Tottenham need ‘more quality’ against small sides as they’re best vs giants – what do the stats say?

Gary O’Neil has told Tottenham they need “more quality” against smaller sides as their best performances this season have been against giants – as F365 assesses the stats off the back of that claim.

Spurs came close to losing to Wolves on Saturday – a side who had yet to pick up a point in the Premier League prior to that game. Tottenham were bailed out by Joao Palhinha, who scored his third goal of the season in the 94th minute.

The draw keeps the north London club third in the Premier League.

But off the back of it, former Wolves boss O’Neil has suggested Tottenham are currently worse against worse teams, and their best performances have come against some European juggernauts.

“The part I struggle with is that they didn’t deserve to [win] in any way. I’ve seen them twice at home this season and in both games the onus is meant to be on them against Bournemouth and Wolves,” O’Neil said.

“But they struggled in both. Their good performances have come against PSG and Manchester City when they have to defend and be without the ball.

“So I think there’s a lot of improvement needed at Spurs if they’re going to be challenging at the top end of the table this year.

“Teams are going to come and frustrate and they need to produce more quality than they did this evening.”

Against PSG, Spurs had just 25 per cent of the ball, but had both more shots and more on target than the Champions League holders, making the most of what little they did have of the ball.

Against City, Tottenham had 38 per cent of the ball, and again had more shots and more on target, and scored two goals to City’s none.

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But in the draw against Wolves, possession was pretty evenly matched and the north London club struggled to have much of an impact until right at the end of the game.

The same was true in the loss against Bournemouth. Tottenham had 62 per cent of the ball but had only one shot on target, and allowed the Cherries to bear down on their goal often, as they had 20 shots, six on target, and scored one.

Tottenham’s record in the big six over the past couple of seasons is fairly even. In the Premier League, they have won four games and lost seven – scoring 18 goals in them – but they also beat Manchester United in the Europa League final, and saw off Manchester City in the League Cup last term, before again beating United in that competition.

In every single one of those games, Spurs had less of the ball but came out on top. While they won’t want to give up control to lesser teams, they need to at least make their attacking opportunities count, thinking as if they won’t get many of them, as they do against bigger sides.

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