Tottenham Hotspur have given up 13 goals in 10 games in all competitions already this season, with many of the goals preventable through smarter, more focused football.
Tottenham Hotspur got their first clean sheet of the season on their 10th game this past week as Joe Hart and company held LASK at bay in the 3-0 win. While the shutout should boost the confidence of a shaken defense, what is needed more than anything is to focus on set pieces and stop getting called for silly fouls in the defensive third. Seven of the 13 goals conceded by Spurs have come directly from a set piece situation, meaning they were preventable.
Set pieces can be a real difference maker in the football and for many clubs, big and small, set pieces are the best way to score against their opposition. Liverpool has been excellent with their free flowing open play the last couple of seasons, but it has been the precision and deadliness of their set pieces – often led by the head of Virgil Van Dijk – that have made Liverpool particularly difficult to defeat.
While it would be great if Tottenham were more effective on set pieces in this way, and that might happen with Bale back in town; but right now, I will settle for stopping the opposition in dead ball situations. If Tottenham could have maintained concentration, they would be in the top four with a game in hand instead of looking for a win against Burnley to go sixth.
Spurs and Set Pieces
Three of the seven dead ball goals given up by Tottenham have come directly from a free kick and were scored with headers. One was the corner Lokomotiv scored to put a scare into Spurs at the start of Europa League qualifying. The other two were more damaging as both Everton and West Ham scored on nearly identical set pieces and it cost Tottenham five points.
In both instances Spurs committed – or were called – for a foul 40 to 45 yards away from goal, which is about 15 yards or so into the defensive half. If these fouls were in the middle of the pitch it probably would not be much of a problem, but given both occurred near the right touchline, now you are talking about the opposition having an angle to make things interesting.
Interesting indeed as Dominic Calvert-Lewin headed home the only goal in the opening day loss to Everton while Balbuena’s header gave West Ham late life in a draw that will be hard to forget. The plays were nearly identical for the opposition with flighted balls coming in from the right of the goal, just too far away from the net for the keeper, meaning it comes down to marking. Marking ultimately comes down to concentration and all it takes is a loss of concertation for one second and that results in the goal.
Now we can argue about the calls with FOUR penalty kicks already converted against Tottenham in just 10 matches, but it is what it is. Those four penalty kicks – some more dubiously called than others – plus those three set pieces account for 7 of those 13 goals, which is just over 60%. While the penalty kicks against Southampton, Maccabi Haifa, and Manchester United ultimately did not hurt the team; that late penalty called against Newcastle – again costing Spurs two points – sure did hurt.
Seven is the number here, seven dead ball goals conceded, seven points dropped, all in the Premier League. On the one hand we can see Spurs 2-2-1 start and think it is okay, as they have not lost since opening day, but on the other hand, they should not even of lost then if not for a couple lapses in concentration.
Tottenham Coming Together Defensively
The set pieces and bad fouls or bad calls – depending on one’s perspective – are all something that can be cleaned up with continued practice and concentration. Given the history of Jose Mourinho and the quality of defensive sides he can construct, ultimately this Tottenham team will get there. In fact, Spurs are not that far off defensively now.
So, if 60% of the goals conceded are off dead ball situations, that means the other 40% are scored in some other way. As you begin to look at these, a pattern starts to emerge here too, one mostly built on luck. Tottenham Hotspur have given up six non-dead ball situation goals on the season and one of those was an own goal from Davinson Sanchez.
Sanchez was not great against West Ham, but the own goal was a fluke and can certainly fall into the luck category. Then there was the third goal West Ham scored. One could argue it was off a set piece, as the entire exchange that led to the Lanzini laser was a set piece. However, Tottenham had the chance to clear the ball and did not, thus we will call that an open play goal.
Open play or not, Lanzini can have 100 more attempts and he might hit that shot 1 or 2 more times, the reality is, a great deal of luck was involved in that shot going just as it did. Not saying Lanzini does not have the skill to hit it but come on man he never thought he was really going to score. Another lucky goal to be sure.
Then there was the wonder strike rockets from both Valmir Nafiu of KF Shkendija and Tjaronn Cherry of Maccabi Haifa both scored against Spurs in the Europa League. While Cherry’s was somewhat more ordinary, Nafiu’s was a thing of beauty and both goals were scored from outside the box. That is three goal of the year candidates and an own goal, leaving us with two regular open play goals.
The first was against Southampton when Kyle Walker-Peters beat Spurs defense with a nice through ball to Danny Ings for Saints for goal of the day. The second was in the Carabao Cup as Timo Werner scored near the top of the box having received a cross, settled, and blasted home. Spurs hit back and won that game in a shootout.
Two, there have been two goals all season where another team broke down Spurs and managed to score during action. Yes, those other three screamers all count, but often those screamers are deflected or are simply not on goal. I say all this to point out that again it goes back to the dead ball focus and avoiding dumb fouls. So while 13 goals conceded in 10 games is not great, this team is much closer to getting a run of clean sheets than most think, it will just take more concentration, fewer fouls, and maybe just a bit of luck.