How come Spurs are doing so well?

[TonyWant]

On paper, Spurs are having a great season in the Premier League. 40 points from 21 games puts us on target for a 72-73 point season. Could be our best ever Premiership total. Our away form is outstanding with 7 wins in 10 games. In any other season we would be comfortably in the top 4 with this points total and it remains well within reach. All this despite the departure of Bale, an influx of new players - most of whom have not settled well, managerial instability, an epidemic of injuries, some woeful performances including 2 thrashings and many dissatisfied fans - especially at WHL.

So how come we are doing so well? There seems to be a disconnect here. Liverpool and Everton think they are having wonderful seasons but are only a point or 2 ahead of us. Can someone explain this?

Its surely not our sharp strikers. Soldado and Defoe have a grand total of a goal each in outfield play and Ade has only recently even appeared. It cannot be our be scary defence which conceded 6 at City and 5 v Liverpool and who look so slow and disorganized and uncertain in many games. Hardly the 'Magnificent 7" new recruits - Lamela, Chadli, and Soldado have all been disappointing or injured or both. Capoue has scarrcely played and Eriksen was missing for weeks. Paulinho has been good but not great. Chirices is uncerain and error prone. Is it Lennon and Townsend? But they have been erratic. How about Dembele or Sandro ? Really ?
It can hardly be luck. By January with more than half the games played the table cannot lie like it often does in September or October. You cannot get 40 points in 21 games by being lucky.

So we do not look good and so many things have gone wrong but there we are with 1.9 points per game on target for 73 points.
Explanations please because it does not seem to make sense !

 

[Lilbaz]

Because the top teams are stronger and the teams from 10th down are a lot weaker.

 

[RButch]

We have rode out fair share of luck, (but then again all teams have) and we haven't dropped as many stupid points, other than Newcastle and Spam at home. Usually we drop a lot more.

 

[guy]

We've been lucky enough to have a player or 2 stand up and put in a MOTM performance most games. We've seen soldado, ade, lennon, holtby, dembele, chiriches, lloris, verts, bentaleb, paulinho, eriksen & walker all put in performances that have won us different games.

If they could perform well consistently as a team we'd be laughing all the way to the top!

 

[Ionman34]

We've been lucky enough to have a player or 2 stand up and put in a MOTM performance most games. We've seen soldado, ade, lennon, holtby, dembele, chiriches, lloris, verts, bentaleb, paulinho, eriksen & walker all put in performances that have won us different games.

If they could perform well consistently as a team we'd be laughing all the way to the top!

But the fact that we've had a number of players stepping up for MOM performances suggests that, as a team, we are performing well wouldn't you say?
If we had just the one outstanding player every game then, IMO, that would suggest the opposite.
We haven't been 'lucky' as such, we've just done just about enough to edge games. I can't really recall any games where we've won in the manner that Newcastle won at ours. We battered them and got nothing. In the games where we got battered like that the scoreline reflected it.

 

[guy]

^^Over the season yes, and you of course make your own luck. But we've had alot of inconsistent players from game to game, either that or they've been injured / dropped / rotated so have not been able to go on a run.

Agree with what you're saying though

 

[G Ron]

But the fact that we've had a number of players stepping up for MOM performances suggests that, as a team, we are performing well wouldn't you say?
If we had just the one outstanding player every game then, IMO, that would suggest the opposite.
We haven't been 'lucky' as such, we've just done just about enough to edge games. I can't really recall any games where we've won in the manner that Newcastle won at ours. We battered them and got nothing. In the games where we got battered like that the scoreline reflected it.

We lucked out at Fulham I thought. We were dreadful that day and two worldies got us out of trouble. That's the only one that stands out for me though.

 

[worcestersauce]

Lloris, you didn"t mention him, saves at least two nailed on goals a game. Discuss.

 

[Ionman34]

We lucked out at Fulham I thought. We were dreadful that day and two worldies got us out of trouble. That's the only one that stands out for me though.

Yeah, forgot that one, for obvious reasons!)
Still, it shows that the ability is there, even without Bale, to pull out something special even when we're not at the races.

 

[DaSpurs]

Also must be mentioned that we actually picked up a few points this August. In recent years, that hasn't been the case, so our number at this point of this season vs seasons past is a bit buffered.

 

[Jonboy]

Your right, even though we are an absolute shambles, with no plan B and more ambition to balance the books than win anything we are only 2 points behind Liverpools heroic title challenge
I dont know why? I dont know spurs anymore and my morale is low

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

To toss my two cents in here, might be because we have great players. Even when Spurs play rubbish, even when they bore us out of our minds, even when they hardly score, or hardly make a run for it, at the end of the day, they win based on the sheer quality of our team. If you look at our 11 best, simply by hearing their names you would say that our team was a really strong one. Add to that our substitutes, it stars looking scaring. The bench we have for most matches this season is light years ahead of the bench of last season. Our results come down to having pure quality players, who even when we play bad outperform a team of mediocre players who play at their best.

 

[DaSpurs]

To toss my two cents in here, might be because we have great players. Even when Spurs play rubbish, even when they bore us out of our minds, even when they hardly score, or hardly make a run for it, at the end of the day, they win based on the sheer quality of our team. If you look at our 11 best, simply by hearing their names you would say that our team was a really strong one. Add to that our substitutes, it stars looking scaring. The bench we have for most matches this season is light years ahead of the bench of last season. Our results come down to having pure quality players, who even when we play bad outperform a team of mediocre players who play at their best.

I think this is absolutely true and is perfectly reflected by our results and our position in the table. We haven't gelled to a point individually or solidified a favored formation at all this season, so we've been incapable of breaking down the very top clubs. However, we've players that are capable of finding a way to overcome weaker players, and tend to do so more often that not. That having been said, it'll take that final gelling if we're to beat the top clubs on a decently consistent basis and thereby achieve regular top four.

 

[Booney]

Agree that the difference now is strength in depth. There's enough quality on the pitch and on the bench that means if some players don't perform others can step up. In the past we were over-reliant on one or two world-class players.

Selling Jenas helped too.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

I think this is absolutely true and is perfectly reflected by our results and our position in the table. We haven't gelled to a point individually or solidified a favored formation at all this season, so we've been incapable of breaking down the very top clubs. However, we've players that are capable of finding a way to overcome weaker players, and tend to do so more often that not. That having been said, it'll take that final gelling if we're to beat the top clubs on a decently consistent basis and thereby achieve regular top four.

Let's hope the gelling and consistency in management and what else occurs before we sell half the team and a tangible possibility turns into a forgotten past.

 

[Dougal]

Our defence/Lloris have been dismissed too easily. When they are bad they're truly bloody awful. But 95% of the time they've done enough to only ask the smallest of favours up the other end to get us points.

 

[Col_M]

High profile Results and expectancy

We've lost twice to West Ham. Twice to Arsenal and lost embarrassingly up Liverpool and City


Alongside this we we have brought in £100m worth if talent (you can ignore net spend) and we expect to be challenging for the league.

Meanwhile Pool and Everton spent very little and Arsenal only bought 1 star.

With all that it's no wonder we've done so well. Trouble is the 6 above us have done better. We are dropping silly points now whereas at the start of the season we were not. City and Chelsea have done the opposite.

I must admit I keep looking at the table and being surprised that we are still in the mix considering the feeling that we've been awful.

 

[dudu]

High profile Results and expectancy

We've lost twice to West Ham. Twice to Arsenal and lost embarrassingly up Liverpool and City


Alongside this we we have brought in £100m worth if talent (you can ignore net spend) and we expect to be challenging for the league.

Meanwhile Pool and Everton spent very little and Arsenal only bought 1 star.

With all that it's no wonder we've done so well. Trouble is the 6 above us have done better. We are dropping silly points now whereas at the start of the season we were not. City and Chelsea have done the opposite.

I must admit I keep looking at the table and being surprised that we are still in the mix considering the feeling that we've been awful.

I think anyone who thought we would be challenging for the league with the amount of squad changes we had last summer was being a bit shortsighted.

Coached correctly the squad could be challenging in a year or two but it seems like the waves of expectation from a lot of fans were not really in line with how long it takes to build a consistent cohesive team.

As much as it pains me to say..... take a look at arsenal and how even Wenger, possibly the most experienced manager in the league, struggled for two seasons of changes to get his team playing well.

The idea that AVB could do it instantly with a greater influx of players or that Tim could do it in a month doesnt really scale with the reality of how hard it can be.

From what i can tell we have only dropped 2 silly points out of the last 15. And picked a few that we were possibly not expecting to.

So for me, im surprised we are still keeping a relative pace with the teams above us in spite of all the moving parts we have so far had to work with this season.

 

[SuperPav]

We lucked out at Fulham I thought. We were dreadful that day and two worldies got us out of trouble. That's the only one that stands out for me though.

It's a bit silly to denounce finishes from outside the box as "two worldies". A lot of our shots under AVB came from outside the box, so in terms of probability it is only natural that we scored a decent amount of goals from outside the box.

 

[Kendall]

On paper, Spurs are having a great season in the Premier League. 40 points from 21 games puts us on target for a 72-73 point season. Could be our best ever Premiership total. Our away form is outstanding with 7 wins in 10 games. In any other season we would be comfortably in the top 4 with this points total and it remains well within reach. All this despite the departure of Bale, an influx of new players - most of whom have not settled well, managerial instability, an epidemic of injuries, some woeful performances including 2 thrashings and many dissatisfied fans - especially at WHL.

So how come we are doing so well? There seems to be a disconnect here. Liverpool and Everton think they are having wonderful seasons but are only a point or 2 ahead of us. Can someone explain this?

Its surely not our sharp strikers. Soldado and Defoe have a grand total of a goal each in outfield play and Ade has only recently even appeared. It cannot be our be scary defence which conceded 6 at City and 5 v Liverpool and who look so slow and disorganized and uncertain in many games. Hardly the 'Magnificent 7" new recruits - Lamela, Chadli, and Soldado have all been disappointing or injured or both. Capoue has scarrcely played and Eriksen was missing for weeks. Paulinho has been good but not great. Chirices is uncerain and error prone. Is it Lennon and Townsend? But they have been erratic. How about Dembele or Sandro ? Really ?
It can hardly be luck. By January with more than half the games played the table cannot lie like it often does in September or October. You cannot get 40 points in 21 games by being lucky.

So we do not look good and so many things have gone wrong but there we are with 1.9 points per game on target for 73 points.
Explanations please because it does not seem to make sense !

I still think we're thanking our lucky stars for those three fortunate 1-0 penalty wins earlier in the season.