S		58.07%
P		60.75%
U		50%
R		49.625%
S		49.5%
=		53.725%

 P  W  D  L  F-A  GD  Pts
 8  4  0  4 19-12  7   6

Position:- 
8th
3 Cup Matches

Team Selection	6.275
Tactics	5.81
Substitutions	5.85
Overall	5.98

· January 2021 figures
· Last Year's figures
February 2020

Bale has lifted the mood

There is no doubt that Gareth Bale has lifted the mood with his performances in the last four games of February. Gareth was our player of the month for the first time since his return. It stands to reason that it is his first such award since the 2012-13 season, when he was our player of the season. Spurs fans were naturally excited when he arrived at the start of the season, but it has taken a long time for his re-emergence as a player who can change games at a stroke.

Gareth made just two starts (away to Wolfsberger and at home to Burnley) plus three substitute appearances. Gareth scored 4 goals in his last 4 games and was man of the match in three of these. These are early signs that the old Bale is back, but we look for a) continuing opportunities for Gareth to show his skills and b) more displays at this level.

The team’s performance was down by 2.75% this month. Skill and effort was marginally up. Unforced errors, defence, and score ratio were significantly worse. Conversely, the manager’s performance improved by 2.55%. Poor performances by team and coach against Chelsea and Manchester City were countered by big wins over Wolfsberger, who are mid-table in the Austrian Bundesliga and Burnley in the last game. Any positive thoughts have to be tempered by the moderate nature of the opposition here.

We won 4 and lost 4 of the 8 games played this month. League defeats to Chelsea, rampant Manchester City and most sadly West Ham led to us dropping to 8th place at the end of the month. In fact, we kicked off the Burnley game in 10th place, but that big win lifted us back above Arsenal, and on goal difference above Villa who we play in our last game of March. We scored 19 goals for the second consecutive month, but this time we shipped 12. We have now scored 95 goals in the 42 games played so far this season.

Our endless dream of a first FA Cup Final since 1991 ended with a 5-4 defeat in the fifth round game at Goodison Park, in which Davinson Sanchez scored two goals. They were his first goals for exactly two years. Davinson also showed excellent form in the Burnley game. It was the best we’d seen from him for a considerable time. There were a few minutes in the Burnley game when we had Dele and “Fab Four” on the field (Bale, Dele, Son and Kane). Dele has been getting more game time this month (2 starts and 4 as sub), scoring a brilliant overhead goal at home to Wolfsberger when he was voted our man of the match, as he took centre stage with two assists as well as his goal.

Harry Kane’s three goals this month have taken his total club goals to 210, putting him clear of Bobby Smith in second place behind Jimmy Greaves’ 266. Lucas Moura appeared in all games this month and also scored 3 goals, as did Vinicius, whose goals all came in the Europa League.

Steven Bergwijn still hasn’t scored this season, much as he has tried. Mysteriously, despite having no injury Joe Rodon has not appeared in any game this month. Rodon was left out of the Europa League squad of 25 named players in deference to those who had taken us to the knock-out phase.

There were debuts for full back Marcel Lavinier and midfielder Nile John. Dane Scarlett became our youngest player to get an “assist” laying on one of Carlos Vinicius’s Europa League goals. Jose has been quoted as saying Scarlett (still only 16) will be a first team squad player next season.

We end the month with all our players back in training. Only Giovani Lo Celso is waiting to make a return. The club programme in March is curtailed by the first International break, but we still have six games including a Round of 16 tie against Dinamo Zagreb. Between these games we face Arsenal on their turf in another crunch game.

· Review the 2020-21 Premier League season here

Don't forget to check out the players' current figures re. appearances, cards, goals scored and accumulated ratings to date at the bottom of this page.

...if you want to read reports of the matches played during this season, then links are on the Spurs Odyssey Fixtures/Reports page here. By working your way back through the previous month's figures, you can review performances over the last 20 years!