Los Eagles (footballese)

Question

Here's a little footballese (Americano) and I have a question about choice of verbs:

Los Eagles (1-4) llevan cuatro derrotas seguidas y tienen su peor arranque desde 1999, en la primera temporada del entrenador en jefe Andy Reid.

Translation: The Eagles (1-4) have four consecutive losses and have their worst start since 1999, head coach Andy Reid's first season.

Why the choice of llevan over tienen? I have never seen it used this way. Is it to avoid using tienen twice in the same sentence, or is there a more esoteric reason like the context?

Also, in English we would not usually say " ... and have their worst start." We would say something like " ... and are off to their worst start." Is there any way that tener can be legitimately contorted into a phrase like that? "Off to" does imply possession, but it's certainly different from "have".

Answer 1

Llevan is because the season still not over

Tienen in other hand don't show continuity

The last part is kind of difficult but maybe can be..

Poseen cuatro derrotas seguidas

Answer 2

Thanks Viggo. Continuity is not something I had considered.