Tottenham defensive numbers tell contradictory tale

Tottenham have conceded the second fewest goals in the Premier League, a surprising statistic that tells a contradictory tale.  

Conceding 22 goals in as many top flight encounters, you might be surprised to find out that Spurs have the second best defensive record in England’s top flight. Only Manchester City, conceding a paltry 14, have conceded fewer.

It’s a perplexing statistic when you consider how many individual mistakes have led to Tottenham picking the ball out from the back of their net. Whether it’s Eric Dier, Serge Aurier, Joe Rodon, Davinson Sanchez, Matthew Doherty or Hugo Lloris, Tottenham have been plagued by catastrophic personal blunders.

Now allow yourself to imagine a Spurs side that could find a way to eradicate personal errors from their game. Wouldn’t that be something.

In typical Jose Mourinho fashion – even with a defensive core prone to hair-brained moments – Spurs have kept seven clean sheets. An additional nine matches have seen Jose’s men concede just one goal, of which Spurs managed only two wins.

The major issue is not keeping opposing teams from scoring, but the squad’s inability to kill matches off. Spurs, who’ve dropped 10 points from a winning position, rank third on that unenviable list, with only Brighton and Sheffield United dropping more.

Everyone expects Jose-led sides to shut down shop and rarely concede. Which is exactly what has transpired since he took the helm over a year ago. He has, unquestionably, turned Tottenham into a more compact, organized and detail-oriented side.

Unfortunately that obsession with defence has also manifested into a Tottenham side unable to execute an enterprising, attacking brand of football we were accustomed to during Mauricio Pochettino’s reign.

Mourinho’s brand of football is too reliant on executing a blemish-free, immaculate brand of football, where a single error, as history has proven, is more than enough to derail entirely the game plan, nullifying any chance of consistently picking up all three points.

Unless, of course, Jose can somehow find a way transform his mistake-prone defensive core into an assembly line of perfectly manufactured robots.