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Some interesting stats(and my opinion on them)

GoldstarYid

Active Member
Jan 23, 2011
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Ended up being far longer than i expected so no doubt most wont read but thanks if you do.

I will start off with a comparison about corners, yes this could be in another thread but i'm going to post a few different stats in here as well which i feel all relate to Spurs in some way or another.

Spurs - 205 corners 5 goals
Swansea - 3 goals. I do not have their corner overall but i do have some stats to give you some insight here.

Tottenhams corners for is 7.0(I think this is per game) and we are 2nd in the league behind Liverpool(8.34). Swansea are just below mid table on 5.17. This gives you a look at how many more corners we have compared to Swansea this season yet have only scored 2 more goals.

Now for the vital part. In our average starting line up(Friedel, Walker, Kaboul, King, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Parker, Modric, Bale, VdV, Adebayor) we have 4 6'1 or taller players. You can also add in that Walker is a good header of the ball with a great leap on him at 5'10.

Compare that to Swansea who only have Caulker(6'3) and Graham(6'1) with Vorm and Williams only being 6'0. You can make of that what you will but for me it completely negates what Harry was saying today.

Here is the site if you wish to see the stats properly and make sure what i am saying is correct

http://www.footstats.co.uk/index.cfm?task=Leagues

Now that is out of the way here are some other key stats that have and will effect our season.



Tackles

Going against what most Arsenal fans will tell you, Scott Parker is in fact not a bad player or poor tackles who continually commits fouls. In fact he is the top tackler in the premier league this season with 95 tackles and a 69% success rate closely followed by Cabaye with 94 and 68%. Interestingly Naughton is 4th with 87 tackles and 69% success rate.



Fouls

Most fouls actually belong to Holt(70), Fellaini(62) and then Adam(55).



Assists

This is a key one for Spurs. Adebayor is second highest in the league on 11, only behind Silva on 12. Valencia is joint 2nd on 11.



Scorers

This is where we as Spurs are lacking, we do not have a player in the top 5. Adebayor is our highest on 11(8th in the table) with Defoe on 9 and Van der Vaart on 8. Compare that to City have 2 players in the top 6(Dzeko, 13, Aguero, 20). With Man Utd and Arsenal having Rooney on 20 and Van Persie on 26(Adebayor and Defoe put together only matches Rooney/Aguero)

Interestingly Dempsey(12), Yakubu(14) and Ba(16) all scored more than either of our 3 main strikers.



Passers

We all know Modric is a top passer but the stat that caught my eye here was Arteta. Many, including myself felt that Fabregas leaving would be huge to Arsenal but this shows just how good a job Arteta has done in replacing him. Obviously he does not replace the assists and goals but he clearly ha a strong influence on their play.

Arteta - 1892 passes (90% accuracy)

Williams - 1863 (84%)

Yaya Toure
- 1848 (91%)

Modric - 1766 (88%)

Murphy - 1739(83%)

Along with showing the influence Arteta has it actually shows the style of football Swansea play. It also has an insight on how Spurs play, we are credited as being a passing team almost automatically because we are an entertaining team and i would disagree here. I don't think we pass like Arsenal or Swansea, we are far more 'swashbuckling' and 'gungho' than those teams and a lot less patient(this is not to say we are not entertaining).

I actually feel a slower more patient team game is where we lack at times in particular in games at home to teams like Stoke and Wolves where we need to keep the ball and wear them down, not just keep trying for individual moments of brilliance.



Goalkeepers

This one will come as a surprise to many. Friedel has the 5th most saves in the league(94 saves with 73% shots/saves percentage). You say that makes him a good keeper, yes. The problem is the top 4 are keeper from teams fighting relegation in Hennessey(149, 70%), Vorm(108, 77%), Ruddy(104, 71%) and Al-Habsi(97, 64%).

Obviously Swansea are doing well this season but their away from home form has been poor and they have seen themselves get battered a fair few times.

This highlights the negative point of our style of play, we negate defensive solidity in favour of attacking. Thats fine when you can score, but when the goals dry up all of a sudden you keep losing. Look back at West Brom away, Fulham away, Newcastle away, Stoke away(1st half) and you remember us our goal being pounded for periods at a time. Add to that the fact that almost every single game this season we have given the opposition at least 1 golden opportunity home or away. A few examples would be Saha at the lane for Everton, Ba had about 3 or 4 at the Lane, Fletcher for Wolves etc. We seem to nearly always give away a golden chance to teams, not just a half chance, not a decent chance but a full blown "how did he miss" moment.



Offsides

It's no surprise the player with most offsides is Adebayor with 46.

Another couple of interesting stats are that Van Persie is the top shooter in the league with 103 shots.

Also Victor Moses, a once target of Spurs is top of the dribble/runs table with 200.

Sebastien Larsson has the top crosses with 211.

Wigan have commited the most fouls as a team with 365.

And finally Chelsea have had taken the most shots in the league with 401 which is quite funny given their strikeforce and it's overall cost.



What does this mean?

Heres where my opinion comes in to it all(backed up by the stats i feel). Many probably wont agree with this but it's 'what i'd do if i was in charge'. I think we need to adjust our style entirely. We need to play possesion more than we do, we are capable and we show it at times but at others we seem lost. We seem to lack tactics completely, we don't seem to have a clear gameplan or system.

We need players to play their roles. Honestly, what has gone on here?

Parker - Stay back and let Modric do the attacking, far to often i see Modric playing in the middle and Parker playing on the edge of the oppositions box. This regularly leads to us being susceptible to counter attacks.

Bale - We all know this. LEFT WING. Switch with the right winger once in a while, fine, drift up front once in a while, fine. However at least 80% of his game needs to be played wide left. Doubled up on or not, if they double up on him then it's the teams responsibility to not force the ball to him and take advantage of the space created by the 2 players marking Bale.

Adebayor - Work rate, challenge for high balls, close down loose passes, close down opposition players, if you make a mistake don't just give a grin and wave your arms, chase it down and win it back. It's as if he doesn't care about football anymore, hes here to have a laugh and a kick about, no passion.

Instantly with those 3 doing their jobs properly you have more balance. Van der Vaart and Modric don't get crowded out by Bale, in fact the reverse happens and it creates more space for them both. Assou-Ekotto isn't playing left wing leaving a huge gap at the back.

Personally, i am a fan of the "if we have the ball they can't score" approach. I remember Gary Neville saying that Man Utd would intentionally draw the opposition out by playing deep in their own half then picking them off instead of just standing on the edge of their box waiting for a break through past 9 defenders.



Resources

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/premier-league/top-goalscorers.html

http://www.footstats.co.uk/index.cfm?task=Leagues

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11662_2705370,00.html
 

Misfit

President of The Niles Crane Fanclub
May 7, 2006
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Norwich away sticks in my mind. Very good performance both halves. Even at 0-0, you knew we'd score. Liked the formation. Everything. Not the most impressive or mouth-watering performnce but it sticks in my mind.

Not only did we not slip on the potential banana skin, we did it relatively comfortably, the Galls stumble and foul and the usual couple of chances aside.

Must have taken you a while to get all that together. Interesting read.
 

GoldstarYid

Active Member
Jan 23, 2011
866
202
Norwich away sticks in my mind. Very good performance both halves. Even at 0-0, you knew we'd score. Liked the formation. Everything. Not the most impressive or mouth-watering performnce but it sticks in my mind.

Not only did we not slip on the potential banana skin, we did it relatively comfortably, the Galls stumble and foul and the usual couple of chances aside.

Must have taken you a while to get all that together. Interesting read.

Exactly, in that match we kept the ball and were patient. We need to take that approach more often.
 

teddy_sheringham_125

Well-Known Member
Jul 15, 2008
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I'd say those stats back up what we have known for many years now - we're awful at set pieces and we still need a top class goal poacher.
 

Sweatybum

Member
Aug 22, 2010
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55
Interesting read. I'll e-mail it to Redknapp and....oh wait a minute, he won't be able to open an e-mail and can't read can he?
 

THFC_67

SC Supporter
Mar 22, 2011
379
214
Thanks for that, interesting read. It does look like we give up a lot of chances to other teams with Friedel being so high in the saves category and you're right that when the goals dry up it gets exposed its far too high for a team in our position. Good to see Naughton up there with the tackles, would like to see him and Caulker brought back into the squad next season.
 

stemark44

Well-Known Member
Mar 17, 2005
6,598
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All these problems could easily be resolved if the manager got the players to press effectively and he stopped playing wide open,gung-ho football.

However you would be banging your head against a brick wall there.:bang::bang::bang:
 

kcmei

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2008
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i agree that bale must not overdo his free role or else would have a bad effect on modric and vdv
 

Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
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An interesting read and some reasonable conclusions that I wouldn't argue with. The only area I would personally argue with is the Parker thing. In a 4 man midfield you do kind of need both to be dynamic and interchangeable and at home I think it works that they are.

I just think we should play Sandro in there with Parker much more often and either play Modric in there in a 433 or move him into the 3 of a 423.

Agree with much of the rest and the shots faced by Friedel sums up how poorly we defend and are coached to defend as a coherent unit.
 

mpickard2087

Patient Zero
Jun 13, 2008
21,886
32,513
Good post Goldstar, Most of that is spot on and I agree with. The Friedel stat is an interesting one, shows how many opportunities we hand to our opponents and that we need to tighten up.
 

keonb

Active Member
Feb 1, 2005
228
53
Very good and interesting post.

The Norwich game, we played very well, but they played 2 up front who were non existent, that's why we had so much of the play, hence we could be as patient as we wanted. Holt and Morrison haven't played that badly at all this season, that game, they were awful and that helped us immensely, not to mention, that was Bale's ONLY good game when he had the free role (he was actually amazing that night).

We just haven't had a striker with a decent first touch since Berbatov, that first touch is SO important as a hold up striker that people sometimes don't appreciate. That first touch is literally the difference between putting pressure on the opposition, or your own defence under pressure. Arsenal pounded us second half at their place so bad, because Adebayor lost literally about 95% of the 50 50's, Vermaelen would intercept, and when it did reach Adebayor, it bounced off him to Rosicky or something.

We just don't have pace on the wings when Bale or Lennon get injured or are off form... Dos Santos is not good enough (I don't care he hasn't had tons of opportunities, the guy clearly needs a specific system to work in and he's not good enough to build a team around). Bale and Lennon don't get subbed often, because we don't have fast replacements, and pace is important IF you're not playing a patient game.

Patient play is so hard though, because you have to get that incisive pass when you get the chance... But so tiring for the opposition because they have to chase the ball, unless Dawson's playing, when they know he'll hoof it when he has the opportunity
 

Bobbins

SC's 14th Sexiest Male 2008
May 5, 2005
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An interesting read and some reasonable conclusions that I wouldn't argue with. The only area I would personally argue with is the Parker thing. In a 4 man midfield you do kind of need both to be dynamic and interchangeable and at home I think it works that they are.

I just think we should play Sandro in there with Parker much more often and either play Modric in there in a 433 or move him into the 3 of a 423.

Agree with much of the rest and the shots faced by Friedel sums up how poorly we defend and are coached to defend as a coherent unit.

The ultimate frustration being of course that it genuinely does seem as though the most important person of all can't see this, and we have absolutely no way whatsoever of ever getting it across.

Ah, the ultimate impotency of football fan debate.
 

GoldstarYid

Active Member
Jan 23, 2011
866
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Today was an example of how i want us to play. It still needs working on and Bale needs to get in position(even right wing but standing deeper than Modric and Sandro when we are counter attacking is not on).

Also need to work on taking chances but the slower passing game keeping possesion makes a big difference. We controlled most of the game today.
 

PT

North Stand behind Pat's goal.
Admin
May 21, 2004
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Friedel nearly got caught out by not coming for a cross on the edge of his six yeard box. Walker looked at him daggers.

Friedel not being more adventurous and remaining safety first puts pressure on our centre backs defending deep to get something on the ball.

If only there was a keeper on the books with both Friedel's effectivness and safety, with Gomes' willingness to act as a striker on occasions.
 

GoldstarYid

Active Member
Jan 23, 2011
866
202
Friedel nearly got caught out by not coming for a cross on the edge of his six yeard box. Walker looked at him daggers.

Friedel not being more adventurous and remaining safety first puts pressure on our centre backs defending deep to get something on the ball.

If only there was a keeper on the books with both Friedel's effectivness and safety, with Gomes' willingness to act as a striker on occasions.

Yeah it's become a balance of who causes least fear in our own defenders. Friedel being overly cautious or Gomes giving it a rambo impression.

Ter Stegen anyone?
 

GoldstarYid

Active Member
Jan 23, 2011
866
202
OptaSpurs
88 - Spurs have had 88 attempts on goal in their last 4 games but have scored just 2 goals. Update. (via @EPLIndex)




Wow.
 
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