By Tony Attwood
This article below follows on in general terms from the previous two articles on this site…
- Which clubs are mentioned the most on social media, and why the stories are mostly untrue
- Arsenal injuries, tackles and fouls at the end of the season – but who is coming off worse?
In regard to this issue of tackles, fouls and injuries, we might also consider the situation surrounding Tottenham Hots. And that is interesting because in 2024/5 they were the 15th most fouled team in the league. In 2025/6 they were the 14th most fouled team in the league. In short, they get fouled a lot.
Now of course, if one were a Tottenham supporter, one might cry out in annoyance, but also upon reflection, perhaps one might also ask “why?” After all, in this and the previous season they came 17th each time, and in the six previous seasons, they got to fourth a couple of times, but never better. So why bother to kick them to bits?
So why do clubs foul Tottenham so much more than before? Certainly, such a dramatic change in the way other clubs treat one particular team normally indicates a deliberate change in policy in terms of the way managers order the game to be played.
Of course, for attack-minded players, there is no way around getting fouled by the opposition, although it is worth trying to keep the number of fouls right down to avoid serious injuries.
On the other hand fast-moving teams like Arsenal know they are going to get fouled. Arsenal are seventh in terms of the number of fouls teams have received in league games this season. Manchester City received fractionally more fouls than Arsenal, but the differnce is minute.
The least fouled team this season was Burnley – and clearly, opposition sides just didn’t think it was worth fouling them, instead waiting for the Burnley players to try and pass the ball and then intercept the inevitable wayward pass and thus getting possession back.
So fouling is not normally anything other than a last resort, as it inevitably gives the opposition a free kick (if the referee happens to notice the foul). But there is a second issue to be considered here.
For there is also, at this moment, an interesting review being undertaken at New WHL to see if the now infamous Hotspur retractable pitch is itself the cause of the high number of injuries Tottenham players get. That pitch, with its associated retractability, cost the Hots an utter fortune to put in and is there so that they can play American football at the ground. And how ironic it would be if it were now found to be part of their ongoing injury crisis. If you come across Tottenham executives campaigning for the number of players that can be registered in the first team squad, up perhaps from 25 to 30, you’ll know why. They can’t afford to dig up the pitch and lay a new one, and they now have to live with the consequences.
But while we are engaged in this sort of post-league-season review, we really ought to mention the cards. This season, Arsenal got 51 yellows and no reds. What is interesting is that this was the lowest number of yellow cards – virtually half of the number achieved by the yellow card experts, who by coincidence happen to be Tottenham Ho – who knocked up 99 yellows. Which really is quite a lot.
Chelsea of course, were the red card winners with eight this season in league games – you think they might have noticed by now how these things work. But of course, this is one of the problems of changing senior staff in a club every week or two – the outgoing person who has just been sacked tends not to share his little notebook of statistics with the man who has just replaced him, so the problem just rolls on and on.
And that really does make the point that in essence, changing your manager several times in a season brings all sorts of issues – not least that the lessons learned in the early part of the season, by the managers who have come before, get lost as the earlier boss leaves with all his entourage and those coming afresh to the club find that much of what was written in the media about this club was a load of mallarky, as it always in. Here’s the secret, guys: football journalists write to the fans. They don’t actually know very much about football.
As for referees, although curious characters in their own right, do talk to each other. But worse than that, some referees are used over and over again by PGMO and so they see the same players time and again. Looking at a team sheet ahead of the game, it is not unknown for a ref to think, “ah, there are half a dozen players here I gave cards to earlier in the season – I’ll keep an eye on them”.
That’s why the waving of cards can seem so uneven at times. Refs are remembering the run-ins they had with the same player last season. Yet another reason why we endlessly suggest that each club should not have the same referee more than twice in a campaign.
Arsenal have realised exactly why this is so important (we actually dropped them a line about the matter at the start of this season, and got a nice acknowledgement, although I don’t know if anyone read it). Refs remember who they gave cards to last time around.
There are of course, plenty more stats around that one can look at and which give a real insight into games – and if I remember, I’ll try and pick up on a few of the more interesting ones in the coming days with the season now finished. But here’s a thought to carry with you.
Most media commentators don’t use statistics, but stats are in fact just about the only tools we have got, when trying to prove cause and effect (as in, he was sent off for that bad tackle). So we might ask, why are journalists so utterly afraid of statistics? Is it because they themselves don’t understand them? Or is it because they think their readers are too thick to understand them? Or maybe both?
