The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Friday, October 3

Good morning and welcome to another edition of Trending Up / Trending Down, where hoddle headquarters takes a look at what around Tottenham Hotspur is trending up, and what is trending down.

This is actually our first edition of the series this season, which is surprising. It also makes it a little bit more difficult to identify some of these trends around N17. But we’re going to try, regardless:

Trending up:

• Micky van de Ven / Cristian Romero: The presence of any other centreback (no disrespect to Kevin Danso), makes you appreciate so much the pairing Spurs have with van de Ven and Romero. It seemed like these two played so few games together last season.

• Tottenham Hotspur Women: It’s a low bar compared to last year, and a 1-5 loss against Man City isn’t great, but Spurs Women are off to a decent start. I’ll take it.

• Djed Spence: There are some questions about his productivity moving forward, but he’s been pretty darn good on defense so far. Why else would he open the Penitentiary? And let’s not forget he nabbed his first England cap too.

• Mohamed Kudus: I was slightly hesitant after Spurs signed him this transfer window, but he’s been an absolute delight to watch. He brings a tonne of class on the pitch and so much creativity. It’s early days, but he’s a contender for Player of the Year.

Trending Down:

• Goal-scoring threats: You never want “Own Goal” to lead the total goals across all competitions, but that’s where Tottenham are right now. After that? Well it’s joint-second with Joao Palhinha, Richarlison, Brennan Johnson and van de Ven at three goals. That’s not great and it doesn’t help that Dominic Solanke and Randal Kolo Muani (remember them?) are out.

• Daniel Levy: Well, he’s no longer the chairman, is he?

• Former managers: Aside from Antonio Conte with Napoli, this has been a pretty rough time for some of the more recent managers at Tottenham (not including interim managers like Ryan Mason). Nuno Espirito Santo was sacked by Nottingham Forest and is now at West Ham, Jose Mourinho was sacked by Fenerbahce and is now at Benefica. He most recently lost to Chelsea. Meanwhile, Ange Postecoglou is off to a horror start at Nottingham Forest, and Mauricio Pochettino’s Team USA have looked really unimpressive heading into next year’s World Cup.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Mothers of Riches, by Cate Le Bon

And now for your links:

Matt Law: “Brooklyn Earick, the ‘unsolicited’ Tottenham takeover bid and what is really going on”

Pardeep Cattry: “Jurgen Klopp loves life after coaching, doesn’t plan on coming back: ‘I miss nothing, I enjoy what I’m doing’”

The Independent: “Oliver Glasner fully focused on Everton despite European victory”