Former England star Frank Lampard paid Newcastle United a huge compliment by talking about the Magpies in the same breath as Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
Newcastle head to Spurs on Sunday on a real high after passing a big test of character by taking four points from an available six against Man United and Everton this week. Staying unbeaten has kept Newcastle in the top six of the Premier League. Lampard paced the technical area and was at times left clutching straws for decisions as his side failed to break Newcastle's rhythm. But by the end - with his side failing to have a shot - there were no complaints over the winners.
Lampard said: “We’ve come through a period of playing Manchester United and Tottenham and Newcastle away – they are really tough matches and they’ve been close games. I thought we could have pushed more towards the end as well. It’s frustrating because I thought there were a lot of good aspects in that performance but not enough cutting edge."
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Reflecting on the game overall, Lampard said: "We more than held our own, especially at the beginning of the game to silence the crowd before they scored. In the second half we opened them up a lot but we just didn’t have that bit in the final third. It was two closely-matched teams in the game but in both boxes we were a bit short tonight.
"In a game like this it’s not always easy but we can be much more clinical. The amount of times we played really well, played through their midfield line, but got the last pass wrong or the pass before that wrong. If you do that, it’s hard to get clear-cut chances so there’s certainly work to be done on that level."
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