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Tottenham a true one half wonder in the league this season

By Aaron Coe

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 11: Fred of Manchester United celebrates after scoring his team's first goal as Hugo Lloris of Tottenham Hotspur looks dejected during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 11, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 11: Fred of Manchester United celebrates after scoring his team's first goal as Hugo Lloris of Tottenham Hotspur looks dejected during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 11, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images) /
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The book on beating Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League this season is pretty well-read at this point. If you can limit the opportunities in the first half, Tottenham is going to fade in the second half, eventually conceding poor goals and giving away points. Spurs have been very respectable in the first half of most of their matches but the second half is a different story as we saw against Manchester United on Sunday.

Tottenham good early

Tottenham is a pretty good team in the first half of most matches. In fact, if the Premier League were played only with the results from the first halves of matches, the Spurs would have 57 points, according to footystats.com. 57 points would leave them just north of Leicester City for third place. And solid first-half performances are true home or away for the Lilywhites.

Tottenham has scored 16 goals and only conceded four in the first halves of home matches. The numbers are not as good on the road but are very respectable. With 15 goals for and 8 against, the Spurs still have a +7 goal differential on the road in the first half of matches. Add the +12 in the first half at home and Tottenham are +19 in the first half and would be 16-9-6 if matches were only 45 minutes long.

However, football matches are 90 minutes and the second halves of Premier League matches have been a different story, especially at home.

Spurs struggle in the second half

Tottenham has that +12 goal differential at home in the first half but things go very differently in the second half of their matches. The Spurs actually have a negative goal differential at home in the second half of matches, things are so bad. +12 in the first halves, -3 in the second, a 15 goal difference.

Scoring is down a bit for Tottenham with only 10 goals compared to the 16 scored at home in the first halves of games. However, the bigger difference is defensively where the Spurs have conceded 13 second-half goals just at home. Add 10 on the road and 23 of the 35 total goals conceded (66%) have come in the second halves of games.

With goals scored down and goals against up, Tottenham has a negative goal difference overall in the second half of games and is dropping points as a result.

Those 16 first-half leads have turned into only 10 victories. Furthermore, the six half-time deficits are more than doubled as Tottenham have lost the second half 13 times. While Spurs would have those 57 points from the first half of matches, they would only have 38 – tied with Wolves and Palace for 12th – if they only played the second half of matches.

So a top-four first-half team becomes a midtable mess in the second half. One would think this is fitness, but in truth, the second-half issue has been mostly confined to the Premier League, until it wasn’t.

Tottenham was strong outside the league in the second half of matches

Dinamo Zagreb aside, Tottenham has been solid in the second halves of most matches in competitions outside the Premier League. The Spurs did concede considerably more in the second half of Europa League matches with the three from Zagreb skewing the sample – but they did also score more goals in the second half of Europa League matches.

Tottenham managed 20 second-half goals in Europe compared to 17 in the first half but did concede 10 compared to only 3 in the first half of matches. 10 is much higher than 3, but Tottenham has still had a +10 goal differential in the second half of European matches – after conceding the 3 to Dinamo.

Likewise, Tottenham was actually better in the second half of matches in both cups, scoring more goals and conceding fewer in both the League and FA Cup in the second half of matches. In fact, the comeback win against Chelsea in the League Cup is one of the few comebacks Spurs have had all season.

Clearly, whatever problem started in the league grew and came to consume the European side of the team as well, with the total capitulation to Dinamo to end their run. While the Spurs have shown themselves a decent side in the first half of matches, games are 90 minutes and Tottenham has not been finishing the job.

Why Tottenham struggle in the second half is a different question but one thing is undeniable, this team does not do it for 90 minutes.

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