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Ange Postecoglou Tottenham masterplan was already working before Man City win as Liverpool warned

Ange Postecoglou celebrates one of Tottenham's goals against Man City (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


It has been a classic case of an up and down season for Tottenham Hotspur so far. Inconsistency in the team has been rife, with a win, lose, win, lose sequence leaving fans tearing their hair out.

Ange Postecoglou oversaw arguably his best result as Tottenham head coach last week when Spurs demolished reigning Premier League champions Manchester City 4-0. It was City's first defeat at home in 53 matches and a real statement of intent from Spurs.

Now, though, Postecoglou's side must back it up, by not dropping points as they take on Fulham at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday. Consistency is the key thing for Spurs now if they are to maintain their hopes of finishing in the top four and even challenging for the title in the coming years.

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It looked like Postecoglou's masterplan finally came to fruition against City, but it appears to have been working all along, if you look at the raw stats.

The CIES Football Observatory have looked at Wyscout data around every team's attacking intent, looking at where shots are taken and conceded from in the danger zone (the central rectangle of the penalty area).

According to the data, Spurs have taken the second-highest number of shots inside the danger area at 6.91 per match. Only City have registered more in the Premier League.

Tottenham do concede more at 4.45 per game than top four rivals Liverpool, Man City and Aston Villa, although they concede less than Arsenal and Chelsea have done this season.

It leaves Spurs at 0.38 points worse off in the league per match this season than they should be. Based off that data, Postecoglou's team would be a point behind Liverpool (who are 0.52 points better off per match than expected) and a couple of points behind Man City (who are 0.13 points worse off per match than expected).

The statistics point to Postecoglou doing a fine job with Spurs and they should be higher in the table than they are. But it's down to the players to get the job done on the pitch on a regular basis and ensure results like the City one is not a flash in the pan.