| Match report
Tottenham eased through to a
comfortable victory against Newcastle United at St. James Park, but
not without some fine finishing and some determined defending.
There were changes to the side, with Danny Rose missing injured and
Michael Dawson left out as Younes Kaboul came in and Sherwood opted
to go with Emmanuel Adebayor up front, with a five man midfield.
The terrible weather that
had ruled out games in Manchester and Liverpool failed to stop this
one and rain fell more or less throughout the match. It made
for a slick surface and obviously, that played into Tottenham's
hands on the night. A long kick out by Lloris in the 5th
minute gave Mousa Dembele a chance to run at Santon and shrug
him off the ball on our right wing. Pulling the ball back to
Emmanuel Adebayor, the striker hit a low shot that flicked off a
heel to go wide. A minute later Kaboul was robbing Santon of
the ball on his own dead ball line, then feeding Paulinho. Tim
Krul had to show strong wrists at his near post to beat the shot
from a narrow angle out for a corner.
Newcastle got their first
attack going and in the seventh minute, Cisse had a chance to put
them ahead from about six yards out, but his shot gave Lloris too
much of a chance to get behind the effort and then grab it at the
second attempt. Luuk de Jong had set it up with a towering
header above Kyle Walker and this was a worry for Tottenham and I
assume that was why Kaboul was included, but letting Walker get
isolated with the Dutchman isn't the way to cope with his height.
Vertongthen got on the end
of Walker's free-kick from the right, but he put his far post header
wide, but it took until the 18th minute until the scoring was
opened. A neat move of passing triangles between Lennon,
Naughton and Paulinho opened up the left wing space for Bentaleb to
go away and shrug off Sissoko. Having the presence of mind to
put a low ball into the six yard box and with it missing the first
man, Krul dived out to palm the ball out, but didn't get enough on
it, leaving Adebayor the simple task of tapping in from five yards
out. All the chances we had in the home match and Krul gives
us the opening to score. How ironic.
It gave the home crowd
reason to moan and the Spurs fans the chance to made themselves
heard above the Geordie snores. Newcastle tried to hit back
straight away, with Sammy Ameobi trying to take Kaboul on after
picking off Naughton's ball across the back four, but Younes blocked
his shot for a throw in. But Spurs were slicing the home
defence apart. Lennon's pass inside Santon put Walker in and
his low ball back across the box found Lennon coming in and Adebayor
nearly getting on the loose ball when Williamson intercepted, but
the defender hooked it o0ut for a corner while laying on the floor.
Newcastle weren't going without a fight and Ameobi's through ball
was reached by Cisse and as Lloris came to the edge of his box, the
Senegal striker lobbed him. However, Vertonghen was back to
see the ball go wide of the goal.
The post saved Newcastle on
the half hour, when Adebayor played the ball left to Lennon, who
came inside and struck a low shot between Debuchy's legs and Krul
got a touch on it to push the ball onto the foot of his right hand
upright. Spurs were moving the ball quicker and were moving
better to stretch United, but Gouffran got away on our left, but
Kyle Naughton got back to slide in and tackle him at the expense of
a corner. From it, Tottenham broke well, but Kaboul couldn't
pick out a blue shirt when he overlapped on the right and crossed.
At the other end, Sissoko and de Jong linked up on the edge of the
Spurs area, with the midfielder hitting a strong shot at goal, but
it was over the top.
With five minutes to go,
Spurs again put together some nice triangles, but it ended with
Paulinho and Bentaleb wanting to shoot and colliding with each
other. But it wasn't just going forward that Spurs were
working off the ball, Lennon was showing good defensive nous by
tracking back when Newcastle players ran beyond the Spurs defenders.
Right on 45 minutes, a cleared corner fell to Santon, who hit a low
shot, but it went low and straight at Lloris, without too much
power. So, when Swarbrick put his whistle to his lips to bow
for half time, Spurs took a one goal advantage into the break and
the players went off for a well-earned breather.
Half time was hardly
absorbing entertainment, as there was a race between two zorb balls.
Lucky it wasn't as windy as the North-West !! Much talk was
about whether Spurs could keep up the work-rate and take any more
chances they could create.
That was exactly what they
did in the 53rd minute, when Paulinho made it 2-0. Bentaleb
played the ball into the Brazilian, who dragged the ball back behind
him for Adebayor to strike a low shot at goal and Krul once more
could only parry the ball out, with Paulinho continuing his run to
knock the ball past the keeper to double the lead.
Spurs didn't seem to want to
stop there, with Dembele starting a move on halfway, then finishing
it with a shot that was deflected over the bar from 18 yards out.
Then Spurs decided to sit back. Whether that was tiredness or
by design, Newcastle were happy to pass the ball better and get into
Tottenham's last third. Luckily, there was much over-hit
passing when it came to the final ball, but then, out of nothing,
Gouffran made some space on the Toon left and hit a low shot that
Lloris had to push wide. Then, a short while after, substitute
Haten Ben Arfa's cross from the left was met powerfully buy Debuchy
about six yards out, requiring Hugo to fling up a left hand to palm
the ball over the bar with a superb reflex save. Five
minutes later, he made an equally good stop when Cisse for on the
end of a cross form the right, with the defenders hoping for offside
against Ameobi, but the header went downwards, making our French
stopper have to kick the ball out with his feet to stop the home
team getting back into the match.
WHen SPurs did break, they
failed to make much of their opportunities. Townsend dallie
dover one and then Bentaleb hit a speculative shot over the bar.
But they made the nost of the obne that came along in the 83rd
mionute. The ball was worked wide ot sub Chadli on the left,
he played it across the box via Adebayor and Paulinho for Townsend
to crack a shot at goal that Krul blocked out to about 12 yards out.
Unfortunately for him, everything he touched tonight turned to dust
and Adebayor was there to hit a volley into the ground, which the
keeper dived under and the ball nestle din the corner of the net as
it bounced over him.
Four minutes form the end,
Lloris rushed wide right of his box to close down Sissoko, who had
to turn away, but he laid it back for Gouffran, whose effort was
blocked. It allowed Spurs to break away and the ball went out
to the left to Nacer Chadli. Coming inside, he looked up and
curled a right foot shot way beyond Krul's dive to make it 4-0 with
a fine goal.
It should have been five in
added time, when Chadli played a square ball across the 18 yard
line, but Townsend hit his shot straight at a defender and it went
off for a corner.
As the barcode shirts turned
into barcode empty seats, the only noise you could hear was from the
Spurs crowd, as the fantastic Newcastle support dissolved away into
the night. Three home defeats on the trot and they were
reduced to a League Cup crowd with ten minutes to go and those who
stayed were only there to boo the manager, who prior to the game had
said how good they had been to him. Having lost Yohan Cabaye
in the transfer window, Newcastle now have real problems, as there
looks like little creativity and little cutting edge up front.
Cisse should have scored when it was 0-0, but apart from that, they
only came into the game when Spurs were having a breather.
For Tottenham, the key was
Adebayor, but also the tempo we played at. Sharp passing,
movement off the ball and a high work-rate in chasing back.
With four goals from eight shots on target, with three of the others
being the ones that Krul set up our goals from, it shows the value
of finishing. Also, the value of having one of the best
keepers in the league showed, with Lloris keeping out the few
efforts Newcastle could muster. He really does win points for
the team. And Chadli's was sublime. Helped by having a
defence in front of him with Steven Taylor in it, surely one of the
most over-rated players ever, but beating Krul with a precision
bending shot demonstrates exactly what he is capable of.
Hopefully, he is finding his feet in the team at just the right
time, when we need everyone to bring something to the game.
Our first win at St. James
Park for a long time and the biggest in living memory there. A
fine three points and a performance that hints that we might be able
to push on. Tougher games are ahead, but then they might be
for others too.
Burton Bradstock |
