MY ACCOUNT
Lifelong Tottenham supporter Chris Ostler and Manchester United fan Alex Woodward believe their sides can thrive under current managers Antonio Conte and Erik ten Hag.
In an exclusive column for LiveScore, the duo from British indie rock band Black Honey speak about their clubs’ Premier League form, chances of European glory as well as their new single, Heavy.
Manchester United and Tottenham have enjoyed similar starts to the campaign. What are your thoughts on their form?
Chris: Towards the end of last season and over the summer transfer window, I have never been more excited to be a Spurs fan.
The whole atmosphere Conte has brought to the club has been incredible, he is an absolute genius.
There have been a lot of arguments about the style of play. For me, a lot of it is to do with the injuries.
You lose Dejan Kulusevski, Richarlison and Cristian Romero, three really important players, that contributed to our form going down.
I feel we still have not hit top gear, we are starting to play well, but we are grinding out results which is still a nice change for Tottenham because we have been really bad at that.
Alex: I think the start has been good. Ten Hag has been one of the best things for the club in a long time. We had so many managers where the atmosphere in the stadium and among fans was not fully supportive.
Ten Hag has brought back a bit of that desire and passion for the club and you can see it in the performances.
He just needs to keep going. I saw the stats from when he first joined where the players were running less than other teams. He has been able to gain that respect now.
The start has been good, hopefully now we do not get knocked by that result against Aston Villa and we can carry on after the World Cup.
Who has the higher ceiling out of the two managers?
Chris: Conte has been there and done it. If Ten Hag is as successful as he can be in his career, he will match Conte, you can’t beat what he has done.
Something I find quite interesting about Conte at Spurs is that he seems he wants to start a project.
Traditionally, he has come into a club, spent one or two years there and moved on but with Spurs it seems to be a bit more of a long-term project.
Spurs aren’t used to having a manager as good as him and they are throwing everything behind him with transfers and letting him have free rein at the club.
Alex: Ten Hag is putting in the work with the players to build one of those sides that United were once famous for.
I think it will take him time to get there. What he did with Ajax was incredible and I am interested to see in the next couple of years where we are and what will be said of him.
I think it is still such early days and we haven’t fully seen what is going to happen with Ten Hag at the club. We are still in a very transitional period.
Can you see both clubs finishing in the top four?
Chris: I’m confident. I think the top four will be Manchester City, Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea. I think Newcastle will be fifth, United sixth and Liverpool seventh.
I would even be tempted to put Spurs second, I think Arsenal are going to have a massive drop off and it only takes an injury to Gabriel Jesus to derail them.
Alex: I think we’ve been on a bit of a run that we can hopefully continue. I would like to say yes but I believe both clubs fall short at the moment.
Spurs have been above us for most of the season and I would like to see United do it, but you can’t rule Tottenham out so it’s tricky to say.
Who will go further in their respective European competitions?
Chris: I feel like Barcelona might be able to get the better of United, but if they can get past Barca, then they could do very well in the Europa League.
For Spurs, I know Conte doesn’t have a good record in the Champions League, he has never got past the quarter-finals but Spurs have been good whenever they have played in the competition.
Even if we do get knocked out, I wouldn’t see it as a negative thing because Conte works better when he has one game a week.
Alex: Definitely United. Spurs in the Champions League is another level of football.
The quality of the players in our team suggests we should at least be competing for, if not winning the Europa League.
It’s that age-old thing on paper where it looks great and when it gets to a match it all comes crashing down. I feel like that’s been United in the competition.
But I would hope that we can go on and win it, it would be great for Ten Hag to have that success.
Black Honey have a new single out called Heavy, what’s the reaction been like?
Chris: Yeah the new single is out and we’ve just released the video for it directed by Dakota Schiffer who is currently on RuPaul’s Drag Race which is pretty cool.
Alex: We actually shot the video in the summer and it was amazing, she brought so much too it and we got a great video which sums up the song nicely.
You also played at Reading and Leeds festival this year. How was that?
Chris: It’s a really special festival that we have had on our bucket list. We have played there a few times but this year we were on the main stage which was incredible.
Alex: It was the first time for all of us on the main stage, we’ve all been going individually for over 10 years and it was all so amazing.
We had a big poster on the side of the stage and we could really hear the atmosphere which was brilliant, the half hour went by in a flash.
Heavy, the new single by Black Honey is available now, taken from their upcoming album A Fistful of Peaches, out March 17, 2023.
