When Tottenham took to the field against Everton last Wednesday in the long awaited fixture, there were a number of elements that intrigued me. The returns of Michael Dawson and Aaron Lennon, how Gareth Bale would perform against Phil Neville who played so well against him last season, and maybe most intriguing of all was how Jake Livermore would perform in central midfield. With Scott Parker not quite fit enough to return, and Sandro out of action, Livermore had a lot of responsibility to sit and protect the back four and compete against an Everton side who were always going to be well organised. I was a little concerned how he would perform but he put in a brilliant performance. He displayed a great deal of composure and put in a very mature performance, showing a lot of intelligence – although it has to be said he was largely untested.
His stats demonstrate how well he was able to keep possession and add a layer of protection to the defence.
Livermore Stats Vs Everton
Looking at his defensive statistics Livermore made 3 tackles and won each of these. The average tackle success rate of the team was 55%. His total ground dual (TGD) win percentage was 71%, winning 5 of the 7 duals that he contested on the ground. Again, this was above the team average of 59%. Livermore only had one aerial dual (TAD) but he successfully won this too.
Where I was most impressed with his performance was how well he was able to keep possession. Again he showed the maturity to be able to keep it simple and ensure that Tottenham were able to retain the ball. The stats below show that of the 77 passes that Livermore attempted, 75 of them made their target giving him a passing accuracy of 97%. His passing accuracy was above that of pass masters Van der Vaart and Modric, although they both attempted more passes than Livermore. It is also evident that Livermore was positive in possession, with 48% of his passes being played forward to instigate attacking play.
Passing Stats Vs Everton
The final table looks at where passes where on the pitch the passes were made and how accurate the passes were.
Passing Zone Stats Vs Everton
Livermore made one more pass in his own half (TPO) than he did in Everton’s half (TPA) and in each he had a very impressive 97% accuracy. If we compare this to the passing accuracy of the other midfielders within the opposition half, Modric and Van der Vaart had the 2nd most impressive ratios with 83% pass completion, although they both made significantly more passes in the opposition half. Livermore also completed 14 of his 15 passes in the final 3rd, demonstrating his ability to get forward and keep possession within the oppositions half.
The stats that we have just seen for Livermore show that he can be a very effective box to box player. With a man of the match performance against Everton under his belt, I thought that he may start against Wolves. With Scott Parker available that wasn’t the case. Wolves are another team that are well organised and pack the midfield. It was always going to be a case of Tottenham having to break them down to claim the 3 points – much like the recent home games against Sunderland and West Brom. Wolves are a team that press possession and with Karl Henry and Frimpong in midfield it was always going to be a battle.
The stats below look at the midfield performance of Spurs and how the tenacity of Wolves hampered Tottenham’s natural passing game.
Passing Stats Vs Wolves
With Wolves pressing and denying Tottenham any time on the ball, our passing game suffered. The pass completion was below what we have seen recently – especially in home games. Modric had a pass accuracy of 84%, lower than the 89% than he achieved against Everton where he had more time and space on the ball. If we look at Scott Parker’s passing percentage compared to that of Livermore we can see the impact of Wolves play on the passing accuracy. Scott Parker managed 87% vs. the 97% of Livermore versus Everton.
Looking at the defensive stats we are able to see how effective Wolves midfield were at winning back possession and intercepting the Spurs attacks.
Kightly, Frimpong and Henry won possession 3 times each in the defensive 3rd (PWD) and Wolves won possession 22 times in total in the defensive 3rd. In midfield (PWM) they won possession 20 times with Jarvis winning the ball 7 times. There were also a number of interceptions made with Frimpong the most impressive – intercepting the ball 5 times.
If we contrast this to Everton, their midfield was less effective at winning back possession and their lack of pressing gave Tottenham more space to play and get on the ball. This also meant that Tottenham were less sloppy in possession meaning there was less opportunity for Everton’s midfield to intercept the play.
A number of teams have been to Tottenham and put players behind the ball. With Wolves displaying the midfield tenacity to disrupt Spurs’ free flowing football, more are likely to come with that plan in the future. If the referee had got key decisions correct, Spurs would have managed to come away with all 3 points – however, a point for Wolves was probably deserved.
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Categories: EPL, EPL Index Featured Article, EPL Index Statistical Comparisons, EPL Opta Stats, Tottenham Hotspur, Wolves
Tags: Defensive, efc, english Premier league, EPL, epl opta stats, EPL Stats, Frimpong, Livermore, Modric, Opta Stats, Parker, Passing, premier league, Premier League Stats, Spurs Stats, THFC, wwfc
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As you’ve stated yourself – every team will be affected by these decisions. There’s not a week gone by where one of the teams will not feel hard done by. I agree with your point that some sort of technology should be available however would it have to be implemented at every single game played? Could take a while!
We have lost 7 possible points from bad decision if you take the three points of for the Bolton sending off we have had 4 points taken of us. I still say too this day Defoe would have scored in the Bolton game if Cahill had not brought Parker down. The season has a long way too go and our biggest worry is teams upping there work rate to stop us playing to do this they play at a killer Tempo. This is how the exciting Swansea team play chasing the ball till they get it and passing there way out of trouble and attack . The problem with this way of playing it can kill or cause burn out and illness i cant believe the way players are clutching drinks before during and after games. These drinks are full of caffeine we have had deaths strokes Heart damage in Italy and a player going of with rapid heart beat in the last few years. I also discovered widspread use of supplements that are banned one player recently failed a drugs test and was let of because he got it of the internet and it said it was okay too use it the same drug got three South African players in trouble they got of claiming food contamination Five Footballers for Mexico under 20 squad also failed a drug test claiming food. Football is in denial of the scale of energy drugs and are ignoring and losing the battle. The City player Kolo Toure was not a lone Wolf i no, so Spurs biggest threat is games like the Wolves game ruining our season last season we had 14 draws through blanket defending and high work rate?
I think Adebayor’s movement is just too fast for referees and linesmen. His two perfectly valid goals against Stoke and Wolves have cost us three points, i.e. our place at the top. There have been no compensating, point saving goals wrongly awarded to us. Penalties and sendings off will always have some sort of interpretation in the decision, so even though we have been unfairly treated in that area as well (handball on the line at Stoke etc etc.)there is some excuse. There is NO excuse for making blatant errors about onside/offside and replay technology should be brought in immediately. It is a joke that within seconds, all those watching on tv know more about what has hapened than the match officials. Maybe the 4th official should just watch tv and report back to the ref. No technology needed for that, bring it in next weekend.
Do me a favour Spurs fans. Don’t forget you had a corner which shouldn’t have been too but you failed to score from it. Not the mention that 95th minute gift free kick which in fact the Spurs attacker kicked Berra but unbelievably went the other way. We’ve had so many poor decisions go against us this season…i’ve lost count to be perfectly honest. Milijas’ joke red card being the ultimate poor call by the referee. But in football what goes around comes round. If technology is introduced. You’ll start moaning about all the stoppages in play there are. I know 2 wrongs don’t make a right but these referees are only human and mistakes are bound to happen because of the unbelievable quick movement of Premier League footballers. The referee doesn’t have the benefit of a 2nd replay. I’ve seen so many times fans only spark up after they see 4-5 different replays from various different position. Show some respect to these referees. It’s mission impossible for them and in fact they get the large majority of decisions right.
More importantly I’d like to congratulate my team on a very effective performance. Stopping the marauding Spurs from capitalising on their win over Everton in midweek. Also so happy to see Kightly flying on the wing too. Gave their full backs plenty of problems.
As a neutral I can’t really argue with any of that. Well said – they are only human and we do get the benefit of a number of angles and replays.
My intention in this article wasn’t to moan about the decisions that went against us. I fully appreciate that there are decisions that go for and against each team every week. It is quite interesting to look at the debatable decisions table which is here http://www.debatabledecisions.com/tables (at the time of writing this has not been updated since before we played Everton)
Decisions will go against us and even though we conceded from a corner that should have been a goal kick, our defending for the corner was terrible – that is more concerning to me. We were not able to deal with it.
Credit to Wolves, they came with a game plan and it worked. This is something that is going to happen more and more and we have seen it recently in home games.
I can understand Spurs frustration, these are indeed the games that you feel you must win. And the corner and offside were unlucky. Hope you go on to win the league, really do.
I will say, our players were exhausted after ths game, as they were when we won 1-0 at your place. And again, if we were playing manure away on Tuesday I bet McCarthy would change most of his team again, as they would simply have not recovered in time to be a similar battling force. Sorry, an old chestnut.