Newcash United (Home) 10.12.2023

Both sides came into the game with a long injury list, but also of the back of midweek defeats, though Spurs welcomed back Richarlison and Pape Matar Sarr to their line-up.  There had been rain in the early afternoon before the 4.30 kick-off, but by the time Newcash kicked off, the sun had appeared to shine down on the pitch.  Tottenham started pushing towards the Newcash goal, with Richarlison tumbled over in the box as he went for a rebound for his own shot and then he fired over off Schar from an angle on the left after Kulusevski found him inside the box.  The corner brought a scramble in front of goal with the ball pinging around, but the closest we came to getting a shot away was Kulusevski’s blocked effort.  Deki was wearing a mask as a result of being elbowed in the face by Paqueta in Thursday’s match and it didn’t really seem to affect him, with a great performance coming from the Swede.

The Magpies went close in the seventh minute when the ball was worked back for Guimaraes to shoot and he cut across the ball, intending to take it away from Vicario, but he overdid it and the ball flew a foot over the angle.  They should really have scored two minutes later and would have done if it wasn’t for Ben Davies.  Gordon got sent away down the left and when it looked like he might go for goal, he looked to find Isak and Almiron at the far post, but Ben got a touch on it that took it up of the turf, hitting Isak on the shin and off for a goal-kick.  It was a brilliant piece of defending.

It was another Spurs defender who got an important touch on the ball in the seventeenth minute and Cristian Romero almost repeated the goal he scored against West Ham when he rose to meet a Pedro Porro corner from the Spurs right and put his header just over the bar.  Then Richi just failed to get on the end of a Son cross, just at a time when Spurs were piling on the pressure and Newcash were happy just to hack the ball away anywhere.  And that pressure paid off in the 26th minute.  Kulusevski and Porro exchanged passes before Pedro knocked in infield to Destiny Udogie.  He, in turn, moved it on to Sonny on the left and he took it up to Trippier in the penalty box.  With a step over the ball he knocked it on, leaving Trips standing and then whipped a ball low past Dubravka at the near post, giving Destiny the simple task of guiding it over the line with his left foot from a yard out.  His run on Guimaraes’ blind side allowed him to find the space inside the six yard box and score his first goal for the club.

As we had found out in our previous five matches, going a goal ahead does not necessarily mean that it will end up in a win.  In fact, Newcash tried to hit back straight away, with Joelinton lining up a shot from just outside the box, but Yves Bissouma had tracked him and threw a long block to take the ball wide for a corner.   On the half hour mark we had a great opportunity to go two up when Brennan Johnson broke away down the right flank and his low ball into the box saw Spurs players queuing up to score, but the first man was Pape Matar Sarr and he didn’t make a great connection, with the ball coming off his ankle and going wide with Richarlison and Son behind him.  It wasn’t all Spurs because when Johnson misplaced a pass in our half, the ball was played right for Almiron to come inside to shoot with his left foot, but he didn’t get much power behind it and it was within Vicario’s reach as he dived to the ground to his right. 

The second goal did come in the 28th minute, when Sonny was again instrumental.  Porro his a big diagonal from right to left and while Trippier thought he could get to it, he could only head it behind him where Son was waiting.  Moving into the box near the dead ball line, he bamboozled Trippier who as he was attacked by our skipper had three goes to try and touch the ball, but he looked like a puppet on a string as Sonny glided past him and picked out Richarlison with a pull-back to the edge of the six yard box and he dispatched it with his left foot to Dubravka’s left to mark his comeback with a goal.  Sonny was really tormenting his former team-mate, who didn’t have an answer to the Korean’s skill.

It was shaping up like the West Ham match with all the play down the Newcash end, but we had got two goals and almost a third when Porro’s free-kick was cleared it came to Johnson, who hit it at goal straight away, just glancing off the bottom of Dubravka’s right hand post.  The press was causing possession to be won back and Kulusevski went through, but his shot wasn’t testing the keeper too much.  Then Dejan’s cross from the left was deflected across the front of goal, despairingly just out of Richarlison’s reach as he dived in to head it, although he did get a header it to the resulting corner, but it was straight into Dubravka’s arms.  

So, we reached half-time two goals to the good and you thought Newcash couldn’t play as badly in the second half, but their front three had been mostly anonymous and the midfield was malfunctioning badly.  They came on strong for the first ten minutes, but Spurs defended the balls into the box from set-pieces and then Tottenham started to settle, making a move down the right ending with Bissouma shooting at goal, but it was saved low by the keeper.  Ironically, it was from a Newcash corner that we nearly scored again.  It was played in under the crossbar, from where Vic kept it out and Spurs then broke in numbers.  We were four on two as Son raced out from halfway in our half and as he reached the halfway line, Lascelles couldn’t win a foot race with him so dragged his shirt back and it was only after another ten yards that the ref awarded a free-kick, brandishing a yellow card at the Magpies captain.  It could possibly have led to a goal, but because there was another defender in the vicinity, he escaped a red card for such a cynical foul.

It looked to have paid off, as we failed to make anything from the free-kick, but as play continued, Porro played a ball that dropped into the penalty box.  Lascelles looked favourite to reach it but Richi got a touch, but it wasn’t the best as it ran to his left and when the chance seemed to have gone, he stroked a low shot between the goalie’s legs with his left foot from the left corner of the six yard box.  He enjoyed his moment in front of the South Stand as one half of the outfield players went to him and the other half mobbed Porro.

A great move started with Richarlison winning the ball just inside the Newcash half.  It went to Kulusevski, who touched it inside for Sarr, who back-heeled a return pass, allowing Deki to run forward and place a perfect pass inside Livramento for Brennan to run onto and shoot first time from just outside the right hand corner of the six yard area.  His clipped effort went across Dubravka and what it goal it would have been if it hadn’t hit the inside of the post and bounced out.  63 minutes in and Spurs were still running Newcash ragged with Kulusevski enjoying himself, putting a left footed cross in from the right for Son to run onto it and his a volley from a tight angle and unfortunately, it fell on his wrong foot, so it flashed across the face of goal and wide.  It was all Tottenham.  Porro tried a chip over the keeper, but put it onto the top of the net, Kulusevski drilled a shot in on goal that Dubravka was agile to save, but had less trouble dealing with a shot from Son that was straight at him.

Not getting anything from the game, Newcash decided to take some of our players out and Joelinton flattened Porro as he tried to get on the end of a cross into the Tottenham box and picked up a yellow card for it.  Ange took the opportunity to bring on Hojbjerg and Lo Celso for Sarr and Richarlison, while the visitors made a couple of changes too.  The confidence was flowing through the team and Porro exemplified that when he was 30 yards out and nut-megged Miley (who hadn’t really done anything else in the match) and from 25 yards out struck a low that forced Dubravka to dive quickly to his right to keep it out.

Thirteen minutes from time Joelinton won a header at a corner and put it wide of the Tottenham goal and Vicario grabbed a free-kick into the box before it reached Schar.  Romero picked up a yellow card for a rash tackle on Guimaraes that a lot of pundits thought should have been red, but Trippier finally got a booking when he wasn’t good enough to win the ball off Kulusevski and brought him down.  Bissouma and Lo Celso worked the ball forward to Destiny, who held off Guimaraes to play the ball inside to Porro.  He looked up to make a pin-point pass to put Son running forward, but he took a heavy first touch into the box.  It seemed as though Dubravka would claim the ball, but Sonny got a touch on it to take it to his left and was then tripped by the keeper’s trailing leg with the referee having no doubt about pointing to the spot for our first penalty of the season.  This was the first penalty following Harry Kane’s departure, but the captain stepped up to take the responsibility and took a slow run-up to place the ball to the keeper’s right.  He went the right way, but it went in to the bottom right corner to make it 4-0 with five minutes remaining. 

Skippy came on for Johnson and Bryan Gil for Bissouma, as Ange gave them a break with a heavy Christmas period coming up.  It was Ollie who almost added another goal following another fine move.  Kulusevski had moved to the left and he came inside to cross to Skipp at the far post, who took a great first touch and hit his shot at goal, but the keeper kept it out.  Son pulled a shot across goal as he got through the Newcash defence, but a minute into added time, as we tried to play the ball out from the back, it was intercepted and Wilson fed in Joelinton to shoot past Vicario.

Players like Callum Wilson are a disgrace.  After the final whistle went to bring the end to another Newcash away defeat, he went to confront Vicario causing a melee of players in the centre-circle.  He claims that Vic was disrespectful to him for pulling faces at him when he saved a weak header by the Newcash forward.  Usually, you have to earn respect but he had already barged into Venom as he tried to release the ball early and he fails to show respect to other fellow footballers in his podcast.  And on this showing, if I had been Richarlison, I would have been the first one lining up to shake his hand after the frankly ridiculous things Wilson said about him.  If you are big enough to dish it out, then be big enough to take it.  If you’re not, then keep your childish views to yourself.  And he should be looking to do something more than play football, as he might be alright in a turkey shoot against Sheffield United, but his days in the top flight are coming to an end.

The Newcash fans making their way home after the game were complaining about what time they got home from Everton, what time they would get home tonight and what time they would get home after they play AC Milan in midweek.  TV scheduling always makes getting home after away games, but moaning about being in the Champions League is a bit rich after all the noise they made about beating Paris Saint Germain.  And the coverage of their side being devastatingly hit by injury and fatigue is laughable, with no mention of us having as many players out and with less resources than the Saudi multi-millions that have been pumped into their squad.

This was one of the best displays of football we have put on for a long, long time, with some sublime passing and skill that left their players floundering.  There was an urgency about our passing and the movement off the ball was excellent, allowing our players to move the ball around the visiting players and sometimes through them … or through their legs !  Some of it was champagne football and it wound up the Newcash players who started to loose their rag, with Guimaraes lucky to escape at least a couple of bookings. 

The loyal Newcash fans had started to drift away long before the end and they celebrated at the end of the match like they had won a trophy.  Strange behaviour because the 5-1 win we had over them a few seasons ago was greeted very differently.  It’s funny how money changes your view of things.  It was a shocking performance by their players, as I can’t think of one of their outfield players who stood out.  I don’t know what their display was like against Everton, but there were enough players in the team to cause more problems than they did and some of the players looked as though they were going through the motions.  Of course, there is talk that they will be signing lots of replacements for their injured players and with the Saudi government behind them, it’s not a problem financially.  And the stress of playing in the Champions League is something that clubs have had to cope with and it is either short-sightedness or a basic lack of understanding of how to manage your squad.  Whatever it is, it doesn’t bode well for them, having lost more games this season that they did all last campaign but that makes it good for everyone else.

We’ve got Forest away on Friday, so it will be a different challenge, with their manager fighting for his job and then Everton come to the THS.  Then Brighton, then Bournemouth; all with their own battles to fight.  It will be tough for us with our limited player availability, but then we probably wouldn’t go on about it.

Purcell Cole   

• Heung-Min Son became only the seventh player in Premier League history to score 10+ goals in eight consecutive seasons.
• He also became the Spurs player with most assists in the Premier League with 82.
• Destiny Udogie scores his first goal for Tottenham.
• The penalty awarded to Spurs was their first of the season (in the 17th game).
• Heung-Min Son’s penalty goal was the 50th Premier League goal Tottenham have scored against Newcastle at home.
• Richarlison’s second goal was the 150th scored by Spurs at home against Newcastle.
• Spurs scored for the 27th consecutive league match and 29th game in all competitions.