Spurs 4-1 Newcastle: Awful Toon suffer another damaging defeat on the road
Another worrying away performance and a damaging defeat against our top-four rivals, as Newcastle fell to a 4-1 defeat away to Spurs. We review all the action in conjunction with footysamba.com.
A bad end to a disappointing week, where we saw no response to Thursday's 3-0 defeat at Everton and no sign of improvement as our away-day woes continue. There's no doubt injuries and fatigue have caused us huge problems, but there were too many inexcusable errors today.
The defeat leaves us 7th, seven points behind 4th, nine adrift of Aston Villa and four from Spurs in fifth, who responded in style today after four defeats and a draw in their previous five games.
The lads will bounce back, Howe will learn from this and players will return from injury soon enough, but our performances on the road have to improve. After back to back home games against Milan and Fulham next week, we have a quarter final trip to Chelsea and awkward trip to Luton, giving us a big chance to respond between now and our home clash with Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day. It's no surprise that fans believe Spurs and Villa are now more likely to seal a top-four finish, but things could soon swing in our favour if we capitalise on a kind run of league fixtures between now and the New Year.
There was some good news going into the game, as Callum Wilson and Sean Longstaff returned to the bench in what felt like a welcome boost to our threadbare squad. That said, neither were deemed fit enough to start, seeing the same outfield 10 start their fifth consecutive game in 15 days after Jamaal Lascelles passed a late fitness test.
The first half was a tough watch, as we wasted huge chances before being punished at the other end by a dominant Spurs side who cut through our midfield like a knife through butter. After Gordon missed a chance to slip in Isak and Bruno fired just over, Isak was inches from tapping into an empty net after Gordon's low cross took an off-putting knick off Davies. It was superb defending and a moment we'd live to regret.
At the other end, Almiron cleared Romero's goal-bound header off the line before Son burst past Trippier and squared for Udogie. The marauding left-back wasn't tracked by Bruno and Lascelles didn't do enough to cover the near post, allowing the Italian to smash home on the line.
Sarr missed a big chance to make it 2-0, yet Almiron could've made it 1-1 after Gordon slipped in the Paraguayan, but his effort was weak and too close to Vicario, seeing him waste another opportunity just as he did at Everton in midweek.
Tottenham then made it 2-0 and left us with a mountain to climb, as Son burst past Trippier for the second time and set up Richarlison. It was another moment to forget from our usually reliable right-back, who looked so leggy and levels below his brilliant best both on and off the ball.
Things could've looked quite different had we taken our early chances, but going into the break two goals down was what our performance deserved. We were so poor on the ball, looked all at sea defensively, weak in midfield and just couldn't keep pace with a Tottenham side who were quicker and sharper in every department.
Despite obvious signs of fatigue and frustration, Howe made no changes at the break and we came out of the block with a bit more purpose. The anonymous Isak moved to the left, Gordon took up a central role and we finally began to show a bit more composure on the ball.
Then, just as we were getting a foothold in the game and searching for that goal to get us back in it, we shot ourselves in the foot with another avoidable goal to concede. Porro's ball in behind found Richarlison all too easily, Dubravka was caught in no man's land and the Brazilian slid under the Slovakian to make it 3-0. Game over, if it wasn't already.
We made several changes after that - Wilson, Longstaff, Ritchie, Krafth and Hall all came on - but little changed as Spurs made it 4-0. Another ball in behind, this time Dubravka took out Son for the penalty before the South Korean dispatched from the spot.
In between all of that, Cristian Romero should've seen red for an awful challenge on Wilson, while Trippier picked up his fifth yellow card of the season, ruling him out of our home clash with Fulham next Saturday. Another blow, but it might actually do him a favour based on recent performances from the 33-year-old.
With a few minutes left on the clock, we did spoil Spurs' clean sheet as Joelinton fired past Vicario after he was picked out by Wilson. It gave the away end their one and only 'cheer' after a difficult trip down south and it ended 4-1.
Next up, our Champions League decider against AC Milan on Wednesday. Needless to say, we'll need to be much better if we're to have any chance of staying in Europe, although our form at St James' Park isn't the problem!
STARTING XI: Dubravka – Trippier, Lascelles, Schar, Livramento – Miley Bruno, Joelinton – Almiron, Isak, Gordon.
SUBS: Karius, Gillespie, Dummett, Wilson, Ritchie, Krafth, Hall, Longstaff, A.Murphy.
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