Tottenham were even more depleted and Newcastle United took full advantage, though their victory in north London should have been more convincing.
Illness to Fraser Forster meant a first-team debut for Brandon Austin, who joined Spurs in 2007. He didn’t do anything hilariously awful against Newcastle, so he appears to be an upgrade and should probably start over Forster moving forward.
The game pretty much went just how we expected it would. Spurs had the occasional bright spark but were largely outclassed and lost. It should have been more but Newcastle sat back in the last half-hour and were happy to see their hosts struggle to create any clear-cut chances.
Spurs surprisingly started perfectly, scoring after 200 seconds when Dominic Solanke converted a beautiful header from an even more succulent Pedro Porro cross.
The England international was too savvy for the returning Sven Botman, who looked exactly like a player who has missed a year through injury. Botman looked dodgy in the first half but that was to be expected. He was slow on the half-turn, got caught out for Solanke’s goal and was unconvincing in possession. Another contributing factor was that he played as the right centre-back next to Dan Burn, rather than on the left as his preferred spot.
Newcastle instantly responded through Anthony Gordon, who bagged himself a rare away goal with a tidy left-footed finish past debutant Austin. Spurs wanted handball against Joelinton in the build-up and while it did hit the Brazilian’s hand, there wasn’t much he could have done to avoid doing so.
Eddie Howe’s side were actually really sloppy in possession as Tino Livramento and Jacob Murphy lacked chemistry on the right, but the latter threatened with a couple of low crosses across the six-yard box and one came off for him in the 38th minute. With the help of a Radu Dragusin touch, Alexander Isak scored for the seventh Premier League game in a row.
Somehow, that was all she wrote in terms of goals.
Newcastle remained hungry for a third but after an hour they sat back significantly more, looking to hit their opposition’s frail defence on the counter with the pace of Gordon and Isak. Spurs are not the best at breaking down teams, meaning it is not the worst approach, but you felt the visitors really could have gone for three, four or even five goals, especially after Radu Dragusin came off for Sergio Reguilon at the break. This meant Postecoglou had zero natural centre-backs on the pitch and a back four consisting of two right-backs, a left-back and a teenage midfielder.
The introduction of James Maddison, Heung-min Son and Yves Bissouma shortly after the hour mark must have shaken Newcastle a bit for them to change their approach. Going into the match it was never about Spurs’ attack and midfield issues, but their issues and lack of depth at the back and in goal. They actually became more feeble and there for the taking after the half-time change.
Newcastle were nowhere near their best at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but they didn’t need to be. Against a Spurs team without some of their best players, they only needed to reach second gear and we aren’t even sure they got there.
Questions will be asked of Postecoglou and we do feel some sympathy for him considering the absurd injury crisis he is experiencing right now. Injuries are part of the game, though, and seeing such a timid, uninspired first-half display was alarming. Those are the words you can associate with Spurs under Postecoglou over the last six months when that is the opposite of what the big Aussie stands for.
There is no confidence in that squad right now and there is only so much Dejan Kulusevski and Dom Solanke can do. Ange still has his best attackers available yet there is no free-flowing attacking play whatsoever. Son needs chances put on a plate for him these days and Maddison is wildly inconsistent. The midfield battle against the brilliant Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes was lost from the first minute, with Joelinton providing very little proving not to be a problem for the visitors.
Champions League qualification will only come via the Europa League and that involves winning an actual trophy, which Spurs are allergic to. A top-five finish in the Premier League is not happening. We don’t care if it’s only matchday 20. They have ten league defeats. Only the bottom four have hit double digits. At least fellow banter club Manchester United will join them on Sunday.
Newcastle, meanwhile, have won their last five in the Premier League and six in all competitions. They are on fire and won at Man United and Tottenham in the same week, which is huge for their Champions League aspirations, even if both of their opponents are miserably awful.
They go to Arsenal in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday with a very strong chance of getting a positive result. 2025 could be a huge year for the Magpies and going four points ahead of Manchester City and equalling Chelsea’s goal tally is a perfect start.
Spurs also have a Carabao semi coming up. The less said about that the better.
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