Overachieving - Underperforming

For Tottenham to make sense of what statistically has been "the best start for them in ANY Premier League Season" is to understand that performance through the actual game story.  For that reason it is quite fortunate to be a Tottenham fan and to commiserate those whose current pain is following West Ham United.

The reality of the game on Saturday is that West Ham should have won this game through better finishing, though the Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was on this day, every inch the World Cup winner he is - a world-class performance that saw three superb saves all from West Ham forward Marko Arnautović.  On any other day he would have expected to score at least one goal and so could not be faulted for taking good strikes that were on target.

Where West Ham can be faulted is in their overall finishing.  In years past it was Tottenham fans who had to suffer watching their team unable to finish a move.  Poor finishing is costly, but even more costly when the team that beat them are still underperforming themselves.   Eight games in, it is not as if Spurs have played mind-blowing football.  Manchester City are playing mind-blowing football and that can be seen in their goal difference, which is already 22 goals better than their bitter rivals Manchester United - yet Tottenham are hanging on to their coattails being just 2 points behind.

Maybe it is good news that Spurs are not firing on all cylinders but it also reflects head-scratching tactics.  Mauricio Pochettino has for many years over-achieved in results based on the comparative resources given to him and this year those resources amounted to $0 - and that I repeat is ZERO money for new players.  Yet Spurs are still in the hunt for the championship, something one cannot say about Manchester United who spent several hundred million.

Pochettino though still seems to be learning on the job.  He has massive potential to be a great manager but he is still a manager in development and in drawing out that potential.  His weaknesses include a rather emotional attachment to his high intensity style rather than strategic view of his players and how they can conserve energy.  Ironically he keeps fielding Sissoko in the team, though Sissoko actually has moments where he is letting others do the work, and while he did provide an assist for the goal on Saturday, it was mind-boggling that Heung Min-Son - a player with blinding speed and dribbling ability and goal scoring prowess could be sitting on the bench - against a West Ham team rich for the picking.

For sure it would represent an experiment to play Son, Lamela and Moura together but it is an experiment worth exploring, especially if they are backed with a strong pairing of defensive midfielders - which Spurs do have.  Sheer speed and swiftness would have unlocked the West Ham defense on Saturday, especially considering that West Ham's most expensive signing Felipe Anderson was having a really poor game. 

The same cannot be said about West Ham, whose chairman gave his fans what they were shouting for, over a hundred million spent on bringing what are actually good players.  For sure teams need time to gel, but West Ham do play well as a team but their finishing is atrocious at present.  Before the international break they should have beaten Brighton on balance of play but conspired to lose the match 1-0 and this week they handed Spurs that gift.  That result put West Ham in the bottom four and kept Tottenham in the top four, and it must have West Ham fans eating their hair out in frustration.

Tottenham however cannot rest on their laurels but now hopefully can build on their season start blessing.  They have lost both of their Champions League matches and one more loss means that competition is done and dusted, but maybe playing teams like Cardiff, Brighton and West Ham are matches a top four team should be winning.  Yet Spurs scrambled through against Brighton just like they did against West Ham, yet Manchester City tore Burnley to shreds, hammering them 5-0 and they could have scored even more!

Spurs get a double dose of West Ham moving ahead when they play them again in 10 days in the lesser League Cup tournament, with matches against PSV Eindhoven in Holland and league leaders Manchester City to come before that game is played.  Fortunately under-performing has come against weaker opposition, and one would shudder to think what Manchester City would have done to either Tottenham or West Ham had their game occurred a week before.

As in life there will be times when we win though we underperform and overachieving is only a blessing in that it gives something to build on, because the blessing was a gift from others.  On Saturday it was gift from West Ham because of their poor finishing, though like Pochettino, West Ham made some questionable lineup choices, the biggest of which was not playing Michail Antonio who returned from injury.  A half-fit Antonio (who is an attack minded defender) would be better than a poorly playing Felipe Anderson on Saturday and when Antonio came on, he hit a screamer of a shot that nearly gained West Ham the equalizer - but the shot rose rather than dipped and Spurs escaped. 

There should be confidence in a great start but there needs to be humility also that the success Spurs are achieving in the league right now stems from over-achieving while still disjointed as a team.  The defense did get a clean sheet, so not conceding a goal is a great thing, and at least Lloris was on his top performance and he alone accounts for winning all three points against a West Ham team that has good talent, good promise but are plagued with not being able to finish and making their Chairman wonder whether he would have better off spending ZERO money for new players.