Newcastle United 2 - 3 Tottenham Hotspur: Three first half goals dispatch Magpies

Tottenham Hotspur played the role of spoiler as they disrupted the celebration of the takeover by defeating Newcastle United, 3-2.

Rumors of two positive COVID tests threw things for a loop, but word came out that these tests were false positives and Nuno had almost full selection outside of injuries. He opted to start a back four of Royal, Dier, Romero and Reguilon. Tanguy Ndombele slotted into the #10 role ahead of Skipp and Hojbjerg while Sonny, Lucas and Kane, rounded out the attacking band.

Match Timeline

2’ - Goal Newcastle (Callum Wilson) - Well that was awful. Royal blocks a pass but can’t control it, keeping Newcastle on the attack. The ball is filtered to the right flank and the cross is perfect. Wilson gets on the end of it with a powerful header. 1-0.

8’ - Andre “I give warnings” Marriner in mid-season form. Two late, hard challenges by Newcastle players are met with warnings and smiles by the center official.

16’ - GOAL TOTTENHAM! (Tanguy Ndombele) - Just as I was complaining about the lethargic attack, Reguilon feeds Tanguy at the top of the penalty area. He calmly blasts a shot into the side netting to level it up. 1-1!

22’ - GOAL TOTTENHAM! (Harry Kane) - What looked like an obvious offside that even Kane shrugged about turns out to be onside as VAR confirms that Manquillo keeps him on. Kane flicks the ball over the keeper and into the net. 2-1!

25’ - Ndombele goes down due to a head injury after clashing with Lucas. Thankfully it looks like he’s okay.

33’ - Marriner finally books Longstaff after a reckless challenge on Lucas.

39’ - Almost another for Spurs! Son with a fantastic corner kick into the penalty area. Lucas is left alone and puts a great header on it, but he finds the crossbar instead of the net. So close to 3-1.

41’ - Play has stopped for a medical emergency in the stands. Unclear what happened but a medic has been summoned with a defibrillator. Here’s hoping it’s nothing serious requiring its use.

**PLAY HAS BEEN SUSPENDED**

Andre Marriner has sent the players to the dressing room while the emergency is handled.

45’ - Play has resumed after the emergency has been taken care of. The fourth official says there will seven minutes remaining in the half and all played as stoppage.

45’+3’ - GOAL TOTTENHAM (Heung-Min Son) - BOOM! Absolutely wonderful football by Spurs started by a pass breakup by Royal and Lucas winning the deflection. He links up with Ndombele before feeding Kane, who passes it across the net to Sonny. He won’t get an easier goal as he taps it in. 3-1!

45’+6’ - Close one for Newcastle as Saint-Maximin gets an effort off and tries to curl it far post. Hugo stayed in place and watched it thankfully go wide.

45’+7’ - Royal is down and Newcastle continues their attack, eventually broken up and Romero puts the ball out. Royal gets treatment and replay shows at worst he got his cleat stuck and rolled his ankle. Ultimately, the fullback looks to be fine.

HALF-TIME: Spurs lead Newcastle United, 3-1.

Second Half

46’ - We’re underway again at St. James Park. No changes for either side.

54’ - Hard challenge puts Kieran Clark into the book for Newcastle. He basically had to because Ndombele and Sonny were sprinting down the middle and Kane had acres of space to feed them.

60’ - Ndombele tried to recreate his first half goal. He takes a simple touch to cut in and create space before firing a shot for the corner. He makes good contact but it’s too high and goes over the crossbar.

61’ - SUBSTITUTIONS, NEWCASTLE: Jonjo Shelvey comes on for Sean Longstaff.

64’ - Emerson Royal goes into the book for his professional foul to slow up the Newcastle counter.

68’ - Another booking for the match. Isaac Hayden goes into the book officially, even though he could have gone in a few times by now.

72’ - Spurs have largely controlled this half. They’ve kept possession and Newcastle have done little to stop them getting into the final third. The couple of chances Newcastle have had have been half-chances at best.

77’ - SUBSTITUTION, NEWCASTLE: Jacob Murphy and Ryan Fraser come in for Callum Wilson and Joe Willock.

78’ - Ndombele spends a few seconds clowning a few Newcastle players deep in his own end, forcing Shelvey to foul him. He earns a yellow card for it.

79’ - Shouts for a penalty by Spurs as they try to break down the attack, but replay shows that while Ritchie raises his arms, the ball came off of his head. Aside, can we make a sub please?

83’ - SENDING OFF: The Jonjo Shelvey Experience must be a wild one for Newcastle fans. He cuts down Reguilon from behind on the break and picks up a second yellow card. Newcastle are down to ten.

89’ - Goal Newcastle (Eric Dier OG): Wow. I don’t even know where to begin. Dier has nobody around him and goes for a very low header, misses, and goes off his knee. Into the net it goes past a diving Hugo. 3-2 in one of the dumbest possible ways.

90’ - There will be four added minutes.

90’+4’ - Joelinton goes into the book after a rough challenge on Ndombele. His argument falls on deaf ears.

FULL TIME: Newcastle United 2-3 Tottenham Hotspur

Thoughts on the Match:

• First and foremost, we’re very happy to hear that the fan who had the medical emergency in the stands is doing well. Truly a scary moment but it has a very positive ending.
• Man of the match for me is Sergio Reguilon. This was arguably his best match since joining Spurs. Bright in attack, solid defending and he gave Newcastle fits all day.
• The first fifteen minutes were a bit scary. Spurs looked lethargic after giving up the second minute goal, but they calmed down and took it to a bad side.
• Outside of his rather dumb own goal, I thought Dier played well. He and Romero looked comfortable together and stifled most attacks.
• Kane breaking his duck like he did will never not be funny to me. Nobody thought he was on and Sergio running halfway across the pitch to tackle him for a celebration is wonderful.
• On the flip side, I would really like to know why Nuno didn’t make a single sub, especially coming off the international break.
• Spurs move up to fifth on the table following the win. They have a midweek match with Vitesse just across the channel in Conference League