Season compass 2022-23

Another round of seeing where the nastiness will be for the
coming season, and how Spurs do like for like against 2021-22.

Season dashboard :

1. PL (like for like with 2021-22 after 38 games)

Pts = -11, GF = -1, GA = +23.


2. UEFA land

- Champions League : round of 16

Ranking pts = 17.


3. League Cup : R3.

4. FA cup : R5

5. Disturbances to the PL fixtures

- UEFA : 0
- PL broadcaster c**ts : 4.

 

Provisional PL fixture list ...


August 6 : PL - Southampton (H)
August 13 : PL - Chelsea (A)
August 20 : PL - Wolves (H)
August 27 : PL - Nottm Forest (A)
August 30 : PL - West Ham (A)

September 3 : PL - Fulham (H)
September 10 : PL - Man City (A)
September 17 : PL - Leicester (H)

October 1 : PL - Arsenal (A)
October 8 : PL - Brighton (A)
October 15 : PL - Everton (H)
October 19 : PL - Man Utd (A)
October 22 : PL - Newcastle (H)
October 29 : PL - Bournemouth (A)

November 5 : PL - Liverpool (H)
November 12 : PL - Leeds United (H)

December 26 : PL - Brentford (A)
December 31 : PL - Aston Villa (H)

January 2 : PL - Crystal Palace (A)
January 14 : PL - Arsenal (H)
January 21 : PL - Fulham (A)

February 4 : PL - Man City (H)
February 11 : PL - Leicester (A)
February 18 : PL - West Ham (H)
February 25 : PL - Chelsea (H)

March 4 : PL - Wolves (A)
March 11 : PL - Nottm Forest (H)
March 18 : PL - Southampton (A)

April 1 : PL - Everton (A)
April 8 : PL - Brighton (H)
April 15 : PL - Bournemouth (H)
April 22 : PL - Newcastle (A)
April 25 : PL - Man Utd (H)
April 29 : PL - Liverpool (A)

May 6 : PL - Crystal Palace (H)
May 13 : PL - Aston Villa (A)
May 20 : PL - Brentford (H)
May 28 : PL - Leeds United (A)

 

Cursory analysis of the PL fixtures ...

1. There is some serious compression of the fixtures to allow WC 2022.

October and April have SIX games.
In the case of April, those clubs possibly still in at least the
QF stages of UEFA competitions are going to have serious stress.


2. Fixture spread is generally amenable, with the following being tricky periods :

- mid Sep to Oct 1 (P1)
- February (P2)
- last week in April (P3)

 

Here are the provisional "key date" fixtures prior to WC 2002 :

September 3 : PL - Fulham (H)
September 6-7 : UEFA CL - group stage week 1 (TBC)
September 10 : PL - Man City (A)
September 13-14: UEFA CL - group stage week 2 (TBC)
September 17 : PL - Leicester (H)

October 1 : PL - Arsenal (A)
October 4-5 : UEFA CL - group stage week 3 (TBC)
October 8 : PL - Brighton (A)
October 11-12 : UEFA CL - group stage week 4 (TBC)
October 15 : PL - Everton (H)
October 19 : PL - Man Utd (A)
October 22 : PL - Newcastle (H)
October 25-26 : UEFA CL - group stage week 5 (TBC)
October 29 : PL - Bournemouth (A)

November 1-2 : UEFA CL - group stage week 6 (TBC)
November 5 : PL - Liverpool (H)
November 8-9 : League cup - R3 (TBC)
November 12 : PL - Leeds United (H)


UEFA land has also been caught in the compression mire.

September ( "P1" ) could now become very nasty (depending on the CL draw) .
Similarly, Oct 25 to Nov 9 could emerge as an extra nasty period
(depending on the CL and League cup draws) .

The one irrefutable fact for 2022-23 is that the squad MUST be
seriously strengthened in both breadth and depth, and Conte had
better drop any notions of dogma "favourites" rather than sensible
rotation of those on the team sheets.

 

If you replace Forest with Burnley (promoted for relegated) we got zero points from the opening 5 games last season.
We failed to score in 4 and kept no clean sheets, conceded 9 and scored just 2
If we replace Forest with Forest with Watford or Norwich we only got 3 points.

The opening 5 games are a really good test to see how we have progressed.

 

Read on line that the Southampton game is our 1st Sat 3pm ko since December 2019

 

Dashboard updated (fixtures) .

 

And so the season begins.

August will be the biggest possible statement of intent
for the PL campaign, as there are *12* pts up for grabs
on the "like for like" .

 

PL (like for like with 2021-22 after 1 game) : Pts = 3, GF = 2, GA = -2.

 

PL (like for like with 2021-22 after 2 games) : Pts = 4, GF = 4, GA = -2.

 

PL (like for like with 2021-22 after 3 games) : Pts = 7, GF = 5, GA = -4.

 

Here are the confirmed "key date" fixtures prior to WC 2002 :

September 3 : PL - Fulham (H)
September 7 : UEFA CL - group stage week 1 : Marseilles (H)
September 10 : PL - Man City (A)
September 13 : UEFA CL - group stage week 2 : Sporting CP (A)
September 17 : PL - Leicester (H)

October 1 : PL - Arsenal (A)
October 4- : UEFA CL - group stage week 3 Eintract (A)
October 8 : PL - Brighton (A)
October 12 : UEFA CL - group stage week 4 Eintract (H)
October 15 : PL - Everton (H)
October 19 : PL - Man Utd (A)
October 22 : PL - Newcastle (H)
October 26 : UEFA CL - group stage week 5 : Sporting CP (H)
October 29 : PL - Bournemouth (A)

November 1 : UEFA CL - group stage week 6 : Marseilles (A)
November 5 : PL - Liverpool (H)
November 8-9 : League cup R3 : Forest (A)
November 12 : PL - Leeds United (H)

 

So there you have it.

If Conte has not got serious PL starting XI squad rotation
(at least 3-4 changes per PL game) going by october,
then I doubt Spurs will get beyond the CL group stages
and finish in the PL top 4.

 

October is going to be really testing. That’s a savage succession of games.

 

I was praying hard for Eintracht to be match weeks 2/6,
but given I got 2/3 of my deemed best possible
group stage draw, Nemesis has obviously decided I
have been rewarded enough already.

I am on the WUM elsewhere, but behind it is a deadly
serious question : what is the minimum number of
PL starting XI changes per game needed to get the
squad thru to WC2022 while achieving PL and CL targets ??

 

PL (like for like with 2021-22 after 4 games) : Pts = 7, GF = 2, GA = -4.

Forest paired with Norwich on the like for like.

 

Dashboard updated (fixtures) .

 

PL (like for like with 2021-22 after 5 games) : Pts = 8, GF = 3, GA = -4.

 

So August was a very important month, with a
possible 12 pts up for grabs on the "like for like" .

For reference there will not be another month
where such a similar amount of pts are up for
grabs until April (which is well into the business
end of the season) .

The play this month has generally not been great, but to

1. be +8 pts on the like for like
2. have now played two of last seasons' top 7 away

IMHO makes up for that.

 

PL (like for like with 2021-22 after 6 games) : Pts = 8, GF = 3, GA = -3.

Fuham paired with Burnley on the "like for like" .