I’ll leave you with some rather hotter-off-the-press gold from David Hytner – the match report! Here it is:
Thanks for joining me today, as ever, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!
79.8% - Tottenham had 79.8% possession in their 0-1 defeat to Newcastle; the second-highest figure for a losing side in the Premier League since 2003-04, behind only Liverpool's 80.4% against Burnley in August 2016. Nullified. pic.twitter.com/sCoR81zPy3
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 25, 2019
#stat
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Steve Porter writes that today was “probably the worst performance of the Poch era”. Do we agree?
Lucas Moura missed Spurs’ biggest chance today. But he’s still had a sensational few months. I should have linked you to David Hytner’s superb interview with him at the top of the show. In fact it might serve as a pick-me-up for their fans now, so here it is:
Sean Longstaff: “There’s been a lot of criticism towards us and the manager but today’s shown what a good team we are and how committed we are. The fans have backed us massively, on a Sunday when the trains are off, and if it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t be the club we are.”
Paul Dummett (who was named man of the match): “We had to keep our shape and discipline and we did that from the start. It’s been a massive week, it’s a hard league to play in and we knew it’d be a tough game. Credit to everyone on the pitch, the manager and the staff, for sticking together.”
As for Spurs – they are not playing well, are they? It was flat and one-paced out there, even after Eriksen came on. In fact it reminded me of a similar home d efeat to West Ham at the back end of last season. Ndombele should add some dynamism when fit again, while they’ll be glad of Dele Alli’s ability to sniff out bits and pieces near the box when he’s fit again. But something isn’t quite right. I wonder whether they can go through yet another season without a proper striking backup/alternative to Kane. On the evidence of these first three weeks, the battle for places three to six could be wide open.
Have to say, I’m really happy for Steve Bruce there. He’s one of the good guys and hasn’t deserved the early stick at Newcastle – we all know the problems run deeper there. He outmanoeuvred Pochettino today and his players had clearly taken everything onboard that he told them during the week. They were intensely disciplined but dangerous, too – a perfect away performance, in other words, and a huge response to last week.
There *was* added-time drama at Molineux, where Raul Jimenez has rescued a 1-1 draw for Wolves against Burnley in the 96th minute.
Full-time: Spurs 0-1 Newcastle
What a result for – and performance by – Newcastle! And what a concern for Spurs!
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90+6 min: And now Almiron wins a free-kick near the Spurs corner flag on the left, and Newcastle have a golden chance to see out time now ...
90+4 min: Moura slips the marauding Sissoko in, and he clips back to Kane ... but the striker fluffs it, failing to make meaningful contact! To be fair the ball came at speed and was not at a good height – Kane was close in but it would have taken quite some finish.
90+3 min: Even at this late stage, Newcastle’s shape is absolutely *textbook*. Spurs just can’t pull them around; they earn another corner but, from it, another Son shot is blocked.
90+1 min: They have SIX added minutes to find it! Eriksen whips a cross-shot past the post, via Dubravka’s fingertips, and the keeper claws his subsequent corner away.
89 min: The disappointing Son scoops an easy cross to a grateful Dubravka and Spurs need something very, very last-ditch now.
88 min: Great chance on the counter for Newcastle, but Almiron’s pass *just* goes beyond Joelinton, who would have been clear. Almiron then has a shot deflected off target after Joelinton chases and takes possession. That’s it for the striker, who has run himself into the ground, and Muto comes on. For Spurs, Ben Davies replaces Rose.
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86 min: Spurs are in now-or-never territory now. They haven’t really built on that Moura chance yet. Newcastle are defending the box so, so well.
83 min: Newcastle get some light relief now though – it’s a corner for them. Sanchez knocks it away near the penalty spot. Then Joelinton does well again, laying off to Atsu in a good area, but he loses possession with a heavy touch.
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82 min: Lascelles was injured in not fouling Kane, and is replaced by Fernandez. The sub has a job on his hands back there in what will be a frantic last 10.
81 min: A clear chance for Spurs – and Moura has to score, surely? Eriksen weights a lovely diagonal ball to Sissoko and his cross sits up for an unmarked Moura to volley home ... but he flashes it over! Can Spurs take encouragement from the last few minutes? It’s taken them a long time but they’ve got in twice ...
79 min: PENALTY NOT GIVEN! It looked to me as if Lascelles did, indeed, cut across Kane and foul him as he sprawled over. But the VAR didn’t think so – maybe it wouldn’t have been a “clear and obvious” error, in which case I would sympathise with the decision.
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78 min: Ooooh, Lo Celso slips Kane in down the side of Lascelles and the striker is sent tumbling ... we’ll have a VAR check for a penalty here ...
77 min: A weak and incredibly speculative effort from Son highlights that Spurs are getting desperate.
75 min: I can hardly believe how little Spurs have created today, even allowing for this highly laudable Newcastle performance. Dubravka has been seriously worked, what, once?
74 min: “I notice Spurs have been borrowing from the Guardiola playbook: two thirds or three quarters of the possession and still managing two or three times as many fouls as the opposition. It’s the beautiful game,” waxes Geoff Wignall.
73 min: Joelinton will continue for now and, yet again, Newcastle get back in position and prepare to face some serious keepball.
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71 min: Joelinton is down in a heap in the Spurs half but the home side play on. Bruce is furious but they continue to probe, before Winks crosses unconvincingly to Dubravka and the goalscorer gets some treatment.
68 min: Rose now wins a corner after what, this time, is some slightly frayed defending. It’s worked to Rose on the edge of the box but Joelinton swats his underhit cross away. Spurs really have not got going here at all!
66 min: Rose is booked for catching Schar, who howls in pain. Some Spurs frustrations creeping in?
64 min: Moura skews wide from range and Newcastle remain in relative comfort. It’s been such a big effort from them so far.
63 min: Anyway, Eriksen now replaces Walker-Peters – I am not sure that was the original plan – and Lo Celso is on for Lamela.
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61 min: Walker-Peters pulls up when challenging Atsu and the Newcastle winger finds Joelinton with a deep cross, inviting a spectacular volley. It would be some goal but he can’t catch it properly and Lloris saves with ease.
60 min: Here comes Eriksen, in a few moments anyway. His final game? Maybe, maybe not, but for now Spurs just need him to dig them out of a hole. Lo Celso, the summer arrival, will join us presently too.
58 min: A smart move between Joelinton and Almiron brings Newcastle their first flag kick of this half. Lascelles stoops to win the flick on, but Lloris rises to claim.
56 min: Dummett deals with Rose’s low cross, with Kane lurking. Moura flicks a header well off target a little afterwards. The pressure is on Newcastle’s defence now, but they are holding firm.
54 min: Joelinton has done well up front, often ploughing a lone furrow, quite aside from his goal. With Wesley scoring for Villa and Haller getting two for West Ham, it’s been a great weekend for expensive new centre-forwards.
52 min: Schar makes a brilliant challenge on Lamela there, though, after Son’s scuffed shot falls to him 10 yards out. It looked for a moment as if Spurs would get that big chance.
51 min: It’s very much “as you were” currently. Spurs with all of the ball but barely a glimmer of a way through.
48 min: Dean waves an early yellow at Ritchie, who was beaten to the ball by Walker-Peters and clipped him. Spurs have a free-kick in a tasty position for a cross, but Lamela’s ball is bad.
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Peeeep! Back underway
The second half has begun.
We’ll see Eriksen very soon if Spurs continue to flounder, won’t we? There’s not a lot else on that bench to change the game. Spurs’ lack of depth up front doesn’t go away.
Half-time reading from the great Jonathan Wilson:
“Dom, Fatalistic of Tunbridge Wells” writes in:
“Gah, Elvis style I have this game on and the cricket summary on two screens and I knew Spurs will drain any Ashes euphoria from me. This game had ‘muff-up’ written on it from the release of the fixtures. We will have 219% possession, but all our passes will be 10 yards sideways. We will have 50 shots. None will be on target and 3 will end up outside of the WHL postcode. Toon will run up the pitch and kick it in the net (again). It’s just a given.
“Post-match Bruce will hail a ‘turning point’ and they will promptly lose their next game five-nil to three sleep deprived apes and a hat. Still, well done Ben Stokes.”
Pretty much spot-on so far, bar the shot count.
Half-time: Spurs 0-1 Newcastle
Moura skews wide under pressure from Atsu after Dubravka misses a Kane cross, in perhaps Spurs’ best chance of the half, and then Dean blows his whistle. Not for the first time this season, Spurs have it all to do. And they haven’t done a lot yet, hogging virtually all the possession but – until just then – creating just the one half-opportunity for Son. We have hardly seen a peep out of Kane. Newcastle have been supremely disciplined and have looked dangerous when attacking – a point proved devastatingly when Joelinton rifled in the only goal so far.
45+ 1 min: Almiron earns another Newcastle corner in the first of three added minutes. Could they compound Spurs’ first-half woe? Hayden wins the header but it loops well off target.
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44 min: In fact, look at those possession stats on the left. Spurs have had 82% of it and that’s rising! Yet few would disagree Newcastle are well worth their lead. The figures often tell little of the story.
43 min: Spurs are enjoying a lot of possession in front of the Newcastle defence, but getting nowhere with it.
40 min: They need to keep their concentration though, as Son finds space a little too easily and drags a shot wide from 20 yards.
39 min: Newcastle look a million miles from the side that got tanked at Norwich. Atsu makes for the area again after a Walker-Peters error but can’t get past Alderweireld as he seeks space to shoot.
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37 min: Newcastle fancy another one but Sanchez, whose positioning was questionable for the goal, meets Ritchie’s corner.
36 min: “Spurs go behind again with Eriksen & Vertonghen on the bench. Lousy defending & poor creativity. What exactly is Pochettino trying to prove?” writes Mike Nagle. They could certainly do with those two as things stand.
34 min: Now Lamela clips a fine cross in from the left and Dummett makes a vital intervention by getting his head to the ball just ahead of Moura. Spurs might have woken up.
33 min: That’s a shot though! Walker-Peters dinks to the far post and Son volleys hard, into the ground and up, forcing a parry from Dubravka. The volume goes up a notch.
32 min: Tottenham have not had a goal attempt yet, which tells you everything about how this has gone for them. They scream for a spot kick again after Rose runs past Ritchie and falls, but they won’t get that either.
30 min: Steve Bruce – local hero! Fair play to Newcastle here, they’ve not been seriously threatened yet and have created the game’s two big chances when they’ve marauded forward. They buried the second and Spurs have a problem.
Goal! Spurs 0-1 Newcastle (Joelinton 27)
Now then! Newcastle manage a sustained spell of confident possession, with Spurs doing little or nothing to press the ball. They are made to pay when Atsu, about 40 yards out and to the left, chips a marvellous pass over the defence that Joelinton brings down expertly and lashes low past Lloris for his first Newcastle goal!
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25 min: Spurs win a corner at the other end and now the game has mustered a bit of tempo. That quickly dies down when Dubravka easily claims Lamela’s kick.
23 min: Close from Longstaff! Joelinton holds the ball up well and suddenly Newcastle are flooding towards the box. Longstaff has two men screaming for it to his left but, in fairness, catches his angled effort superbly and Lloris is forced into a fine, acrobatic save. The corner comes to nothing but Newcastle packed a punch there!
23 min: I can already see, let’s say, Isaac Hayden commenting after this finishes 0-0 that “The lads did a lot of work on shape this week”.
21 min: Spurs want a penalty now, though, as Son bursts into the area and goes down under Schar’s challenge. Dean rules that the defender got there first and there’s no VAR intervention. So that is that.
20 min: Rose swings a nice cross beyond everyone, and it’s really as good as things have been so far.
18 min: Burnley are ahead at Wolves thanks to the absolutely-on-fire Ashley Barnes.
17 min: Looks as if he actually pulled up during what, on first viewing, looked a really sloppy bit of play in letting the ball run out. Think he’s tweaked his hamstring and on comes Atsu. Not the full debut he’d wanted.
15 min: It might have been the only glimpse we get of Saint-Maximin – he’s in pain and it looks as if Atsu may come on ...
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13 min: An early glimpse of Saint-Maximin, who is found in a promising position on the left side of the box by Ritchie’s quick free-kick ... and runs the ball over the byline.
11 min: Winks is booked for a shirt pull on Almiron in midfield, which looked entirely unnecessary. Don’t throw Mike Dean any bones!
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10 min: It’s a slow start really, this. Spurs aren’t quite moving the ball as quickly as they’d like and Newcastle so far look much more disciplined than last week. You’d expect that from a Bruce team really.
7 min: Spurs win their first corner, in front of that single-tier wall of fans. Eriksen Lamela swings it in; it’s thudded behind for another, which is cleared by Joelinton.
5 min: Nothing of note has happened yet but it’s fair to say that, despite their colour scheme, Newcastle won’t be 1970s Holland here.
2 min: It’s all Spurs in the early moments, amid blazing sunshine. I suspect Newcastle will be looking for counters here.
Peeeeep! We are underway
Spurs kick off. Newcastle, in orange, have turned them around so the hosts will go left to right first.
I should have mentioned, by the way, that Spurs’ big summer signing Tanguy Ndombele is out with a thigh injury. So we won’t be enjoying him shortly.
It’s been an afternoon of high sporting theatre and it’s about to get better – your referee is Mike Dean and he’s leading the teams out now.
“Eriksen is generally considered amongst us Spurs fans as already gone or going. Poch is planning for life without him. Levy has already spent his transfer fee,” writes Steve Porter.
I’ve heard that said by other Spurs supporters too ... but surely they wouldn’t have spent that money without being sure of a sale?
England have won the cricket! And it was *sensational*. But I’ll leave that to Rob because we have some football to be getting on with and it’s starting in about 15 ...
The cricket is absolutely mesmerising sport. But anyway! I’m also interested to hear Spurs fans and their takes on Eriksen. How vital is it that he stays? And is Pochettino right to take such a hard line with the player? He’ll absolutely *seethe* if a late deal is done for Eriksen, surely.
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Saint-Maximin, the Newcastle winger, played under Patrick Vieira at Nice last season. From the little I’ve seen, he can be pretty exciting but the end product isn’t always there. Any Ligue 1 aficionados who have more to add, I’d love to hear from you.
Man City have won 3-1 but you are quite possibly watching the cricket.
Oh and the cricket’s going to the wire! Rob Smyth has England attempting the impossible and, my gosh, they’re close ...
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Manchester City are 3-1 up at Bournemouth, who did at least score a wonderful free-kick through Harry Wilson. Catch the end with Ben Fisher and then I’ll be back with you. Get your emails and tweets across, in the meantime – you know the drill!
Teams
Spurs: Lloris; Walker-Peters, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Rose; Sissoko, Winks; Lamela, Son, Moura; Kane. Subs: Gazzaniga, Davies, Vertonghen, Dier, Skipp, Eriksen, Lo Celso.
Newcastle: Dubravka; Krafth, Schar, Lascelles, Dummett; Ritchie, Hayden, Longstaff; Saint-Maximin; Almiron; Joelinton. Subs: Darlow, Manquillo, Fernandez, Willems, Shelvey, Atsu, Muto.
Eriksen returns to the naughty step! But Son returns from his three-match ban.
Saint-Maximin makes his first Newcastle start and Longstaff is back in, too.
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Good afternoon
It’s a stunning day up in north London. I should know, as I’m writing this a hop, skip, jump from White Hart Lane. Spurs’ new stadium will be gleaming for this one and let’s hope we get entertainment to match.
There was enough fun in the pre-match exchanges up at Newcastle, with Steve Bruce and, errrrr, Michael Chopra exchanging words. They’ve had a stormy start and the defeat at Norwich was shambolic. Then again, Arsenal and Spurs either side of that is no easy task and is reminiscent of the fiendish first few weeks they had last time out. There is still time for Brucey to put it right.
And Newcastle have done well recently at Spurs’ previous venues, winning three times in a row at the old White Hart Lane and running them close both times at Wembley. So historically it’s a tighter fixture than, on paper, this might look.
There’s a certain amount of pressure on Spurs, too. They had a scare against Aston Villa and got lucky when they drew up at Manchester City. The Christian Eriksen situation really isn’t helping and that’s about to enter its crunch week. It’s hard not to think this might be a season when they plateau a bit – but perhaps they’re about to prove that notion absolutely daft!
Lots to look out for in any case. Can Newcastle get off the mark? Will Spurs put themselves among the early contenders? Stay tuned for all this and, no doubt, much more!
