Tottenham twice fought back to level at Newcastle thanks to Cristian Romero as they escaped with a point to ease some pressure on Thomas Frank.
An uneventful first 70 minutes was notable more for the ongoing lack of anything in terms of a threat from Spurs going forward, with only Randal Kolo Muani have any real urgency in attack.
But despite Guglielmo Vicario rebounding from his error against Fulham in the Tottenham goal he couldn’t keep a clean sheet, with Bruno Guimaraes firing a Nick Woltemade lay off into the far corner in the 71st minute.
Frank, facing questions over his Tottenham job, made a triple substitution and almost immediately equalised out of nowhere through two players already on the pitch, with Mohammed Kudus producing his first piece of attacking brilliance to cross for Romero to dive and head into the bottom corner ahead of Dan Burn.
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It was Spurs’ first attempt on target in the game in the 78th minute, but after climbing the mountain of actually troubling the opposition net Rodrigo Bentancur quickly threw it all away by conceding a slightly harsh, albeit totally needless, penalty for holding Burn at a corner, which Anthony Gordon converted.
But even more unexpectedly Romero again equalised, this time with an overhead kick, in the 95th minute, sparing Spurs a fourth-consecutive defeat and more problems for the manager.
Romero wows in captain’s performance
With Micky van de Ven surprisingly left on the bench by Frank in favour of Kevin Danso it was all the more crucial for Romero to stand up at St. James’ Park.
He takes the headlines for a stunning brace at the other end, both finished superbly despite the second coming off his shin.
The blunt Tottenham attackers could all take a few lessons from their captain, but a few crucial blocks in defence were also important.
Aside from the move for Guimaraes’ opener Spurs were never really pulled apart at the back, although Vicario made some good saves, which is a credit to the senior centre-back.
But with sack speculation ready to reach overdrive around Frank the Dane simply had to avoid defeat, and with so little attacking trust from the expensively-assembled Spurs forward options it really was invaluable for the manager to get two vital goals from his defender.
Thomas Frank to be furious with Bentancur
Had Spurs lost this Frank’s job may well have truly been on the line, not least thanks to the self-inflicted manner of the second Newcastle goal.
It seemed unlikely that Tottenham could muster one goal, let alone two, so having stolen a beauty from Romero’s header Frank will have been raging to see Bentancur concede a spot kick almost immediately.
It was hardly the worst foul ever but the Uruguayan had his back to where the ball was coming from throughout and made no attempt to do anything but impede Burn as the corner came in, with the Englishman’s huge size probably working in his favour given how awkward it made the entire thing look.
Bentancur hadn’t exactly been pulling up trees elsewhere with his overall performance, as he seemed to largely jog around in midfield without making much of an impact.
He was bailed out hugely by Romero’s late, late equaliser, but Frank might not trust him with the pressure on for a while either way.
Tottenham player ratings vs Newcastle
Guglielmo Vicario – 8
Pedro Porro – 5
Cristian Romero – 9 – Man of the Match
Kevin Danso – 6
Destiny Udogie – 6
Pape Matar Sarr (off for Gray ’87) – 6
Rodrigo Bentancur – 2
Lucas Bergvall (off for Simons ’77) – 6
Mohammed Kudus (off for Odobert ’87) – 6
Brennan Johnson (off for Tel ’77) – 4
Randal Kolo Muani (off for Richarlison ’77) – 6
Substitutes
Xavi Simons (on for Bergvall ’77) – 5
Mathys Tel (on for Johnson ’77) – 5
Richarlison (on for Kolo Muani ’77) – 4
Archie Gray (on for Sarr ’87) – 5
Wilson Odobert (on for Kudus ’87) – 6