Before I start, I want to acknowledge there is not one way to support a football club. I’m not a cop. Have fun however you want as long as you are not hurting anyone. This article is more focused on Tottenham fans not having fun when maybe they should be.
Our beloved Tottenham Hotspur have started the Premier League season undefeated and with only one defeat in all competitions. This all despite a duo of tricky derbies on rival grounds, a few injuries, and a goal drought to start the season for Son Heung-min.
Has every match been the pinnacle of football? Of course not, but we have taken points while producing performances that have ranged from great to average to poor. This has caused quite the commotion amongst some sections of the supporters. “3-4-3 is madness,” they say. “Bring on the gilded, infallible 3-5-2.”
“Conte is just Mourinho in disguise!” others crow.
Like I said earlier, people are entitled to their opinions. But what is their actual opinion on what “success” is? Is is a 95 point season? Is it top four, a trophy, and champagne football? Is it our stars accumulating stats that allow fans to win banter wars on Twitter? I really am never sure.
What I want to do is provide a wide context for what success is and how it happens. People often forget that even trophy winning teams need a little luck along the way, finding a way to maximize points from nowhere. And we’ll talk about that in a moment, but first, I want to discuss how sometimes even good teams take an “L”.
The 2009-10 Spurs squad is universally revered by our fanbase. And for good reason; they were successful and fun. That does not change the reality that they lost to Wolves twice, suffered two (heavy) October derby losses, and took two hidings from Manchester United that season. And Wolves weren’t a Jorge Mendes-client outpost at that time. They were something much, much uglier. For christ sakes, remember the walking horror tackle, Karl Henry?
Anyway, had Twitter been in full churn during those days, I shudder to think of the abuse players would have taken—while we were having our best season in a generation. Of course everyone was frustrated with those results in the moment, but as the years have passed, do any of us talk about that squad in those terms? No. They achieved a lot and are loved for it.
It goes without saying that expectations have been raised since that season but even title winning teams have to take their shots from time to time; it goes with the territory. The era of the 100 point Premier League title is brand new and I do not know if it’s helpful to use that to gauge our success in the league. In fact, Premier League winners often gained 85-89 points and didn’t seal the title until the very last day. So I guess what I’m saying is I think my fellow Spurs fans who are ready to throw this team in the bin may need a bit of perspective.
Spurs have taken 17 out of 21 points in the Premier League and three of six in the Champions League. Out of those 20 points, only one has been “rescued”. In this context, I consider a rescued point to be a point from a goal in the last 10% of the match. So including extra time, that’s about the 84th minute. Obviously, Harry Kane’s goal at Stamford Bridge was at the death, thus rescuing that point. None of our other positive results, however, despite performances people have been upset with, have come from truly last minute heroics. We’re not really getting out by the skin of our teeth as much as some may think.
Let’s look at another historic side for context.
Consider Manchester United’s 2007-08 season. Great team, right? Yes. By all accounts. Well, they won the title that year with 87 points, holding off Chelsea with 85 and Arsenal with 83. But given the mystique of Fergie Time, I went back through their Premier League results and over the course of that campaign they took seven rescued points, according to my criteria. Late goals against us—of course—and Blackburn earned them draws: two points total. End of match dramatics against Everton both home and away secured them another five. Seven total. Without those points they take third. With half of them they take second, and so on and so forth.
15 years on nobody thinks that was a terrible or lucky team. More than anything they are known for playing on the front foot and playing each match until the end. So why can’t we cut our own club some slack?
Through almost 1/5th of our domestic schedule we just aren’t doing that many photo finishes. Which leads me to believe most Spurs supporters who are do not think we look like “a successful team” mean we don’t look like Manchester City in possession. And I choose to not engage with that. That’s a losing battle. But if you are somewhere in between, I urge you to set the parameters of what realistic success looks like to you; you might find yourself a little more in love with what we’re doing, and I think it will result in less volatile swings of emotion after matches.
Be safe, as always, and COYS.