When Tottenham Hotspur was flying high early in the season, much of that success came from early goals. Alternatively, over this stretch of tough results, Spurs seem to have forgotten how to come from behind. Tottenham last came back to take points from a losing position October 4 versus Manchester United and even that was aided by a red card.
While much has been made of Tottenham Hotspur defensively dropping points from winning positions, how about Spurs picking up some points from losing ones?
Scoring First a Must for Tottenham
In 24 matches this season in the Premier League according to Footystats.com, Tottenham have scored first in 13 of those matches. While we know Spurs did end up conceding in the 74th minute or later in five of those matches dropping 10 points, the other eight were all wins. Alternatively, Tottenham have conceded first in 10 matches this season.
In 10 matches where Spurs have conceded first, they have only managed to come back and win twice and have lost the other eight
In 10 matches where Spurs have conceded first, they have only managed to come back and win twice and have lost the other eight. Not once have Spurs managed to come back and draw a point from defeat. Throw in the one nil-nil draw with Chelsea and we see that 29 of Tottenham’s 36 points on the season have come when Spurs have scored first. Clearly, scoring first is a must for Tottenham so what has happened?
Spurs had ability to comeback earlier this season
In three of Tottenham Hotspurs four games to start the campaign Spurs conceded first. The match against Everton was a second half goal and the season opener so we can set that aside. However, then against both Southampton and Manchester United Spurs conceded early, yet managed to come back.
In both of those matches, Spurs did not enter halftime down. Against Southampton Heung-Min Son scored two minutes into injury time to draw level at the half. Then to begin the second half, Son scored two minutes in and Tottenham had a 1-2 lead they would not relinquish as they repeatedly punished Southampton for keeping a high line and trying for an offside trap.
In the match against Manchester United, Spurs fell behind from a controversial penalty and then an even more controversial Martial red card for putting hands to the face of Erik Lamela changed the game for good. A man up, Spurs had not only leveled but put four past United before the break on route to a then convincing 1-6 win at Old Trafford.
However, since that win at Old Trafford, Spurs have conceded first seven times and have not come back to take a single point, so what has changed and can Spurs do anything about it?
Where has the Tottenham come back gone?
Credit to Tottenham Hotspur, following the win at Old Trafford, Spurs went eight straight matches without conceding first. In those eight matches Spurs won five games and drew three with one being the 0-0 draw with Chelsea.
Even in that ninth match – a loss to Liverpool – Spurs managed to draw level in the first half before falling to Liverpool. However, that Liverpool match was the last time Tottenham have even got back to level at any point in the match after conceding first.
In four of the this six matches since that first Liverpool loss, Spurs have failed to score at all. In the other two, they were already down by two goals when they finally did score in losses. We also know that the timing of when some of those goals came had a major impact.
Despite leveling Liverpool Spurs lost at the death. Against both Leicester and in the second Liverpool match the opposition scored at 45+4 the again before the hour mark, leaving Spurs shell shocked. After those three defeats, Tottenham was definitely stunned and frankly was unable to respond to falling behind again until they faced West Ham last week.
Following that second Liverpool loss, Spurs conceded 7 and scored zero until the 64th minute against West Ham. Yes a 2-0 win over West Brom was in there, but in the other four matches, Tottenham conceded first and just had no response. In fact only the last 30 minutes of West Ham have Spurs really even shown the desire and fight to come back that fans deserve, which has led to questions about the team and the coach.
Tottenham really need to score early and often to win.
This idea of taking an early lead and holding a team just does not work right now for Spurs. In fact Tottenham have only played five 1-0 games this season and have lost three of the five. Having beaten only Burnley and West Brom by a 1-0 score we clearly come to the conclusion that Tottenham simply have to score more goals.
More specifically, for Tottenham to win they have to score, score early, and score often. The good news is Spurs are about to face a few teams that all struggle to score. This should give Tottenham the opportunity to get on the front foot and hopefully gain some momentum. At the same time teams like Burnley and Fulham are very strong defensively so the prospect of trying to come back does not look good, just remember Brighton.
Bottom line, Tottenham are just much better off scoring first. Although Spurs showed some life after falling two goals behind to West Ham, this team is clearly better at front running than it is coming back.