TV
Sky Sports Premier League - live coverage

Match of the Day 2  (Highlights)  Sunday

For coverage in all parts of the world, check here and here.

Radio :  
BBC LONDON 94.9FM (London area only), Digital Radio (London area only) &  Sky Channel 0152  (live coverage)
Commentary may be found on
>   BBC Radio Five Live (live coverage)  606/939 MW
>  TalkSport (DAB or 2nd89 MW)
>  Absolute Radio  (1215 AM/MW)

Internet :
The THFC Official website   Live webcast  - subscribers only
BBC London - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01tdhcm  Live commentaries listed down the page.
TalkSport (DAB or 1089 MW)

16  Kyle WALKER-PETERS  (23  Christian ERIKSEN  62)
  4  Toby ALDERWEIRELD
  6  Davinson SANCHEZ
  3  Danny ROSE       (33  Ben DAVIES  88)

27  Lucas MOURA
11  Erik LAMELA  (18  Giovani Lo CELSO  62)
  8  Harry WINKS     
17  Moussa SISSOKO
  7  Heung-Min SON

10  Harry KANE

Unused subs: 
22  Paulo GAZZANIGA
  5  Jan VERTONGHEN
15  Eric DIER
29  Oliver SKIPP

 

17  Emil KRAFTH
  5  Fabian SCHAR
  6  Jamaal LASCELLES (c) (18  Federico FERNANDEZ  82)
  3  Paul DUMMETT
11  Matt RITCHIE     

10  Allan SAINT-MAXIM  (30  Christian ATSU  17)
14  Isaac HAYDEN
24  Miguel ALMIRON
36  Sean LONGSTAFF

  9  JOELINTON         (13  Yoshinori MUTO  88)

Unused subs: 
26  Karl DARLOW
15  Jetro WILLEMS
19  Javier MANQUILLO
  8  Jonjo SHELVEY

Having 80% possession and 17 shots on goal (but only 3 on target) doesn't three points make.  Spurs found it hard-going to make the breakthrough against Newcastle United after loose marking had allowed the visitors to a 27th minute goal that they held onto until the final whistle and take an unexpected victory back to Tyneside. 

"What happened ?" you might ask ... and a good question it is.  The answer is very little apart from handing Newcastle a goal start that  Joelinton cold hardly miss after Atsu's chip over Sanchez from the left allowed him time enough to take a touch before drilling the ball past Lloris' right hand from 12 yards out, with Rose unable to close him down after coming in from left back.  That was 27 minutes into the game, but Sean Longstaff had already brought out a flying save from Hugo Lloris, who tipped his fierce drive over the bar four minutes earlier, having run at the defence that backed off him.  Apart from a Joelinton scissors kick in the second half that he didn't connect with properly, they rarely threatened, but what they did was to defend better than Villa for the 90 minutes a fortnight ago.

Then, Spurs had gone behind, as they have in every game so far, but came back against a tiring Villa side, who featured a lot of new faces.  This Newcastle side has added to a core of the team from last season and removing the liability that is Jonjo Shelvey made their midfield more solid.  Some lenient and erratic refereeing from Mike Dean (what else do you expect) helped their cause and while two of Tottenham's desperate calls for a penalty (when Rose threw himself into a defender and Son being brought down, although it could have gone either way) were probably rightly denied by VAR, how Lascelles falling into Kane with no hope of reaching the ball wasn't reviewed in Tottenham's favour was a little beyond comprehension.

But it was the lack of creativity against a well-drilled side that was so disappointing.  The return of Son didn't work as we thought it might and Harry Kane was shut out of the game by being deprived possession and when he did get the ball, Newcastle defenders were snapping around his ankles (actually snapping around his ankles).  The double substitution bringing Eriksen and Lo Celso on for Walker-Peters and Lamela didn't open the Toon defence until Kane's penalty incident.  Harry missed  volley when the ball came in from the right and Luca blazed over the top, having missed a chance when the ball came to him at the far post from a left wing cross right at the end of the first half. 

They toiled away and failed to exploit the wide positions, with players not moving beyond the one in possession, leading to the ball going backwards and allowing Newcastle to re-group.  Spoiling tactics also allowed them to get players back behind the ball at set pieces when they held the ball  or kicked it away.  Son looked willing to take players on and could not beat the assembled numbers in front of him or find a white shirt with his crosses.  He did get past a couple of players as he ran centrally at goal, but then dragged his effort wide.  Eriksen shot at goal and had it deflected wide, while Lucas had a shot blocked in a frantic last minute scramble in the penalty area, as sub Ben Davies's drilled ball into the box was kicked away as the last chance evaporated.

It was a disappointing display, with the team shape not looking quite right and a repeat performance next week will lead to another poor result.  Bringing Jan back into defence might help, but the movement of the ball forward and movement off it to create space for Kane needs to dramatically improve.  After the Villa match, it must be expected that sides will come to the new stadium and pack men behind the ball, so Spurs must be prepared to be able to come up with ways to break them down.  On this performance, it looks like it might be a tough season at the Lane, with next week's visit to Highbury hopefully a more open encounter, as their defence is poor and they are relying on their attack.  That might leave some room for players to operate in.

Let's hope so, as the way we have started the season hints that things are not clicking yet.

The Polyphant