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While the final outcome was of no
surprise to any right-thinking Spurs fan, the nature of it was. To
lose so abysmally is not in the Tottenham tradition at all and while it
turned into a shooting gallery for Newcastle, it became a damage
limitation exercise for Spurs. The
away record of Tottenham Hotspur does not make pretty reading. I
saw somewhere that we have won just 7 out of 41 (now) matches away from
White Hart Lane ... some of them not very far from White Hart Lane, but
our trips to the North-East seem to bring the worst out of the
side. Starting with Poyet and Anderton does not make you feel any
more secure in securing a result. Within
the first ten minutes, we had been grateful to Keller for getting behind
a Jenas pile-driver and for Robert shooting just wide from a dead ball
situation. The first real chance we had came after about half an
hour, when Konchesky ran up the left wing and put some pace on his
cross, but it was too much for Fredi, who failed to make any sort of
contact on it, when a slight touch might have got us in front. As
with most things at the moment, it proved costly for Tottenham, as a
poorly cleared ball by Richards flew up and out, but fell to Laurent Robert.
We all know he won't pass, so when he hit the ball on the volley nobody
was surprised. What was surprising was that it left everyone
standing as it sped into the net past an astonished Keller from 20 yards
out. While things had been
going along without any hint of what was to come until this point, after
that it all went pear shaped for Tottenham. It was just like the
old days, when, from our corner, the Magpies broke away and nearly
scored. It was only Keller's sharpness that stopped Ameobi adding
to the home side's tally. Just before the break, Tottenham did
manage an effort on target, with Dazza heading Taz's cross gently at
Given. No real threat and little more after the break, even though
the Toon lost their central defender Woodgate at the break. A
warning shot was fired across our bows in the second minute of the new
half, when Robert fizzed a free-kick wide, off a Tottenham player and
Shearer had fired a fierce drive the wrong side of the upright.
Then with 54 minutes on the clock, Robert did it again. A shot out
of the blue left us feeling just that colour. We hadn't been
awful, but suddenly found ourselves 0-2 down. It could have been
three shortly after when the same Frenchman's free-kick missed by a
foot, although this was a temporary respite until he flighted a corner
into the box and when it dropped eight yards out, Shearer was the first
to react and knock home his 100th goal at St. James' Park. It
appeared that we were back at the arse end of last season, letting goal
sin for fun, despite what Pleat had told the AGM a few days
before. And things got worse on 65 minutes, when the same
combination made the fourth goal. Another corner and nobody marked
Shearer, who was left with the freedom of St. James' Park to notch the
fourth goal of the match. Now it
was just a question of how many and Shearer and Dyer were close to
getting Newcastle a nap hand. It was going to be a long 15 minutes
and the long journey home would not be a fun one. How titus
Bramble didn't add to the total when his header missed from close range,
I don't know. But it wasn't all bad
news, as Ledley King got a shot on target as Given had to stick out a
foot to prevent King's volley going in. No
actually, I lied. It was all bad news !! MEHSTG TOP MAN : - KASEY
KELLER |
