Newcastle United 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur (01/09/24) | Reaction: pg 48 | Goal posts: OP

[Shadow Puppets]

First half I thought we played well for large spells. The linesman issue stopped our momentum a bit, but I’d definitely put us down as the better team first half and deserved to be ahead.

 

The first 15 mins of the second half was bad… just couldn’t string two passes together and struggled to get out of our box. We rode our luck and were fortunate to not find ourselves behind.

 

After the subs we were much stronger… scored a good goal. Felt under control (to me) for the last 15 mins.

[M1tche]

7 minutes ago, jonny1403 said:

Not mentioning Krafth in this when he was the best player on the pitch is insane.

What!!??

 

He's also part of the reason we can't build attacks or keep the ball. All of him, Pope and Burn panic under any kind of press. 

 

Makes players not want to give them the ball, and it holds us back. If you like run, head and kick CBs then happy days for you, but we're beyond that as a team now. 

[cubaricho]

I know hindsight is 20/20 but if Isak squares that to Barnes and it goes 2-0 then I think the match ends up like 3 or 4 - 0. Spurs' heads would've dropped massively.

[Myleftboot]

9 minutes ago, STM said:

 

It's a real tricky one. Both have different strengths and weaknesses.

 

I think starting Kelly and using Hall as an attacking sub, is the best way forward.

It’s weird cos Kelly looks like a left sided centre back and Hall looks like a left sided midfielder

[Dandy Man]

Thought it was an okay performance, we aren't at our best but we're cobbling it together. We absorbed everything they had and caught them at the back with their absurdly aggressive setup, few occasions where they had to take yellow cards to break up counters too. Didn't feel particularly comfortable but hopefully we can build on this now.

[Gaztoon]

Playing nowhere near our best and still winning. That's what top sides do

[Joelinton7]

I’m out so have only been able to catch snippets on my phone. We looked awful with Spurs probing us relentlessly. How did we win? Don’t think we’ve put a good full 90 mins in this season but we’re unbeaten so can’t complain.

 

 

Edited 8 hours ago by Joelinton7

[TheBrownBottle]

For anyone who is interested in meaningless stats, this is our joint best three opening matches points haul since 95/96 - the only other time we had seven points after three games was when the king @Alan Pardew was the gaffer (11/12)

[gdm]

Awful performance 3 games. Unbeaten 

[LFEE]

3 minutes ago, M1tche said:

What!!??

 

He's also part of the reason we can't build attacks or keep the ball. All of him, Pope and Burn panic under any kind of press. 

 

Makes players not want to give them the ball, and it holds us back. If you like run, head and kick CBs then happy days for you, but we're beyond that as a team now. 

You’re mixing up his ability with performance. He was excellent today within his own parameters.

[Gawalls]

34 minutes ago, CPL said:

Only saw the 2nd half but Burn defended like a lion. 

Can lions defend 

 

 

Edited 8 hours ago by Gawalls

[christ]

Another game passes and I’ve no idea if we’re any good or not

We’re managing a few issues - patchwork back line, fitness (Gordon looks like a player who missed pre-season) - which is obviously necessitating a way of playing that doesn’t feel natural. Hopefully we’ll get there.

The fact we’re unbeaten is absolutely baffling to me, as we could quite easily have 0 points.

[gbandit]

29 minutes ago, M1tche said:

How we got anything out of that, let alone 3 points is beyond me. 

 

So many awful performances, some were decent, 1 stand out. 

 

Decent:

Bruno

Joelinton

Kelly

Hall

Barnes

Tonali

 

Standout:

Tino

Personally thought Joelinton had another poor game and I know Bruno didn’t have many options a couple of times but I don’t want to see him dribbling with the ball past multiple players, that’s not his game and he’ll always lose it

[AyeDubbleYoo]

5 minutes ago, Shadow Puppets said:

First half I thought we played well for large spells. The linesman issue stopped our momentum a bit, but I’d definitely put us down as the better team first half and deserved to be ahead.

 

The first 15 mins of the second half was bad… just couldn’t string two passes together and struggled to get out of our box. We rode our luck and were fortunate to not find ourselves behind.

 

After the subs we were much stronger… scored a good goal. Felt under control (to me) for the last 15 mins.

Same feelings, was very happy with the first half. We just still have a bit of fragility and lack of ability to keep the ball, which nearly got exposed. 

[Shadow Puppets]

1 minute ago, gdm said:

Awful performance 3 games. Unbeaten 

It wasn’t awful man. 20 mins of it were awful. The rest was a pretty competitive even game, with us edging the first half (IMO).

[jonny1403]

6 minutes ago, M1tche said:

What!!??

 

He's also part of the reason we can't build attacks or keep the ball. All of him, Pope and Burn panic under any kind of press. 

 

Makes players not want to give them the ball, and it holds us back. If you like run, head and kick CBs then happy days for you, but we're beyond that as a team now. 

Of course we are but we talking about performances in today’s game. And Krafth was an absolute rock.

[Yorkie]

1 minute ago, Joelinton7 said:

I’m out so have only been able to catch snippets on my phone. We looked awful with Spurs probing us relentlessly. How did we win? Don’t think we’ve put a good full 90 mins in this season but we’re unbeaten so can’t complain.

 

The main reason we won is that on two occasions we punished Spurs. In the first case, they switched off from a throw and Barnes clinically put it away. In the second case, their idiotic high line was taken advantage of.

 

The other big reason is the mettle we have in the side and the tactical strength of our manager. 

 

We probably rode our luck to some extent - one of their wingers (Odobert) was absolutely pish and I bet they'd have nicked another goal if they had someone instead of him with a modicum of attacking instinct. 

[Amir_9]

One month closer to Botman being back and Schar back after the break - that will be huge.

[Andy84]

Man Utd esque from us today 

[TheBrownBottle]

1 minute ago, Shadow Puppets said:

It wasn’t awful man. 20 mins of it were awful. The rest was a pretty competitive even game, with us edging the first half (IMO).

34% possession, 71% pass accuracy, Spurs having more than double the number of shots - they pinned us in after the first 15 mins.  We were utter shite from 15 mins until the breakaway goal 

[Peppe]

17 minutes ago, Guybrush said:

Most?! 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Just now, TheBrownBottle said:

34% possession, 71% pass accuracy, Spurs having more than double the number of shots - they pinned us in after the first 15 mins.  We were utter shite from 15 mins until the breakaway goal 

Massive exaggeration. 

[Gawalls]

There’s only one statistic that counts… XG - how did we do on that, does anybody know?

[RodneyCisse]

9 minutes ago, Shadow Puppets said:

First half I thought we played well for large spells. The linesman issue stopped our momentum a bit, but I’d definitely put us down as the better team first half and deserved to be ahead.

 

The first 15 mins of the second half was bad… just couldn’t string two passes together and struggled to get out of our box. We rode our luck and were fortunate to not find ourselves behind.

 

After the subs we were much stronger… scored a good goal. Felt under control (to me) for the last 15 mins.

Felt like we had moments playing vs the ref too.

[Andy]

1 minute ago, christ said:

Another game passes and I’ve no idea if we’re any good or not

We’re managing a few issues - patchwork back line, fitness (Gordon looks like a player who missed pre-season) - which is obviously necessitating a way of playing that doesn’t feel natural. Hopefully we’ll get there.

The fact we’re unbeaten is absolutely baffling to me, as we could quite easily have 0 points.

 

Aye it can easily be spun both ways...

 

"We're winning despite not playing well, which is the sign of a top team"

 

Or

 

"We're winning but the performances are completely unsustainable"

 

No idea where I'm at with it yet, so I'm just going to take the points and hope we play a lot better after the break