We have to talk about Spurs' striker problems
Does Robert Vilahamn need to adjust how he is deploying Martha Thomas, Beth England, and Jessica Naz?
After Spurs’ 3-2 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday, it was hard to focus on anything other than WSL officiating. But let’s clear our minds and instead turn to the art of scoring goals.
So far this season no Tottenham player has scored more than one WSL goal apiece — with Bethany England, Clare Hunt, Drew Spence, Hayley Raso, Jessica Naz, Olga Ahtinen, and Eveliina Summanen each having netted one (along with Liverpool’s Taylor Hinds, who scored an own goal).
Similarly, no player has made more than one assist.
If you include Spurs’ 2-1 League Cup win against Championship side Charlton, then the scorer list expands to include Luana Bühler, and Naz’s tally reaches two goals.
On the one hand, it is great to get goals from all over the team. On the other, neither of our two designated ‘number nines’, England and Martha Thomas, have made a convincing start.
The Spurs striker dilemma has been a recurring theme – albeit in different guises – ever since England arrived in January 2022. She scored a ridiculous 12 goals in 12 games, regained her place in the Lionesses’ squad, and then had hip surgery, making her unavailable at the start of last season.
Everyone wondered how she could be replaced. Enter Martha Thomas, reigniting a career that had stagnated at Manchester United, she scored seven goals in Spurs’ first five games across all competitions in 2023-24.
Then as Thomas went a little cold, England returned. And manager, Robert Vilahamn determined the two could and would play together. Initially this comprised of England playing as the striker with Thomas dropping deeper to attacking midfield. Sometimes this was reversed.
As the 2023-24 season went on and Grace Clinton cemented her position in attacking midfield, Vilahamn started using Thomas more often as the ‘number nine’, with England on the wing.
Per Wyscout data, England operated at centre forward for her first nine WSL appearances in 2023-24; then featured on the wings, as a support striker, and as a ‘number 10’, for five of the final six matches of the season.
In those final six matches, Thomas featured as the ‘number nine’ with the exception of a 2-2 draw against Manchester United where she came off the bench to play as a ‘number 10’. Naz was also used as centre forward who could stretch the play in this experimental phase.
However, none of these combinations clicked. The England-Thomas partnership rarely linked up and were consistently less than the sum of their parts. Only once have the two combined for a goal, in the 3-1 win over West Ham on the final day of the 2023-24 season. In that instance, it was Thomas who pressed Hammers keeper MacKenzie Arnold into an error, and then crossed the ball back to England to mash smash it home.
Come the start of this season then and Vilahamn said that the two were now in competition for the spot of striker.
Thomas has seemed to be winning in that competition. On the back of an “excellent pre-season” (according to Vilahamn – we don’t know more because Spurs games were behind closed doors but she scored five for Scotland over the summer).
Thomas has started all three of Spurs’ WSL games. In none has she scored. In all three England came on as a substitute. In the first England was a straight swap for Thomas.
However, against Villa England entered the match for Naz, with Thomas moving to left wing. At the weekend, against Liverpool, England came on for defensive midfielder Summanen (who seemed to be in pain). This switch caused Drew Spence to drop deeper and Thomas to drop into the midfield space vacated by Spence.
England’s one start was in the League Cup, playing all 90 minutes in a game in which Thomas did not feature. We have therefore, now had a chance to see both Thomas and England at striker, separately and together. And the short version is that neither has set the world on fire.
Against Villa the Spurs team with both England and Thomas on the pitch struggled (recording just one shot each). Against Liverpool they created more chances. But it took centre-back Claire Hunt moving forward to force a diverted shot in off a defender.
Vilahamn’s preference for Thomas is surely in part due to her off the ball work. She consistently puts in a defensive shift (getting blocks and making clearances in Spurs’ box) and is better and faster into the press than England.
A big problem with that rationale is that Spurs’ press has been sluggish at best this season, meaning that Thomas has not produced nor benefitted from the high turnovers that last season she so successfully turned into goals. Against Liverpool she had three good chances, but these were either saved or near misses.
Unlike Thomas, England has scored this season – a critical late headed equaliser against Villa. Unfortunately, when the ball has fallen to her feet, England’s attempts have been less successful. Whether one-on-one with the keeper (like against Palace) or close-range shots (two against Liverpool), most have been tame efforts or she has sought to lay off the ball in the box rather than turning to shoot.
Obviously, all strikers scuff chances. There are still moments when England’s strength on the ball has allowed team-mates time to come into the game and against Palace she assisted Spence doing just that.
Is Naz the answer?
We know that both England and Thomas are quality strikers. But neither seem to fully fit (nor less improve) this season’s iteration of Robert Vilahamn’s team.
Which brings us to Jessica Naz. Naz is at her best running onto balls, especially in quick transitions, but also charging down defenders and winning turnovers in dangerous positions.
Last season in the minutes she had at striker she tormented Arsenal across two games in December and produced a couple of crucial goals later in the season. This season Naz has started all three games on the left and this has partially muted her goal threat.
Against Villa she was pegged back defending. Conversely, against Palace with Spurs dominating possession she was pushed out wide into the corner. Against Liverpool in the first half the story was similar. In the second half she swapped to play on the right, and was able to combine with Ashleigh Neville, whose ability to cut inside allowed Naz more space than on the left, ahead of Nildén (a more linear fullback).
Maybe that means that further change is unnecessary – after all, Naz has scored twice already and there are already two players competing for the centre forward role.
But there is argument that Naz is probably the most on-form of our potential strikers; scoring despite having otherwise quiet games. And we see acknowledgement of her potency in the number of diagonal balls played to her. These might be that much more potent if she were playing a position that meant that on receipt she could run straight through on goal.
The additional upside to playing Naz centrally is more minutes for Matilda Vinberg who finished 2023-24 strongly but has barely seen the pitch this season. The downside is that Naz is less of a penalty-box striker than either England or Thomas and unlikely to head in the winner in a crowded area. So if Vilahamn’s team is going to rely on possession, and crossing the ball, she is not the answer.
And there are of course issues of team management. England and Thomas were arguably Spurs’ best players in each of the previous two seasons and England is the captain. Dropping both for Naz would be a big move and probably not one Vilahamn is yet willing to make – at least until there is a stronger rationale for it.
Perhaps the answer will instead require changes to the midfield or wide players so better chances fall to whichever of Thomas and England plays as striker, and Naz is able to attack more centrally alongside them.
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Excellent overview Rachel I have to say but it has been like this way before Beth arrived when we faced relegation headlights. For some reason we just cannot create enough chances for a proper Striker to flourish and become prolific like a Bunny in Sky Blue as our 2 are expected to do so much more in our game and probably do not have the stamina left to chase a ball and strike with it. We do at the mo look somewhat lethargic up front no matter who is chosen to lead. Our midfield recruitment has been very poor since we joined the WSL I have to say, bar Maeva Clemaron (who was like Dembele was for the men's team), awesome and that is really our team engine. We seem to run a 2 stroke midfield on spluttering all the time as every game 1 of the 2 just does not perform at a top level whether it be Summanen or Ahtinen.
Our new player Maite nor Drew can do it on their own and there were so many good midfield players available in the summer like Angeldahl etc and we did very little in doing something about it, same with GK recruitment. No point talking about a poor strikeforce when we let in howlers at the other end. I rest my case.
Good read. As a WSL neutral its frustrating to see Spurs misfiring like this. I guess thats the challenge for RV to resolve but surely it must be possible to accommodate them both and Naz in an effective squad solution......