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

hello everyone! Can’t believe I haven’t done one of these since last year ...

These “New Year’s resolutions” are quite the trend these days, aren’t they? People want to do all sorts of things like travel, find true love, gain financial independence or get in shape.

Admiral goals I guess.

I’m not a big resolutions person myself, and so I don’t normally set any for the year (I do “objectives” - no, it isn’t semantics!)

But leave it to Tottenham to make your fresh-faced hoddler-in-chief change his planned hoddle from a Track of the Day into something football related.

This team stunk it up on Sunday. I saw the first and last 20 minutes of it (and was running in-between). Glad I did.

So I think we need to come up with some resolutions for Tottenham Hotspur this year. What do you think this clubs needs to resolve to do in 2023?

Fitzie’s New Year resolution for Tottenham in 2023: Score first (own goals don’t count).

Yes, there are more ambitious resolutions Tottenham can set this year (trophy, signings, top four, etc etc). But I want the club to start with something even more basic than that: score before their opponent!

It can’t be that difficult. Villa made it look so easy on Sunday (as did Brentford, Newcastle, Leeds, Forest and Liverpool in weeks before that).

So while there are bigger resolutions that could be had this year, I would argue starting something as simple as scoring first could be a resolution to keep.

Feel free to share your Tottenham resolutions!

Fitzie’s track of the day: When Doves Cry, by Prince

And now for your links:

The Athletic ($$): Antonio Conte speaks on Tottenham’s current place in the table

Tottenham’s defensive liabilities place limitations on their ambitions

The Evening Standard makes its football predictions for 2023

Celtic manager Postecoglou calls for Old Firm derby to be played without lengthy VAR delays

Long read: The New York Times on covering Pele’s Cosmos