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Season 2010-11
Tottenham Hotspur (a) Premier League


In association
 with NUFC.com
 


Date:
Tuesday 28th December 2010, 3pm

Venue:
 White Hart Lane

Conditions:
mild and snow-free

Admission: £34 downstairs/£38 upstairs

Programme:
£3.50
 

 

Tottenham Hotspur

Newcastle United

2 - 0

 

Teams

Goals

Half time: Spurs 0 Newcastle 0

57 mins 
Receiving the ball in central midfield, Kaboul slung it out to the right, to the waiting Aaron Lennon. He skipped round Perch in the United box before beating Tim Krul with a low effort that took a slight deflection off Perch - who until then had looked fairly solid.  0-1

81 mins 
A quick break forward by United saw Peter Lovenkrands briefly presented with a dropping ball and clear sight of goal from the left hand corner of the Spurs box. However the chance to shoot disappeared and Andy Carroll came inside before losing the ball to Luka Modric. 

He drove forward before setting Gareth Bale away down the left, the in-form Welshman weaving his way into the box before evading Steven Taylor and arrowing a fine low effort across Krul into the far corner.
0-2

Full time: Spurs 2 Newcastle 0

We Said

 
Alan Pardew said:

"The difference was in the final third. We worked really hard, but we were just off our best today, some of the quality we were showing against Liverpool and Manchester City was missing and that probably cost us the game.

"We were good today but we were below our best. We had two or three key players missing and that is where we are weaker than those sort of teams, in terms of coming off the bench and that is something we can hopefully address as we go down the road.

"The difference between the sides was the electric pace that Spurs have, which can undo your discipline as a back four. You want that directness in your team. In the three games I’ve been here that is the least quality we’ve shown. I think it’s evident that we could do with a couple of additions.

"On its day, we have a team that can compete with anyone, we’ve proved that against some of the top teams in this division. But is there that competition and quality in all areas when other players have to come in? 

"I thought James Perch did terrific at left-back, but he isn’t naturally left-footed; we maybe lacked a little bit of balance down that left-hand side. We couldn’t get Jonas in the game as much as we would have liked, and little things like that make a difference. We are looking at the market, and hopefully we can bring someone in. 

"You can only stop looking over your shoulder when you win. That’s the mentality. When you win you look upwards; when you lose you look backwards. That’s the tendency, but we’ve got three really tough games out of the way and we’ve taken three points from them.  

"If we’d drawn all three, you would probably have said that’s three good results. I think we need six or seven more wins, and I think this team is capable of that, hopefully a couple more on top.

"We just want to improve as a club and a team. I have the backing of the board, and I want to put that into place in terms of taking the club forward. We’ve secured (Steven) Taylor this week, which was very important, and there’s a no sale on Andy Carroll, which is probably the biggest and best news we’re going to have during the window. Hopefully, we can add one or two.

PS: The Newcastle boss was less than pleased with Jose Enrique choosing to reveal to his Twitter followers that he had failed a fitness test on Tuesday morning:

"We’ve spoken about it. I got a text message saying that the press and everyone knew because he had Tweeted about his injury, and that’s something we need to look at as a club.

"Players can’t be giving that sort of information away. We’ll have to make it club policy that has to stop. This instant news society is difficult to police, but we’ll do our best. Will he be okay for the Wigan game? I’ll check his Tweets and see.”

They Said


Dirty Harry commented:

"We showed great character again. It's handy to have a one-goal lead when you go down to 10 men. We still kept playing and didn't sit back. We've not had too many of them. We're an open team that attack at every opportunity - so that was nice. The first half was scrappy and went the way Newcastle wanted - they filled up the midfield. We got round the back of them twice and that's how the goals came.

"Aaron (Lennon) has to continue to drive outside and drive inside, that's what he did today. Gareth's done that all season. He went on the outside of Newcastle defender Steven Taylor and smashed it in. Ten goals is an amazing stat for Gareth. You want your central midfield player to get six or seven and your front men to get a few more, but he's scored his goals as a winger.

"Luka was amazing in the middle of the park. The little guy was in there against three aggressive midfielders and to do what he did was superb. He was strong under pressire, aggressive, powerful and they couldn't get near him. He was on another level. It was a great performance in my opinion under difficult circumstances.

"If he's put his head in (Tiote's) face he had to go off. He showed a lack of discipline. Other people will now come into the team while he's suspended, and they'll make it difficult to be shifted."

Stats


Magpies @ Cockerels - Premier League era:

2010/11:
Lost 0-2
2008/09:
Lost 0-1
2007/08:
Won 4-1 Butt, Geremi, Owen, Martins
2006/07: Won 3-2 Huntington, Martins, Butt
2005/06:
Lost 0-2 
2004/05 
Lost 0-1 
2003/04:
Lost 0-1 
2002/03:
Won 1-0 Jenas
2001/02:
Won 3-1 Acuna, Shearer, Bellamy
2000/01:
Lost 2-4 Solano, Dyer
1999/00:
Lost 1-3 Solano
1998/99:
Lost 0-2 
1997/98:
Lost 0-2 
1996/97:
Won 2-1 Ferdinand 2
1995/96:
Drew 1-1 Ginola
1995/96: Won 2-0 Sellars, Ferdinand (FR)
1994/95:
Lost 2-4 Fox 2
1993/94: Won 2-1 Beardsley 2


Full record against Spurs:

  P W D L F A
SJP 65 27 17 21 114 92
WHL 66 20 11 35 76 122
League 131 47 28 56 190 214
SJP(FA) 4 4 0 0 13 1
WHL/OT 5 1 2 2 5 5
SJP(LC) 2 1 0 1 4 3
WHL 1 0 0 1 0 1
Cup 12 6 2 4 22 10
CS 1 0 0 1 1 2
Tot 143 53 30 60 212 224

United's "unlucky" blue change strip had another outing: lost 1-2 at Norwich (FR), won 3-2 at Accrington (LC), lost 1-5 at Bolton (PL), lost 1-3 at West Brom (PL), lost 0-2 at Spurs (PL).

2008/09: NUFC after 19 games: 22 points, 12th position (scored 25, conceded 27)
2010/11: NUFC after 19 games: 22 points, 13th position (scored 28, conceded 31)

Wayne Routledge
appeared against his former employers for the first time since exiting White Hart Lane for Aston Villa in January 2008.

Waffle


 

 

After victories this season at West Ham and Arsenal (plus Chelsea in the League Cup), Newcastle proved incapable of concluding 2010 with further capital gains, despite ending this game with a numerical advantage on the field.

Facing an in-form Spurs side without the suspended Kevin Nolan, United were forced into a further change from the side beaten 48 hours earlier, when Jose Enrique was ruled out with a slight hamstring strain. That saw James Perch deputise at left back for his first start since October, while Alan Smith was added to the midfield; Danny Guthrie absent for reasons as yet undisclosed.

With neither side able to find much space or create many chances, an even first 45 minutes ended scoreless - lone striker Andy Carroll nodding a rare chance over before Roman Pavlyuchenko saw his headed effort superbly blocked by Tim Krul and somehow strike both posts.

At half time though, 'Arry Redknapp's words of wisdom (and decision to replace Palacios with Jenas) were surely directed towards right winger Aaron Lennon, who had been dealt with by stand-in James Perch without any problems. And sure enough, Lennon had found space on that side of the field to open the scoring within 12 minutes of the restart, almost repeating the trick soon afterwards.

Temperatures in an increasingly fractious game had been raised when Newcastle captain Joey Barton hoofed a return ball to the opposition out of play rather than towards goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes as expected. And when Smith fouled Gareth Bale in front of the two benches, a row between Alan Pardew and Spurs henchman Joe Jordan was only prevented from escalating by the intervention of United goalkeeping coach Andy Woodman. 

While Barton and Smith were both abused by home fans, the travelling contingent gave Jermaine Jenas plenty verbals and referee Anthony Taylor struggled to keep a lid as the contest threatened to boil over. He was left with little choice though but to brandish a red card to Younes Kaboul on 65 minutes, after the French defender - who had already been booked - took exception to a challenge by Tiote and then nutted our man.

Seeking to gain advantage from the extra man, United promptly introduced North Londoner Nile Ranger in place of Jonas Gutierrez and then added Peter Lovenkrands up top at the expense of Tiote (who by then was coming dangerously close to an early bath himself).

However, the home side reprised their Boxing Day display at Villa Park by doubling their advantage when reduced to ten men, Modric finding more space in the middle of the park to inspire Spurs, as Newcastle re-formatted themselves first to 4-4-2 and then 4-3-3. 

By the way, that's the same Luka Modric who got as far as South West Reception at SJP when Newcastle attempted to sign him back in April 2008 - Dennis Wise meeting the player and Croatia Zagreb Director Zdravko Mamic on Tyneside before Spurs beat them to his signature.

As they had done on Boxing Day, United kept on plugging away until the final whistle but never remotely looked like getting through. Some brave post-match words from Alan Pardew failed to disguise what was another deeply concerning display, tragically lacking in creativity.

While the home side ultimately found some reward down the flanks, United's wide pair of Gutierrez and Spurs old boy Wayne Routledge were mediocre in the extreme. That duo though were the only options available, as the presence of Xisco and Best on the bench proved. 

A continual failure to put even dead balls anywhere near Carroll meant that our predictable route one attempts provided little threat to a defence which by the end included Toon old boy, Sebastien Bassong (the lesser-spotted Jonathan Woodgate is back in training but unfit - as usual).

A second defeat within 72 hours means that Newcastle have now won just once in their last eight outings and as a consequence have now dropped into the bottom half of the table - 12th becoming 13th after Everton's draw at West Ham on Tuesday evening.

Next up for the Magpies is a sixth trip to Wigan in as many years - the five previous visits having ended in victory for the 'Latics, who have conceded just once during that run. That though, and the home game against West Ham three days later, now take on an added importance. 

Having failed to take anything from two upwardly mobile sides over the festive season, United badly need to start picking up wins from less glamorous opponents.

For the manager though there's much to ponder as we waits for reinforcements to arrive in the shape of injury comebacks and possible new acquisitions. Having now had first-hand sight of just how off the pace Smith is, it remains to be seen whether the former Leeds man makes it to the end of January, while Xisco and Leon Best could also walk the plank. If anybody will take them.... 

Biffa 


Page last updated 22 March, 2017