Newcastle United had to give up two points against the painfully average Spurs team on Tuesday evening, by drawing 2-2.
Spurs’ only two shots on target saw them steal a point from St James’ Park as familiar patterns returned to United’s play, with the side sitting deep after taking the lead on both occasions and throwing it away in the 95th minute when Cristian Romero scored a sloppy overhead kick.
Here are two things I liked (and two things I didn’t like) from last night’s match…
I liked it: Bruno’s Captain Feat
It seemed strange that our captain was being rested for this clash with Burnley on the horizon and the Brazilian seemed to want to make that point when he came on at the break. He drove the team forward to overcome the problem of not being able to score in the first half, and his goal is a delightful finish into the side netting.
Bruno has now contributed 12 goals (eight goals, four assists) in his last 20 home games, miles ahead of any other midfielder we have. That’s a problem Howe needs to solve because we need the contribution of our other midfielders.
Eddie Howe also needs to find a way to get Jacob Ramsey into games like this, as I felt Tuesday was a game where he could have made a difference, which makes it all the stranger that he was stripped and ready but sat back down so Schar could come on in his place instead.
Didn’t like it: Throwing away even more points
United somehow managed to conspire to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory as the boys just seemed unable to shake off the sit-back mentality after taking the lead in a match. What made this all even stranger is that the first goal didn’t come until the 71st minute and Spurs had been worse than terrible.
I’d like to ask how the team managed to concede two goals to such a terrible side (who only play in the Champions League by default) who looked scared of being battered for the entire 90 minutes, but that’s now eleven points short of the winning positions for United this season, and unfortunately it’s starting to become a pattern behavior.
Didn’t like it: A huge missed opportunity
My father always says when we watch football together: “Just play the eleven men on the field, not the reputation.” Well, Newcastle had a real problem with that last night as we seemed to think that Spurs were the Spurs of 2015/16 and not the team that has apparently already decided that Thomas Frank is Nuno Espirito Santo in disguise and has a whole host of problems.
Tuesday was a huge missed opportunity to close the gap on the players above us and with many of those teams having eminently winnable games on Wednesday/Thursday, we could be eight points clear of the European places. And with the side struggling to put together a winning run, racking up three wins in an attempt to close the gap seems a long way off.
I liked it: It wasn’t all bad, to be honest
Despite my concerns about performance, there were positives to be taken from the game. United dominated the first 35-40 minutes and should have made their territorial advantage count. The side produced 1.96xG, 19 shots, 38 touches in the opposition area and outscored Spurs by 2km. United have taken seven points from the last nine by beating Everton and Man City, and a win on Saturday would make it ten points from the last 12, which is a huge positive after the previous form in the competition.
Hopefully Gordon’s penalty will inspire him to better form, and Bruno takes his goal with utmost aplomb, and there are clearly the building blocks of a decent side, but United (and Howe) just seem to be really struggling to adapt our playing style to playing a game every three days. And if we want to be the successful side we want to be, and compete for glory on a regular basis, this is something that must be overcome: stat.
Anyway, off to Burnley on Saturday for a traditional 3pm kick-off, thank goodness because 8.15pm is an absolute joke, thanks Sky…
Keep the faith. HWTL
#didnt #Newcastle #Spurs