Tottenham Hotspur didn’t lose today! OK, they also didn’t WIN, but hey — baby steps. Spurs went to St. James’ Park three days after a humiliating loss to Fulham, a stadium that’s been a house of horrors for them over the past several years, and showed an incredible amount of resilience to come back from behind twice in the second half. Toon’s Bruno Guimaraes opened the scoring in the 71st minute with another goal from outside of Spurs’ area, but Tottenham club captain Cuti Romero thumped in an equalizer seven minutes later to level the score.
Newcastle went ahead again late through Anthony Gordon from the spot after a controversial VAR assisted penalty after Rodrigo Bentancur was ajudged to have fouled Dan Burn on a corner, only for Romero to equalize virtually at the death with a spectacular overhead kick goal. The final score ended 2-2 — in the end a pretty good result with a decent 2nd half performance against a good team on the road.
Tottenham played a football match just three days ago, so Frank used the opportunity to rest a few key players, including MIcky van de Ven, who started on the bench alongside Xavi Simons. Kevin Danso started in the back line alongside Cuti Romero, who returned from his one match suspension for yellow card accumulation. Frank also set up with Brennan Johnson on the left in the attacking band along with Randal Kolo Muani and Mohammed Kudus. Frank opted for a midfield of Rodrigo Bentancur, Pape Sarr, and Lucas Bergvall. Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie were the starting fullbacks.
Match reactions
An interesting new tactical wrinkle in the attacking third with Frank opting to play Kudus on the right and Johnson on the left of Kolo Muani. Brennan had a couple of nice crosses into the box in the early goings.
One of the things I noticed about Spurs in this first half is just how labored everything seems, especially going forward. Few people are making runs into space or showing for the ball. Johnson, Kudus, and Udogie all had promising runs into Newcastle’s half that fizzed out because they had no one to pass to.
I just wanna say: if that Bergvall backheel flick had gone in, it would’ve automatically been the dopest Spurs goal in a long time.
It’s super nice how Spurs all too frequently break with the ball and then politely wait for Newcastle to get in its defensive shape before attacking.
I think I’ve seen enough of Mohammed Kudus to really start to dislike what he does — which is weird for the dribbly guy we’ve been wanting for years. But he so frequently dribbles himself into trouble, his final ball is atrocious, and he frequently makes poor decisions including not looking up to see his teammates making runs. He’s probably the most frustrating player on this team, and there are a LOT of frustrating players on this team.
First half xG: NEW 0.45 - 0.36 TOT. No shots on target. LOL…LMAO
Midway through the second half I remember thinking to myself that Spurs better hope that they don’t let Newcastle score because if they do there’s little chance that they’ll get back into the match. So you can imagine my (lack of) surprise when that Guimaraes goal went in. And you could see it coming, too.
Spurs actually played better football in the second half — Newcastle started to tire and the pitch started to elongate giving Tottenham more space to work in. And yet, still no shots on target until the 78th minute. What does this team do in training all week?
Randal Kolo Muani continues to be the only player who is exciting to watch and dynamic on the ball. he’s fun and neat and cool. Wish we could actually get him the ball in dangerous attacking areas.
How about a goal on the team’s first shot on target? Sure, that sounds great, thanks Cuti!
I’m sorry, but that penalty decision was absolute horseshit. Bentancur was tangled up with Burn and I don’t care if that’s the way they’ve been calling it this season it’s only a penalty if you Zapruder it to an inch of its life. It happens on virtually every corner, and I’m so frustrated by that call (but also is anyone surprised that Bentancur was the one who was involved?).
CUTI ROMERO LAST GASP BICYCLE KICK OFF HIS SHIN TO LEVEL THE SCORE ASLDKJFKLASJDFKLASJDFKLJASDKLFJASDKLFJASKLDKJSEVNJKSDNVI34HKLFANSDVAHS;LFjkHASJKDhFKLHSAKLDfjHKLASHD;LFKA
We didn’t lose! I’ll take it. (Still mad about the penalty, though.)
Final xG: NEW 1.96 - 0.79 TOT. Spurs had eight shots, and scored on their only two on target.