- Most wins, fewest defeats, lowest goals against, top of the league…
- Arsenal, the team, and some rather strange team predictions
By Tony Attwood
“Spurs might not have the trophies, but they do have the nicest stadium in the country” That was on the “Unbelievable Jeff” Facebook page. And it is an interesting thought.
Maybe they do have the “nicest stadium,” but I am not sure that is everything. For you might recall when Pochettino said, “We need to start to think about the new chapter, the new era, to ensure Tottenham is a real contender for the big things. With our training ground, this stadium, you must think big. We have to behave like a big club.”
But I have never been sure of this. Does a ground actually relate to success? Remember Anfield before it became all-seater? It saw big triumphs, but certainly on the terraces, it could be incredibly dangerous.
But the trouble is, no one is quite sure how a “big club” thinks. Of course thinking big is something to do with winning trophies, but as we have seen the number of clubs that can do that each season is very small, and one can come up against clubs financed by whole countries such as Manchester City, or a notion within a nation (Barcelona) or Unicajabanco – the financial arm of Real Madrid which effectively means the bank and the club are pretty much as one. Or indeed consider PSG which is financed by the Qatari Government.
Tottenham Hots, in building its stadium, seemed to forget part of the equation, and how things are done differently in other countries, and somehow seemed to take it that the stadium would be a statement of its greatness.
In fact, the Fulham loss was their 10th home league defeat this year. That’s their joint-most home league defeats in a single calendar year in club history as they equalled the record of 1994 and 2003. And they still have the potential to go further with three more home games to come before January 1st.
To me, it does seem that in Ange Postecoglou they had a manager who knew how to win a Euro trophy (self- evidently) but who also felt that giving up on the league (they finished 17th if you remember) would be excused if one got a cup in return. But in my experienc,e Tottenham supporters are often not like that – they want wins, not a tactical approach. That is a generalisation, of course, but it is interesting to note that they are, in fact, fourth in a league table based on away games.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 17 |
| 2 | Crystal Palace | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 16 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 10 | 7 | 15 |
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 12 | 3 | 14 |
But even there, they are still behind Arsenal, but that doesn’t look too bad, with a game in hand. And yet if they go on like this, they will be back to the 1993/4 level of home defeats.
The fact is that many (not all, but quite a few) London fans care a lot about beating the other six London teams in the Premier League. But Tottenham only got three wins and two draws from their 12 all-London games last season, mostly because they only put in about three shots on target in each game. Even West Ham and Brentford did better. Arsenal got seven wins, four draws and one defeat. Such things matter to many of us Londoners.
Now Tottenham fans also boasted that the new ground didn’t envelop the club in debt, as Arsenal’s newbuild did. So what is wrong? We are told these are World Class facilities.
The first trophy the club has won was the Europa League last May. And the response of the club to that was….. Sack the manager. 17 years with no trophy, he gets one, and out he goes. That apparently is how you cultivate a winning mentality.
The new ground opened on 3 April 2019. Since then, they have reached the top four in the Premier League once (2022). They have never gone beyond round five in the FA Cup. They were once runners-up in the League cup and reached the semi-finals twice, but equally went out in the second and third rounds three times. They won the Europa as we noted, but otherwise have gone out in the round of 16 in the Champs League or the Europa, and went out in the group stages of the Conference Leange. Today, they are 13th in the Premier League
In that period, since 2008 they club has had 12 managers (including a few who were temporary managers). So here’s a thought that I can offer the club in terms of how to improve. I don’t want to do it, but I think in fairness, since the answer seems utterly obvious to me, I should tell those people running the club, because one should not throw stones at the afflicted..
Stop changing managers.
Surely these wonderful owners of theirs, who have paid for the stadium so that the club has no debts (if that is really true – I don’t know but it is what a lot of Tottenham supporters said when writing in to Untold when I commented on the club’s debt) can find a manager and just stick by him.
Of course, I am actually rather glad they don’t because, as an Arsenal supporter, I don’t want Tottenham to succeed. But equally, I don’t want them in the Championship, because I look forward to us beating them each year.
This is how the local derby in recent years looks from Tottenham’s perspective… All games were in the Premier League…
| Date | Game | Res | Score |
| 14 Mar 2021 | Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur | L | 2-1 |
| 26 Sep 2021 | Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur | L | 3-1 |
| 12 May 2022 | Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal | W | 3-0 |
| 01 Oct 2022 | Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur | L | 3-1 |
| 15 Jan 2023 | Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal | L | 0-2 |
| 24 Sep 2023 | Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur | D | 2-2 |
| 28 Apr 2024 | Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal | L | 2-3 |
| 15 Sep 2024 | Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal | L | 0-1 |
| 15 Jan 2025 | Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur | L | 2-1 |
| 23 Nov 2025 | Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur | L | 4-1 |
Tottenham lost eight, won one, drawn one. And I really was upset in 2022.
.
