The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Thursday, April 18

Hi, all!

Yesterday’s match was a ride, wasn’t it? Here’s a quick ramble based on one of the random thoughts I had during it.

Ramble of the Day

The beginning of the season was a long time ago, but little reminders come all the time. Sure, you’ll remember results at the beginning of the season and other such things, but I’m talking about remembering what the actual players looked like at the start of the season. As months pass, so do players’ hair lengths and beard lengths, for example. Take a look at what Fernando Llorente looked like on picture day.

He shaved in time for picture day this season, and though he’s actually sporting the no beard look again in the present, I’d argue he looks like a different person without it. He’s rotated between the looks all season, so it probably wasn’t such a big deal that he decided to go so drastically for picture day, but it does make for a somewhat jarring experience, at least for me. I’m used to Llorente with a beard, so I always do wonder why he went clean shaven for a day where the pictures would last a season. Like I mentioned, though, Llorente doesn’t mind playing around with his looks, so perhaps it wasn’t as big a deal to the man with the final say.

To Llorente, perhaps the importance of picture day wasn’t relevant, but I think Eric Dier got the message. We’ve all chatted about Dier’s look before, all the way at the start of the season, but I’d like to take the time out to appreciate it today. This guy just decided that he’s going to take a picture in which he looks like he’s not one to be messed with (perhaps a note to each of Spurs’ opposing teams) and the powers that be stuck it in every lineup graphic they could before changing it up recently. I love all the decisions made that led to these beautifully enjoyable moments in the 2018-19 season. May they never be forgotten.

I’ll leave it here in its somewhat choppy state without a formal conclusion. Consider them just extensions of bullet points.

tl;dr: Understanding the importance of picture day through Fernando Llorente and Eric Dier.

Links of the Day

A man was arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated assault during an investigation involving Barnsley manager Daniel Stendell allegedly getting punched.

Bolton Wanderers have agreed to sell the club to former Watford owner Luarence Bassini.

Manchester United has been promoted to the FA Women’s Super League.

Today’s longer read: Forough Alaei goes undercover with female football fans in Iran in a photo essay for The Guardian