Which means that is us. Thanks for your company and comments – sorry I couldn’t use them all – and enjoy the rest of the weekend. Peace.
And here’s John Brewin’s match report.
Bruno Guimaraes is delighted to be a footballer but he wants to be “here with these guys; these guys make me happy”. He’s proud and everything in his life has become like a dream and doesn’t have the words to describe it, so thanks his family and announces that his son is called Matteo.
“An unbelievable character, player,” says Callum Wilson of “an emotional guy”. He also notes that by this time this season, Newcastle hadn’t won, so they’re not getting carried away, but things are slowly coming together. He didn’t expect his goal to be disallowed because Lloris ran into him, and finds that VAR gets in the way, saying it’s weird to celebrate, stop, then celebrate again. Asked about England, he’d like to force his way into the World Cup squad – he’s trying to score more goals and improve his all-round game – and saw the stadia going in Qatar when there rehabbing his knee. He said he’d be back, and though I’d be surprised, he’s a good player.
Anyway, back to Spurs, I don’t want to write Antonio Conte off because he’s a very good manager. When he was at Chelsea and things were going badly, he took some time to analyse why, then changed formation to three at the back and a box midfield, which was a stroke of inspiration. I guess the difference there was the players he had; I’m not sure that, at Spurs, he has the defenders to play a flat back-four or the midfielders to play a three in that area.
“When Everton hired Frank Lampard,” returns Eric Peterson, “he brought with him two major concerns based on his prior stops in Chelsea and Derby: his man-management skills and his tactical nous. Re the former, I give him full marks: the way that Everton have competed through the homestretch of last year’s survival battle and the early stages of this season bear this out, along with individual cases like the development of Anthony Gordon and the renaissance of Alex Iwobi. Now, as far as tactics, that’s actually a concern. I personally love the 4-3-3 that Lampard has stuck with but also recognise that it’s inherently flawed unless your midfield is anything less than outstanding (we’re seeing that on a weekly basis with Spurs, including right now). I’m not sure we have what it takes yet to use it full-time, although it’s certainly way stronger than it has been in recent years, and I trust Lampard to know how to coach up a midfielder. I’d like to see a little more pragmatism when the occasion calls for something narrower and thus, maybe, easier to connect defence to offence (say 4-2-3-1, especially now that we have Dominic Calvert-Lewin healthy and showing some good form!)”
Lampard is one of those players I thought might be a good manager: he’s a bright bloke and had to think hard about how to make the most of his ability. I’ve yet to see a team managed by him look like they’ve a proper plan, but he’s learning on the job, so if he’s honest about his failings, he’s got time to get good. I don’t think he is yet, though.
You’ve got to hand it to Howe as well, who probably wasn’t first, second or third choice for the job. But he came in with a vision – that his players are able to carry out – and it’s hard to imagine anyone else doing a better job because he seems to be getting the absolute maximum out of his squad. And, with Isak to come back and another state wealth-sponsored transfer window only a couple of months away, they’ve a real chance of qualifying for Europe at the very least.
The Newcastle players get together to share the joy of a massive win. They’re an interesting situation, because most of these players won’t have thought they’d ever reach such rarefied heights or be part of a club that will probably, at some point in the near future, contest the title. But here they are, and you can understand why they’re loving it and why there’s such commitment and togetherness.
Full-time: Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Newcastle United
A terrific win for Newcastle, who motor into the top four, and a dreadful week for Spurs, who stay third.
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90+3 min “I don’t support either of these teams but time wasting really gets on my nerves,” says Sam Campbell. “any idea why referee’s have stopped making players go off at the nearest point when they are substituted? Seemed to last about half a season before being scrapped.”
I saw it happen at Stamford Bridge yesterday, so it’s not gone altogether, but I agree it’s not uniformly observed. But with apologies for going on, if we standardised and displayed timekeeping, it’d still matter a bit because it’s a way of halting momentum, but it’d also matter a lot less.
90+3 min Newcastle have disappeared the last 15 minutes very well, but Spurs don’t really have a clue how to increase or sustain pressure.
90+1 min There’ll be five added minutes which is, as almost ever, a joke. We lost two while VAR checked the Kane goal and there’ve also been bookings, fouls and cards; why can’t we stop the click every time the ball goes dead, thereby allowing us to watch an actual game of football – with the same, standardised timekeeping parameters? It should not matter, for example, how quickly a player can retrieve the ball from the crowd, or from the back of the net after a goal.
90 min A long ball releases Wood, who lets it bounce because Bentancur misjudges the flight; Bentancur shoves him, then Royal knocks him over and is booked. That is such foolish behaviour, because by the time the free-kick’s taken at least another 30 seconds will’ve departed.
88 min Two more changes for Newcastle, Shelvey and Wood replacing Wilson and Guimaraes. Wilson takes his time departing, as you would, moving away from the touchline to Dier’s intense consternation, then holds up again to applaud the away end and Royal expresses angst. But eventually we’re back under way.
86 min Again, the corner is a poor one but Perisic picks up the loose ball outside the box and curls a decent cross into the middle which Dier heads just wide – before the flag goes up for offside.
Updated
86 min Moura drives down the wing and slings over a cross, to which Perisic can’t get. But a terrific diag, from Bentancur I think, frees Moura again, and he wins a corner that yields another.
Updated
84 min Pope is booked for timewasting, which prompts me to remind you that Newcastle wasted a load of time at Anfield and wound up losing when the ref added it (some of it) on at the end of 90 minutes.
82 min Back to the top-four point, the big unknown this season is the World Cup. I’m totally guessing when I say this, but my guess is that quarter-final defeat is the best outcome for the clubs of the players involved. Five weeks off doesn’t seem helpful, and coming back having lost a semi or final, then having to go straight back to the grind doesn’t either.
81 min Final changes for Spurs, Doherty and Davies on for Sanchez and Lenglet. I can’t say I’m certain how that might yield an equaliser, but am certain that Conte knows more about the old association football than do I.
79 min “I think Newcastle have to be considered a top-four contender along with the teams above them in the table at the moment,” emails Rick Harris. “I wouldn’t write off Liverpool so that makes City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, United and Newcastle fighting for four Champions League places. I think we can safely say City will be in the top four so that means six clubs are fighting for three places.”
If Newcastle can get Isak fit, they’ve got a chance, but think it’ll be a step too far for them this season. My best guess is City, Arsenal, Chelsea, United, but I’d be at all surprised to be wrong.
77 min Spurs do, though, sustain this attack, Kane spinning in the box to caress a ball into Son. From an acute angle, he drives low and the ball hits Burn’s foot and runs up his body; Spurs want a penalty, but I’m not even sure it touched his hand, never mind in an unnatural position from a fair enough distance away.
77 min Royal heads a searching ball down and back for Moura, but Joelinton does well to barge him out of it.
76 min Newcastle have the best defensive record in the league, so they’re part of the reason Spurs haven’t been able to sustain any pressure. But it’s also the case that Spurs aren’t set up to do that because they lack a midfield tempo-setter, midfield enterprise, and wingers stretching the play.
75 min Change for Newcastle, Murphy replacing Willock – who replaced him in the starting XI.
74 min In the WSL, Man United have beaten Leicester 1-0 – they’re now second, behind Arsenal who beat Liverpool 2-0 in the early game, on alphabetical order – and West Ham have beaten Reading 3-2.
72 min On Schar, by the way, he’s hit a couple of tremendous long passes this afternoon. He’s another who’s thriving under Howe – and as I type that, a poor pass from Sanchez is intercepted by another, Joelinton, but Dier is on-hand to intercede.
71 min Newcastle force a corner and try their usual ploy, men heading for the front post to create space at the back. Schar wins the header too, but can’t make anything of it and Spurs clear.
69 min Lovely from Kane, who draws men towards him even though it’s clear he’s looking for the pass outside him to Perisic. And when he makes it, his man has a sight of goal, but can only pass a tame effort straight at Pope.
68 min Wilson leaps into Lloris as he kicks clear from hand, gets nowhere near the ball, and is booked.
66 min Skipp is booked for a foul I missed, then he’s replaced by Lucas Moura. On which point, I was wondering if Moura might be someone who can help resolve Spurs’ attacking midfield issues. Given they play with wing-backs and he’s not one, perhaps his ability to run with the ball and shoot from distance can be deployed centrally.
64 min “Nonsense,” says Brendan Murphy about my Lampard observation. “I don’t know what it is with you guys and Lampard. He kept Everton up last season and they’re improving this season. He’s steadied what was a very turbulent club, made them solid at the back, converted Iwobi into a decent central-midfielder and they’re very well organised. Obviously he’s from the entitled golden generation and he’s part of the unsavoury Redknapp clan, but if you can just set your understandable prejudices to one side and take look at what he’s actually done to a club that was in uproar by the end of Benitez’s reign, you should be able to see that there’s been substantial progress.”
I’ve no prejudices against Lampard, I’ve just not seen much that makes me think he’s a good manager. Crediting him with keeping Everton up, when he was part of getting them into relegation trouble to begin with, is a reach, I think. And, though I agree he’s done a great job with Iwobi and got the fans on-side, I’ll need to see a lot more before thinking he’s going to take them anywhere.
63 min Slowly but perceptibly, Spurs are increasing the pressure on Newcastle.
62 min Son’s corner swings out like a sister on its way into the middle, so the lino raises his flag.
61 min No side has scored as many from corners as Spurs, but for some reason they go short and nothing comes from it; when they win another, seconds later, I’d expect to see the ball go into the box.
61 min Conte sends on Perisic for Sessegnon and Spurs win another corner.
60 min Son runs at Guimaraes and ends up megging him almost by mistake, so Guimaraes introduces shin to shin, doing well to avoid a caution.
59 min Sessegnon pulls back the wriggling Almiron and is booked.
58 min Not initially! Willock drifts inside and away from Skipp, looking to curl a low one inside the far post. It’s not going in, but Wilson runs onto it unmolested and flings a foot that sends the ball just wide. Spurs still look static in midfield and shaky at the back.
57 min But for the fact that it arrived – pick the bones out of that, R v White fans – that goal was not coming. Can Spurs build on it?
56 min We can’t see if he did or didn’t, so the goal stands. What a player! What an inspiration!
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55 min Oh man, did Sanchez get a flick as the ball crossed the box? If he did, Kane was offside…
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Newcastle United (Kane 54)
Harry Kane rescues the Harry Kane team! The corner goes near post and Lenglet does very well to Steve Bould a flick on while, at the back post, Trippier loses Kane who nods in from a couple of yards. Game on!
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52 min A ball towards the far post sees Joelinton and Emerson tussling. There’s a brief look at whether Emerson used an arm, but a corner is the call and that comes to nowt , Spurs getting down the other end and winning one of their own.
51 min “There’s been quite a bit of positive comment about the style that Newcastle play with now, especially in contrast with the pretty dull approach taken by Benitez and Bruce. But what is perhaps most impressive from the coaching side is how defensively good they are, and what good signings they seem to have made. While Bournemouth always played an attractive style of football under Howe they were consistently poor defensively (so had to take an approach of trying to score lots rather than keep the score against them down). And very few of Howe’s signings after Bournemouth’s promotion made a great impact at the club, they were mainly relying on the players that got them up. He’s obviously gone away after he left them and worked on his weaknesses. Perhaps that’s not a great surprise, it’s his profession and vocation after all. But there does seem to be a presumption that managers can only ever be one thing, that they can’t really develop or change the way they tend to set up a team. Yet we think that players can improve and change, so why not managers too?”
I agree. I find his press-conference belligerence, when asked about the provenance of his club’s money and improvement, distasteful in the extreme. but he’s done and is doing a terrific job.
49 min Joelinton barges down the outside of Emerson and wins a corner; whatever was said in the Spurs dressing room at half-time, it’s not yet had any discernible effect. Trippier then goes short, coaxes a fine cross into the box when the ball comes back … and the flag goes up for offside. That’s quite some oversight because it looked like a rehearsed move, so there are no excuses for being caught out like that.
48 min More Newcastle pressure, Almiron shanking a volley after a corner is partially cleared. But Newcastle stay on Spurs, who’ve never seemed more like the Harry Kane team.
47 min “Greetings from Pittsburgh!” begins Eric Peterson. “I’m an Evertonian with a family full of Fulham supporters and a best friend who hails from Bradford. Our circle is enjoying a quirky taste of schadenfreude right now thanks to the Cottagers, with their win over Aston Villa resulting in the sacking of a Liverpool legend and their win over Leeds maybe pushing their manager to the brink. I wondered about Fulham’s chances for a hat-trick of post-match sackings, checked their fixtures, and saw that ... uh-oh ... their next game is against Everton. Be careful what you wish for.”
I think Marsch and Lampard are safe for now, but yup, both would be among my favourites not to start next season.
46 min Those near the front as getting soaked, and there aren’t many knocking about those seats – which makes perfect sense, I’d be sticking about on the concourse to fantasise about the cheese room.
46 min It’s absolutely tipping it down in N17, but we go again.
The players are back with us.
“Spurs want it to be one way,” says Robert Walnut. “But it’s the other way.”
Spurs are in trouble. There’s a total lack of confidence, coherence and control in how they play, and if there’s no second-half improvement, the locals will, no doubt, share some sentiments with manager and players.
Half-time reading:
Half-time: Tottenham Hotspurs 0-2 Newcastle United
Boos from some of the crowd as the players depart; Newcastle took their goals beautifully but haven’t had to play especially well for their advantage, because Spurs are poor.
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45+3 min Son controls a long pass from Sessegnon but the movement means he’s facing away from goal. So on the edge, he tees up Bentancur, whose shot is blocked.
45+2 min Make your own minds up, if you fancy.
🗣️ "Lloris believes he was fouled"
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 23, 2022
A brilliant finish from Callum Wilson gives Newcastle the lead against Spurs pic.twitter.com/qSvbIct9nB
45+1 min “Lester Freamon?” asks Kevin Simons. “Yeah, but what would Bunk Moreland make of it?”
I feel like you’re goading me to post that scene in which him and McNutty communicate using nothing but versions of a single four-letter word. I fear it may not be dissimilar to the patter in the Spurs dressing room at half-time.
45 min There’ll be three added minutes.
44 min “That is getting ugly,” returns Yash Gupta. “I suppose that’s the limit of Conte’s coaching. He can’t make not great defender into a great one. Spurs had chances to score but Newcastle’ve had as well apart from their goals. And my goodness this defence!”
I know what you mean, but my main issue with this team is their inability to control tempo in midfield, which puts pressure on the back three, and the lack of player in the middle of the pitch able to do the unexpected. When Kane drops, there needs to be someone making a third-man run ahead of him, or him dropping needs to be an occasional intervention.
43 min And credit to Howe, who’s clearly spotted the potential of someone it would’ve been easy to write off, then worked with him to realise the potential we saw in MLS.
42 min Miguel Almiron, though!
WHAT A GOAL! Tottenham hotspur 0-2 Newcastle United (Almiron 40)
It’s that man again! Lloris chips a pass out to Sessegnon on the left but Longstaff is in quickly, winning the ball and freeing Almiron who veers away from Sessegnon then stamps on the gas to flay past Lenglet, down the right of the box, takes an extra touch as he opens his body, then punches an expert’s finish under the keeper’s dive! That is sensational behaviour!
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40 min Spurs have lost their way here, and I hate to repeat myself but they don’t have players able to sustain pressure with possession.
38 min Joelinton collects possession and lashes a shot not that far wide of the far post, but the flag was up.
36 min now Newcastle counter, Wilson in space at inside-right and controlling Longstaff’s pass nicely. But his pass to Almiron is poor, and Spurs get the ball away.
36 min “I suppose we can at least be grateful that Newcastle aren’t owned by the UK government,” says Simon McMahon. “Now that really would be embarrassing.”
It’s all connected, but. As Lester Freamon would say, “All the pieces matter.”
35 min Spurs try and redress the balance, Sessegnon away down the left, but his cross sails miles away from anyone and towards the nearest Tube station, as we learn that Bentancur was booked for bitching about the goal.
33 min The goal stands and rightly so: no offside, no foul and no handball, but yes sill goalkeeping and fine finishing.
32 min Lloris is raging – he wants a free-kick – but he ran into Wilson because he made a stupid decision to come out, which he then executed stupidly by not humping clear. VAR is taking a look…
Updated
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Newcastle United (Wilson 31)
A disaster for Hugo Lloris! Schar clips another fine long ball over the top and Lloris charges out of his goal to clear, only to control with his thighs and collide with Wilson, who collects the loose ball as the keeper flays his way to the ground. Wilson turns, clips a fine chip over Dier, and that’s a tremendous finish.
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29 min Bentancur robs Longstaff deep inside the Tottenham half and sets Kane away at inside-left; he does well to cut inside, opening a shooting lane and letting go a low one, that Pope saves via outstretched studs. Longstaff will be extremely relieved to see the ball eventually cleared.
27 min I feel like I say this every game I do, but the penalty law is a big problem – you can’t be getting free goals for minor infractions. The answer is to let refs decide if an infringement has prevented a goalscoring opportunity and if it has, inside the box, or outside, it’s a penalty, and if not, it’s a direct free-kick.
25 min Newcastle win a free-kick and stick a ball into the box, Wilson trying to turn a shot goalwards. He misses and wears a little kick from Lenglet, one of those that outside the box might be a foul but inside it, isn’t one you’d feel comfy awarding a penalty for.
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24 min “That guy on the lamppost is good in the air and all,” Justin Kavanagh, “but he has no right foot! Perhaps there’s a late-career opening on the continent for Ronaldo after all.”
Because he became such a remorseless accumulator, it’s easy to forget the feet Ronaldo had as a young player – my favourite version of him was the 06-07 version, when he was still a right-winger looking to go on the outside, but also a cold goalscorer.
23 min Skipp breaks ahead of play and Bentancur, out on the right, turns to slide him a decent pass down the line. The ball then moves over to Sessegnon, who drags a shot that earns a corner via two defelections, Spurs’ first of the game … which comes to nowt.
21 min Emerson shanks a ball to no one that winds up a terrific switch for Sessegnon. But double-teamed, he has to go backwards, and Spurs’ attack peters out.
20 min Dier takes the ball and goes short, gets ball a pass he doesn’t want and, looking for Lloris, instead punches past the far post. He’ll have swallowed his nether regions there, and won’t be comfortable with the corner coming in, but Spurs clear it as far as Almiron, who, from outside the box, lifts a speculative shot past the far post.
18 min I guess you could drop one of the midfielders and play Kane there too, or to keep Son in his preferred position.
18 min If you could clone Kane and were committed to 3-5-2, would you stick Son at wing-back so he could play behind himself?
17 min This is a decent game, both teams looking to get the ball forward. Kane aside, we’ve yet to see much quality in the final third, but there’s at least the suggestion that there’ll soon be some.
15 min Sessegnon is coming into the game, skirting around Trippier and standing up a cross which is cleared to Bissouma on the edge … and he larrups over the top.
14 min The question, of course, is how you do that – does a midfielder stick on him or does a centre-back go with him. Because Spurs don’t have anyone coming from behind with the instinct to hit the box, I’d be tempted to gamble with the latter.
13 min Kane is pulling Newcastle all over place, again coming short to send Sessegnon away down the left. He’s offside, but if someone doesn’t get to grips with him soon, Spurs will score.
11 min Harry Kane is just rrrridiculous. Again, he drops deep, and again he slides in a delectable pass, putting Son in on Pope! The first touch is good enough, from maybe the league’s best one-on-one finisher, but he waits perhaps a stride too many to attempt his second, a lift over the keeper, who’s too close to him for that, and it comes off his body, allowing Trippier to clear before the ball can dribble over the line.
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9 min Newcastle, not owned by the Saudi state, will be training at Riyadh during the World Cup, we’re reminded. How absolutely darling for them.
8 min Seeing that Royal challenge again, I now think it was penalty, but I can see why it wasn’t given.
7 min …Schar wins the first header on the far side of the box but Lloris fists away and Spurs get the ball clear.
7 min Newcastle win another corner…
6 min I can’t lie, when I saw that happen, I assumed Royal had clumsily barged Joelinton over – in my defence, I am in row Z – but once he’d been caught, he played the situation perfectly.
5 min Schar, wide on the right and on roughly halfway, drops a fine ball into the box for Joelinton and for a second it looks like he’s in. But Royal does brilliantly to stay close without giving away a foul, so that when Big Joe, as Steve Bruce knew him, swings back his leg to shoot, he boots Royal, the two fall together, and the upshot is a corner – which comes to nowt.
3 min Already, there’s a better tempo about Spurs, Kane dropping deep and setting Royal away. He squares to Skipp who pokes one more to Son, and Son dips inside his man then lands a curler onto the roof of the net. Much, much better from Conte’s men.
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2 min Joelinton seems be out on the left today, with Longstaff and Guimaraes in front of the back four and Willock in front of them.
1 min The cameras at the new Spurs ground are way too high – I feel like I’m at Newcastle away. But I can just about make out Son, skating towards the box and ramming a rising shot that’s straight at Pope.
1 min Away we go!
OH MY DAYS!
This guy pic.twitter.com/Mqfncwp7U4
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) October 22, 2022
Here come the teams!
Back to the top of the table, I wondered if, watching Arsenal against Leeds last weekend, they’d run out of form or won despite a rare poor performance because that’s what the best teams do. Their performance this afternoon suggested the latter, though now they’re through in the Europa, a midweek rest for the first XI might be restorative. The thing is, though, this season more than any other will work in favour of those clubs with big squads, making the league an even greatest test of financial resources than usual.
“A year ago Spurs lost at West Ham, barely scraped past Burnley and got thumped by Ole’s United,” emails Yash Gupta. “So when Conte came in, it was fresh to see players passing the ball around just to feel it instead of always trying to launch a counter. I really enjoyed Spurs since then until the game at West Ham this season when at around 66 minutes this realisation came, there’s no point in watching this game. We ain’t doing anything to score a goal and by the end West Ham should’ve won it. I remember against Southampton under Mourinho on New Year’s day when for the first time I felt at around 55 minutes – there’s just no point. There is no clear plan of how we’re going to string five passes together never mind score a goal.
Spurs fans were staring at another crushing run of mid-table mediocrity before Conte. He brought passion. And so everything felt good. Yes we were never going to win the title or challenge for it this season. But I just want to watch Spurs play without fear. What’s the point in this cowardly play and for what? So we don’t concede goals. If not for Hugo Wednesday night would’ve been a historic shellacking anyway. I hope Conte realises this. Winning ugly ain’t good and here at Spurs, Mourinho found out these players are not suited to that either. I firmly believe Conte will bring success. He just needs to be brave.”
It’s very hard not to watch the teams who’ve beaten Spurs this season and think hmm, managers on the way up and at the cutting edge, versus a manager past his best, from whom the game is getting away. I’m not saying he’s not been brilliant, not at all – his performance in winning the title with Chelsea is one of the best in the Premier League era, but I wonder if he’s prepared to change his principles in line with the way the game has changed since then. I also wonder if those principles are why he’s consistently failed in the Champions League.
Eddie Howe is delighted for Guimaraes, who travelled down alone, late last night and was very emotional to become a father. He wants his team to be adaptable, but they also have a style they want to stick to.
Conte, meanwhile, says Hojbjerg and Romero are injured and today is a difficult game, so the team need the fans to stay close.
“Not sure if I agree with the assertion that Spurs lack class in midfield,” says Kieran McHugh. “Rodrigo Bentancur is one of the most underrated midfielders in the league. He does lack this class in depth though, agreed. Also Leicester won the league by soaking up pressure and using Vardy’s pace and clinical finishing alongside Mahrez.”
I think Bentancur is decent too, but I don’t think he’d get into any other “big six” midfield. And, while it’s true that Leicester won the league in a particular style – though I’d not leave Ngolo Kanté out of any description of how they did it – the standard has gone up massively since then. They’d not be champions now, just as Conte’s Chelsea wouldn’t either.
Looking again at that Spurs side, I’ve a question: from where is creativity supposed to emanate? Skipp, Bissouma and Bentancur have their qualities, but none are renowned for their passing, dribbling or goalscoring while, in wide areas, Emerson and Sessegnon are both raw. And there’s not much on the bench either, unless Conte were to stick Bryan Gil, whom there’s no evidence he rates, inside. I don’t really get it, because even Conte’s Chelsea team that won the title had Fabregas, Hazard and one of Pedro or Willian in the middle of the pitch.
Back to those earlier results, by the way, Leeds have replaced Leicester in the bottom three, while Wolves look in for a long, hard winter.
What about Miguel Almirón, by the way? After scoring just once last season, he’s already bagged five this, most recently a beauty in midweek. He always grafted his behind off, but is now showing the verve we saw in MLS, that is why Newcastle signed him.
Updated
Southampton-Arsenal has finished 1-1, meaning Arsenal stay top but just two points in front of Man City – and five in front of Spurs. Southampton move up to 15th while, elsewhere, Fulham won 3-2 at Leeds, Villa marked Steven Gerrard’s sacking by thumping Brentford 4-0 – of their goals, three came in the first 14 minutes – and Leicester clattered Wolves 4-0.
The thing with Spurs is, and will continue to be, their lack of midfield class. There’s no permutation available to Conte – that Conte has made available to himself – which allows them to outplay a decent side. I think the 3-5-2 is better for them than the 3-4-3 because it means they’re not outnumbered in that area while giving Son greater freedom, but you can’t challenge for titles on the counter-attack.
As for Newcastle, Eddie Howe brings in Joe Willock for Jacob Murphy; Guimarães starts, despite becoming a father a couple of days ago. I’m sure there’s a gag here about watching Spurs play to catch up on missed sleep, but I’m far too mature to make it.
Back to our teams, Conte makes five changes to the side that subsided so abjectly at Old Trafford: at wing-back, Emerson Royal returns from suspension, replacing Matt Doherty while, on the other side, it’s Ryan Sessegnon not Perisic. In the middle of defence, Clement Lenglet and Davison Sanchez are in for Ben Davies and the injured Cristian Romero, while in midfield, Oliver Skipp makes his first start of the season in place of the also-injured Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Today’s other lates scores:
Aston Villa 4-0 Brentford
Leeds 1-3 Fulham
Wolves 0-4 Leicester
Before we have a look at the teams in more detail, let me alert you to the closing stages at st Mary’s, where Southampton and Arsenal are locked at 1-1.
Teams!
Tottenham Hotspur (3-5-2): Lloris; Lenglet, Sanchez, Dier; Royal, Skipp, Bentancur, Bissouma, Sessegnon; Son, Kane. Subs: Forster, Doherty, Gil, Perisic, Spence, Tanganga, Moura, Davies, White.
Newcastle United (4-2-3-1): Pope; Trippier, Botman, Schar, Burn; Joelinton, Longstaff; Willock, Guimarães, Almiron; Wilson. Subs: Karius, Lascelles, Shelvey, Lewis, Targett, Manquillo, Wood, Fraser, Murphy.
Referee: Jarred Gillet (Gold Coast, Queensland)
Updated
Preamble
Football – and modern life – and the human psyche – love a crisis. There’s little more engaging than misery – especially, though not uniquely, when it isn’t yours – and for Tottenham, sitting third in the table amounts to a crisis. I know that’s not the kind of circumstance the word “spursy” was coined to describe, but how absolutely spursy it is nonetheless.
The reason for the angst is, to put a fine point on it, Antonio Conte. At the end of last season, he did really well to confrontationally cajole his team into the final Champions League spot – helped, admittedly, by staggering incompetence elsewhere – then use his achievement to extract money from his board. But that’s where the problems started. Ivan Perisic, Yves Bissouma and Richarlison are decent players just as Djed Spence is a decent prospect, but even at the time, it looked like more than £100m spent turning a team able to contest the Champions League places but no more into a team still able to contest the Champions League places but no more.
Nor is that it. Pretty much every time Spurs have faced decent opposition this season, they’ve been outplayed – by Chelsea, though they sneaked a draw at the end, by Arsenal and by Manchester United – and in general, play a reactive style that’s hard to watch in and of itself, never mind when you peruse the talent available to make that not so. Teams with far worse players than Spurs play for more engaging football, and you can forgive those of their supporters who are wondering as to the point of it.
Newcastle, on the other hand, are doing things differently. The provenance of that is, of course, to our collective shame, but though they bought Chris Wood, Kieran Trippier and Dan Burn to make sure they stayed up, they’ve also acquired Bruno Guimarães, Sven Botman and Alexander Isaak – youngsters who might develop into top players and a level above those bought by Spurs.
And their hard-running, proactive style is - even now – precisely that with which Conte’s men have struggled this season. There are many ways to go about “winning football matches”, but for a club that has spent so lavishly and for whom good football is a prerequisite, hanging back to hang in there while hoping for a counter or that Harry Kane or Heung-min Son do something, doesn’t feel sustainable.
Kick-off: 4.30pm BST
