Squad minutes

[TonyL]

There is so much going on about how the squad is too thin and with the injuries we have Ange is running players to the ground. Somehow I think there is something not quite right here. And I got some free time to spare so I think I should just make a comparison of their playing time against other teams in Europe (Liverpool, Emirates Marketing Project, Arsenal and Aston Villa). Not counting Man Utd as they just got a new manager. Below is the top 5 players with the highest number of minutes across all club competitions. I have excluded goalkeepers and centre halves for obvious reason.

Destiny Udogie 1475
Pedro Porro 1465
Brennan Johnson 1442
Dejan Kulusevski 1393
Dominic Solanke 1363

Liverpool
Mohamed Salah 1699
Ryan Gravenberch 1685
Alexis Mac Allister 1494
Andrew Robertson 1312
Dominik Szoboszlai 1309

Arsenal
Kai Havertz 1693
Thomas Partey 1542
Bukayo Saka 1505
Declan Rice 1412
Jurriën Timber 1283

Emirates Marketing Project
Erling Haaland 1758
Rico Lewis 1660
Bernardo Silva 1463
İlkay Gündoğan 1192
Phil Foden 1147

Aston Villa
Youri Tielemans 1676
Morgan Rogers 1553
Ollie Watkins 1386
Lucas Digne 1310
John McGinn 1176

We may have a paper thin squad but the numbers show our key players are not ahead of other teams in terms of minutes played, which is the point I wanted to make. It's natural for key members of the squad to play a lot across all competitions. With or without injuries in the team it's unrealistic to expect them to be rotated a lot more than they currently do when you qualify for Europe. Other teams somehow just get on with it.

 

[metalgear]

then our fitness coaches, physios etc have to answer to something more systemic

 

[Kandi1977]

There is so much going on about how the squad is too thin and with the injuries we have Ange is running players to the ground. Somehow I think there is something not quite right here. And I got some free time to spare so I think I should just make a comparison of their playing time against other teams in Europe (Liverpool, Emirates Marketing Project, Arsenal and Aston Villa). Not counting Man Utd as they just got a new manager. Below is the top 5 players with the highest number of minutes across all club competitions. I have excluded goalkeepers and centre halves for obvious reason.

Destiny Udogie 1475
Pedro Porro 1465
Brennan Johnson 1442
Dejan Kulusevski 1393
Dominic Solanke 1363

Liverpool
Mohamed Salah 1699
Ryan Gravenberch 1685
Alexis Mac Allister 1494
Andrew Robertson 1312
Dominik Szoboszlai 1309

Arsenal
Kai Havertz 1693
Thomas Partey 1542
Bukayo Saka 1505
Declan Rice 1412
Jurriën Timber 1283

Emirates Marketing Project
Erling Haaland 1758
Rico Lewis 1660
Bernardo Silva 1463
İlkay Gündoğan 1192
Phil Foden 1147

Aston Villa
Youri Tielemans 1676
Morgan Rogers 1553
Ollie Watkins 1386
Lucas Digne 1310
John McGinn 1176

We may have a paper thin squad but the numbers show our key players are not ahead of other teams in terms of minutes played, which is the point I wanted to make. It's natural for key members of the squad to play a lot across all competitions. With or without injuries in the team it's unrealistic to expect them to be rotated a lot more than they currently do when you qualify for Europe. Other teams somehow just get on with it.

Minutes played only gives a fraction of the picture. We do more sprints and intensive pressures than any other team. In the game against City, we did almost 300 more intensive pressures than city. In one game alone! That's 30 per player more than the opposition. In addition to that, the workload, for our full backs in particular, is ridiculous!

 

[Mikey10]

Minutes played only gives a fraction of the picture. We do more sprints and intensive pressures than any other team. In the game against City, we did almost 300 more intensive pressures than city. In one game alone! That's 30 per player more than the opposition. In addition to that, the workload, for our full backs in particular, is ridiculous!

Correct. It’s about the way we play.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

And there is a theme in our numbers there
The guys who make the longest runs by default are porro and destiny, so first and second on minutes
Then you have the 2 guys who run the most overall in Solanke and Kulu
And finally Johnson who has no else to replace him on the right
Would be interesting to see centre half stats because they are key roles and I don’t think most teams change them

 

[TonyL]

Minutes played only gives a fraction of the picture. We do more sprints and intensive pressures than any other team. In the game against City, we did almost 300 more intensive pressures than city. In one game alone! That's 30 per player more than the opposition. In addition to that, the workload, for our full backs in particular, is ridiculous!

Which goes to the other point I wanted to say but decided to keep it to others to interpret themselves - Angeball won't get you very far into the season because of the intensity required. It won't last too long if all you are doing is asking your players to go gung-ho week in week out?

 

[SteveAWOL]

Murderball + Europa League - high quality squad = hamstring injuries

Spurs have applied the most pressures to opponents in the final third in the Premier League this season with 911, while Bournemouth are second on 831. Even when they give the ball away, these two sides work hard to win it back within seconds.

Looking at counter pressures, where the team makes a pressure within two seconds of losing the ball, Spurs (801 total, 378 in final third) and Bournemouth (788 in total, 345 in final third) rank first and second coming into this encounter.

Meanwhile, only Emirates Marketing Project (40 per cent) have made a higher proportion of their pressures in the final third this season than Spurs (37 per cent).

Assessing the running data for both sides, it’s again Spurs and Bournemouth that lead the way. No teams have made more sprints than Spurs (2,326) or the Cherries (2,186) across the opening 13 Matchweeks of 2024/25.

Meanwhile, only Brighton & Hove Albion (1,457 km) separate Bournemouth (1,459 km) and Spurs (1,453 km) in the top three positions for total distance covered.

More specifically focusing on their off-the-ball running, Spurs players have made the most intense runs to try and receive a pass or create space than any other team, with 2,258. Bournemouth rank third (1,973), behind only Spurs and Liverpool, with 1,984.

AFC Bournemouth v Spurs: Why entertainment is guaranteed

Opta Analyst's Matt Furniss looks at the numbers that make Thursday's match so compelling

www.premierleague.com

 

[Kandi1977]

And yet, most in here want the Bournemouth manager, who plays in the same way as Ange...

 

[Bullet]

And yet, most in here want the Bournemouth, who plays in the same way as Ange...

An interesting point. If Iraiola came into Spurs and thrashed our players like Ange, with EL games on top, we would have the same tiredness and injury issues. There has to be a wiser way to use our energy.

 

[Bishop]

An interesting point. If Iraiola came into Spurs and thrashed our players like Ange, with EL games on top, we would have the same tiredness and injury issues. There has to be a wiser way to use our energy.

Or a bigger and better squad so you can use players more interchangeably.

 

[Yiddo]

Our midfield is the only position that is regularly rotated. I was always under the assumption that Ange always used to sub his full backs out at around the 60-70 minute mark but he doesn’t seem to be rotating them at all.

 

[afsoc4life]

Good post and raises a question on the utilisation of the second squad.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Our midfield is the only position that is regularly rotated. I was always under the assumption that Ange always used to sub his full backs out at around the 60-70 minute mark but he doesn’t seem to be rotating them at all.

He doesn’t rotate but more in exchanges players