Weekend Football

[Winston Biscuit]

Leicester currently on track to obliter8 the points record

Meanwhile with a quarter of the season gone, Sheffield Wednesday have 3 points. Rotherham's total of 23 points in 2016/17 is the record low in the second tier since the current structure was established.

I don't think Sheffield United will threaten Derby's record PL low of 11, but equally it's hard to see where a win comes from. They do play Bournemouth, Wolves and Burnley in their next five, and need to pick up points quickly.

I said at the start of the season they would break the lowest points record. wish I had put some money on it

Their next 5 games includes Wolves, Bournemouth & Burnley. If they are not much better off after those, then I think the record could be ON!

[Whore Jackie]

A fair way to go in this match of course, but I cannot get my head around how different the football is from Spurs this season. Chalk and cheese. Not even ten games into Postecoglou's reign

Interesting segment on MNF, Gary O'Neil made the point that what is difficult about playing against Spurs this season is that they don't really play in any true 'positions'. Paraphrasing, but he basically said that City for example, brilliant side, tough to beat, well drilled system, but you know where they are going to be on the pitch and plan accordingly. What characterises Spurs this season is about players being available for a pass - O'Neil described it as players working in fluid circles of players that rotate as they move around the pitch - really tough to mark and to stop them moving the ball.

Thought O'Neil was excellent last night. MNF is Sky's best footballing programme. Carragher and Neville are both superb, but having O'Neil and Thomas Frank a few weeks ago as guests, really gives you another layer of analysis. Kudos to both of them for being so open about their tactics and to O'Neil for showing their training ground drill alongside the subsequent match action.

[Ascotexgunner]

A fair way to go in this match of course, but I cannot get my head around how different the football is from Spurs this season. Chalk and cheese. Not even ten games into Postecoglou's reign

Give it time, it's Spurs

[WestYorksRoyal]

And City have played 5 out of 9 games against teams in the bottom half of the league, and lost to one of them. And they are 2nd.

People seem desperate to discredit Spurs

Spurs' squad doesn't have the depth of City, Arsenal and Liverpool. But they also have no European football - they basically play once a week with a few exceptions. Maddison and Son will remain much fresher than Saka and Salah. A sustained title challenge is massively underpriced for them in my view.

[genome]

And City have played 5 out of 9 games against teams in the bottom half of the league, and lost to one of them. And they are 2nd.

People seem desperate to discredit Spurs

Spurs' squad doesn't have the depth of City, Arsenal and Liverpool. But they also have no European football - they basically play once a week with a few exceptions. Maddison and Son will remain much fresher than Saka and Salah. A sustained title challenge is massively underpriced for them in my view.

Oh I know, but I do think they won't sustain a title challenge for those reasons (squad depth). My point being is Spurs get a lot of "they won't challenge because it's Spurs" or "they've just been fortunate because of xyz" which is a massively lazy take.

Like the above post.

[South Coast Royal]

They are certainly playing with a lot more passion and freedom. You would seriously worry about them though if either Maddison or Son were out for any length of time, light squad.

Yep, the squad depth isn't good enough by any stretch, except for maybe in midfield. Spurs won't be winning the title, but it's a serious step in the right direction - and Big Ange has done it inheriting a club in turmoil and who just sold arguably their greatest ever player

I'm not going to suggest Kane was a hinderance to Spurs, that would be silly, but I do wonder if there was an overreliance on him and an urge for the rest of the team to always try and go through him when he was on the pitch. Their goals this season are coming from most areas of the pitch rather than just one, they are great to watch.

We were talking about that today.
Spurs are playing a less predictable game without Kane being the main man.
IIRC somebody produced some stats last season to show that Spurs did no worse when Kane was out of the side.

[From Despair To Where?]

I know it's not a completely fair comparison but Postecoglu inherited a Celtic in a degree of turmoil and turned them into a nigh on unbeatable team in a couple of months playing fluid, attacking football.

I appreciate Celtic winning the SPL isn't that big an achievement but it's the way in which they did it. It has to be acknowledged that he is a fcuking good manager.

[URZZZZ]

They are certainly playing with a lot more passion and freedom. You would seriously worry about them though if either Maddison or Son were out for any length of time, light squad.

Yep, the squad depth isn't good enough by any stretch, except for maybe in midfield. Spurs won't be winning the title, but it's a serious step in the right direction - and Big Ange has done it inheriting a club in turmoil and who just sold arguably their greatest ever player

I'm not going to suggest Kane was a hinderance to Spurs, that would be silly, but I do wonder if there was an overreliance on him and an urge for the rest of the team to always try and go through him when he was on the pitch. Their goals this season are coming from most areas of the pitch rather than just one, they are great to watch.

Agreed, similar story with Portugal and Ronaldo IMO

[URZZZZ]

And City have played 5 out of 9 games against teams in the bottom half of the league, and lost to one of them. And they are 2nd.

People seem desperate to discredit Spurs

Spurs' squad doesn't have the depth of City, Arsenal and Liverpool. But they also have no European football - they basically play once a week with a few exceptions. Maddison and Son will remain much fresher than Saka and Salah. A sustained title challenge is massively underpriced for them in my view.

Oh I know, but I do think they won't sustain a title challenge for those reasons (squad depth). My point being is Spurs get a lot of "they won't challenge because it's Spurs" or "they've just been fortunate because of xyz" which is a massively lazy take.

Like the above post.

Is it a lazy take though? A lot of football is mentality related and Spurs have a history of starting well before petering out

I guess it’s a vastly different squad and manager but you do seem to follow a recurring pattern almost every season

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Spurs' squad doesn't have the depth of City, Arsenal and Liverpool. But they also have no European football - they basically play once a week with a few exceptions. Maddison and Son will remain much fresher than Saka and Salah. A sustained title challenge is massively underpriced for them in my view.

Oh I know, but I do think they won't sustain a title challenge for those reasons (squad depth). My point being is Spurs get a lot of "they won't challenge because it's Spurs" or "they've just been fortunate because of xyz" which is a massively lazy take.

Like the above post.

Is it a lazy take though? A lot of football is mentality related and Spurs have a history of starting well before petering out

I guess it’s a vastly different squad and manager but you do seem to follow a recurring pattern almost every season

Probably also a case of, their squad/team just isn't as strong as the rest. Started well, on a good run and look like they are a good team with a capable manager now, but at the same time how good is their team going to be consistently over the course of a season? How will they suffer with a couple of injuries, or maybe a bit of patchy form might knock them off etc.

They won't win it, but I'm expecting them to be in the top 4 at the end of the season.

[Sanguine]

There's happens to be a page on the web that notes Spurs' record after the first ten games of each PL season, so I had a look to see whether in fact it is the trope that is lazy. There's a recency bias to it, PPG below for first 10 games, and then final 28 games. They have been 'Spursy' in three of the last five seasons, starting fast and fading, but also only in four of the last ten.

22/23 - 2.30, 1.32
21/22 - 1.50, 2.00
20/21 - 2.10, 1.46
19/20 - 1.20, 1.68
18/19 - 2.10, 1.78
17/18 - 2.00, 2.03
16/17 - 2.00, 2.36
15/16 - 1.70, 1.89
14/15 - 1.40, 1.79
13/14 - 2.00, 1.75

2016/17 they were really unfortunate, got to 86 points but came up against a Chelsea team (93 points) that no-one could keep up with.

Currently 23 points after nine games, they will beat their 'club Premier League record' of 23 points from the first ten games with a draw or win next time out.

[genome]

I think it "feels" different this time due to the standard of the football. Last few seasons they had good starts but it was turgid football and there was a feeling that Spurs were nicking wins and it wasn't sustainable.

Again I don't think this is sustainable in the sense that they will be battling for the title, they will fall away from that, but it feels like Spurs are on the right track with the performances at least.

[Winston Biscuit]

with 5th place this season very likely to be a CL spot, it means, based on the last 5 seasons average, that they only need another 44 points from the next 29 games to get 5th place. Thats 15 wins and 14 losses and they are in

[Winston Biscuit]

'Wayne Rooney's Birmingham' lose again

Leicester already 14 points clear of 3rd place and its October

[Winston Biscuit]

Fans loving Rooney's start at Birmingham

https://twitter.com/secondtierpod/status/1717474727978000642?t=R0r9SJ6VblVsatHC0YufSA&s=19

[Sanguine]

https://twitter.com/SpursOfficial/statu ... 9509886268

This is very cool. Spurs have become the first team to introduce 'legacy numbers' on shirts - have been used in cricket for years, every player is assigned a unique number in the club's history based on when they made their debut.

[Winston Biscuit]

https://twitter.com/SpursOfficial/status/1717470949509886268

This is very cool. Spurs have become the first team to introduce 'legacy numbers' on shirts - have been used in cricket for years, every player is assigned a unique number in the club's history based on when they made their debut.

something I have said for ages the england team should be doing.

Fair play to Spurs. Can see others adopting it and it becoming quite common place soon enough

[Sanguine]

https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/2 ... full-list/

The full list fwiw. Christian Ziege is 666. Klinsmann 617, Lineker 580, Greaves, who made his debut in 1961, number 448. Which just goes to show how much football was played before any of us were even born.

The numbers also show how player turnover has increased. In the last ten years, 85 players have made their debut for Spurs.

[Hendo]

https://twitter.com/SpursOfficial/status/1717470949509886268

This is very cool. Spurs have become the first team to introduce 'legacy numbers' on shirts - have been used in cricket for years, every player is assigned a unique number in the club's history based on when they made their debut.

something I have said for ages the england team should be doing.

Fair play to Spurs. Can see others adopting it and it becoming quite common place soon enough

Yeah, surprised that England haven't already look to do it.

As you say, can imagine it being quite commonplace soon. Probably more-so amongst the bigger clubs that have kept better records in the early years. Unless you just pick a date and go from there.

[Winston Biscuit]

Sandro Tonali banned for the remainder of the season