Rumours coming out today that Cody Gakpo is one of our leading transfer targets. Profile wise I personally think he is very similar to what we can be getting from Mathys Tel. Gakpo has very impressive number following progressive carries, but don't see the rationale behind spending £60M+ on him.

With Mateus Fernandes missing tomorrow's game with calf fatigue, less than a month after joining... I thought now's a good time to look at the data and show what he will add to our midfield next season. open.substack.com/pub/thespurs...

MATEUS FERNANDES - DATA PROFILE

It's been evident for a number of seasons that we've been missing a top midfield profile; someone who can do a bit of everything, willing to show for the ball when the game is getting uncomfortable, h...

open.substack.com

It has been 5 weeks since we signed van Hecke, so I thought it was a sensible time to explore the data and write an article on what he will bring to us next season. open.substack.com/pub/thespurs...

To somehow recoup £21.4M for a CB that cannot pass seems like incredible business to me. Don Paratici

Fabrizio Romano (MIRROR)@fabrizioromano.yopro20.com · last mo.

🚨🟣 Radu Dragusin will travel early next week for medical at Fiorentina from London. Tottenham receive £16.5m package between loan fee, buy obligation clause and salary covered until June. #THFC accept as Dragusin asked to leave and join Fiorentina.

How Tonali & Fernandes' Progressive Passes per 90 compare to Tottenham's CM midfield options (2024-25 vs 2025-26)

Porro has made 33+ Premier League appearances in each of the last three seasons and has now totaled 117 appearances since joining, the most of any Tottenham player in this period.

Seb Stafford-Bloor@sebsb.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Pedro Porro close to Tottenham contract extension. For @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/732...

Reports today have suggested that Pedro Porro is close to agreeing a long term contract extension, I decided to write an article about his growing impact on the team. (Article below)

Our new signing Marcos Senesi's Progressive Numbers from last season: - 99th percentile for progressive passes (9.3 per 90) - 99th percentile for progressive passes into the attacking 1/3 (4.0 per 90) - 79th percentile for progressive carries (5.4 per 90)

Seems like the Senesi deal is close to competition. He made more progressive passes per 90 (9.3) than any other Premier League player last season.

How Tottenham's Passing and Pass Accuracy % has changed under De Zerbi: De Zerbi: 361 Passes per Game, 84% Tudor: 305 Passes per Game, 76% Frank: 344 Passes per Game, 82%

A sample size of less than 30 minutes, but Maddison showing what we've missed all season, a midfield progressive passer.

Despite a short sample size under De Zerbi, it appears that we are starting to learn how to pass and retain possession in midfield

How Tottenham's Attacking 1/3 Touches has trended across 2025/2026

Tottenham's 2025-26 squad unavailability due to injury & suspension: Antonín Kinský, Mathys Tel and Pape Matar Sarr are the only first team players not to be unavailable due to injury this season

Despite the hope for an instant manager bounce, the sad truth is that the level of technical ability available is worryingly low and has been on the decline for too long. Average Passes per Sequence: 2023/2024: 4.49 2024/2025: 3.94 2025/2026: 3.33 Sunderland: 3.53

This season 43% of Vicario's passes per game have gone long, a huge increase to what we saw under Ange (19%). However, De Zerbi is not afraid to mix it up; Gerónimo Rulli was averaging 31% long, I'm hoping that this balance will suit both Vic & Kinsky.

Interested to see how De Zerbi will approach attacking set pieces: 65% (26) of our goals this season have come from open play situations, vs 76% avg since 2014-15. It's also the trend for the Premier League (69% open play vs 72% avg), however we are impressively under-indexing.

De Zerbi persists on minimal touches, and highlights how majority of teams go man to man. Assuming that we will be building up more from the back, I was interested to know how pass accuracy and volume within the defensive 1/3 of our players compares vs the rest of the league.

Despite being out since January, Mohammed Kudus still remains #2 this season for passes into the penalty area... Xavi Simons didn't start any of Tudor's last 3 remaining Premier League games, but for me De Zerbi needs to get the best out of both for us to stay up.

Impressive that if De Zerbi was the direction the club wanted to go last summer, we proceeded to hire and recruit to a complete contrast of playing style under Frank. Our 2nd highest midfield progresser is Palhinha, and does £35M Gallagher even start? Mess from the board.

Disagree with De Zerbi for obvious reasons, and I didn't think throwing another defensive minded / 'Prem Proven' coach (such as Dyche) would have been the right move either. Lack of open play goals/tactics + reliance on set pieces has been our downfall - originating from Frank's 'Defensive 1st' .

For context the number of players available in 2026 for every match day squad: Leeds United: 8 Nottingham Forest: 8 West Ham United: 9

TheSpursStatsMan@spursplstatsman.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Just 4 Tottenham players have been available in every Premier League match day squad for 2026: - Guglielmo Vicario - Archie Gray - Mathys Tel - Randal Kolo Muani

Just 4 Tottenham players have been available in every Premier League match day squad for 2026: - Guglielmo Vicario - Archie Gray - Mathys Tel - Randal Kolo Muani

Scraping the barrel, but one of the only positives I can think of is that Mohammed Kudus should be available after the international break. Archie Gray made some really impressive switches of play to Tel, but we practically offered nothing on the right hand side.

Arguably Archie Gray's best performance in a Tottenham shirt, didn't look out of place against a strong Atletico side, he recorded 36 touches in the midfield 1/3, his 2nd highest match tally of the season

Some performance from Xavi Simons: - 2 goals - 77 touches (most of any player) - 8 progressive passes (most of any player) - 4 shot creating actions (most of any player)

49 completed passes in the attacking 1/3 vs Liverpool is our highest tally under Igor Tudor (avg has been 26 per game).

Despite coming on in the 76th minute, Callum Olusesi ranked #2 among Tottenham players for completed passes into the the attacking 1/3 from the midfield 1/3.

Back from my break so will be posting more frequently now. My streamlit app is updated with the last few weeks of data. Let me know if you spot any issues, cheers!

TheSpursStatsMan@spursplstatsman.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Introducing my Player & Team Pass Actions App🚨 Visualise player & team pass actions for every Premier League game 2025/26. Includes Champions League & Europa League matches Likes, retweets and any feedback much appreciated. Link: spursplstatsman-match-analysis.streamlit.app

Fortunately wasn’t able to watch the game. I’m having a break for a few weeks so won’t be posting any of my usual stuff until mid March