‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.’
Tottenham are Flat Track Bullies, right?
In the aftermath of the NLD, it was pointed out by me that we`d now not won a top 6 game in 17, I did however suggest that it was the draws and the very few losses that cost us the PL, and may even cost us a top 4 slot if we didn’t improve our results against them – many have taken that one stat to call us ‘Flat track Bullies`, ‘chokers’ and worst of all, ‘Spursey`.
Linekars dig on Twitter that Spurs suffer from ‘big gameitus` is also worth answering?(he has clearly forgotten our wins against Liverpool 4-1 and Real Madrid 3-1, or aren’t these big games?)
Even our very own Real Deal, a poster not easily led by the nose joined in and had this to say on the post match thread:
“The Argentine has a woeful record against fellow top-six clubs when playing away from home, having won only one previous fixture in the 17 league games in his time with Spurs. People can dismiss that stat if they want but it shows he isn’t as good as he is being made out and proves the players still bottle it in the big games?”
So what are the Facts?
Our record against the top six since the beginning of the 2015-16 season reflects pretty well when you compare against our title-chasing peers;
Firstly, we are the only club to have beaten all of the top six in the Premier League since the start of last season – that’s some record.
Since the beginning of the 2015/16 season we have taken 30 points against our normal top-six peers, more than Arsenal and Manchester City, and the same as Manchester United.
Two beat us in the points stakes; Liverpool (37) and Chelsea (34) have collected more.
But there is no denying that just one win from 17 matches shows we have to improve if we do have pretensions of competing for the title, that said just Liverpool alone took more than four points from trips to top-six opposition last season, During the same period we managed just two points from five top 6 games, which is more than Arsenal and the same as United.
The conclusion is obvious; these stats make it crystal clear that at home, top 6 home teams are heavy favourites to come out on top, and that hasn`t changed in a long time.
So whilst there is always room for improvement, the evidence doesn`t “prove the players still bottle it in the big games?”
Cough cough RD ?
Roll on Dortmund…
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