Manager Martin Ho took on a Press Conference ahead of the first match of the 25/26 season, and previously managed SK Brann in the Norwegian Women’s League.
Ho said that he believes it is the right time to come back to the English league as he has “Gained Valuable experience being away.” As he learnt about managing staff and working with above leadership, as the last time that Ho was in English football, it was as an assistant manager in Manchester United.
In terms of the squad and Tottenham’s pre-season matches, he managed two wins over Arsenal and Southampton, as, “The last five, six weeks has been very important for me to have my eyes on the squad” to “make sure that we can be the most efficient,” However, Ho also stated that it was important for the players to be “intense off the ball” and to be expressive, individual and to make sure that the players can express themselves with their own personality.
The manager then also mentioned some long-term injuries going into the season, such as Ella Morris, who has been out with an ACL injury, and is expected to be out for the majority of the 25/26 season. Luana Buhler is also “Still the same.” As she was forced to withdraw from the Euros tournament this summer from injury.
Another injury comes from Molly Bartrip who has “Got a little bit of a knock and hasn’t been in the last 2 games.” As she is being assessed as they are the only ones who are really missing as all the other players have been training consistently, keeping high hopes for the beginning of the new season.
Despite not having a very successful season last year, Ho stated that “We should be pushing ourselves,” As they “Don’t want to put a ceiling on where you can finish [in the league] because then it looks like it’s an overachievement.” As they want to be “Competitive in every game we go into and build a clear structure and strategy moving forward.”
Regarding the transfer window, the manager said that they have faced a challenge from the change in playing style, identity and coach and have embraced everything, as there is “A lot of talent in this group and a lot of potential, individually and collectively.” However, one player that has stood out is Toko Koga who is “Very young and exciting and is going to be a superb player.” As she has national caps and has settled in well as she appears to be comfortable in trainings and matches as she has settled in and “Understands what Tottenham Hotspur as a club is about.”
Cathinka Tandberg is another new signing expected to succeed as she will “Add depth to the squad.” as she will be “A huge threat in and around the box.”, Especially as she is “Physically strong and powerful.” So will be a force to be reckoned with. When asked about why Spurs signed Cathinka when they have Bethany England and Martha Thomas in the same position, Ho said that he wants to “have different profiles in the frontline that enable us to play slightly differently in certain moments.” To be less predictable as Cathinka with play a key role.
A key moment of the Pre-season was the North London Derby that they played against rivals Arsenal, where they “Had to really overcome some adverse moments in that game.”, which ended in a Tottenham win, which helped the players to instil confidence and belief within the group ahead of the season, especially as the manager has “Tried to give everyone an opportunity.” As he has seen a lot of quality in their current squad.
With this, Ho has seen a “Shift in confidence and belief.” In Matilda Vinberg, as Araya Dennis has also been very patient as she has been training very well in preseason as she just needs “A little bit of guidance and a little bit more coaching.” As she is getting this more consistently and is becoming a better player.
Ahead of the match against West Ham, a focus was placed on West Ham’s strong attack, mainly from Martinez, Asseyi and Ueki up front, but Spurs have “really good players on our team” and will “focus on what we can control and on our performance.”. As Spurs will be at the top of their game to prevent a loss.
Finally, we asked Martin Ho:
“We’ve been seeing a rise in the importance of young players and academy players in general, especially during injury crises, or in moments of struggle, so have you been integrating more young players or academy players into the squad?”
He said “Yeah, no more importantly I think my background as a lot of people will know is from youth development and probably having a bigger passion for development players and especially youth players. And we’ve had throughout preseason now maybe six or seven, I think in terms of training with us from the under 19’s group consistently, some of them travelled away with us to Sevilla, some of them have participation in two or three games, so no, more importantly for me it’s I don’t look at it in terms of young. If you’re good enough, you’re old enough. More importantly, it’s my job to make sure that they’re given the confidence and the tools to be able to go and perform in the Super League, but also understand that they have a lot of development stages to go, and we’ll see that through the season now, in terms of not just in injury moments, because I feel then then you put someone in when it’s just an injury crises, it’s maybe a one off and what I want to make sure is this club has a, a rich history for developing their own players.”
