A few big defeat facts to cheer you up!
Spurs aren't the first to concede five or more goals at home in the Premier League, and they won't be the last. It's not even the first time it's happened to us, but thankfully we can say that we have conceded five or more just four times in the Premier League at The Lane. There have been five such away defeats, making nine games in all. Let's hope we wait a long, long time for the tenth.
The last time Spurs conceded five league goals in a game was at Old Trafford in April 2009, when we lost 5-2, after having been 2-0 up and in dreamland. (Man Utd 5 Spurs 2 - 25.04.09)
Thankfully, we don't often concede 5 league goals, and most Spurs fans will recall the 9 goal game against Arsenal in November 2004, when our enemies won by the odd goal. (Spurs 4 Arsenal 5 - 13.11.04)
It was a shameful day for a Glenn Hoddle managed Spurs team in May 2003, when we lost 5-1 at Middlesbrough, but we did have Perry sent off early in that game.(Middlesbrough 5 Spurs 1 - 03.05.03)
A famous (but not glorious) day in our history was 29th September 2001, when the late Dean Richards scored on his debut, and Spurs had a 3-0 half-time lead, but were beaten 5-3 by Manchester United. (Spurs 3 Man Utd 5 - 29.09.01)
Our worst result since Sunday's Manchester City defeat, as mentioned in this week's match report, was at home to Chelsea in December, 1997, when we lost 6-1, although I think it was only 5-1 when I left the ground. Spurs were re-developing the North Stand at the time, so perhaps it was a mercy that only 28,476 mortals were present for this match. This was Christian Gross's second game in charge. He had won his first at Everton, but still playing with a Gerry Francis team, we collapsed badly, after going into half-time only 1 down, then equalising, before Chelsea ran away, thanks largely to a Flo hat-trick. Ruud Gullitt was the Chelsea manager in those pre-Abramovich days.
Manchester City scored five against us at Maine Road in October 1994. Ossie Ardiles was still in charge (just) and we had the "famous five", although Anderton wasn't fit for this one! A horrible defeat at Notts County in the league cup saw the end of Ossie, and the appointment of Francis, who led us to the FA Cup semi-final and seventh place in the league.
In the first year of the Premier League (1992-93), we finished 8th (above Arsenal), but we had three defeats that at least match this week's loss. They were all away, so we can say we have conceded five or more at home four times over the history of the Premier League. Those 1992-93 defeats were 5-0 at Leeds (Cantona hat-trick), 6-0 at Bramall Lane, and an end of season 6-2 festival at Anfield.
I am not going to go back through our Football League history, but one game in which we conceded 5 goals at home is worthy of mention, and on that occasion one of our opponents scored 4 goals. That was Aston Villa's Tony Hateley in March 1966, when we drew 5-5, having been 5-1 up. We nearly lost that one 6-5 too!
Results 27-28.08.11
A. Villa 0-0 Wolves
Blackburn 0-1 Everton
Chelsea 3-1 Norwich
Liverpool 3-1 Bolton
Swansea 0-0 S'derland
Wigan 2-0 QPR
Man Utd 8-2 Arsenal
Newcastle 2-1 Fulham
Spurs 1-5 Man City
West Brom 0-1 Stoke
Barclays Premier League
Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Man Utd 3 3 0 0 13 3 10 9
2 Man City 3 3 0 0 12 3 9 9
3 Liverpool 3 2 1 0 6 2 4 7
4 Chelsea 3 2 1 0 5 2 3 7
5 Wolves 3 2 1 0 4 1 3 7
6 Newcastle 3 2 1 0 3 1 2 7
7 A. Villa 3 1 2 0 3 1 2 5
8 Wigan 3 1 2 0 3 1 2 5
9 Stoke 3 1 2 0 2 1 1 5
10 Bolton 3 1 0 2 7 6 1 3
11 Everton 2 1 0 1 1 1 0 3
12 QPR 3 1 0 2 1 6 -5 3
13 S'derland 3 0 2 1 1 2 -1 2
14 Norwich 3 0 2 1 3 5 -2 2
15 Swansea 3 0 2 1 0 4 -4 2
16 Fulham 3 0 1 2 1 4 -3 1
17 Arsenal 3 0 1 2 2 10 -8 1
18 West Brom 3 0 0 3 2 5 -3 0
19 Blackburn 3 0 0 3 2 6 -4 0
20 Spurs 2 0 0 2 1 8 -7 0
