Pos:- 4th
· March 2012 figures
· Last year's figures
April 2011
Spurs' stock has dropped in value
Almost to a man, and certainly with regard to the team performance in April, Spurs' stock value has dropped. Don't worry Daniel Levy, I'm not talking about the drop in value of the club, but it must be true to say that value has been endangered too as a result of Spurs struggle to secure Champions League football, after it had looked a near certainty two months ago.
During the course of April, we surrendered our top four place for the first time since it was gained in November. I know you don't need reminding really of how bad things really have been these last two months, but one purpose of this article is to record our status this month for posterity. After all, the "Spursometer" does go back over 11 years now! The good news is that we did regain that fourth place as a result of our win over a disinterested Blackburn side. All we have to do is win our three games in May to be sure of finishing in the top four. However, as we all know, that might not be enough for Champions League, and we'll all be Bayern Munich fans on May 19th.
Only two of our players improved their ongoing standing for the season this month. One of those was Younes Kaboul, who missed (and we missed him) the Chelsea semi-final, and the defeat at QPR. He also had to go off before half-time in the home defeat against Norwich, so he escaped most of the ire of Spurs Odyssey voters who dished out some very low scores as a result of those three consecutive defeats. By averaging 6.9/10 in his four appearances, Younes Kaboul became our April player of the month and climbed into the runner-up spot behind Scott Parker for the Player of the Season vote, which of course will be decided next month.
Tottenham Hotspur members have already been asked to submit their votes for Player of the Season, and it will be interesting to compare those results with the accumulated votes on Spurs Odyssey over the course of the season. I will consider offering a vote on our top ten players for a separate player of the season vote, but I'll let you know about that in a couple of weeks' time.
Kaboul is one of 9 Spurs squad members who have started over 30 of our total of 50 games in all competitions, and one of five who have started 35 or more games. In order these five are (with Premier League starts in brackets):- Walker 42 (34), Assou-Ekotto 39 (34), Bale 38 (33), Modric 37 (33) and Friedel 35 (35).
As a comparison, Man City's top five league appearances are held by Hart (36), Silva (34), Aguero & Barry (32) and Yaya Toure (30). In the case of Man Utd the figures are Evra (35), Rooney (32), Welbeck (30) and four players on 28 (Carrick, Evans, Ferdinand & Nani). 8 of our players have started 30 or more Premier League games. In my view the figures confirm a lack of structured rotation by the Spurs manager.
Mind you, checking the Arsenal statistics, I see that despite their catalogue of injuries, Szczesny (36), Van Persie (36), Walcott (34), Song & Ramsey (32), and Koscielny (31) have also had plenty of Premier League starts.
Last year's Spurs Odyssey player of the season, Luka Modric scored 7.16/10. Currently, Scott Parker sits on 6.96. No Spurs player averages 7/10 or more for the season at this stage. The stock of Modric and club captain Ledley King took a severe downturn in April. In Ledley's case his only three appearances this month were the three consecutive defeats agains Norwich, Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers. Even Gareth Bale has slipped to third in the cumulative rankings, despite a fantastic start with a man of the match award against Swansea.
I mentioned that two players increased their scores, and the second was Danny Rose, only by a whisker though, and he hasn't had enough minutes this season to impress the voters as much as most players.
Kyle Walker's magnificent free kick goal against Blackburn has to be goal of the month, and will be a contender for goal of the season, along with his other goal at home to Arsenal in October. Spookily, Rafa van der Vaart was the other goal-scorer for Spurs in both those games! I loved the quotes and the story behind Walker taking the free kick, and I loved Walker's post-match interview, and his attitude. If the squad can follow his attitude with regard to effort, desire and application in our last three games, we'll be alright, and I'll be offering a more positive report for May!
...if you want to read reports of the matches played during this month, then links are on the Spurs Odyssey Fixtures page here. By working your way back through the previous month's figures, you can review the performances over more than 11 years!
