| S |
|
60.25% |
| P |
|
63.25% |
| U |
|
58% |
| R |
|
64% |
| S |
|
53.25% |
| = |
|
59.75% |
Form Guide February 2012
P W D L F-A GD Pts
4 1 2 1 7-5 2 4
(1 Cup Match)
Pos:- 3rd
· January 2012 figures
· Last year's figures
February 2011
Three clean sheets, but one horrible defeat
For every month since November, 2000, Spurs Odyssey has produced its "Spursometer" form guide, which has become more and more sophisticated with the passing years. For over 2 years now, readers have been invited to offer their grades for the performances of individual players, the team, the manager and for the match officials. We've reached a stage now where between 200 and 300 people cast their votes after every game. More votes are traditionally cast when a match is televised, and this means most Spurs games these days!
The month of February featured only four games for Spurs, after two consecutive months which had seven games. The decrease in games has led to a deterioration, not an improvement in the overall grades, where most players' overall marks took a downturn. The pressure will be on again in march when we face a potential 6 games, assuming we can dispose of Stevenage in our home FA Cup replay.
February started solidly, with a creditable 0-0 draw at Anfield against an in-form Liverpool side, who had disposed of both Manchestser sides in the domestic cup competitions. We also had to deal with the return of Luis Suarez, who was lauded like a hero, and caused more controversy the week after our game, with that refused hand-shake with Patrice Evra. Brad Friedel became the busier keeper in the second half, and made a great close range save from Suarez's header to keep the Spurs goal intact. Scott Parker was our man of that match though, with the sort of solid performance that has led to him being awarded the captaincy of England by stand-in manager Stuart Pearce. Parker was also voted Vauxhall's England Player of the Year for 2011, by fans on the The FA web site. Scott became the first Spurs player to captain England since an un-mentionable centre-half in 1998.
Next came our best performance of the month, and arguably the season to date, with a 5-0 annihilation of Newcastle. Spurs got off to sensational start with two goals in the first six minutes. Louis Saha made his home debut and scored twice, and Adebayor gave his personal best performance of the season, and got the highest individual mark of the season to date (9.2), with a fantastic show that included his 10th goal of the season, and assists for the other four goals.
The FA Cup game at Stevenage was a mundane affair for Spurs fans, but quite fairly celebrated by the home fans and players who look forward to a trip to White Hart Lane on March 7th. Danny Rose was marginally voted man of the match over substitute Aaron Lennon, but that didn't exempt him from criticism in some Spurs' quarters. It was a third consecutive clean sheet, and Spurs' seventh clean sheet in ten games.
That fine defensive record was seriously busted in our final game of the month, about which, the least said, the better. Suffice to say that to lose to Arsenal is in my view, three times worse than defeat to any other opponent. To lose to them is bad enough, but to lose after having a two goal lead is even more painful. Sadly, Spurs do have a history of losing big leads against big teams and the last time they lost a game 5-2 (April 2009)was to our next opponents, Manchester United. We were two up in that game too!
Surprisingly perhaps, Brad Friedel was voted the Spurs man of the match against Arsenal, with a moderate score of 6 out of 10. Apart from conceding 5 goals, he did make two great saves from Rosicky and from Benayoun. Most of the team, including stars such as Bale, Parker and King scored their lowest grades of the season.
Scott Parker's bookings count increased by three this month, and he got a red card (second yellow) in the disaster at The Emirates. That was only Spurs second red card of the season, and our 44th yellow card of the 38 game season to date. In the Premier League fair play table, we stand in third place, behind West Brom and Swansea. Our London competitors for Champions League football are both near the bottom of that table, with 4 red cards apiece and yellow card counts of 46 (Arsenal) and 55 (Chelsea). In Premier League games, our yellow card count is just 31. So, we are not just the best team in London, we're the fairest too!
Brad Friedel has been voted Spurs Odyssey's Player of the Month for February, followed closest by Scott Parker, who still leads the way for the accumulated player of the season vote. This was Brad's third player of the month win on this site. Gareth Bale scored poorly in three of this month's games, and fans are starting to ask questions about that roaming role. We want to see him play where he belongs, on the left side of midfield!
...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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