The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Monday, September 2

Hey, everyone!

My birthday has once again fallen on European deadline day, which reminds me of how Gareth Bale made his way to Real Madrid on the last time that happened. Can’t imagine many of us are looking for a repeat.

Ramble of the Day

In the social media age, matches are sandwiched between players’ pre- and post-match social posts. Usually boring, the pre-match posts are an expression of excitement, and it’s nice that they feel thrilled about going to work, but I hope they don’t feel obligated to it. Similarly boring for the most part, the post-match posts are one of a few sentiments: happy after a win or a hard-fought draw, reflective of a hard-fought but imperfect draw, or disappointed after a loss. Every now and again, we get something a bit more interesting than that, which leads us to how Harry Winks and Moussa Sissoko feel about that match against Arsenal.

Sissoko sticks to the boring caption rule — “good derby with 1point taken” is hardly expressive, but who cares? The most important part (as may frequently be the case on Instagram) is that image, which is technically supposed to serve the same purpose as the caption. It’s part of that quick recap of the match, and would normally be uneventful. The image, though, doesn’t match that caption for a second, because that picture is a lot of fun. Sissoko chose to share an image of himself feuding with Sokratis Papastatopoulos, which was part of a very eventful moment of that match (and likely a way to endear himself with his followers a bit). It’s possible there weren’t a ton of other images Sissoko could choose from, but I am still very fond of this particular choice.

Naturally, I also appreciate that Winks went with a picture from the same event. (After all, he was there from the beginning of that episode.) His caption is a bit more reflective; at the time of the scuffle, I’d noted that we were all at risk of ending the North London Derby without a proper fight, which would’ve been disappointing. I’m glad Winks feels the same way, and I like that he added some opinionated takes on the match, even if “on another day we come away with 3 points” is only mildly more interesting than Sissoko’s thought.

It probably is the perfect way to remember this match, or any match like it. What is it if it isn’t a bit of a fight until the final whistle?

tl;dr: Moussa Sissoko and Harry Winks posted pictures of them fighting in the derby on Instagram.

Links of the Day

Inter’s Romelu Lukaku was subjected to racist abuse by Cagliari fans in his side’s 2-1 victory over the weekend.

Romanian fourth division side Poiana Mare Youth forfeited a match to attend a player’s wedding.

Transfer updates: Paris Saint-Germain has signed Sergio Rico from Sevilla; Galatasaray has signed Radamel Falcao on a season-long loan from Monaco

Today’s longer read: Julie Beck interviews two American friends with a decades-long tradition of yearly trips to watch the U.S. national teams for The Atlantic