Tottenham vs Newcastle – An Opposition View
Posted on August 22nd, 2019 | 5 Comments |
Place: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
TV: Sky
With VAR once again making the headlines at the Manchester City’s Etihad and Tottenham being handed another get out of jail free card, it has without question been the talking point from last Saturday’s heavyweight encounter.
With the defending champions registering no less than thirty efforts on goal and Tottenham managing just three, the stats will point to the fact that City should have won the game at an absolute canter.
At the same time, if there was ever a game that proved that it is not all about the stats surrounding the game and more about the final number of goals that were scored, then Saturday’s evening offering was the one.
Tottenham may have only created three chances in total but they managed to net two of them – something that shows that they were at least efficient, rather than effective in attack and ultimately that is all that matters come full time.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men have managed just nine shots on goal in their first two league games of the season but they’ve scored five of them and this once again points to the fact that although they aren’t creating too much in the final third, they aren’t wasting those few opportunities either.
While with the visit of a Magpies side who have suffered defeats in both their league outings so far and coupled with the fact that Tottenham’s confidence will boosted after a dogged performance, then the hosts will be looking at Sunday’s game between Spurs and Newcastle as one that provides nothing less than three points.
If Newcastle were unfortunate to be bested by fellow North London outfit Arsenal on the opening weekend, then they were more than responsible for their own demise against Norwich at Carrow Road last Saturday.
To be bested by a team with Champions League aspirations is fair enough, to be beaten by a team that has just come up from the Championship will be not only galling but concerning and of course, it will have done little to help Steve Bruce get Newcastle fans on his side.
Forward Joelinton was all but a passenger in the heavy defeat to Norwich and he and Magpies fans will be hoping that he can break his Newcastle duck in front of goal soon, although the longer the drought continues, it is a task that will only become even more tougher.
Whether the former Hoffenheim man goes up against Jan Vertonghen on Sunday remains to be seen and with the Belgian currently out of favour at Tottenham, much has been made about his long-term future at the club.
However, if Vertonghen is a doubt to play, then one certainty is the return of Heung min-Son from suspension and after scoring the winner at Wembley last season, the last thing Newcastle fans will want is the South Korean to make the difference this time around.
Newcastle look like they are going to be in for a long season and unfortunately for them, I also think they are going to be in for a long Bank Holiday afternoon on Sunday, as Tottenham stroll to a relatively routine win at their new home.
This ‘blog was written by Dan from Tottenham ‘blog, Spurs for life.
NUFCBlog Author: workyticket
workyticket has written 1095 articles on this blog.
I wouldn’t get too cocky, it isn’t that long since we beat Spurs 5-1 and we beat Man City last season when everybody thought we’d get hammered. Having said that, we had Rafa Benitez then and now we have Steve Bruce FFS.