What Our Opponents' Fans Are Saying About Us 19/20

whitelightwhiteheat said:

A great example is the Jan "assist" for the Son goal. And another example in the past was Tom Carroll's pass to Gareth Bale on the halfway line against West Ham for that goal he scored against them.

If a goalkeeper rolls the ball out to someone who then dribbles past the entire opposition 4 times before putting the ball into the top corner he would get an assist, regardless of what happened afterwards. So assist stats are not necessarily a true reflection.

People wank over stats too much these days, basically. Too many Football Manager obsessed lads who want to prove whatever point they're trying to make with numbers, rather than highlighting actual footballing abilities. "He must be good, he's got 7 assists. Most on the team. " - So yeah, he got 7 assists, but that doesn't take into consideration the 550 opportunities to create a chance which were fucked up by poor execution or decision making.

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mightyspur said:

Seriously guys, will you lot fuck off to a new thread called something like "Stats are they worth while or not"

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Ionman34 said:

Why can't you do both? You know, watch the game and view the stats.

This isn't a "one or the other" scenario. What the xG has done here is confirm what my eyes saw from watching the game, we had the better chances and deserved the win based on that, we didn't "smash and grab" at all and that particular stat confirms that.

Yes Wolves played well and dominated the possession. I seem to remember a gif of Brendan Roger's taking the piss with the "we won the passing" legend on it. That's pretty much the case here.

As I see it, xG is a metric that, in part, backs up the adage that it's not about how long you have the ball but what you do with it when you do have it. They had the ball more than us, they created very little in the way of "clear cut" chances and the xG reflects this. Conversely, we had less of the ball yet created more clear cut chances. Again the xG reflects this as confirms what I watched.

I think the schism comes here when you have those who see possession and front foot play as a measure of who "deserved" to win the game, so dismiss that particular stat as flawed as they clearly saw the other team taking it to us. What they fail to se is that we were set up to counter that and exploit it. That is what I saw in the game, a plan developed and executed well which, again, the xG backs up.

Whilst it is not foolproof, I feel that the xG is a fairly accurate metric of a tactical approach and better reflects the performance of the team rather than possession stats which, as we've seen from our own previous matches, can be hugely misleading.

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whitelightwhiteheat said:

I should say I have no issue with stats - What I have an issue with is useless stats, and shoe-horning stats to prove a certain point. As examples - the "Dribbles completed" stat is utter gash. Additionally, I was trying to have a conversation with people on Twitter about Son. My point is that Son would be an even better player if he got his head up more, and looked for a player in a better position now and again. The response was "He's got 7 assists. Most on the team." - This does not prove anything, in my opinion. He may very well have 7 assists, and that's great, but how many occasions could Son have assisted a team mate in a better position? That's not taken into consideration. Also Assist stats are generally flawed, as discussed above.

The Wolves win had a "Smash and Grab" feel about it regardless of the xG stats. I fucking love a smash and grab win anyway. Especially away from home. All the fans are absolutely dejected and devastated, the players sink to their knees on the pitch, distraught. I fucking love that.

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tiger666 said:

You'd never hear that on here.

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mightyspur said:

I like how you first agreed with my post, but then when I spammed yours for yet more inane stat chat, you changed it to a retaliatory spam rating.

That'll teach me

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Insomnia said:

boring zzzzzzzzz

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dudu said:

First time doing this but i have a bit downtime today

From the shed end

Here it comes! A month ago I said we really must not underestimate Spurs. I started to get a bit scared after Everton. Now I'm really carefree since we lost again...We got nothing to lose, we can only play better, not worse!

Though make no mistake, this is a huge game still, Jose wants to win this one, Spurs want to win and say that they are for the top 4 and not us.

If we win, nobody will remember Bournemouth and Everton.

We lost to 3 of the worst sides in the league and in all 3 occasions we deserved to lose despite each of them being fairly appalling our defense made them look like Barcelona!

Play like we did in those games and the outcome is crystal clear. Comfortable Spurs win.

No matter how bad our form is, I will never say we will lose to these lot............7-0 Chelsea

Four weeks ago this was a walkover. Now, with us having a prolonged blip and them having the Jose X Factor, we are definitely the underdogs. I have been out and about in Tottenham town last night and they are up for it. Up for it f**king big time.

We seem to be better at the moment when we are not expected to get a result. So despite our recent form I am hopefully that we might surprise a few people next weekend.

I'm curious to see what our reaction to José is going to be like.

I'm guessing polite applause at the beginning, then, with gritted teeth, pretending not to notice him sliding down the touchline on his knees after they beat us 1-0 having had 24% possession.

When we are the underdog (which on this occasion I think we might just be based on recent results) we generally show our worth. Think it will be tight but I am quietly confident we will nick a deserved win. Could even see us conceding first and coming back.

I am not going to knock Sarri as he did pretty well for us last season in the end but this season we have the management who know the rivalry of this fixture and the importance of a win now.

Huge game, not even going to include the Jose factor, I'm sure he will have something to say about us before Sunday. We will be playing a bit safe in this one, Jose ;s team is akwags good at sitting back and counter, not going to give him the luxury. To win this game, we will need to show some determination and bravery, feel this is a 1:0 game, either way.

A funny match this one, we are both competing for fourth spot and both managers know each other well.

Jose has been playing 4 at the back though when he can't score changes to three at the back.

One tactic might be to play with three in midfield and then change to two when Jose goes three at the back (assuming they are not already ahead).

Fancy us getting a result on Sunday! The spotlight will be on Mourinho and the onus will be on Spurs to come out and play. I think we showed at City we can dominate the ball against top teams and create real clear cut chances. Hopefully a partnership of Rudi and Fik will be the answer to that defence and we've looked brilliant away from the bridge this year and I think the boys will go there confident. Fingers crossed on it all coming together for a big derby win at the toilet seat stadium.

Until the squad 'toughens up', a couple of players demonstrate some leadership and crucially we see effective tackling/ fouling, more pass completion accuracy and all round better bloody defending (whether it be with existing keeper & defence or new in Jan/ Summer) I do feel that those on here reckoning we could turn them over this Sunday are being a tad over optimistic. I hope its not an embarrassing score and Frank & Jody make some progress with a full week to prepare. Not slagging off the coaching team, the issues we see now were haunting us a year ago, and don't forget at the height of AC's title winning season Spuds busted the 12 game streak (I was there at the lane- horrible). I personally would settle for a point, keeps them at arms length and would keep CFC in top 4 until Boxing Day round at least; but pls don't get my pessimism wrong I'm up for a surprise away win, we have the players to do it if they show up, just not that confident after the last few games.

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Frozen_Waffles said:

Yes but Benítez won the Spanish league with Valencia, he won the cl with Liverpool and the uefa cup with Chelsea.

Comparing him to Bruce is a bit weird. He should be in for the top jobs.

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sausage said:

I think you've managed to spectacularly ignore a good 90% of what I wrote.

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Flashspur said:

Fackin ell

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