Running on Empty? - Total minutes played by each Spurs player

As January drew to an end it was a very strange feeling to think that if we get a decent back up striker for Harry Kane, not only could we finish in the top four but also we’d have a serious go to win the league.

The rest is history, players only left the club, leaving many Spurs fans I know crossing their fingers over Harry Kane’s fitness for the remainder of the season.

The reason for this is that we have assembled a squad that has depth in most positions all over the pitch. If last season Poch had 14 players he trusted. This season it looks like closer to 20.

As Spurs always find a way to mess up, or perhaps they used to! Over recent weeks terms like “burn out” have begun to circle as the “price” for Poch’s high intensity training and game style.

So just how much have our squad played?
The results in some ways are not surprising, but in other ways they are.
Here is the total minutes played by each Spurs player in all competitions up until this weekend:

Player Total Minutes played

1. Eric Dier 3032
2. Toby Alderweireld 3008
3. Hugo Lloris 2914
4. Harry Kane 2836
5. Christian Eriksen 2533
6. Jan Vertonghen 2519
7. Dele Alli 2139
8. Kyle Walker 2056
9. Erik Lamela 1945
10. Mousa Dembele 1630
11. Danny Rose 1586
12. Ben Davies 1410
13. Kieran Trippier 1230
14. Son Heung-Min 1187
15. Nacer Chadli 1108
16. Tom Carroll 873
17. Kevin Wimmer 673
18. Ryan Mason 636
19. Nabil Bentaleb 434
20. Michael Vorm 376

Most of us could have guessed the top four and Harry stands out as the big risk. Can we look at Eric and Toby in a different light though?
I’ve been planning this analysis for a couple of weeks and as such over the last few matches I’ve been looking closely at the work done by Eric and the centre halves. It’s fair to say in a number of matches they are able to conserve energy only making the occasional sprint.

For the rest of the team its decent news, all over the pitch we can hopefully keep calling on the likes of Lamela, Dembele, Walker, Son etc. This looks like great game management with the players that run the most being rotated the most.

So OK we have some points of failure if injuries hit, but in most of the team positions we look to have enough for what remains of the season.

 

Good interesting article. Completely agree with the defensive minutes played can be construed otherwise, and our hardest working wings and midfielders being rotated. Only players that worries me just as everyone else are Kane and Dembele. Both are essential for our team to be successful.

Wouldn't surprise me if Poch gives Kane the freedom to take plays off especially if we're playing lesser competition. As for Dembele let's only have him play Premier league games, since he's been controlling our midfield our football as been a joy to watch. COYS!

 

I think a lot of our attack comes from balls being played from the centre to any of Rose, Walker, Davies or Trippier running into space. Once again The Poch has got it right rotating them each week. As a consequence, yes, we need a fit Harry Kane. But a lot of goals this year have come from players running into the box on the back of the above. COYS.

 

Yes - its really not only down to how many minutes was played, but also a matter of how much the players had to run. Here you have the stats for most km run/90 minutes for this season (PL, all teams):

Furthest run per 90 mins - PL 2015/16 (20+ apps)

Player Distance per 90 mins *
Dan Gosling 11.92
Dele Alli 11.86
James Milner 11.82
Christian Eriksen 11.55
Adam Lallana 11.51
James McClean 11.42
Erik Lamela 11.36
Jack Cork 11.32
James Ward-Prowse 11.23
Aaron Ramsey 11.21

The above stats are rarely mentioned, as most km run during the entire season seems to be more interesting to most sports journalists for some reason. As we can see, Alli, Eriksen and Lamela are all running a lot in every game. Not only that, I think I heard someone mention that Eriksen has the most high-intensive runs in the PL a few months ago. The guys are working hard and are now reaping the fruit.

* http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...-fuelling-their-Premier-League-title-bid.html