Newcastle Vs Tottenham: Match Thread

[Amo]

Are those the numbers from Lost?

Bingo.

 

[Revan1882]

I didn't actually think we played especially brilliantly, overall. I've read a lot of press reports and some semi-gushing posts here and I wonder to what degree the scoreline is affecting people's views.

Quite a bit of our play resembled what we saw under AVB: the formation was nominally 4-3-3, but in practice was more like 4-2-3-1 quite a lot of the time. There was a lot of time spent prowling outside the penalty box with the ball, without breaking through the defensive line. But the difference was that, when we did attack, especially, when we counter-attacked, we got men into and around the box and we moved the ball with speed - it's that 'change of pace' that I was going on about a couple of months ago.

Perhaps my own view of the game has been affected by the bits I didn't manage to see live, thanks to a very bad stream: I missed the first 8 minutes, during which I gather we attacked vigorously; the stream was down for both of the first two goals; but I had a perfect, uninterrupted stream for the period of 15-20 minutes in the second half when we were sitting back on our 2 goal lead and letting Newcastle monopolise the ball - the same period when Lloris kept us ahead with a series of brilliant interventions.

Once we scored the third (they're all going in for Adebayor now, aren't they?), Newcastle just looked pissed off and the game became one-sided, but I don't recall us dominating it up to that time. Both of our wide players were peripheral to the action and we relied greatly on Bentaleb, playing further forward thanks to the inclusion of Capoue, to bring the ball up the pitch.

What we did, again, was to win the game as a result of our players having more talent than the opposition, not because of any tactical plan or formation. We have good players and they are now being permitted to play with more independence. That's what is getting attackers into the box and enabling us to create more clear-cut chances from closer range.

I thought it was good, not great, with the exceptions of Bentaleb, Lloris and Adebayor, who were excellent.

Have to agree with most of this, but normally when I say things of this nature is causes a fuss

 

[Tit&Ham]

This is not a bombastic statement, only how I felt it during the game:

First 20 minutes: We showed up. Excellent pressing, making the opposition turning towards their own goal several times and the keeper had to hoof it up.
But the only chance we created was Adebayors shot just outside the post, and then the goal - a bit of luck that the keeper touches it. Luck and very good skill by Bentaleb assisting the goal.

But remember - Cisse had a chance at 0-0 from 4 yards - excellent goalkeeping by Lloris.

20 minutes to half time: I felt it was two poor teams. All the play were in midfield and I was happy for the ref to blow beacuse I felt we were on a downwards spiral.

During the whole first half I felt our passing was so short: 1-2 yards passing in thight areas were we lost the ball several times. Also some sloppy passing; either to slow or behind the man. I felt we were not under pressure because the opposition didn't have the quality to punish our mistakes.

Second half: I was still a bit angry that our passing was short and a bit sloppy. Was very relieved that our second goal came quick - And it was a quality goal, especially the build up.

From there I got really annoyed, because now we had a solid lead and could go on and destroy them. Instead we were 10 men falling down - But with a high line? What's up with that? The high line should be history? There was about 5 yards from the midfield to the defence - And there was about 40 yards of space behind the defence. Don't like that.

I felt we just gave the ball away when we got it, and never even tried to attack them. Is this the CL at stake? I don't know...

At 2-0 up, Newcastle created 2-3 very good chances, and Lloris had some world-class saves. At this point I reckon we've had something like 3 good chances the entire game, and Newcastle the same. Of course we don't need to attack when we're ahead, but why not try to score more goals?

Then we got the third in the 82 minute and from there on we were brilliant!

So in summary: We played good the first 20 and the last ten. In between there were glimpses of brilliancy from our striker and keeper that ensured the lead.

I'm over the moon by the result, and I hope we got a lot of confidence from the display - But still work on the areas that needs to be assesed.

I also acknowledge the fact that several players had no or few minutes before this game: Verts, Kaboul and Capoue, with Dembele playing out of position. This will only get better and i do believe that yesterdays team set-up is closer to our best line-up than the games before.

(Please don't neg-rate me - I can't afford it)

 

[Revan1882]

This is not a bombastic statement, only how I felt it during the game:

First 20 minutes: We showed up. Excellent pressing, making the opposition turning towards their own goal several times and the keeper had to hoof it up.
But the only chance we created was Adebayors shot just outside the post, and then the goal - a bit of luck that the keeper touches it. Luck and very good skill by Bentaleb assisting the goal.

But remember - Cisse had a chance at 0-0 from 4 yards - excellent goalkeeping by Lloris.

20 minutes to half time: I felt it was two poor teams. All the play were in midfield and I was happy for the ref to blow beacuse I felt we were on a downwards spiral.

During the whole first half I felt our passing was so short: 1-2 yards passing in thight areas were we lost the ball several times. Also some sloppy passing; either to slow or behind the man. I felt we were not under pressure because the opposition didn't have the quality to punish our mistakes.

Second half: I was still a bit angry that our passing was short and a bit sloppy. Was very relieved that our second goal came quick - And it was a quality goal, especially the build up.

From there I got really annoyed, because now we had a solid lead and could go on and destroy them. Instead we were 10 men falling down - But with a high line? What's up with that? The high line should be history? There was about 5 yards from the midfield to the defence - And there was about 40 yards of space behind the defence. Don't like that.

I felt we just gave the ball away when we got it, and never even tried to attack them. Is this the CL at stake? I don't know...

At 2-0 up, Newcastle created 2-3 very good chances, and Lloris had some world-class saves. At this point I reckon we've had something like 3 good chances the entire game, and Newcastle the same. Of course we don't need to attack when we're ahead, but why not try to score more goals?

Then we got the third in the 82 minute and from there on we were brilliant!

So in summary: We played good the first 20 and the last ten. In between there were glimpses of brilliancy from our striker and keeper that ensured the lead.

I'm over the moon by the result, and I hope we got a lot of confidence from the display - But still work on the areas that needs to be assesed.

I also acknowledge the fact that several players had no or few minutes before this game: Verts, Kaboul and Capoue, with Dembele playing out of position. This will only get better and i do believe that yesterdays team set-up is closer to our best line-up than the games before.

(Please don't neg-rate me - I can't afford it)

Sorry mate you're nuts.......

Just joking seems a fair summary to me, most of what you said is more or less correct. The nice thing is we won and our goal difference isn't as bad as it was.

The passing was poor and I thought Pauliho needs to get that side of his game sorted and perhaps some players need to stop trying to do silly little back heels when we are only 1-0 up. Yet this was an improvement over the horrid slow pace that AVB was playing. I also was calling for more speed not a change in formation as I think it suits our squad to play that way. The high line however isn't a great idea, but at least we played it with two fairly fast CB's not Dawson who can't play that way.

 

[Scottish Spur]

Have some of you read what you've written ?

We won 4-0 at a ground we haven't won at in 10 years last night. We've now lost only 6 of our last 30 PL matches (4 of which are Man City twice, Arsenal and Liverpool), won 5 of our last 6 away days, sit 3 points behind 4th and have 2 more points than we did at the same stage as last year. All this despite selling a genuine world superstar, having a turnover of 7 players, a change of manager and barely getting out of first gear all season. It's not a stretch to say that we've been absolutely awful all season and sit 7 points off top.

Not too long ago the idea of being this consistent and competitive and seeing the kind of players at the Lane as we presently do was an absolute pipe dream. The idea of winning 4-0 at Newcastle on a cold, wet, midweek night in February wasn't even deemed a possibility.

We have it good right now, real good. Lets not spoil it by behaving so ungratefully. Our problem is that we want to sit right at the top of the tree. To the vast majority of football clubs right now, being where we are is a dream in itself. Hell, to those of us that have followed any length of time, being where we are now was a dream for us for the last 25 years.

 

[Gassin's finest]

I didn't actually think we played especially brilliantly, overall. I've read a lot of press reports and some semi-gushing posts here and I wonder to what degree the scoreline is affecting people's views.

Quite a bit of our play resembled what we saw under AVB: the formation was nominally 4-3-3, but in practice was more like 4-2-3-1 quite a lot of the time. There was a lot of time spent prowling outside the penalty box with the ball, without breaking through the defensive line. But the difference was that, when we did attack, especially, when we counter-attacked, we got men into and around the box and we moved the ball with speed - it's that 'change of pace' that I was going on about a couple of months ago.

Perhaps my own view of the game has been affected by the bits I didn't manage to see live, thanks to a very bad stream: I missed the first 8 minutes, during which I gather we attacked vigorously; the stream was down for both of the first two goals; but I had a perfect, uninterrupted stream for the period of 15-20 minutes in the second half when we were sitting back on our 2 goal lead and letting Newcastle monopolise the ball - the same period when Lloris kept us ahead with a series of brilliant interventions.

Once we scored the third (they're all going in for Adebayor now, aren't they?), Newcastle just looked pissed off and the game became one-sided, but I don't recall us dominating it up to that time. Both of our wide players were peripheral to the action and we relied greatly on Bentaleb, playing further forward thanks to the inclusion of Capoue, to bring the ball up the pitch.

What we did, again, was to win the game as a result of our players having more talent than the opposition, not because of any tactical plan or formation. We have good players and they are now being permitted to play with more independence. That's what is getting attackers into the box and enabling us to create more clear-cut chances from closer range.

I thought it was good, not great, with the exceptions of Bentaleb, Lloris and Adebayor, who were excellent.

Post

 

[faymantaray]

So good having Kaboul back!

 

[faymantaray]

 

[Ribble]

But the difference was that, when we did attack, especially, when we counter-attacked, we got men into and around the box and we moved the ball with speed - it's that 'change of pace' that I was going on about a couple of months ago.

I think this is incredibly important, and down to two factors. Firstly, having Bentaleb being released to play further forward. You can see Bentaleb mapping out where everyone is almost constantly, and that's exactly the kind of thing we've been missing in a CM since Modric left. Secondly and somewhat interconnected, NOT having Dembele in the middle of the pitch. He's pretty much the total opposite of Bentaleb in the same department, always looking to carry it himself rather than planning on where the ball should be going as quickly as possible. That's OK in the final third when trying to break through the defensive line, but in midfield when he's going past another midfielder and then failing to make an incisive pass or have a shot it unnecessarily slows down play far too much and too often.

 

[Legend10]

Bentaleb!

Imho there's been a lot of pretty unpleasant things said on this site about a young 19 year old who's come through our own academy, disrespectful and ignorant, early pages of this thread continued in exactly the same vein.

11 first team football appearances, no loans for experience, as dropped in as dropped in can be, the kid has been exceptional, plays with a confidence and belief which he should in no way have considering his lack of any type of first team experience.

I hope his outstanding performance last night will see him earn more respect from people instead of pretty constant snide remarks. And full credit to Sherwood, all along the easy choice would have been to leave him out, but as of yet he's still delivering so why should he, i'm sure Sherwood will know when the time is right to give the kid a breather. Sherwood has already shown his not a man for the easy or safe choice, there's Bentaleb and last night it would have been very easy to leave Dawson in and move Verts to LB, but sherwood made the bigger call, full kudos to him for that!

 

[Spurs_Bear]

I didn't actually think we played especially brilliantly, overall. I've read a lot of press reports and some semi-gushing posts here and I wonder to what degree the scoreline is affecting people's views.

Quite a bit of our play resembled what we saw under AVB: the formation was nominally 4-3-3, but in practice was more like 4-2-3-1 quite a lot of the time. There was a lot of time spent prowling outside the penalty box with the ball, without breaking through the defensive line. But the difference was that, when we did attack, especially, when we counter-attacked, we got men into and around the box and we moved the ball with speed - it's that 'change of pace' that I was going on about a couple of months ago.

Perhaps my own view of the game has been affected by the bits I didn't manage to see live, thanks to a very bad stream: I missed the first 8 minutes, during which I gather we attacked vigorously; the stream was down for both of the first two goals; but I had a perfect, uninterrupted stream for the period of 15-20 minutes in the second half when we were sitting back on our 2 goal lead and letting Newcastle monopolise the ball - the same period when Lloris kept us ahead with a series of brilliant interventions.

Once we scored the third (they're all going in for Adebayor now, aren't they?), Newcastle just looked pissed off and the game became one-sided, but I don't recall us dominating it up to that time. Both of our wide players were peripheral to the action and we relied greatly on Bentaleb, playing further forward thanks to the inclusion of Capoue, to bring the ball up the pitch.

What we did, again, was to win the game as a result of our players having more talent than the opposition, not because of any tactical plan or formation. We have good players and they are now being permitted to play with more independence. That's what is getting attackers into the box and enabling us to create more clear-cut chances from closer range.

I thought it was good, not great, with the exceptions of Bentaleb, Lloris and Adebayor, who were excellent.

Totally agree and said similar in the ratings thread, not enjoying (but not unexpected) the collection of experts claiming a great performance just because we had a defensive midfielder. And one who I don't think even had a particularly good game.

 

[Ironskullll]

I didn't actually think we played especially brilliantly, overall. I've read a lot of press reports and some semi-gushing posts here and I wonder to what degree the scoreline is affecting people's views.

Quite a bit of our play resembled what we saw under AVB: the formation was nominally 4-3-3, but in practice was more like 4-2-3-1 quite a lot of the time. There was a lot of time spent prowling outside the penalty box with the ball, without breaking through the defensive line. But the difference was that, when we did attack, especially, when we counter-attacked, we got men into and around the box and we moved the ball with speed - it's that 'change of pace' that I was going on about a couple of months ago.

Perhaps my own view of the game has been affected by the bits I didn't manage to see live, thanks to a very bad stream: I missed the first 8 minutes, during which I gather we attacked vigorously; the stream was down for both of the first two goals; but I had a perfect, uninterrupted stream for the period of 15-20 minutes in the second half when we were sitting back on our 2 goal lead and letting Newcastle monopolise the ball - the same period when Lloris kept us ahead with a series of brilliant interventions.

Once we scored the third (they're all going in for Adebayor now, aren't they?), Newcastle just looked pissed off and the game became one-sided, but I don't recall us dominating it up to that time. Both of our wide players were peripheral to the action and we relied greatly on Bentaleb, playing further forward thanks to the inclusion of Capoue, to bring the ball up the pitch.

What we did, again, was to win the game as a result of our players having more talent than the opposition, not because of any tactical plan or formation. We have good players and they are now being permitted to play with more independence. That's what is getting attackers into the box and enabling us to create more clear-cut chances from closer range.

I thought it was good, not great, with the exceptions of Bentaleb, Lloris and Adebayor, who were excellent.

Yet again a great post, though is it not a tactical issue whereby players move the ball more quickly and get into the box in greater numbers and with greater gusto? I'm not convinced that they aren't following tactical instructions to that effect, rather than it being simply a case of them playing with greater independence (and therefore doing more or less what they think is right). Were that the case though, it could surely be construed as a stroke of genius that the coach has imbued his players with the right approach, and read them well enough to be able to trust their judgment. After all, some players you would trust and others you wouldn't? Am I off beam here?

 

[Shea]

Its really pathetic that the Tim haters are trying to make excuses for us playing and winning well last night - are people really that desperate to hold on to their agenda that they can't even give credit where its due?

Away from home at St James' park that was an outstanding performance and we smashed them to pieces

They might not have been at their best but they weren't terrible - we carved them open with good play.

I'm not saying everyone has to start thinking Tim is the next Sir Alex or even think we're playing up to our potential but surely credit should be given where it is due and to make excuses to attempt to discredit our performance yesterday (from our own fans) is a disgrace

 

[RickyVilla]

Come into work, get a cup of coffee and watch highlights of Spurs winning 0-4 away (having seen them on MOTD last night, obviously). Is there anything better?

A day off watching it and swapping the coffee for beer? That's better.

 

[Lukasz]

Lol at first glance I thought that Hugo has been given yellow tulips.

 

[Spursh]

 

[Revan1882]

Have some of you read what you've written ?

We won 4-0 at a ground we haven't won at in 10 years last night. We've now lost only 6 of our last 30 PL matches (4 of which are Man City twice, Arsenal and Liverpool), won 5 of our last 6 away days, sit 3 points behind 4th and have 2 more points than we did at the same stage as last year. All this despite selling a genuine world superstar, having a turnover of 7 players, a change of manager and barely getting out of first gear all season. It's not a stretch to say that we've been absolutely awful all season and sit 7 points off top.

Not too long the idea of being this consistent and competitive and seeing the kind of players at the Lane as we presently do was an absolute pipe dream. The idea of winning 4-0 at Newcastle on a cold, wet, midweek night in February wasn't even deemed a possibility.

We have it good right now, real good. Lets not spoil it by behaving so ungratefully. Our problem is that we want to sit right at the top of the tree. To the vast majority of football clubs right now, being where we are is a dream in itself. Hell, to those of us that have followed any length of time, being where we are now was a dream for us for the last 25 years.

I don't think anyone is being ungrateful or anything like that, but there is clear room for improvement and that's a good thing. Yes winning was good and winning when we aren't at the top form isn't a bad thing, but we aren't going to get carried away. Which personally I think is far worse as it would be a knee jerk reaction, which never ends well. I am not saying that yours is, just stating that people not being delighted with the teams performance is totally fair. As in truth we really didn't play great, but we did get a great result.

Hopefully soon we will be doing both, but yes I be happy to take three points every day of the week over performance. However isn't that what cost AVB his job, he was getting the results (kinda) but no one was happy in the performance. Sherwood is getting the points now and the performances are better under him, but there are issue that need addressing or they will start to cost us....

But lets hope that's not the case and I am talking rubbish.

 

[Revan1882]

Its really pathetic that the Tim haters are trying to make excuses for us playing and winning well last night - are people really that desperate to hold on to their agenda that they can't even give credit where its due?

Away from home at St James' park that was an outstanding performance and we smashed them to pieces

They might not have been at their best but they weren't terrible - we carved them open with good play.

I'm not saying everyone has to start thinking Tim is the next Sir Alex or even think we're playing up to our potential but surely credit should be given where it is due and to make excuses to attempt to discredit our performance yesterday (from our own fans) is a disgrace

Result was great, performance is good in patches and needs work in others. Let's not get carried away, Lloris could of been classed as MOTM which doesn't fit with your statement of us smashing them. We scored four which is great but two came in the last ten minutes and Lloris had to pull of three great saves. Like I have said before Sherwood is winning the games and if he stays in the job I'll back him, but until the end of the season it isn't very easy to judge him fully. My gut tells me he is out of this depth, but I would happily be proven wrong. You never know we might get third if that happens then great, yet let's not get carried away with winning a match.

 

[alamo]

...

Excellent impartial, observant and all round quality write-up as always David. In fact, what happened to the front page column you started up at one point? I really enjoyed that and miss it.

Anyhow, I still stand by my opinion in that I give us more credit than you do. I thought we were excellent. Not in a showy, dominating sense but still, we went away to a ground that isn't the easiest place to travel to and got our best result of the season to date.

I kind of understand the AVB similarities you allude to but only in the sense that we played in a similar shape. At what point up the pitch we did so is the main difference.

 

[Shea]

Result was great, performance is good in patches and needs work in others. Let's not get carried away, Lloris could of been classed as MOTM which doesn't fit with your statement of us smashing them. We scored four which is great but two came in the last ten minutes and Lloris had to pull of three great saves. Like I have said before Sherwood is winning the games and if he stays in the job I'll back him, but until the end of the season it isn't very easy to judge him fully. My gut tells me he is out of this depth, but I would happily be proven wrong. You never know we might get third if that happens then great, yet let's not get carried away with winning a match.

In my opinion the result was great and the performance was equally so - and I do indeed believe we smashed them

We scored four goals and played them off the pitch - they had a few chances which forced Lloris in to some good saves or kaboul into strong defending etc but then in addition to our 4 goals we had as many good chances which we failed to score from as they did and could have beat them by even more

My gut tells me its pathetic for fans to have judged him with gut feelings before he's so much as had a chance to prove himself - how can you have any creditable opinion of his depth as a manager before he's had the chance to showcase his abilities?

Why should he need to prove you wrong before he started?

I agree no one should be getting carried away off the back of one great win - nor even the great start in general because its entirely too early to make a judgement but by the same token its equally early to assume he is out of his depth and or incapable of doing the job - especially when he's got of to a good start and credit should be given when it's due at the very least

In my opinion fans who want to support their gut feeling that he's out of his depth by discrediting great performances like last night are disgraceful and I expect more from fans of the club if I am honest.

I personally just feel Sherwood should have everyone's support until such time like AVB and others before him he proves himself to not be up to the job - not because people have a gut feeling based on nothing at all or because people have some personal dislike for him (as some posters on here have admitted to despite having never met the man)

Surely now his good start has at least earned some benefit of the doubt from the nay sayers and he should be judged at the end of the season or beyond