Newcastle United beat a hapless Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 on Tuesday evening in what proved to be Thomas Frank’s last game as manager. United were dominant throughout and showed an often missed this season resilience when Spurs scored against the run of play.
United were far the superior outfit and opened the scoring via Malick Thiaw who prodded home a rebound from his own header. Earlier we were also denied by a scandalous VAR decision, as Joe Willock was robbed of a great finish. Archie Gray equalised for Spurs, but we rallied and scored the winner through a well worked Jacob Ramsey finish.
Here’s my four positives from last night’s big win…
Good: Ramsey and Elanga’s best yet
It’s fair to say that United’s summer business has been questionable and despite all the caveats as they relate to Spurs (injuries etc, etc) Anthony Elanga and Jacob Ramsey had their best games for the club by a mile.
Elanga has been slowly building his form, and he was a constant threat in a composed first 45; it’s just a shame that all the crosses he put into the box had no striker to aim at… Elanga’s tracking and interception also started the move which led to Ramsey’s winner as he showed excellent awareness to shut down a potential Spurs counter.
Ramsey looked a player reborn at times. I thought he was so poor against Brentford, barely doing the basics, but he was phenomenal on the night. He grabbed his first goal (and celebrated it with gusto), had five shots, seven touches in the oppositions box, won 3/6 ground duels, and won an important tackle. He linked up well with Bruno and should’ve had an assist too. He now needs to replicate this moving forward and, if he can, he’ll deserve to be starting more games.
Good: Resilience returned
It’s something that’s been inexplicably missing this season, but United showed huge resilience on the night. There were several setbacks, the disallowed goal, the undeserved equaliser and a host of missed chances. Throw in a late injury to Bruno (please don’t be serious!) and there were several familiar factors that have seen this side fold this season.
Instead, the lads battled and held onto the slender lead and grabbed only a third away win in the league this season. It’s baby steps, and Spurs are dire, there’s no doubt about that, but we need to see the lads go to a side (and they will have the opportunity in the next two games) who are much better than Spurs are and put in the same level of performance. But we’ll take it as it’s always a positive to win away from home.
Good: Howe’s tactics were spot on
You could almost hear the collective eye roll when the teams dropped, and Anthony Gordon was starting up front, especially since we still hadn’t won with him playing there until last night. However, the pace, technical quality, and pressing he provided upset Spurs’ defence, and he often found himself in pockets of space something our actual strikers have really struggle to conjure in recent outings.
Howe also picked the ideal midfield three of Bruno, Ramsey, and Willock, whose interplay and passing was crisp and allowed us to play through Spurs with ease. Willock had his best game in an age too, he was robbed of a goal, but it was his cross that led to Thiaw’s goal, and he had a handful of decent other chances to score.
Frankly, those three just looked like they cared which isn’t something that can be aimed at a certain Italian midfielder at the moment. Resting Hall was also the right call too as it was the ideal game for our fullbacks (with a combined age of 68!) to play in as Spurs offered very little down the flanks.
Good: A season saver?
The mood has certainly lifted slightly following the result and the Premier League table looks a little better, but the pressure would’ve been monumental on Howe if the game had gone a different way.
The match felt like a “proving you still have something to give” moment for certain players, but especially Eddie Howe after his words following the Brentford game. Those were sad words, and this manager going out under a cloud is something that would feel especially brutal considering his achievements, but he answered some questions on Tuesday (not all), and it gives us a platform going into a run of three more games away from home.
Onto Villa next in the FA Cup, if we could eke out a result there, I think that would be a much bigger statement from this side than the Spurs result.
Keep the faith. HWTL
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