Only time will tell if Tottenham’s draw with Liverpool on Saturday was a good result or not, but if we do fail in our quest to win the Premier League it will be because of an inability to beat the best.
Spurs’ record against the teams currently occupying the top 12 spots in the Premier League does not make for good reading. Mauricio Pochettino’s side have only won four of the 17 games played against these teams, drawing ten and losing three.
Those victories came against Manchester City (twice), West Ham at home and Southampton away. There were draws against Leicester, Arsenal (twice), Stoke, Liverpool (twice), Chelsea, West Brom and Everton (twice). The defeats came to Leicester, Manchester United and West Ham.
In contrast Tottenham’s record against the bottom eight sides is almost faultless. In 15 games some 13 have been won, with only a draw against Swansea and a loss to Newcastle blemishing the record.
The amount of draws against the Premier League’s better sides shows that while Spurs are a very tough team to beat these days, they perhaps lack that extra something that can turn a tight game into a win.
Though Tottenham are the Premier League’s top scorers with 57 goals, Harry Kane has scored 22 of them and is the only player to have hit double figures. When Kane is out of form or fatigued – as was the case at the start of the season – that obviously becomes an issue.
If the club are to have any chance of winning the Premier League this season then they must up their win rate against the top 12 teams in the last six games, with only the match against Newcastle coming from outside this group.
Going forward it looks as if Pochettino must get more from the likes of Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela and Heung-Min Son, or bring in fresh attacking midfield talent that can provide more of a threat.
With just four or five more wins this season, Spurs would not be looking to catch Leicester up but keep them at bay. With such a young squad, that’s a perfectly attainable goal for next season.
What’s the point of pontificating. If Tottenham had won every game they’d be top; if they’d beaten Newcastle, Stoke and West Brom they’d be top. If Man City has been competitive against the top teams they’d be top. If Arsenal hadn’t got 1 point from 9 recently they’d basically be top. Tottenham have barely lost all season; they’ve scored the most and let in the least. Usually that would be enough. Amazingly an unfancied team keeps winning by 1 goal.
Well put. To my mind it was our slow start to the season – three points from our first four games – that has cost us. Let’s be honest, even we didn’t realise then that we could go on to challenge for the title. And we would have taken second place if it had been offered to us. I’m still proud of the boys, come what may, they have done exceptionally. Let’s not complain too much, we have had a great season and we mustn’t throw it away now by being over negative. Whoever wins the league will have deserved it.
Well written stuff, boys, and if we fail this season we will be back as long as this cracking squad stays together and is strengthened. And if Leicester pull it off we will say Well done! Both to the club and Signore Ranieri. Thank you, Spurs for a good season
Probably since the days of the legend that is Martin Jol moving in to the days of rent a gob redknapp we’ve needed to sort our front line out properly,.
The mess under AVB and redknapps gilet wearing protege has been nicely cleared up and we have a proper football club again! Yay!…
… That said… The points dropped in August and early sept due to levy playing money ball has cost us more than once and it WILL cost us the title this year.
I’ve dealt with this a long time ago (September haha) and accepted we’d be sloggin it out for Europa and poch do his best to implement, 1, an identity at the club, and 2, a pattern of play on his football team….
How the hell was anyone to know that this guy would do the weeding and lay the seeds in one summer, get a bloom in the winter and have a crack at the summer fair?!!…. Not to mention he even rebuilt the fucking house!!!! (The club, staff, mgnt, fans, online presence etc seems to be happy and knowing we’re on a path!)
I’m rambling, what’s my conclusion? … I think it’s arguably the most amazing season of the premier league (specifically, I can’t comment on the league before then) as the stories of Leicester and Tottenham as achievers and the collapse of Man U and Cheatski have been so dramatic, impressive fascinating & unbelievable! … Answer this honestly!… Who doesn’t look at the league table and shake their head in disbelief at any number of things every single time?? Haha! Come on you Super Spurs and General Poch! Keep my head shaking! COYS
What has Levy got to do with us dropping points in August and September when the same squad then went on an amazing run? Think it through before you write nonsense. If there was a reason why we dropped points early on it was because the (new) team hadn’t gelled yet. And at 2-0 up against Stoke Toby (our best payer this season) made an awful mistake. But, heh, there will always be someone who blames it on Levy and makes an idiot of himself.
That’s fucking rich you nob. I’m being positive and it’s hardly nonsense to think that having an extra goal scorer would make the difference in all the DRAWS we’ve had where we’ve needed to SCORE a GOAL… Think about that before you post crap.
So you had to lower yourself to insults. Sad. We’re the top goalscorers in the league. Harry has played every game, but you still think it’s Levy’s fault which simply demonstrates you know nothing about Pochettino and the way the club is run. Maybe we needed another defender or goal keeper to stop conceding goals and turn those draws into defeats. Who cares it’s Levy’s fault for playing money ball. You couldn’t make it up!!
OK champ. So I make a positive comment and point out that we HAVE CLEARLY MISSED ANOTHER GOALSCORER AS WEVE DRAWN SO MANY GAMES,. That is my boy point, it’s correct, and you’re calling me sad??! Jumping on the comments with your sanctimonious know it all tone??! ,. If we’d got a second striker in the summer, we’d have a better ability to beat the higher placed teams when neither side wants to come out and play,.Simple as that. What a nob you are.
Completely agree, been saying it all season, when we come up against top teams we fail. Lack cutting edge against solid defences… Tough run in, we may not win another game.
Hold on, we’ve been winning all season and now we suddenly going to stop winning against WBA, Southampton, Stoke, Newcastle ……… There are some people who are only happy when we’re struggling.
Lets face it, with the youngest average age of any PL team , we have exceeded expectations by anyone’s standard. This is a Team that will go on to achieve great things – having watched us for 40 years I have never seen such a unit at Spurs. We need to of course keep Poch and let him keep building. We have an abundance of young talent coming through and with the addition of some quality experience which we should attract if we go on to play CL again, the future is lilywhite. coys!