Tottenham head coach Martin Ho has praised club departures as the Women’s Super League season draws to a close.
Through an emotional letter this week, Tottenham Hotspur captain Bethany England announced that she would be leaving Spurs at the end of this season, upon the expiration of her contract. The 31-year-old joined Tottenham from Chelsea in January 2023, in this time scoring 38 goals in all competition, 32 of which came in the Women’s Super League (WSL). England was named club captain in September 2023 and since has guided them to a top six finish in 2023/2024,3 and will look to secure Tottenham’s highest ever points tally in the Women’s Super League with these two games remaining.
Head coach Martin Ho was asked how he would reflect on her time at Spurs and the impact she’s had on the club.
“Really good, wonderful captain and someone who I’ve got huge respect for”, Ho praised. “She’s so committed and leads by example. These decisions are never easy, but we have to make the right decisions for us moving forward and what we’re trying to build going forward, but she goes with our best wishes and I have nothing but respect for her.”
Ho also stressed his opinion on the importance to give the supporters an opportunity to say goodbye to the players departing the club this summer. He believes its vital “that anyone who leaves the club, they get the opportunity to say bye to the fans and they get to show their respect and appreciation to them. You can do that at the end of the season, but I don’t think it shows any sign of respect or any kind of courage to just do that. I want to make sure that we allow the players to do that and it’ll allow them on the weekend to do that.
“I think they’re happy with that they get a chance to say bye to the fans because they’ve built such a strong relationship with them over the time, they’ve been here.”
Martin Ho expecting a ‘competitive game’ against London City Lionesses
Tottenham now look ahead to a meeting with London City Lionesses in their penultimate game of the WSL season. Having taken each other to penalties in their last meeting, Ho said he was expecting another tight encounter in which the margins are just as small.
“A competitive one, like the two fixtures we have had”, Ho predicts. “Especially the FA Cup, that was a lot more kind of nip and tuck, a lot closer, the margins were smaller, and we were punished, both teams were punished for kind of mistakes or errors they made.
“As I said, they’ve got a world-class team and world-class players at the top level who have now come back from injury and they’re starting to really click. We know that if we’re going to have to be on the end of a result that we want and a positive one at that, we have to be at our best, but I expect a really tight game and a close encounter.”
In the reverse fixture this season Tottenham produced a poor performance, as London City Lioness ran out 4-2 winners. Ho was asked to comment on the previous encounters in particular and how he plans to help the team perform better this time around.
“The game away, I thought we performed well with the ball, but defensively it wasn’t great, then we conceded two transitions and two from set play, which was disappointing”, Ho admitted.
“Then, the second game we played, which was the one in the FA Cup, which was brilliant for the neutral, definitely, but I thought we performed relatively well in that game again, held on there at the end to win on penalties. They’ve got a world-class team, world-class players and they’ve started to get a lot of those players’ back who have been out for a while for them. They’re a team with a lot of depth and quality so we know we have to respect them, but we must be right on it at the weekend if we want to get a result.”
Ho praises ‘exceptional’ Ella Morris since her return from her ACL injury
Ella Morris returned to the Spurs starting eleven in the previous game against Manchester United, for the first time since her ACL injury. The Tottenham head coach was asked about how impressed he has been with her since her return to the squad and starting team.
“To come back and play 90 minutes in a big game at [Tottenham Hotspur] stadium, I thought she’d done exceptionally well”, Ho recognised. “She still has lots to grow, develop, learn and we know Ella’s ceiling for potential and talent is high and we need to help her to fill that. She’s got her own ambitions, and her own objectives set at club and for the national team football, and I want to help her get closer to that.
“It’s not putting too much pressure on her, just allowing her to play, giving her some direction with that and hopefully moving forward, we’ll see the best of her. Overcoming that injury shows a big sign of resilience. It shows a lot of courage and belief that she’s able to overcome that situation. The work I’ve seen her do to come back from that injury has definitely helped her and seeing that kind of confidence, kind of enthusiasm in her performance against Manchester United. It’s really nice to see a player coming back into a game and playing a full match, especially after a long-term injury.”
Team News: Ho ‘hopeful’ on England’s availability
Tottenham’s captain missed the encounter versus Manchester United, but Ho said he was hopeful to have her available for some minutes this weekend. Ho meanwhile confirmed he expects a similar squad to be available for this Sunday.
“Everything’s still the same as it was last weekend against Manchester United,” he told the media. “Then, we’ll assess a couple of players going into this weekend who have been out for a little bit of time. Bethany, hopefully, she should be back for some time on the weekend, but we’ve got a couple of sessions left, so let’s see where it takes us.”
Tottenham vs London City Lionesses kicks off at 12:00 BST, with it being shown live on Sky Sports.
