OhSoSpurs — The Tottenham Hotspur Podcast

Can Spurs finally get off the bottom against Coventry? Four panellists, four predictions, and not one of them is backing against a Tottenham win.

Jim, Johnny, Stu and Si preview Monday night's game against Coventry, starting with the good news: Kulusevski is back on the bench. Then the bad news. Savio is out for "some weeks", Bergvall's knee thins the midfield again, and Si puts his name to a guaranteed Maddison start against his boyhood club. The panel also ask whether the Richarlison decision was ever De Zerbi's to make, and why Spurs passed on the Turkey offer.

Stay for the end, where things get silly. Johnny is asked which figure from history should give the team talk, and you'll want to hear how that goes. Stu picks an emergency loan from Milan or PSV, and Si chooses whose phone he'd scroll through after the Marbella trip.

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Is Coventry at home the best chance Spurs will get all season? Professional analyst and former player Enya says the numbers make it a must-win.

Jim and Enya preview Tottenham vs Coventry using the data: the expected points table, Coventry's numbers after their 4-1 win over Newcastle, and why a deep block could still make Spurs uncomfortable. They also go through the big selection calls, including Maddison or Gallagher at number 10, Senesi or Van de Ven, Bergvall or Fernandes without Bentancur, and Solanke or Marmoush, before picking their starting XIs and predicting the score.

Listen for where Chelsea sit on expected points ahead of Stamford Bridge, and for the name second on Spurs' xG list. Neither of us saw it coming.

Enya's full data pack for this game is on The 82nd Percentile Patreon, with a free trial: https://www.patreon.com/cw/82ndPercentile

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Can a draw feel like a win? After Spurs came back with ten men at Old Trafford, the panel says this was the first emotional win of the season, and the numbers back it up.

Jim, Si, Stu and DJ go through Man United vs Tottenham: the first half Spurs dominated, Solanke’s equaliser after the armband show of faith, Tonali’s understated best game in a Spurs shirt, Gallagher’s pressing, Van Hecke’s distribution and the moments he was caught out, and why Archie Gray and Destiny Udogie deserve more credit. Then Coventry at home, and why it has to be a win.

The Bentancur red card splits the panel too. Everyone agrees his was deserved, but once you hear Si and Stu go at it over Luke Shaw, you’ll have to pick a side.

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Why is A Licence coach JJ frustrated after Spurs’ late point at Old Trafford? Because they dominated Man United for almost an hour and should have been out of sight.

Jim and JJ break down Man United vs Tottenham: the line-up and the load management behind it, why Mateus Fernandes isn’t starting, Conor Gallagher’s man-of-the-match performance, the pressing that pinned United back, Van Hecke being isolated out wide, and how the Bentancur red card started. Then Solanke: whether the captain’s armband was a gamble, and why it paid off.

There’s also a moment JJ can’t let go of. Once you hear how close Kudus came to an open goal, you’ll understand why Savio is his biggest frustration.

The full deep dive on this game lands on The 82nd Percentile on Monday, with a free week’s trial on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/82ndPercentile

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Would you take five years of great football finishing second to Arsenal, or ugly football that finishes above them? DJ says Spurs fans who claim they want beautiful football really just want wins.

Jim, Johnny and DJ preview Man United vs Tottenham: why Old Trafford might suit this Spurs side better than home, the centre-back worries before kick-off, Udogie over Robertson against United’s wingers, Kudus and Savio out wide, and whether Gallagher plays the 10. Then they get to when “we’re getting better” has to turn into wins, and what a fair punishment for Man City looks like.

DJ also gives a first look at his research into every Premier League goal this season, and once you hear how many involve a deflection or a penalty, you’ll understand why he believes in luck even if De Zerbi doesn’t. The full video is free on The 82nd Percentile: https://www.patreon.com/cw/82ndPercentile

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Can Spurs finally get the win at Old Trafford? United fan Mike from TA Outdoors says both clubs have exactly the same problem, and it shows the moment either side goes a goal down.

Jim and Mike preview Man United vs Tottenham: two squads underperforming their talent, home crowds turning faster than ever, Carrick and De Zerbi under pressure, the Rashford and Cunha debate, injury lists that are clearing but not yet fit, and the battle on Spurs’ right where Savio meets Luke Shaw. Then both make their score predictions, and Mike explains why he thinks Spurs will still finish top six.

There’s also a piece of trivia Mike walks straight into, about which club David Beckham spent his first four years with. Most United fans have never heard it.

Mike also shares his favourite way to get outdoors this weekend, making soap from silver birch leaves. Find him at TA Outdoors, linked in the show notes.

https://youtu.be/l8HzHE4N2WI?si=ffEjhSOb8-5LVlNX

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What should happen to Manchester City now? Luke, an MBA and self-confessed football business nerd, says relegation alone would barely register, and that the Premier League's own reputation depends on getting this right.

Jim and Luke walk through the full picture with City found to have broken the rules and an appeal pending: why the league's commercial pull rests on trust, the Serie A precedent, how Chelsea's case differs, what a complete punishment package looks like, and the compensation question for clubs like Tottenham who missed out on Champions League football.

And there's one scenario nobody is talking about yet. Once you hear what a January fire sale of City's squad could look like, and where Luke thinks Haaland ends up, you'll see why this could reshape far more than one club.

Dedicated to Indy Spurs in Indianapolis.

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Do Tottenham's worst starts really lead to their best eras? Author and White Hart Review editor Andrew Pettifer has fifty years in the stands and two books of research that say the pattern is real.

Jim and Andrew walk through every precedent: the 1975 escape against champions Leeds, relegation turning straight into the Ardiles and Villa era, bottom in November 1988 with Gazza before finishing sixth, the 2008 two-points-from-eight season that became the Redknapp years, Poch's near-sacking in 2014, and the 1912-13 side that didn't win until game 13. Plus why nostalgia lies to all of us about which era was really the best.

And stay for the Sydney fish market story — oysters with Ledley King, a chance meeting with a club figure who didn't sleep for three months last season, and a trivia chain that ends with the invention of the Adidas Predator.

Andrew's books, with proceeds to charity — When the Final Whistle Blows (Cancer Research): https://geni.us/Spursbook and Two Tribes (Choose Love): https://geni.us/twotribes — plus The White Hart Review: https://www.whitehartreview.com/

Welcome to the OSoSpurs podcast — daily Tottenham Hotspur analysis and match reactions.

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What if every verdict on Tottenham is being passed on a team that no longer exists? Aaron of The Professor says the squad has turned over so completely, ten in and ten out, that judging this side on last season's evidence is analysing a section of the ground after everyone in it has changed seats.

Jim and Aaron work through the reset: why the new signings didn't inherit two years of trauma, the Man United comparison that shows how few survivors remain, why five games is no sample at all, and the case that Tottenham's goals are far closer than the mood suggests. Then the big one — the "just buy a goalscorer" myth, and the research showing how rarely anyone repeats a top-ten scoring season (Spurs have already run that experiment once).

Aaron also puts a prediction on the record about where Tottenham's goals come from by the end of the season — and once you hear the reasoning, the January striker debate sounds very different.

Read Aaron's Substack, linked in the show notes.

https://profspur.substack.com/

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Is Van Hecke Tottenham's best defender or their biggest liability? Professional analyst Enya says the data supports both — one of the two highest-graded centre backs in the Premier League, and Spurs' worst offender for positional mistakes at three times the league median.

Jim and Enya grade Tottenham's back line through Gradient's execution scores: how the Van Hecke–Van de Ven pairing was built as a deliberate trade-off, Van de Ven quietly ranking as the most reliable of the lot, Robertson's 89th percentile grade and the role he was actually signed for, the honest conversation about Kinsky's start, and the Spence-shaped gap pointing to a January right-back.

And there's a verdict on the "Robertson is washed" narrative that will annoy a lot of people — Enya ran his physical numbers, and one of them is the second-fastest speed clocked by any Spurs player this season.

The 82nd Percentile — our weekly hour-long data deep-dive with Enya, JJ and Jim, plus a midweek match pack — is on Patreon; the founding tier has now sold out, thank you: https://www.patreon.com/cw/82ndPercentile

Sharp, honest, from the analyst's desk. The Analyst.

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