How Mathys Tel saved Cristian Romero from getting in big trouble and Pedro Porro's heartfelt moment
Here are our Tottenham talking points after their dramatic 2-2 draw at Newcastle United in the Premier League on Tuesday evening
The plans for Tottenham's dramatic point at St James' Park were hatched as much on the trains heading up to Newcastle as they were on the training pitches.
Thomas Frank had needed to do some damage repair with the Spurs fans after Saturday's latest home defeat to Fulham and those boos towards Guglielmo Vicario and the team, with the former prompting the Dane to label those who did it as "not true Tottenham fans".
The 52-year-old clarified on Monday that he was referring to those who mocked the Italian goalkeeper by sarcastically cheering the next time he kicked the ball out of play, as he should have done during that sixth minute error at the weekend.
He insisted that "Tottenham Hotspur is nothing without the fans" but his weekend words still stung with those Spurs fans who shell out their money and travel around the country and the world following the club to every corner.
The truth is that many of the hardy and beleaguered away supporters on the trains heading up to Newcastle on Tuesday agreed somewhat with what the Dane was saying. They felt the boos at half-time and full-time were justified by what they have to pay each week to be served up poor performances, but that the singling out of Vicario was wrong and many had not taken part in that. Some had spoken out against it in the stands as it happened.
Vicario's parents are often amongst the travelling faithful and have been taken in by the fans as two of their own, which only compounded the feeling for some that those moments on Saturday at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium did not sit right.
There was a resolve on Wednesday to show Frank exactly what true Tottenham fans are like, with chants being prepared on the trains about their loyalty, and the 3,000 who made the trip showed exactly that from high up in the stand inside Newcastle's noisy home.
Few grounds across the country can match the Magpies' stadium for noise and atmosphere when it gets going, yet that band of Spurs supporters who had made the 280-mile trek could be heard throughout as they often can at stadiums around the land.
When Vicario made an early low save from Lewis Miley, the Tottenham faithful seized the opportunity to sing his name repeatedly to the tune of the old 'Antonio, Antonio' chant for Conte.
The support worked. Vicario is a strong character regardless, but he pushed on and made four saves during the game to help Spurs to their point. He could do little about Bruno Guimaraes' curling shot in the 71st minute nor Anthony Gordon's powerful penalty 15 minutes later.
The Italian media have linked Vicario with a move back home with Inter Milan known admirers of the international goalkeeper. The weekend's events had only intensified those links as an escape route.
However, there was a heartfelt moment between Vicario and the travelling support after the game. The keeper, who had apologised for his mistake after Saturday's game, applauded up to them in thanks for their chants and they sang his name in response. Bridges had been built and mistakes had been forgiven.
Pedro Porro had also drawn criticism from the fans after the Fulham game for his performance, his angry reaction afterwards and his defence of Vicario while using that Frank term 'true Spurs fans'. On Tuesday night, the Spaniard also came over to applaud up at the supporters and repeatedly put his hand to his heart.
The away section were note perfect throughout and at the final whistle they belted out a loud and true rendition of 'We love you Tottenham, we do' in answer to any suggestion that they were not playing their part.
"I think our fans, exceptional, travelling, 3,000 up here, the way they supported us throughout the game, singing, we also heard them singing and praising Vic throughout the game. That's togetherness," Frank told football.london.
"You could hear them here and it's a difficult place to come as away fans and be loud enough but we could hear them. They put so much effort into it, matched the effort from the team and that togetherness drove us forward and it gave us a more than well-deserved point."
On the pitch, Spurs just about played theirs. While the football was rarely better than in other recent domestic games, at least the team showed fight and character, something that was lacking in the derbies of previous weeks.
St James' Park has not been a happy hunting ground for Tottenham over the past couple of seasons. In fact it's been the scene of a few horror shows and this current Eddie Howe side came into the encounter off the back of seven wins in nine matches.
Newcastle are a team of giants with the likes of Burn, Woltemade and Thiaw and they constantly peppered Tottenham's box with deep crosses, corners, long throws and free-kicks to the back post. They sent 40 crosses in total into the visitors' area and it required the returning Cristian Romero and the impressive Kevin Danso to repel many of them.
Vicario was also proactive in punching or catching some of them. Some Newcastle fans appeared to take exception to that with the Italian having to report to the referee that he had been struck by thrown objects twice on the back of his legs. The official passed that on to the stadium's staff.
Spurs showed resilience if not attacking fluency. It was a fourth game in a row in which they failed to record a shot on target in the first half and in the end, Romero's two goals were the only efforts they did send between the sticks from their eight shots.
Newcastle in contrast had 19 efforts with seven on target and, four months into the job, Frank is yet to find the system or line-up that gets the best out of his attacking players.
Brennan Johnson returned to the starting line-up for the first time in almost a month and even though he was on the left, he showed more directness to his play than those who have filled the role before him.
He caused Tino Livramento problems, both in getting past him on a couple of occasions, including with one run and early low cross into the six yard box that was cut out at the last moment, but also with his goal-sniffing runs in behind.
The Wales international made a string of well-timed sprints behind the defence only to find Porro and Mohammed Kudus more intent on repeatedly passing sideways between each other.
Johnson also made a crucial goal line block from Livramento's shot in the second half.
Frank has often bemoaned losing the goals of Son and Solanke from his line-up this season, but he's often chosen to leave out the man who has scored 22 goals for the club in the past year or so.
Johnson appeared to leave the pitch a little stiffly in the 77th minute. Hopefully that was not another injury to add to Tottenham's list this Spurs' season but the coming days will tell.
Alongside Johnson, Randal Kolo Muani showed his ever-improving fitness with a performance full of running and pressing if not rewards, while Kudus continues to provide moments of what he can do amid otherwise decidedly mixed play.
The Ghana international provided a pinpoint cross for Romero's first goal and a dangerous low ball for Lucas Bergvall's first half backheel over the crossbar, but otherwise he was sloppy with his play, including a couple of needless moments of ball juggling on the edge of his own box that put the Spurs defence in danger when he lost possession.
Nobody in the Premier League has more than his five assists though, with Bruno Fernandes managing the same.
Bergvall played as a 10 in what was often a 4-2-3-1 formation and worked his socks off. The teenager Swede has a current fascination with backheels - which is mostly working for him - and he probably should have done better with the first half effort that flicked up over the bar.
Pape Matar Sarr and Rodrigo Bentancur worked hard behind him without progressing the ball forward much and it was only with the introduction of Xavi Simons, the £51million summer signing benched for the fourth game in a row, that the ball finally started getting sent into the Newcastle box more regularly.
At the other end though, with Johnson off the pitch, so the responsibility of trying to at least put off the towering Dan Burn from set pieces fell to Bentancur. The Uruguayan and the 6ft 7ins centre-back tangled from a late corner, both seeming to jostle with each other and the Newcastle man fell with little contact despite Bentancur's arms both being spread out wide rather than around him.
After a VAR check referee Tom Bramall was sent to his monitor to look at the incident and to the roar of the home crowd, he announced the spot kick. It was a harsh decision to penalise the Tottenham midfielder and Gordon duly slotted home his first Premier League goal since January.
"It's very disappointing to concede because for me it's never a penalty," Frank told football.london. "Even speaking to some from Newcastle, who didn't think it's a penalty. We need the consistency, because that penalty, that would be given two times a game. I think the referee's call on the pitch nailed it, and VAR can only be if it's clear and obvious."
After the game Romero, or certainly whoever runs his X account, retweeted Rio Ferdinand's post which said: "Disgraceful decision to reward #NUFC penalty… whoever controlling the VAR should be ashamed + the ref then reviews and should be also. Well done Newcastle."
In the end it was left to Romero to save the day and become Spurs' best attacker. The suspended Argentine was missed against Fulham, even if he had not been at his best against PSG.
The Tottenham captain loves to linger up front after a set piece and he showed exactly why in the game's final stages. First he got in front of Burn as expertly as his old team-mate Harry Kane would have to dive and head the ball past Aaron Ramsdale in the 78th minute.
Then came his 94th minute moment of magic as he fell to the floor under a tangle of bodies from a Mathys Tel corner as Ramsdale punched the ball up in the air. The 27-year-old reacted instantly though, leaping to his feet, running back and spinning around before launching into an overhead kick to send the ball bouncing through a string of astounded Newcastle players and into the far corner of the net.
It was Romero's first Premier League goal since August 2024 against Everton, and his first away goals since September 2023 at Burnley. According to Opta, it was also the first time Romero has scored more than once in a game in his 199th appearances in Europe's big-five leagues.
After scoring Romero ran to the left of the goal, cupping his ears to mimic Guimaraes' celebration earlier in the game, continuing the duo's spat that had included the Brazilian grabbing his throat in the summer 'friendly' in South Korea.
"The perfect bicycle kick, hit the shin, aiming for the bottom corner!" joked Frank afterwards. "Let's start by praising Cuti, I think he deserved that for all of the top performance, defending, on the ball, coolness, calmness, duels. And then getting up there and scoring two goals.
"I think the bicycle kick will most likely get a little bit more praise, but I think the header is more exceptional, the way he does that is better than many strikers."
Romero pointed to his international captain as his inspiration for that last-gasp leveller.
"I train every day with Leo Messi in the national team and I watch him. It's a beautiful goal," he said.
"It's very important [to get a point]. In the last three or four games, the team knows it's not been good enough. Today, the mentality to play like this, altogether it's a difficult time, but especially in this game, I love the mentality."
Frank admitted that big players like the proactive World Cup winner are crucial in clutch moments like that.
"We can set everything up nice tactically with good principles and all that and try to do it, and that's the foundation and hopefully we can make a great team, but you know sometimes it's decisive actions from key players and Cuti definitely did that today," said the Dane.
Romero and Guimaraes renewed acquaintances after the final whistle, the Brazilian irked by the Argentine's mocking celebration and throwing a couple of two-fingered salutes his way.
It looked set to spark into something more problematic for the Spurs captain as the two started to go head to head.
Then out of nowhere came Tel. The young Frenchman helped Romero with his corner and again the 20-year-old was on hand to aid his skipper by swooping in and pulling him away from the angry Brazilian.
Vicario also ran across to make sure the centre-back was taken well away from the provocation and Tel's involvement may well have proved vital for Romero, who was growing more and more agitated.
For Romero was already on a yellow card and had just returned from a suspension for accumulating five bookings. A second yellow card and the ensuing red for any physical confrontation could have proved rather problematic in terms of missed games.
In the end Romero was saved from himself as he had saved Spurs from themselves. They picked up a point on a night when many were fearing the worst.
Frank's celebrations when Romero's overhead kick hit the net said it all. This was not pretty by any stretch of the imagination but it was the kind of dramatic fightback that forges the spirit to move forward.
"I think it's hugely important. The PSG performance was good and I think the team gave everything against Fulham. It was just a nightmare game in some ways because you're down 2-0 after six minutes," he said.
"But then you keep going and get something out of it [today]. But that's the only way forward, we know that. If you're a tough runner, there's only one way, and that is to work hard and keep going, and the team did that very well today."
Saturday brings Frank's old side Brentford to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The Dane has plenty of love for his former employers but he would like nothing more than starting to turn around Spurs' wretched home form at their expense.
The coming days bring back-to-back home games with the Champions League clash with Slavia Prague in midweek, which marks the return of Son Heung-min to say a proper and emotional goodbye to the club he served with distinction for a decade.
The South Korean star netted nine goals in 10 games for LAFC before their MLS season came to a close with a play-off defeat and while the time was right after the Europa League triumph for Son to seek a fresh challenge, Tottenham could have done with his quality in the final third this season.
Despite the familiar faces who will greet him on Tuesday, the former captain will find a different Spurs team to the one he left. Whether that is a good thing still remains to be seen.
Frank is striving to prove it can be in the long run if he's given the time and patience that few Tottenham managers are allowed.
