Harry’s greatest compliment to the Magpies?
Posted on October 18th, 2011 | 33 Comments |
It was certainly an important game for both sides in terms of keeping up momentum, and a good test of the Newcastle’s credentials against a strong side.
One of the first things that struck me was that from the start of the game, Newcastle United were outnumbered in midfield with Tottenham manager, Harry Redknapp, fielding five in the centre against Pardew’s we’re unbeaten, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it 4-4-2 same team as last time approach. With Tottenham possesing midfielders of the quality of Van der Vaart, Modric, Bale and Parker with Emanuel Adebayor alone upfront, this seemed like something of a daunting prospect to start with.
Now I don’t profess to be the greatest expert on Tottenham, but Redknapp. like Pardew, seems to have been playing a 4-4-2 formation usually this season, and with some success having four straight League victories in the run up to the game. So why the change?
When speaking after the game, it seemed that despite having a mighty midfield of his own, he was somewhat afeared of ours, especially the central pairing of Yohan Cabye and the Toon’s answer to B.A.Baracus, Cheik Tiote.
After being hailed for his “inspired” choice, and even being described as a “genius” for sending on Jermain Defoe as a super sub in the 63rd minute, reverting to his two two pronged attack (as you probably know, the mini assassin promptly scored after five minutes on the pitch), Harry responded humorously and with candour saying:
“Well, if I’d been really clever I’d have started him and we might have won the game.”
He then revealed something of his motives for the original slightly cautious approach which later caused regret for not pinking the pint sized hitman earlier. Starting with praise for Defoe’s “great finish”, he went on to praise Cabaye and Tiote in the centre, and Gutierrez on the left flank adding:
“Picking the team was a difficult one. Jermain and Rafa (Rafael van der Vaart who scored the first goal via a penalty) are both in good form and Newcastle are a good side, they’ve got two good central midfielders and the left‑winger has improved a lot.”
So did our midfield have an effect on Redknapp’s thinking before a ball was even kicked, leading Redknapp into a cautious approach which he seemed to regret later?
While Cabaye was very respectable and of course, has had an excellent season overall, it was perhaps Gutierrez and Tiote who shone most of all in this match. They proved worthy of Redknapp’s wariness. Tiote was like the aforementioned Baracus, in a tank, protecting Newcaslte;s defences and breaking down attack after attack. Also, despite Tottenham’s wide five man midfield, the ponytailed one seemed to be running free up and down the flank like Red Rum, with Newcastle still being able to use width to their advanatge, with lots of crosses coming in from both sides (with Obertan on the right) for the front pairing of Best and Ba. Ghutierrez’s assist for Ba’s goal was something of a work of art in itself, though much of the good work from our wingers was eventually nullified by a good ‘Spurs defence who were making alot of clearences from the area.
Though it was Redknapp’s switch to a more attacking formation which led to Tottenham’s second goal, it opened up the game further on both sides, making for a very exciting conclusion to a very tight contest. Of course, it was an another “inspired” striker substition, from Pardew this time which made or day in the latter stages of the game, with Shola Ameobi strolling on and scoring a gial so good that it almost made his seem worthy of his somewhat ironic nickname of the “Fenham Eusebio”.
However I digress, as the main thrrust of this post was to muse on the fact that overall, despite a few lucky breaks in games sometimes, our midfield have done an excellent job so far overall. It also seems as if they are starting to worry the managers of good teams such as Tottenham to the point of pulling them out of their usual shape. Of course, they also managed to hold their own with one of the best midfields despite being outnumbered there for most of Sunday’s game.
It’s still early days yet, but Sunday’s midfield performance was certainly provided an encouraging sign for the future against quality opposition.
Howay the Lads!
And we still have Vuckic, Marveaux and Gosling yet to make an impact.