about it when it comes up in discussions we have at work...

Least Favourite Game
Fulham in the Carabo as we threw away a chance to make serious in-roads for a trophy. There were others (the C****** one still hurts) but that one irritated me an awful lot....

 

Player of the Year

Son Heung-min He had to take the place occupied by Harry Kane as leader and principle goal scorer
His leadership has surprised me but his commitment to Spurs has not. He deserves our support.

Young Player of the Year

Micky van de Ven. Potentially the best CB in the league and when you consider that defenders reach their peak in their late 20's or early 30's! How far can he go.

Most Improved Player

Pedro Porro Has settled into the Premier League very well and has a Brazilian/Dutch ability to score from distance.

Best Signing

Micky van de Ven by some distance.


Worst Signing

Can we pick Tanguy Ndombele So bad his 'worseness' will last as long as he is on our books, wherever he is sort of playing.

Favourite Game

10th March 2024 Aston Villa 0 Tottenham Hotspur 4 They were shell shocked by the end of that game and Spurs showed just how good they can be.

Least Favourite Game

6th November 2023 Tottenham Hotspur 1 Chelsea 4. Where our season derailed and never fully recovered. Chelsea fills this category 'least favourite game' every season and have done for years.

Apart from those picks CK has said the rest

 

Is shows how bad he is/was that I had completley forgotten about this bloke!! Must be close to being the worst signing ever to grace the shirt, especially for the money paid for him.....

 

He is best forgotten so the sooner we sell him the better. Saudi Arabia like super stars;

well Mohammed bin Salman one of the most expensive players in Spurs history and we can do you a fantastic deal. Ndombele has a great appetite which has to be seen to be believed. He can be trusted to fill out your midfield.

 

Player of the Year
Mickey Van de Ven…playing the game up to the standards expected from everyone else. Everytime he plays I feel more confident of us getting a result

Young Player of the Year
Mickey Van de Ven…11 of this man and wonder where we would have been

Most Improved Player
Pedro Porro. has settled well after it looked like he was going to struggle with reading the English game but now he’s actually my favourite Spur due to the fire in his belly for the cause, a great player imo and a great attitude, the kind of fire I expected Skipp to develop when I used to watch him early days.

Best Signing
Mickey Van de Ven

Worst Signing
Maddison…not because he’s rubbish but because I expect much more going forward from anyone wearing the number 10 shirt

Favourite Game
LIverpool at home….about time we stopped embarrassing ourselves with the pathetic displays we usually conjure up against the scousers

Least Favourite Game
There’s a few tbh…so many bored me to turning them off…can’t name just one

all in all I’m happy enough to see what the summer brings, this was Ange’s first season after all, let’s see if he learns and things are different otherwise one of us will be making a ‘who will be our next manager’ thread by end of November

Let’s see if Levy does his bit

 

Definitely a mixed season to say the least.

An excellent start with some electric football after the loss of our greatest ever goal scorer and arguably player gave us optimism we’d be in for a far better season than initially hoped/ expected.

Then a disastrous loss to Chelsea killed momentum. From then on it was patchy football at best. A bunch of poor losses and some unconvincing wins along with a sporadic good performance and victory here and there.

Crashing out of both cups was also very disappointing, Fulham in the league cup especially as Ange essentially threw it by making wholesale changes.

Lack of opportunities to our best batch of youth since the Kane and co era has been severely disappointing too as it was something I hoped Ange would change after years of neglect by previous managers but seems he’s following suit. We have a few potential superstars on our hands though so I really hope he does something about that.

Having said all that, if we secure 5th then it has to be seen as a positive season because it’s probably 3 spots higher than we expected. I’d give it and Ange a 7 out of 10. Above average but with considerable room to improve. If we fail to secure 5th then that drops to a 6.5.

I think we can look forward with more optimism than pessimism but it does require big improvements. I think Ange acknowledges there’s a good 10 players with no future here and will ask the board to act on that. I think more players suited to Ange-ball will see better performances and results. Ange as a person is also extremely likeable which makes you want him to succeed and I think most players enjoy playing for him too which is key for morale.

POTY - Porro just edged van de Ven and Son for me. Adapted to RB after concerns defensively and he’s chipped in with very impressive stats for a RB.

YPOTY - van de Ven. Only reason he didn’t win the above was that two relatively lengthy injuries meant we haven’t seen a true full season for him. But what we did see (minus Toon!) was a phenomenal player in the making.

Most improved - Sarr. Wasn’t even sure if he was gonna head on loan or not, ended up becoming a solid member of the squad. Probably been our best midfielder this season, not as high praise as it would like to sound but impressive enough considering his age.

Best signing - van de Ven… obviously.

Worst signing - Solomon, missed 90% of the season.

Favourite game - Burnley 2-5 Spurs. All out attacking football from both sides, our quality shone through but it takes two teams to make an entertaining game and both contributed to that and some.

Worst game - too many unfortunately. 3 home losses in the derbies is a sickener to take, not sure the last time that happened and hopefully it never happens again. Batterings from Fulham and Toon as well were awful.

 

Player of the Year
Cristian Romero, who has looked more and more like the captain we need as the campaign has gone on, and has also cut out a lot of the recklessness of his previous two seasons. Decent return of goals, too

Young Player of the Year
Destiny Udogie, his absence on the left of our team has been keenly felt in recent weeks

Most Improved Player
Pedro Porro, who has gone from a player our fanbase were actively hating at points last season to a consistent player who has also shown a noticable improvement in his defensive game

Best Signing
Mickey van de Ven

Worst Signing
Alejo Veliz, though it's the loan to Sevilla that tipped it against him

Favourite Game
4-0 win over Villa. Might have been a good idea to build on that, eh?

Least Favourite Game
The 2-0 loss to Chelsea. Genuinely felt like Santini was in charge for that one

 

Player of the Year - Son - had bad spells but easily the best attacking player at the club.

Young Player of the Year - Udogie - huge potential and he won’t be at Spurs long if he keeps improving.

Most Improved Player - Porro, came a long way since Tim Sherwood wrote him off

Best Signing - Van De Ven (although the Newcastle game was horrific)

Worst Signing - Manor Solomon, I still maintain he was only signed because he was on a free. Don’t particularly rate him even when fit.

Favourite Game - Newcastle at home

Least Favourite Game - Chelsea at home. Awful game and the team and manager never recovered from it.

 

Player of the Year

Micky VDV

Young Player of the Year

Destiny Udogie

Most Improved Player

Pedro Porro.
I wanted him gone in the summer.
Now eating a slice of humble pie.

Best Signing

Micky VDV

Worst Signing

Technically, if he isn't a figment of our imagination, it would be Solomon. But you can't really call a freebie the 'worst' signing.

So I think I'll side with Dona on this. Aside from that opening run of games, Maddison has been extremely underwhelming given his reputation and experience. Needs to show a lot more next season.


Favourite Game

Sheffield United 0-1 Spurs (Van de Ven, 90+8)
Having just beaten City midweek and with Villa losing to Liverpool and Palace, Spurs need a win to clinch Champions League football in the dying seconds of the season. With the final kick of the game, Micky Van de Ven strides out of defence, beats six players, and fires in a screamer from 30 yards that sends the away fans into delirium.

You heard it here first.

Least Favourite Game

Quite a few to choose from unfortunately.

Probably Chelsea at home.
With Chelsea, you know what's going to happen. In fact you prepare yourself mentally for the absolute worst.
And then what actually happens somehow manages to be ten times worse than your wildest dreams.
They are a curse.

 

Player of the Year - VDV

Young Player of the Year - Udogie

Most Improved Player - Romero

Best Signing - VDV

Worst Signing - Solomon and Veliz

Favourite Game - Villa 4-0

Least Favourite Game

Vermin FC.
Pochettino being their manager is smearing dogshit
on the salt already in the wound.

 

Hey Crystal Kane, tell me Utd beat Arsenal and we haven't handed them the title.

 

"So I won't be playing CB today?" - Emerson

 

Player of the Year - Mickey VDV
Young Player of the Year - Destiny Udogie
Most Improved Player - Pedro Porro
Best Signing - Mickey VDV
Worst Signing - Maddison has turned out to the most disappointing of last summers signings but the injury killed his momentum and he hasn't got it back.
Favourite Game - Sheff Utd 2 goals deep in stoppage time that was predominantly the result of their time wasting
Least Favourite Game - Too many to choose from, but I think the one that annoyed me most was the Spammers at home, better side by a distance both goals their goals were complete flukes

 

…and then the Spurs fans remembered, that, having beaten City, they’d handed their rivals the league title.

 

Sorry I forgot to mention Arsenal lose 0-3 to Everton at home on the last day of the season.

James Tarkowski with a hat-trick, all bicycle kicks.

 

I started the season unhappy with our transfer business, as I didn't think that the squad was balanced.
We didn't shift enough dead wood and lacked depth in several important areas.
Not bringing in backup/competition for Richarlison or at centre-half was a massive problem.

Postecoglou did very well initially, but he really struggled to overcome those issues.
There were a couple of others that popped up during the season, too.
Set-pieces is the obvious one, but using players out of position is another, for me.

The transfers that we did make have been of very decent quality.
Our loans were less consistent, but some of them worked out well too.
The performance of our youth teams has been a nice positive, but the path to the first team appears tough.
Definitely another thing that needs to be worked on.

Player of the Year: Christian Romero.
Red against Chelsea was a low point, but he's embraced the coach's approach completely.
Maintained a high level and looks far less rash than he did in the past.

Young Player of the Year: Micky van de Ven.
Excellent footballer with ridiculous pace and he's scored some key goals, too.
If he keeps playing like this and can avoid injuries, then we'll struggle to hold onto him.

Most Improved Player: Pedro Porro.
Very close to being my POTY pick and he's often been MOTM, in my opinion.
Looked completely lost when he first joined and now he's regularly outstanding.

Best Signing: Micky van de Ven.
Very happy with virtually all of our signings, though.

Worst Signing: Alejo Veliz's loan to Sevilla.
Not a signing, but a poor transfer. Could've got more minutes with us.

Favourite Game: The home game against Newcastle.
Missing a few players and coming off the back of an awful run and we played well in both halves.
Gave away a silly goal at the death that took a little shine off it, but it was a very good performance.

Least Favourite Game: Man City at home in the cup.
Played poorly and were robbed by a bullshit decision that started a free-for-all on Vicario.
Followed it up with an absolutely pathetic performance against Brighton a couple of days later.

 

Player of the Year
VDV

Young Player of the Year
Udogie

Most Improved Player
Porro

Best Signing
VDV

Worst Signing
Maddison. Whether it's failure to recover from injury or a lack of talent, he hasn't lived up to expectations. He has been uninspiring since October.

Favourite Game
Villa 4-0, although both the Scouser and Sheffield game run it close

Least Favourite Game
Too many to count, sadly, all listed above.
I'll exclude the Chavs at home cos although that game effectively derailed our season, the second half performance showed a lot of guts.

So, it has to be the Newcastle thrashing (again). No words....

 

Player of the Year - Udogie and Sarr, the players we miss the most when unavailable

Young Player of the Year - VDV

Most Improved Player - Pedro Porro

Best Signing - Big Ange . . Has improved the football (although inconsistently) got us into europe and stopped the godawful atmosphere at our home matches

Worst Signing - As I won't be allowed to say Ndombele or Sessengon will go for Werner...think it's harsh to go for Soloman cos he's just been injured. Werner tries hard but should do so much better.

Favourite Game - Sheff Utd at home. Was there and winning with 97th and 99th minutes goal was blinding. But on top of that we had battered them all game and their time wasting killed them. The atmosphere throughout was excellent

Least Favourite Game - Newcastle away. Didn't turn up.