Match Report: Spurs 5 Newcastle 1 (can we achieve top four?)

 

Match Report: Spurs 5 Newcastle 1 (can we achieve top four?)

Sorry I didn't do a match preview for this game, but I was in Italy for a week with Janette and only got back on Friday (and well-timed by Janette for booking the holiday in an international week). Today (Monday) is the first time I've been able to sit down and put my fingers on the keyboard. At least Peter J Arnold and Don Scully have kept you occupied with their views on Daniel Levy & Joe Lewis' handling of our club (two sides of the same coin)… for those who haven't read the article, you can click on the link "HERE". But to the NOW…

If I had done a match preview, I would have predicted 2-1, but adding that if Spurs weren't so unpredictable, I would have gone for a 4-1 win. But 5-1 it was…

It was very worrying when Newcastle United scored first… it felt like; the same old, same old Spursy… but 4 minutes later, we scored. Previously we had some excellent results with big scores. We beat the Spammers 3-1, Brighton 2-0 and Everton 5-0. The only blip was a 3-2 defeat against Cristiano Ronaldo & co. So, have we finally turned the corner and sent "Spursy" to the back of the room? Let us hope so! Our next games are against Villa, Brighton, and Brentford… with the Gooners still hiding from us.

I got to the ground at 12ish and had a look around the Spurs shop…nothing exciting or new. Then queued. Once in, got a programme and up the escalators, food and drink and then waited for the others to come (first up was Janet). No Mel to accompany me on this trip as he had to deal with things outside his control… but we shall be united for the Villa game.

After 3 hours of laughter, debate and chat, we finally made our way to our seats and waited for the gladiators to enter the arena.

The game

We came from behind to comfortably beat Newcastle and moved up to fourth in the Premier League. Were we that good, or were they that bad? Probably a bit of both. This victory also saw us jump above the Gooners (they are playing Palace tonight, Monday). Nevertheless, it didn't start well for us, and we all thought, "here we go again," but we quickly redeemed ourselves, and "Spursy" stayed in the cupboard. Yes, we responded on the stroke of half-time when Ben Davies' scored from a  header from Son's excellent delivery.

Once the break came and the players went in, I have no doubt that Conte gave them a few choice words, and they came out different players for the second half. We turned it around through Matt Doherty's diving header from Harry Kane's cross, and we netted our third through Son's clinical finish.

And it got even better when Emerson Royal poked in from close range following a brilliant build-up play by Doherty, and Steven Bergwijn stroked in late on.

Newcastle were dumbfounded, had no answer and fell to their third consecutive defeat. This left them 15th in the table but nine points above the relegation zone. However, I can't see them going down as there are far worse teams than them in the league.

I think we are starting to show form, winning five of our past six games. As I said, the only blemish came against a Cristiano Ronaldo-inspired Manchester United last month.

Thoughts

We should have opened the scoring, but Eric Dier curled a free-kick wide, and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg headed over from six yards out.

Their goal was more of a fluke; Schar stepped up to send his free-kick around the wall, and although Lloris got good contact on the ball, he could not palm it out. After that goal, we managed to recover, thanks to Son, who created the first goal and then got on the scoresheet himself. Son's goal was created by our new signing, Dejan Kulusevski, who has continued to impress since he arrived from Juventus. At the same time, Rodrigo Bentancur looks to be a pass master in the middle of the park, with an accuracy of 90%. Both should be given credit for spearheading our charge towards the Champions League with eight games left to play.

Then Bergwijn came on and netted our fifth.

All good stuff… but let us hope the team can keep it up… we still have to face hideaway Gooners and second-placed Liverpool, while the big guns the Gooners have to face are the Russian team Chelski, the Spammers and United. I think they have the hardest run in out of us two.

COYS!