Jose Mourinho can take comfort from Tottenham’s predictability in most chaotic of seasons

Harry Kane and Son Heung-min have scored 22 out of Spurs’ 29 goals this season

Kane and Son celebrate against Leeds (POOL/AFP)

"We understood how they could hurt us and how we could hurt them."

To be honest, Jose, so did we. Of all the expectation versus reality match-ups in this wayward Premier League season, Saturday’s between Tottenham and Leeds United played most to type.

Leeds came in waves. Tottenham sat back and let those waves hit them. Leeds made moves but couldn't make them count. Tottenham made fewer but came away with more. And so we yelled bingo, and everybody cheered.

Marcelo Bielsa's summation was also familiar. Not for the first time, Leeds created chances, failed to profit from them while their opponents created as many - Spurs had 20 shots to Leeds' 18; six in the box to Leed's eight - and found more joy.  Were Leeds unlucky to come away without even a goal for their efforts? Probably, as per the visitors' expected goal count of 1.32 across the match. At the same time, Spurs should have scored more than their three.

"For me the fundamental difference was of course the efficiency," said Bielsa after the match, "and the fact their offensive game came about through errors that we could have avoided."

READ MORE: Tottenham begin talks with Harry Kane over contract extension

When it comes to avoidable errors, Leeds are way out in front. No team has conceded as many as their 16 shots after mistakes - a statistic that does not include the two awry passes that led to Spurs' first two goals.

At the same time, you could probably argue these were necessary errors. Risks the team associates with the regular pleasures enjoyed. As simple to Leeds as it is to brew a morning coffee, accepting the precariousness of dealing with boiling water.

It's why they got promoted and why they're pretty comfortable even after this 3-0 defeat. One which only ticked their goal difference down to negative three as they sit 11 points above the relegation zone. And why Bielsa continues to rally against the notion that they need to be more conservative against "bigger teams". As he outlined during his mammoth press conference following the 6-2 defeat to Manchester United: "What you are proposing is that abandon ingenuity and to allow them to be superior to us."

Having played all the teams who finished in the top 10 last season, Leeds have won just two of those matches, against Burnley and Sheffield United. Among them were a game they should have won against Arsenal and a hard-fought 3-2 defeat to defending champions Liverpool in their opening match.  

What we've seen so far is that Bielsa's method encourages teams to go at them. And when the opposition has man-to-man superiority, there will always be issues. The unenforced defensive ricks don't help, nor the inefficiency at the other end. Despite getting more shots on goal than anyone else this season (199), they are 12th (15.08 per cent) when it comes to putting them away.

READ MORE: Should Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds compromise on their style of play?

"Us boys are still learning in this league and we have been caught out a few times," was Luke Ayling's assessment of the season so far. We are learning the hard way a lot of times, so we will keep learning and trying to put it right."

At the other end of that scale is Tottenham, second with 21.01, whose goal threat rests almost entirely on two men. Harry Kane and Son Heung-min took their collective tally to 22, with Toby Alderweireld's header in the second-half bumping up the rest to seven.

Kane and Son celebrate against Leeds (POOL/AFP)

Just like their opponents, Spurs' strength carries hints of weaknesses: of little creativity around the pair and a lack of plan B if one or both are unavailable.

It has not necessarily been something to worry them. Conversely, missteps this season have come through hanging back too much. In December, two points were ceded at both Crystal Palace and Wolves with late equalisers, while they finished empty-handed when Roberto Firmino headed in an injury-time winner that confirmed top spot for Liverpool.

"I want more goals, especially from other players," said Mourinho, who recognised even after scoring three goals for the first time in 11 Premier League matches that they spurned plenty of opportunities. Particularly from Steven Bergwijn, who has yet to find the net in 19 appearances across all club competitions. He missed two chances on Saturday to go with a decisive opportunity spurned to put his side 2-1 ahead at Anfield last month.

Both Mourinho and Bielsa have ambitions to do better. A more sustainable title challenge needs Spurs to spread the scoring burden. In order to become a sustainable Premier League side in the long-run, Leeds need to stop being so generous at the back and front.

Again, they and we knew all this coming into the weekend. In any other season, perhaps we would be more forceful in lamenting an inability to find a solution to these evident shortcomings by January.

But as we now approach getting halfway through the fixture list, it's clear these are not regular times. And as you look at the bubbling lava pit of chaos that is this Premier League season, with the majority seemingly drowning in it, weighed down by a congested schedule, postponements and anxieties of form and identity, there's a lot to be said for the calming buoyancy of monotone predictability.

Spurs and Leeds offered up predictability (Getty)

A truncated pre-season that impinged on teams ability to prepare has carried through to inadequate time on the training grounds between games. There is little time to iron out kinks. Short-term fixes win out over long-term planning which centres as much around contact time with coaches as rotation to ensure players peak at the right moment – almost impossible with squads stretched so thinly. Ultimately: if you have been able to do one thing well this season, count yourself lucky.

Next weekend's FA Cup third round presents a break of sorts. A chance to rotate and experiment in a competition all hope to succeed in but none will be too dispirited if things do not work out that way.

Spurs and Leeds will rest their weary and challenge those on the fringes to state their case. All while doing their best to preserve the approaches and personnel that have served them well so far.

In a world riddled with uncertainty, their predictability is a strength and a blessing.