Sunderland 1-0 Tottenham: I am going to become the Joker

SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - APRIL 12: Referee Robert Jones shows a yellow card to Micky van de Ven of Tottenham Hotspur during the Premier League match between Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur at Stadium of Light on April 12, 2026 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Tottenham Hotspur are not a good team this season. This has been conclusively proven. However, it’s very difficult to win a football match when you’re playing against not only the other team at their home ground, but also the match officials. Spurs endured what was an absolute horror of an officiating performance from Rob Jones, including declining to issue a second yellow to Brian Brobbey for both elbowing Pedro Porro in the face, and shoving Cuti Romero into Antonin Kinsky, a play that injured them both. It’d be hard to say that Tottenham played WELL, but they certainly didn’t play poorly enough to lose this match.

The only goal in the match was a heavily deflected goal from Nordi Mukiele that went off of Micky van de Ven and unluckily looked into the top corner over Kinsky. Spurs had a legitimate penalty waved off by VAR, and had a couple of other half chances that were squandered by poor finishing from starter Dominic Solanke. Pedro Porro fired over bar in injury time, but for the most part Spurs rarely looked like they were going to score, which has been an issue the entire season. Spurs got 11 minutes of extra time after an extended injury pause to attend to Romero and Kinsky, but the end result was still a catastrophic 1-0 loss that keeps Spurs without a Premier League win since December 28, and that keeps them in 18th place, two points behind West Ham.

It’s bleak, folks. Extremely bleak. Here are my match reactions.

Match Reactions

• There was more outrage on social media over De Zerbi leaving Xavi Simons on the bench than there was about his two “notpologies” for his sexual assault apologia, and no I’m not shutting up about this.
• De Zerbi’s first lineup is a 4-3-3, with Gray and Gallagher deeper, and Bergvall playing the 10 role. Bergvall’s position high up the pitch led to an early half-chance. Honestly surprised that it’s not Gallagher at the 10 but Bergvall was quite good in that role today.
• Look, I’m typing this bullet 10 minutes into the match but this is already better than what we’ve seen under Frank and Tudor. It’s a shame we have no healthy true wingers and passing still isn’t real. (UPDATE: that was actually the high point of the match)
• That tackle on Kolo Muani — look, I’m not saying that it’s a red, but if Romero makes that tackle with that exact same contact, it’s a red and I will die on this hill. But to not give ANY kind of foul is madness.
• On the not-penalty — I’ll concede that VAR got the call right and it was not a penalty, but I’m baffled how it was given as a drop-ball to the keeper and not a corner, since it went out of play off a Sunderland player.
• I feel like I complain about the ref every single match recently but holy crap Rob Jones is COOKED. Sunderland were getting away with so much and Spurs were the team that ended up with three yellows in that first half and after Brobbey elbowed Pedro Porro in the face? Brother…
• Far from showing nerves, Tonda Kinsky looked pretty good in goal — commanded his area well, no real mistakes, and two pretty fantastic saves in the first half. He needed that. We ALL needed that after Madrid.
• I continue to wonder what the point of Dominic Solanke is.
• De Zerbi’s first subs was a triple sub with Sarr, Palhinha and Tel coming on for Gray, Bergvall, and Richarlison… and still Xavi Simons is stuck on the bench. Is he a crap trainer? I don’t get it.
• Figures that Sunderland’s goal was a complete garbage deflected effort off of Van de Ven that somehow went in. That’s just how this season has gone. What can you even say?
• I don’t know how Brobbey wasn’t sent off for that shove on Romero into Kinsky that injured both of them. Absolutely insane not to call that, and he injured both Romero and Kinsky. Honestly, at this point I cannot rule out a PGMOL conspiracy to get Spurs relegated, and this is ME saying that.
• Good: Kinsky, Richarlison, Gray, Romero. Bad: Solanke, Gallagher, Tel. Mixed: Bergvall, RKM, Udogie, Pedro Porro. Inexplicably absent until way too late: Xavi.
• Look, we’re going down. I’m resigned to that now, and we can argue about who has the lion’s share of the blame for that (it’s everyone). But it feels pretty clear to me that Spurs have gotten zero, and in fact actually negative, help from the officials in that regard this season. This should’ve been, at worst, an away draw for Spurs. Instead it’s a crippling loss, and it sucks.