You don't get points for hitting the crossbar or for time of possession, unfortunately. Hacken defended really well, and scored on one of their dangerous counters. Now we'll have to win by two at home in the second leg. We'll have to play a lot better than we did today. Chances went begging and no one wanted to shoot.
Jon Ollington's excellent "By the Numbers" column on Arseblog News reveals the possession dominance of Spurs last Sunday, but xG was even. We relied on our strong defense to nullify their attack and in the end a corner kick goal was their undoing. Two of our three goals in our last win in the Toilet Bowl were off corners too. Postecoglou looks rather dumb for failing to do anything to improve Tottenham's ability to defend set pieces (we're not the only team to score against them that way) and opposition goalkeepers must be getting nervous when we take them.
To win without so many important players inspires confidence. But the Spurs game was close, and as I wrote before, Villa could easily have won that game. Nevertheless, we have an awesome away record and will be hoping to extend that run next Sunday at the Etihad.
City's hearing on their financial transgressions started yesterday. I don't expect anything to come out of it.
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