The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur News and Links for Friday, November 12

Hi, everyone!

At the top today is midfielder Maéva Clemaron.

Ramble of the Day

Every week is food week for the Hoddle, but I will wrap up this food week with a tie to football. Antonio Conte truly exudes the vibes of a big shot coming in to save a struggling team, ready to correct the structural failures he sees in front of him. I think he’s starting to do a good job of selling himself that way, too — check out these carefully picked photographs of him at training.

The task ahead of Conte is, by most measurements, a large one and probably requires a wide-ranging approach. According to The Athletic, one part of Spurs’ big reset is Conte cutting ketchup and mayonnaise out of the players’ diet. Ketchup in particular seems to be one of those things that managers just might hate, something that slowly chips away at the holistic actions of being an elite athlete.

It feels like the results are mixed here; good and bad managers have opted for or against ketchup. Perhaps the most successful managers on this list are Conte, Fabio Capello, and Arsène Wenger, and they are officially anti-ketchup. It might be the most convincing argument against ketchup for professional footballers, but it’s worth remembering that this is an extremely small sample size.

I’m curious about how other managers in the Premier League feel about ketchup — it would be a fun way to increase the sample size, and maybe then compare it by results if one acquires enough data. (In all seriousness, it’s probably up to dietitians to tell us whether or not ketchup should be banned for these footballers.)

I just find it fascinating that ketchup might be a lightning rod issue amongst football managers, and by the idea that they might debate it if they ever got together.

tl;dr: Antonio Conte has a big repair job at Spurs, and apparently banning ketchup is part of it. Also, apparently ketchup is a lightning rod issue for managers!

Stay informed, read this: Craigh Barboza on a retrospective planned for Nina Mae McKinney, who is considered to be Hollywood’s first Black movie star, at New York’s Film Forum for The Hollywood Reporter

Links of the Day

PSG’s Aminata Diallo was released from police custody without charges in relation to an attack on teammate Kheira Hamraoui.

Brazil qualified for the 2022 World Cup.

MLS suspended Real Salt Lake’s Andrew Putna for using derogatory language regarding a teammate’s nationality.

Aston Villa hired Steven Gerrard as the team’s new manager.

Nine men will appear in court early next year after being accused of singing racist songs ahead of the Old Firm in August.

A longer read: Grant Wahl on his trip to Transnistria, the unrecognized breakaway state and home of FC Sheriff for his Substack