From Jim's chair
Morning. Writing this one from Turkey, so apologies if it reads a bit sunnier than usual.
Here’s something I’ve been chewing on this week. Spurs are not in bad form. I think we’ve just forgotten what normal form actually looks like.
Hear me out. Twenty-six players changed at this club over the summer. Twenty-six. The next closest in the league was sixteen. So the first few games –– with Madison not fit, Simons not fit, Odebert not fit, Savio not even in the door, Fernandes in the ten, Porro at right wing, Tel at left wing, Marmoush as a lone nine, Archie Gray at right back — of course it looked like a group of strangers kicking around. It was a group of strangers kicking around.
Take those out and look at the last five. We’ve lost one: Villa, where we were the better side. The rest, we’ve won one and could probably have won two or three. The underlying data has turned a corner. We’re finally winning on our xG.
Quick test for you. Fifth place last season — Liverpool. How many games did they fail to win across a 38-game season? Twenty-one. Twenty-one games where they dropped points, and they finished fifth. That’s the shape of a Champions League qualifying season. It isn’t winning five on the bounce every month. It’s steady, boring, not losing too often. And right now that’s roughly where we are.
Chelsea next, and I know the ground will be nervous. Don’t be. This is a different squad. A different manager. The trauma of Stamford Bridge belongs to a group of players who largely aren’t here anymore. We have to stop walking into these games already beaten.
Go on believing. I will be.
Keep it Lilywhite #OhSo33,
– Jim
