Tottenham Hotspur – Newcastle United: Strong Spurs Waves Knock Magpies Overboard (4-1)

Even the best surfers are not prepared for every wave. Without a middle third presence, Newcastle United found themselves backpedalling as Ange Postecoglou’s tweaks in his selection helped Tottenham Hotspur constantly attack.

Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker.

After sliding into spells of inconsistent form, both Tottenham and Newcastle needed to get back on the horse to compete for the top four places.

Tottenham have kept to being their free-scoring selves, but are noticeably more leaky at the back amidst injury problems. No team had lost three consecutive home games, after going 1-0 up, until Spurs lost in midweek to West Ham. Under Ange Postecoglou, Tottenham are posting unwanted records, but it is clear to see that they now have a blueprint and the patience to see them rise back to the levels at the start of the season.

Reliability at home has not followed Newcastle on their travels. They blitz past teams at home, but their away form has raised alarm bells. Eddie Howe’s team eventually created chances at Everton but fell apart due to costly mistakes. With the Champions League group stage still heavily in the balance, as well as more cup games to endure in a busy winter schedule, Newcastle have hit crunch time when so many players from the squad are unavailable. 

Spurs made two changes from the team that lost 2-1 to West Ham. Pape Matar Sarr and Richarlison both came in to replace Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and Giovani Lo Celso. Heung-min Son did go off due to an injury in the previous fixture but was deemed fit to . . .

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Joel Parker (24) is an Everton fan. Whenever he’s not watching his beloved Everton, Joel spends his time analyzing all sorts of football. Chief editor and Founder of Toffee Analysis. [ View all posts ]

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