Tottenham have got their 'sh*t together' - now can Spurs break their WSL glass ceiling?

There is no one better to speak to in this Spurs squad about the team’s progress in recent years than Drew Spence. The club’s longest-serving player, who was made captain ahead of the new campaign, Spence joined the club in 2022, off the back of a fifth-placed finish. It's been up and down - quite literally - since, with the team placing ninth, sixth, 11th and fifth in her four seasons, but the progress off the pitch has been constant.

“When I came to this club, I think one of the main reasons was that there was a push from the board and that was important for me,” Spence told GOAL ahead of the season. “I think especially when Martin has come in, there's been a push all round. It could be the nutritionist side, it could be technical coaches that have come in, it could be how we work in the gym, it's just so many different elements that have come together. I think we're now probably in the most elite environment within my time at Tottenham.”

And the feeling is that can start to translate into consistent progress on the pitch. There have been highs over the years, not least the run to the FA Cup final under previous boss Robert Vilahamn in 2024, but a lack of consistency is evident in each season’s final league position.

Spence was confident before the season began that there would not be a big change in that regard this year. Spurs’ consistency against those below them in the standings gives them a strong platform, and the identity that is being built under Ho means there is a lot of belief about what the next steps look like.

“Martin came in and we started to get our sh*t together and showed that we are actually a good team with good players and good staff and a good environment around us,” Olivia Holdt, Spurs’ top-scorer last season, said in the summer.

For Spence, Ho has ensured the team has “a clear identity of what we want to do”, something that Lize Kop also picked out. “There's a clear framework we can work in and I think that just can help us as players,” the goalkeeper said.

Forging that identity was a key takeaway for Ho from his first season, too. Asked about the biggest learnings, he told reporters in the summer: “Probably the resilience of the group and probably the shift in identity that we want to do to align with the whole club. [That’s] really implementing club values, club beliefs, and then trying to evolve and develop a mindset and probably a mentality that when we went into bigger games, we could see progress in everyone, while keeping a clear, honest and authentic side to ourselves that we didn't change what we'd done.”

It’s in those big games that the questions remain. Spurs have played 54 WSL matches against the ‘Big Four’ and won just two, the most recent victory coming in December 2023 and the other in September 2021. Ten of those games have been under Ho, during which Tottenham’s record stands at three draws and seven defeats.

Of course, no one expected the former Brann boss to come in and immediately deliver consistent results against the best teams in England, especially given the Spurs side he inherited had just finished second-from-bottom in the WSL. There were good performances in those games too, not least when they went 3-0 up away at Manchester United, only to somehow come away with just a point.

“I think even against Chelsea last season, when we played at home, we had a lot of the ball and I think especially first half, we were the better team,” Kop added.

It’s clear there is a real desire to make in-roads in those games now. Alongside sustaining a position in the WSL’s top half and being in the latter stages of cup competitions, Ho expressed a desire “to raise performance” and “be more consistent” in “the big games” ahead of this season.

His captain agreed. “We had some good performances but we didn't quite get over the line and I think that's what we need to do this year,” Spence told GOAL. “If we don't do that this year, in my eyes, it's a failure.”

There’s then a conversation about how Spurs do that. Do you stray away from the values and style you are trying to implement in order to frustrate the opponent and get a result in a different way? Or do you stick to your processes because that is what you are trying to implement and it will be valuable in the long-term? It’s a Catch 22 seen in football all the time.

Ho prefers the latter approach, and when Spurs were going toe-to-toe with Chelsea on Sunday afternoon, it was clear to see why. "I thought we were well in the game, creating chances and opportunities, pushing them back and causing them problems with our pressure,” he said after the match – and he was right.

However, a flurry of goals from a ruthless Chelsea side left Spurs taking away no points and facing a second successive game in which they’d conceded six goals. It’s not a new thing for this team either. Back in March, Tottenham shipped five goals in back-to-back WSL games for the first time, in defeats to Man City and Arsenal. They also conceded five against City at the start of last season.

Does anything change this weekend against an Arsenal side who are struggling immensely against low blocks? Or do Spurs again come out and try to beat a big team in what they see as the right way to play? It’s likely the latter – and the first 60 minutes against Chelsea will have given Ho and his side more reason to believe that is the right approach.

But that has got to come with improvements elsewhere. On Sunday, Ho lamented a “drop” in level, some “loose actions” and the fact the team didn't “recover quickly enough” from a mental standpoint when conceding, all of which allowed Chelsea to score three times in a nine-minute spell to run away with the game.

There’s no expectation for Spurs to do something like make a leap into the top three, for example, this season. So many teams have made bold predictions in the past, overlooking the size of the step needed to achieve as much and thus leaving themselves looking foolish as the season unfolds.

Indeed, when speaking to GOAL in pre-season, Spence was keen to ensure the balance was found in that regard. “I think it's so important for us to not be unrealistic with what we want,” she said. “Of course, we want to compete on all levels and all competitions, but it's about taking those next steps gradually.”

Finishing in the top half again and doing well in the cups, while further honing the identity under Ho, are all important things to work towards, even if they are not headline-grabbing targets. But getting better results against the more established teams in this league is also important. “It's just about how we change it from a point into three points or a loss into a draw,” Spence said. “It's just little tweaks like that.”

Excitement around this project is already high, but once Spurs figure out how to do that, it will grow massively. After all, it feels like a key element that will help Tottenham take that next big step forward in an already promising journey.