| S |
|
69.42% |
| P |
|
70.28% |
| U |
|
64.42% |
| R |
|
67.42% |
| S |
|
56.42% |
| = |
|
65.6% |
Form Guide December 2011
P W D L F-A GD Pts
7 4 2 1 13-4 9 11
(1 Europa League Match)
Pos:- 3rd
· November 2011 figures
· Last year's figures
December 2010
Gareth Bale is the Spurs Odyssey December Player of the Month
Gareth Bale won his first player of the month vote of this season (he won 3 last season), following a sensational performance at Norwich and two other excellent showings against Bolton and Chelsea. Scott Parker continues to lead the way for the overall player of the season vote, but there's a long, long way to go yet. Several players are hot on Scott's heels, including Friedel, Walker, Kaboul, King, Assou-Ekotto, Modric, Sandro, Bale and Adebayor. That'll be most of the first team then! It's just another statistical statement about the form and status of our team this season. Another fact is that we have finished a second consecutive month in third place. Note that Sandro was voted man of the match in 3 of our 7 games this month.
It has been a busy month with seven games, in which we've scored 13 and conceded just 4, two of which were in our one defeat, at Stoke. There is another busy month coming up, with seven games in January, assuming we do not fall in the FA Cup to minnows Cheltenham next Saturday. This month we will also play our game in hand, against Everton, so hopefully we can just strengthen our position even more, and maybe, just maybe make a first challenge on the Premier League title. It seems unreal writing that, but we are definitely contenders at this moment in time. Mind you, we also have to face Man City at The Etihad on January 22nd. That's a mouth-watering prospect.
Here is our usual quick guide to the games played this month:-
Spurs 3 Bolton 0 (3rd December)
Spurs Odyssey Man of the Match - Gareth Bale
Spurs’ magnificent run of 11 Premier League games unbeaten (Won 10, Drawn 1) continued with another record broken. This was the first time the team has won six consecutive Premier League games, and the first such run since the end of the 1989-90 season.
Stoke 2 Spurs 1 (11th December)
Spurs Odyssey Man of the Match - Luka Modric
Spurs tasted defeat in a Premier League game for the first time since 28th August and 11 games at The Britannia Stadium. Thus Scott Parker and Emmanuel Adebayor also tasted defeat in a Spurs shirt for the first time. On the back of their first half performance, the result was no surprise and fully justified, but if only they had shown the desire, fight and effort that was evident in the second half, throughout the 90 minutes, then surely Spurs would have come away from this game with that recent unbeaten run intact. The other factor in the equation had to be referee Chris Foy, who attracted the lowest ever grades I have ever seen in one of the Spurs Odyssey votes. (1.6 out of 10 after 252 votes)
Shamrock Rovers 0 Spurs 4 (15th December)
Spurs Odyssey Man of the Match - Andros Townsend
Phew! That was close .... we nearly qualified! The standing joke amongst the Spurs fans in the tiny Tallaght stadium was that Harry Redknapp did his best not to qualify for the knock-out stages of the Europa League by fielding another gash Tottenham team, which featured loads of left-footers, including two players on the right flank (Townsend and Ekotto), and players in unfamiliar positions (Kranjcar and Livermore). Spurs didn’t score until the 29th minute, but by then we had heard that Rubin Kazan were 1-0 down at an early stage, and that their goalkeeper had been sent off, we fans stupidly thought that something might be on the cards. Then, when we went 3-0 up before the break, the dream was on, and even Harry was “playing every ball” with his team.
By the end of an entertaining game, reality was restored because Rubin managed an equaliser which was always going to prevent Spurs qualifying, however many goals they scored. The fact that we did get a late, late goal did mean that had PAOK scored a late winner then we would have qualified, but Spurs had only themselves to blame for their failures earlier in the tournament. Harry can concentrate on achieving Champions League football in the second half of the season, which for Spurs is only 14 Premier League games old, so there is plenty of top class football to come for us fans.
Spurs 1 Sunderland 0 (18th December)
Spurs Odyssey Man of the Match - Cordeiro Sandro
"O'Neill's Bar breached" - It would seem that Martin O’Neill’s game plan was to get his men behind the ball, and by hook or by crook, prevent Spurs from breaching O’Neill’s bar from the Sunderland goal. The “Black Cats” succeeded in their quest for the first hour too. In the first half, Spurs seemed to be quite lack-lustre, and lacked the imagination or final pass or touch to get the vital first goal. There were glimpses of quality football from the back, but that final touch was too often under par, and didn’t threaten the “bar”.
Spurs 1 Chelsea 1 (22nd December)
Spurs Odyssey Man of the Match - Cordeiro Sandro
On the plus side, as well as holding onto third place, Spurs started really well, scoring an early goal, and looked likely to beat Chelsea hands down. There were some heroics on the pitch, particularly I thought from Sandro, who I swear at one stage in the second half used his nose to keep the ball in play near the touch line, when on the floor.
Norwich 0 Spurs 2 (27th December)
Spurs Odyssey Man of the Match - Gareth Bale
Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Pinch yourselves, Spurs fans and enjoy the rhapsody of not just being in third place, but being four, yes four points above Chelsea with a game in hand, and just seven points behind the Manchester teams at the top of the Premier League. The BBC report referred to Gareth Bale’s two goals underlining our title credentials. I can’t get used to our team being spoken of in such terms, but I am certainly enjoying the ride, and I hope that every Spurs fan out there is fully appreciative of what we have got in the shape of a team with outstanding individual performances, but with outstanding passing and battling defensive qualities expressed throughout the team.
Don't forget to check out the cumulative appearances and grades for the players as the season progresses - below. The grades are based upon a mark out of ten, given by Spurs Odyssey readers.
Swansea 1 Spurs 1 (31st December)
Spurs Odyssey Man of the Match - Cordeiro Sandro
Many Spurs fans left this game cursing the performance of their team, who failed to make as much ground on Manchester United as they hoped, when conceding an 84th minute equaliser to Swansea. However, the draw was no less than Swansea deserved, after manager Brendan Rodgers matched the Spurs formation, made 6 changes to his team and played a lot of the game on the front foot, with Spurs on the defensive. It was surely pertinent that the home team, in the bottom half of the table made 6 changes to their line-up following the Boxing Day programme, whereas Spurs stuck with exactly the same starting side that had played so well at Norwich. I made the point about lack of rotation earlier in the week, and there were a few tired legs out there for Spurs today, I felt.
...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!
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Key:
S Skill levels
P Pluck (ie effort)
U Unforced errors*
R Resolve (defensive ability)
S Score ratio (goals to shots)
= Overall mark Total Percentage
Percentages given for each category.
* less errors equals a higher mark
The Spursometer was brought to you by Spurs Odyssey in association with My Eyes Have Seen The Glory.
· All the Spurs Stats you could hope for here! THFC6061 Sports Stats
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