The Special One's tactics
Jose Mourinho's tactical tweak is fuelling Tottenham success as Leicester face stark reality
Tottenham have been full of goals so far this season, and the same looks to be as a direct result of a change in approach from Jose Mourinho
Tottenham Hotspur can be pleased with their start to the season as they lie second in the Premier League table, just one point behind leaders Leicester City.
Both of the division's top two teams are separated by just one point and have conceded just nine goals. Additionally, in the scoring charts, they can only be separated by a single goal, with Spurs’ total of 19 scored one better than Leicester’s tally of 18.
A crucial difference between the two though is the number of penalties Leicester have been awarded in comparison to Tottenham, with the Foxes' total of eight boosting their goal tally by seven. Jose Mourinho’s men have so far been awarded just two penalties.
This is worth noting because there’s an argument to say that the same has inflated the underlying attacking numbers of the Foxes.
At a glance, they look to be performing at a similar attacking level to Spurs. They rank third for Expected Goals (xG), just behind Spurs in second and Liverpool in first.
Yet based on non-penalty Expected Goals (NPxG) - a metric that measures shot quality without penalty contributions - they rank way down in 12th. Meanwhile, Spurs and Liverpool remain inside the top two.
Given the low scoring nature of football, a penalty can often prove decisive in terms of results which is perhaps why Leicester find themselves so high in the table. However, despite being one point worse off, Spurs’ impressive start looks to be more sustainable and they should be confident of overtaking the leaders in the coming weeks.
The supremacy of Spurs' attack so far is highlighted by the fact that they have averaged 2.38 Premier League goals per game, a notable increase on last season’s average of 1.47 per game - albeit with the caveat of playing fewer games in this campaign.
One of the key reasons we are seeing such a boost to Spurs’ goal tally is due to the fact that they seem to be creating higher quality chances in better locations than they were last season.
This point is illustrated in the below visualisation which compares the shooting locations of last season to this one.
What stands out is the notable increase in the percentage of shots Spurs have taken from inside the six-yard box - 16% so far. Last season they managed to take only 7% from this area.
The percentage of shots they have been taking from inside the penalty area remains almost identical to last season, however, there’s been a notable drop in shots from outside the box. This has consequently meant that Spurs’ average shot distance has dropped from 17.7 (yards) last season to 15.6 (yards) this season.
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