Tottenham 23/24 — Angeball's First Season: Full Squad & Ratings

Tottenham 2023/24 season — all 18 players rated, best XI, and how to draft them in 38-0.

Tottenham 2023/24 — Season Story

Tottenham Hotspur's 2023/24 season was Angeball: the first year of Ange Postecoglou's revolution, a ten-game unbeaten start that put Spurs top of the league, a style of football that had the whole country talking, and a fifth-place finish that ended with Champions League football agonisingly close — but not quite reached.

The summer had been a rebuild in miniature. Harry Kane, the club's record scorer, left for Bayern Munich; the new manager arrived from Celtic with a reputation for attacking football and a promise that became a banner: 'I always believe in what I'm doing.' Postecoglou's high line, inverted full-backs and relentless pressing produced the most watchable Spurs team in years.

The start was a dream: ten games, eight wins and two draws, top of the table, with Son Heung-min — now captain — scoring 17 league goals and James Maddison looking like the signing of the season before an ankle injury in November derailed the momentum. The injuries piled up through the winter — Maddison, Romero, Van de Ven, and a suspension crisis that saw Spurs play weeks with a skeleton squad — and the top-four challenge faded into a fifth-place finish.

The season ended with 66 points, five behind fourth-placed Aston Villa, and the mood was complicated: disappointment at missing the Champions League, tempered by the belief that Postecoglou had built something real. The 2023/24 squad is rated 80.2 OVR in the 38-0 dataset — a team in transition, with a clear identity and a bright future.

The Ten-Game Dream Start

Nobody expected it — not after Kane's departure, not after years of defensive football. Postecoglou's Spurs won at Brentford on the opening day, beat Manchester United at home, and just kept winning: eight wins and two draws from the first ten games, top of the Premier League, and the most entertaining football in the country.

The system was fearless: a high defensive line that terrified opposition coaches, full-backs inverting into midfield, and Son and Maddison combining at will. The 2-1 win over Liverpool in September, with nine men defending for 45 minutes, became the moment the league realised this was not a fluke — and the 2-0 win at Manchester City, breaking the champions' home run, had pundits talking about title challenges.

Son as Captain

The burden of replacing Kane fell on Son Heung-min, and the Korean responded with the best all-round season of his career: 17 league goals, his best return since 2021/22, and leadership that held the team together through the winter crisis. His hat-trick against Burnley in September, his solo goal against Crystal Palace, and his calm penalty in the final-day win over Sheffield United were the highlights.

Son's relationship with Postecoglou was the season's quiet story — the new manager giving him the armband, the freedom, and the belief. At 31, he adapted to a more central role and became the focal point of the attack, and his 87 OVR rating in the 38-0 dataset makes him the highest-rated player in this squad by a clear margin.

The Injuries That Cost the Top Four

The turning point was 11 November: Maddison's ankle injury in the 4-1 win over Chelsea, followed by Romero's suspension and Van de Ven's hamstring tear in the same game. Spurs lost the next two matches, and the pattern repeated all winter — every time the team found form, another key player went down.

The maths of the final months were brutal: Spurs took 24 points from their last 12 games, a top-four pace, but the damage of the winter — 11 defeats in total, including runs without a win in November and February — had left them too far behind. The fifth-place finish was, in the circumstances, an achievement; the feeling that it should have been more was the real sign of progress.

Key Players & Ratings

Son Heung-min (87 OVR) is the star — captain, 17 league goals, and the highest-rated player in the squad. Guglielmo Vicario (84) was the best value goalkeeper in the league in his debut season, Cristian Romero (84) the emotional leader of the defence, and James Maddison (84) the creative spark before injury. Pedro Porro (82) and Micky van de Ven (81) complete a strong core.

The squad average of 80.2 OVR sits just below the 80.7 pool average, and the ratings tell the story of a team with quality in the spine and a thinner supporting cast: Richarlison (79), Brennan Johnson (79), Pape Matar Sarr (78) and Timo Werner (78) are all useful but unspectacular.

Full 18-Man Squad

Best XI — Tottenham 2023/24

The highest-rated eleven available from this squad in 38-0:

• GK Guglielmo Vicario 84 OVR
• RB Pedro Porro 82 OVR
• RCB Cristian Romero 84 OVR
• LCB Micky van de Ven 81 OVR
• LB Destiny Udogie 79 OVR
• CDM Pierre-Emile Højbjerg 80 OVR
• CDM Yves Bissouma 80 OVR
• CM Rodrigo Bentancur 80 OVR
• CAM James Maddison 84 OVR
• RW Dejan Kulusevski 82 OVR
• LW Son Heung-min 87 OVR

Drafting This Squad in 38-0

This squad's draft value is concentrated: Son is a top-tier left winger and the obvious first pick, Vicario a genuinely good goalkeeper, Romero a solid centre-back, and Maddison a creative number 10. Take one of those four and this landing is a success.

In Legend mode, the hierarchy is: Son (87), then Vicario, Romero, Maddison (84), Porro (82). The middle tier — Bissouma, Hojbjerg, Bentancur, Van de Ven (80-81) — is decent, and the 76-79 tail is avoidable. Pick the star your XI needs most.

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