Fortress White Hart Lane

[am_yisrael_chai]

I'm sorry if this sounds really geeky but I was looking at our goals conceded at WHL on the back of our recent run of clean sheets and noted something amazing. Not only do we have the lowest number of goals conceded at home in the entire league, 9, but we conceded 2 goals in each of our first 2 home games. That means we have conceded just 5 goals in the following 17 games, or less than 1 in every 3 games. For me this more than anything puts into perspective a few things:

1) Just how big a screw up selling our strike force was
2) How important King Ledley is to the team
3) How we can be optimistic for next season (another thread I know) because the basis of any team moving forward e.g. Chelsea of a few years ago under Mourinho, is a strong home record and the basis of this is being difficult to score against. Put simply, if you don't concede chances are you'll win most games and if you're winning your home games the pressure comes off you in away games and you start to find those easier too.

If everyone else was aware of this stat I apologise for the geekiness of this post.

 

[rsmith]

Awesome


I'd add.

4. Charlie, easily the smartest RB in the league
5. BAE fulfilling his potential
6. Sticking with a stable back four

 

[PT]

And Gomes leaving his red nose and big shoes at home.

 

[asianspur]

Credit must be given to Redknapp and his coaching staff!! Fingers crossed next season it will continue.

 

[masterblaster80]

But seriously, we do this all the time. It's either the defence being brilliant, or the strikers are.

We never seem to actually get both actually, except for lately and even then we usually win by the odd goal.

 

[AngerManagement]

But seriously, we do this all the time. It's either the defence being brilliant, or the strikers are.

We never seem to actually get both actually, except for lately and even then we usually win by the odd goal.

True, but in fairness to Redknapp he does seem to be addresses all areas in a steady fashion.

First shore up the defence, we certainly look to have done that, he also has bought in Palacios which has addressed a issue we have had in midfield for as long as I can remember.

Add to that the singings of Defoe and Keane for the front line (your looking at 40 goals he bought for next year potentially) and you can see the team and squad developing.

The summer will hopefully see us do only a small amount of business, with a few players leaving and being replaced by better (or should I say more suited) players.

If we can bring someone in to offer goals up front and perhaps another striker who is able to form good partnerships with the likes of Keane and Defoe then we would need very little else (other then cover for any areas we are thin)

Redknapp also has a good record with blooding in youngsters, so hopefully we will see a few of our own getting (and taking) their chance next year.

 

[Hoowl]

Sunderland ------------- 1 - 2 Jenas
Aston Villa ------------- 1 - 2 Bent
Wigan Athletic -------- 0 - 0
Hull City ----------------- 0 - 1
------------------------------------------
played 4, won 1, drawn 1, lost 3, 0.25ppg
goals for 2, goals against 5
------------------------------------------

Redknapp joins

Bolton Wanderers --------- 2 - 0 Pavlyuchenko, Bent (pen)
Liverpool ---------------------- 2 - 1 Carragher o.g., Pavlyuchenko
Blackburn Rovers --------- 1 - 0 Pavlyuchenko
Everton ------------------------ 0 - 1
Manchester United------- 0 - 0
Fulham ------------------------ 0 - 0
------------------------------------------
played 6, won 3, drawn 2, lost 1, 1.83 ppg
goals for 5, goals against, 2
------------------------------------------

defoe joins

Portsmouth ----------------- 1 - 1 Defoe
Stoke City ------------------- 3 - 1 Lennon, Defoe, Dawson
-------------------------------------
played 2, won 1, dwawn 1 lost 0, 2ppg
goals for 4, goals against 2
-------------------------------------

palacios, keane join

Arsenal --------------------- 0 - 0
Middlesbrough ----------- 4 - 0 Keane, Pavlyuchenko, Lennon (2)
Chelsea -------------------- 1 - 0 Modric
West Ham United ------ 1 - 0 Pavlyuchenko
Newcastle United ------ 1 - 0 Bent
-------------------------------------------
played 5, won 4, drawn 1, lost 0, 2.6 ppg
goals for 7, goals against 0
-------------------------------------------

 

[mil1lion]

Having Defoe back will really benefit our goalscoring at home.

 

[spurs4europe]

Good post. You don't have to be apologetic, trust yourself.

 

[lishiyo]

admittedly we've had some luck at home - that tuncay goal could've easily stood, chelsea came very close at the end, di michele had a great chance from woody's mistake, and martins had a strong penalty call + handball

that said we haven't really capitalized on many of our chances either

 

[walworthyid]

admittedly we've had some luck at home - that tuncay goal could've easily stood, chelsea came very close at the end, di michele had a great chance from woody's mistake, and martins had a strong penalty call + handball

that said we haven't really capitalized on many of our chances either

That is true but I'm sure that all the good defensive records don't tell the full story and that when all is said and done you only get so much luck. We have had a very strong home defensive record for almost the entire season and there can only be so much good fortune in that.

Just imagine if we would have had the same manager and players from the beginning of the season? We could realistically be looking at something like 4 or 5 goals conceded!

 

[worcestersauce]

admittedly we've had some luck at home - that tuncay goal could've easily stood, chelsea came very close at the end, di michele had a great chance from woody's mistake, and martins had a strong penalty call + handball

that said we haven't really capitalized on many of our chances either

True but more importantly, that is only one chance in each game and I suspect every team has one close shave every game but when it is the only chance of the game against you it reasonable to say it's more than luck.

 

[spurious1]

Yeah if we had last season's attack and this season's defence we'd be world beaters...

Certainly our back 5 is one of the best around and by far the best we've had in ages. The real solidity has been, not at all coincidentally, since we've gone to the 1 game/week, meaning King is usually available. (Also coinciding with Palacios arriving).

I wonder what will happen next year, though. It seems safe to assume that King will never play more than 1 game per week, making him still available for the majority of league games, but we'll have to play something different in the cups and the rest of the games. I guess either a straight switch of Dawson for King, or Corluka to CB and Hutton at RB?

 

[Rocksuperstar]

Clean sheets at the Lane, all the way to the end of the season :up:

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[sidford]

redknapp has made us a more solid unit, we dont score much at home 18 goals which is 2nd lowest and lower then the likes of stoke, bolton, west brom but the fact is if over a season you score double what you concede you will go on to have a very good season unless some freak results happen.
next season i am making a prediction that we will be just solid at home and more solid away but we will suffer in goals for, i am hoping that some fans dont start to complain about this because we need a very strong defensive foundation before we can work on the attacking side. all the good sides scrape 1-0 wins more then we would think so i just hope that this isnt looked upon as a negative next season IF we stay as solid but dont score a lot either.

 

[lishiyo]

portsmouth last season had an average offense but the 6th best defense -> 8th place

we should have more firepower than pompey so hopefully at least upper midtable in attack + post-harry defense (5th stingiest for goals conceded per game so far) -> happy times