Seasons comparison
It is obvious to all Spurs fans that we have had a much better start to the season than last season. However have we played better against the same opposition this season or last? Below is a comparison of results from the same teams we have played this season with the same teams from last season.
We began our season with a 1-1 draw with Liverpool at White Hart Lane. The previous season saw us beat Liverpool 2-1 with a rare Postiga goal to seal all three points. Our next game was a difficult match against Newcastle away, a fixture where Spurs usually roll over a die. Not this season where a good defensive display with fine counter attacking football saw us take a 1-0 advantage back down south. The previous season saw us stuffed 4-0 in one of the worst performances in recent memory.
We then went to West Brom and went down to a very early goal. Spurs battled back to earn a point. Although we didn't play West Brom last season I would certainly expect us to have been rolled over especially if we had fallen behind like we did this season. Thus a probable defeat.
The next three games saw us remain unbeaten with a 1-0 win against Birmingham and two 0-0 draws against Norwich and Chelsea. Chelsea was a superb defensive display and we could of nicked it with Keane's header, superbly saved by the Chel$ki keeper with 15 minutes to go. In the previous season's corresponding fixtures we thrashed Birmingham 4-1 in one of the better displays from last season. This started our good league run after Christmas which arguably kept us in the Premiership. Chelsea away was Hoddle's penultimate game in charge and we collapsed 4-2. We didn't play Norwich obviously last season and I think the result would of been a similar one to this season, a draw.
Our last two games have seen us win one and loose one. A 1-0 victory at Everton compares favorably with our worst league performance from last season where we were turned over 3-0. Against Manchester United we lost this season and last but the game was much easier last season and although they enjoyed most of the possession this season they only really began to open us up as we pushed on for an equaliser.
So with nearly a quarter of the season gone already Spurs sit in fifth place with 13 points. Against the same teams last season (with a couple of predicted results :-p ) Spurs gained a total of 7 points already 5 behind compared with this season. If we assume this pattern continues Spurs could end up with at least 20 more points than last season. Obviously football doesn't quite work like that but it is clear to see that stats wise we are greatly improved on the pitch.
posted by Paxton Road at 6:20 PM
5 Comments:
Thank you for putting into words (the written variety) what I have been thinking since the Santini era began. Our pre-season friendlies were simply an exercise in 'who can do what with who' and the results (that did not matter) made us look like a bunch of nobodies. Lesson 1 - Never underestimate the enemy.
It seems remarkable that we have raised ourselves to 5th position on so few goals. Or is it? Though at times we do resemble a tough defensive team I believe we will soon step out of this modus operandi and crack a few heads. Lesson 2 - The Arse beware.
Loving it.
7:05 PM, October 08, 2004
Why do you make the assumptions you do about West Brom and Norwich? Last time West Brom were in the Premier League we beat them home and away, and their team hasn't changed that much (and certainly hadn't last year). As for Norwich, how a 0-0 home draw against one of the weakest sides ever to 'grace' the Premier League can be considered anything but two points lost is beyond me. One of the features of last year was that we beat most of the smaller/weaker/crap (delete according to taste) teams near the bottom of the table. Therefore I would have expected Spurs to beat Norwich and West Brom last season and did at the beginning of this. Suggesting 4 points from the 2 games would perhaps be fair - that would theoretically have given Spurs 9 points last year and would still prove your point, just with a little more credibility. I am pleased with the way the season has started on the whole, but more by the way we have appeared a challenge this season against the bigger clubs, which on the whole we weren't last year (Arse excepted), than the disappointing draws against the promoted clubs.
7:19 PM, October 08, 2004
agree with geezer above...4 points against two of the promoted sides is a must really...however am not unhappy at the mo just want us to keep up the defnce and gradually improve the goals scored so we can really get it together ...sausage
7:56 PM, October 08, 2004
Thanks for your comments. I also agree that we should of taken 3 points from Norwich but we didn't. I also did not meant to imply that the draw was a good result. Reagrding hte promoted teams it is obviously difficult to predict scores for any games - if I was an expert I would not of given betting up at every home game :-) I based my assumptions on our appalling form for most of last season.
8:45 PM, October 08, 2004
There can be no doubt that the team has changed for the better this season. However, after beeing a Spurs-fan all my life I have learned one thing. Each time we're having a good period and start talking about how much better we are getting, we soon get battered down to the grownd again. There is nothing I would love more than seeing Spurs battle among the top-teams, and of course it's far from impossible that that can happen already this season. But I think that we would have to be a bit lucky with all the new players we have. I'm only saying that we shouldn't get to optimistic just yet. In fact, every one of our games so far this season could have gone either way. We could easily have lost against Chelsea, Everton and Norwich for example. Things could have looked much worse if we just had been a little unlucky. I don't want to be a pessimist but we should listen to Santini: "Be patient!" Cause I'm afraid we still have to...
10:59 PM, October 10, 2004
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