FT Spurs fail to create any danger out of what was the last chance and Martin Jol’s record stays as bad as before: only one win this season and Sam Allardyce can add another 3 points to his tally as Newcastle win 3-1.
90′ + 2′ Spurs win a last corner on the right. Keane behind the ball.
90′ Nicky Butt elected Man of the Match.
89′ Lennon wins the corner at the left. Rozhenal clears, and NUFC breaks out. Barton gets the foul against at the right corner flag. Last chance for Spurs?
88′ Although they have problems to break out and combine, Newcastle manages it to keep Tottanham from becoming dangerous.
86′ Cerny comes out, more than 30 yards from his goal and clears the beall before Martins can be reached.
83′ Lee center from the left, but Given comes out and easily catches the ball.
With the last 10 minutes in front of us, both teams are now looking for the little hole. Posssession mainly goes to Tottenham, but they don’t really become dangerous in the last third. Newcastle seems to be happy with this concept and sits back.
78′ Newcastle substitution: Rozhenal comes on for Owen.
78′ Tottenham substitution: Aaron Lennon comes on for Darren Bent. Why does Jol take off a striker when his side are 2 goals behind?
77′ Berbatov wins a corner after he penetrated the box from the left, but Given comes out well and NUFC breaks out, winning a corner at the other side.
75′ Clean tackle from Faye on Bent at the left.
72′ 3-1: Deep Enrique pass on Martins, but his low cross from the right is blocked. Rebound lands just outside of the box, to Millner who goes for the volley with the right, but totally mistimes. His missed volley results in the perfect setup for his left and he immediately goes for the second chance: a low volley from the left to the far post. Cerny beaten again. 3-1.
70′ Newcastle substitution: Joey Barton comes on for Emre.
70′ Booking: Nicky Butt booked for unsportive behavior.
69′ Fast outbreak from Tottenham over a quick Berbatov, who passes deep to Darren Bent, but his shot from the right goes over.
68′ Shot from Millner but goes wide.
66′ Chimbonda clears before Bent. Jenas wins a corner from the rebound.
Bent doesn’t get his head properly behind the ball. Goal kick for Given.
65′ Tottenham now clearly has taken over the game and are pushing Newcastle back more and more. Again Beye can do nothing else than kick the ball away.
63′ Deep ball from Lee on Keane, who gets in the box. His high ball/pass to the right is too sharp for Bent.
61′ Booking: Beye gets booked for a rough challenge on Tainio. But Spurs fail to create any direct danger from the resulting free kick from the left.
60′ Geremi free kick, but Dawson can clear with the head.
58′ Martins again gets away from Dawson, inside Spurs’ box, but when trying to create space to shoot, Dawson can recover and blocks Martins’ shot with his sliding.
57′ Tottenham substitution: Berbatov comes on for Malbranque
56′ 2-1: I can hardly believe it, but Tottenham managed it to score! Darren Bent’s flick hits the left post and Robbie Keane only has to push in the rebound anymore. 2-1.
55′ After some rather poor defending and an emergency clearance, Spurs eventually manage it to break out and try to set up an attack, but it doesn’t look as if the players see each other and Newcastle easily clear.
Berbatov doesn’t feel like continuing his warm up either. Seems to me there will be some loud words between some foreigner on the way back to London tonight.
53′ Berbatov warming up down the lines. Err… looking frustrated and pi$$ed off I mean.
50′ 2-0: Great header from Cacapa on the resulting corner and things look really bad now for Spurs and Martin Jol.
Great corner, Cacap easily gets away from Dawson and can head in from only 7 yards, on the right. No chance for Cerny. Poor Tottenham defending again.
49′ Geremi cross from the right. Owen’s header is cleared in corner.
48′ One of the few moments Spurs try to actively pressurize Newcastle, but without any danger.
Although Spurs need to take the game in hand, it must be said that the first 2 minutes of the second half entirely took place on Tottenham’s half.
46′ NUFC replacement: KO. Millner starts the 2nd half instead of N’Zogbia. No chances at Spurs side.
The first half time clearly has shown us who’s the strongest and most dangerous team today at St. James Park. Tottenham has struggled all first 45 minutes and Newcastle’s midfield, with a very effective Emre and Geremi, has kept the pressure on Martin Jol.
Martins’ goal, two minutes before the end of the first half, was not really a surprise, and could have happened much earlier.
Martin Jol will have to make changes now, the Spurs are fast and dangerous on the outbreak, but if they want to take 3 points to White Heart Lane, they will have to work harder in both midfield and defence.
HT
44′ 1-0: Martins for Newcastle. Deep Newcastle ball and Dawson’s attempt to clear the ball is rather poor. Martins follows the ball and Cerny is too late to come out. Martins’ shot between Cerny’s legs is deflected by the Spurs keeper but finds the way in goal: 1-0 for Newcastle.
42′ Spurs come away! Martins challenging the ball until the last moment and manages to go round Dawson who wanted to let the ball roll out. Martins shot from only some yards in straight on Cerny, who came out as needed.
Owen’s rebound also is pushed away by Cerny.
40′ N’Zogbia – Jenas duel at the left, on the edge of the box, but the NUFC player gets the foul against for obstruction.
38′ Center from the left from Enrique. Not deep enough and Nicky Butt tries to hook the ball in, but his attempt goes wide and a little (like 6-7 yards) high.
37′ Low free kick from Geremi. Ball deflected, but referee gives goal kick for Spurs.
36′ Booking: Yellow for Chimbonda after a challenge on N’Zogbia. Free kick from just outside of the box for Newcastle.
34′ Tottenham free kick after an ‘almost scissor’ tackle on Keane.
31′ Emre wins the ball and pushes it to Martins, on the edge of the Spurs box, but Martins can’t become dangerous, Dawson always in neighbourhood. The rebound comes to Emre, who pulls off from around 25 yards, but his shot also goes wide.
29′ The resulting goal kick reaches Robbie Keane, who unleashes from a narrow angle at the other side. Easy save for Given.
28′ N’Zogbia turns and shoots with his right from around 25 yards, but his shot goes wide.
26′ Cerny save on an attempt from Owen, who just penetrated inside the Spurs box, after sloppy Dawson defending. Marvelous save on Owen’s low, curling ball from the left.
24′ Corner for NUFC.
23′ Jenas tries from outside of the box, but his shot is blocked. Short penalty appeal from Spurs, but Steve Bennet doesn’t react.
22′ The resulting break out comes to Bent who takes off on speed, but only wins a throw in.
21′ NUFC now really pushing Spurs in to their own box. But neither Geremi, Butt or Faye can cross from the right, although 3 NUFC players are waiting in the box.
Long ball Enrique, Dawson clears in throw in for NUFC. Only after several attempts, Spurs can clear the ball and escape the minute of NUFC pressure.
19′ Spurs substitution: Bale off, Tainio in.
17′ Bale is still suffering and it looks as Jol’s injury problems will never end.
16′ Butt running all the way down to the Spurs box and almost wins the ball from Zokora, just outside of the Spurs box, but Zokora and Bale can finally clear before Butt’s effort becomes dangerous.
14′ Foul on Gareth Bale, who calls for treatment. Spurs don’t wait for the physio and a Keane takes a quick free kick, but Bent’s shot from inside the box, but his shot is blocked. Given furious because Spurs didn’t wait and Bale still is waiting for the physio.
NUFC almost: Faye puts his head behind the ball and almost scores, but the near post saves Spurs.
12′ Booking First corner for Newcastle after a bad clearance from Bale, who doesn’t agree and gets booked for his complaints.
10′ Owen wins a throw in for NUFC at the right, close the corner flag. Same tactics as before: Germei towards Faye, Spurs can clear and Newcastle doesn’t manage to become dangerous on the rebound.
Goal kick for Cerny.
8′ Emre is being treated for a knock on the ankle. Joey Barton warming up on the sidelines, but Emre rejoins the game.
6′ Keane on the right, close to the 6 yards box, for Spurs but he doesn’t get his foot behind the ball properly and Newcastle can escape.
Again Faye moves forwardly and can go for the thrown in ball, but gets a foul on Cerny against him.
5′ Chimbonda stupidly gives the ball to Emre, who crosses for Martins, but his cross is too far and Lee clears. Throw in for NUFC.
2′ Newcastle win a first throw in, close to the Spurs box, on the right. Geremi finds Faye in the box, but Chimbonda clears the effort. Faye stays down for some seconds after the aerial challenge with Chimbonda.
1′ Tottenham immediately plays forwardly, but the long ball towards Cerny is played too late and both Spurs strikers are flagged offside.
KO Tottenham kicks off the game.
I say 4-2, just not that sure about who will score 4 times and who will only twice.
Will Newcastle consolidate their application for Europe or ill Spurs again score several goals today and climb out of the danger zone?
Send in your predictions for today’s game now.
Newcastle, by many tipped to end in the top 4 this season, have improved highly since the season started. They have a solid defense and Michael Owen always has been dangerous.
Stakes today are high. For Tottenham this clearly is a ‘must not lose’ game and Spurs surely have gained some confidence thanks to the UEFA cup and the game against Liverpool which they should have won. Losing will only raise the pressure on Martin Jol.
And we certainly shouldn’t forget the run Tottenham is on: 6 games unbeaten already.
Hi all, welcome to another of our live game reports. Today: Newcastle United FC vs. Tottenham Hotspur.
The page will reload every 60 seconds during the game.
The squads have been announced and biggest surprise comes from Tottenham today, who start with Dimitar Berbatov on the bench and Keane and Bent up front and Paul Robinson is injured. Cerny will start in the goal for Spurs.
At Newcastle’s side, Viduka is injured and Barton starts on the bench.
Newcastle: Given, Beye, Faye, Cacapa, Jose Enrique, Geremi, Butt, Emre, N’Zogbia, Martins, Owen.
Subs: Harper, Rozehnal, Barton, Milner, Ameobi.
Tottenham: Cerny, Chimbonda, Dawson, Kaboul, Lee, Malbranque, Jenas, Zokora, Bale, Keane, Bent.
Subs: Forecast, Tainio, Berbatov, Lennon, Gardner.
Referee: Steve Bennett (Kent)
Match Details
Newcastle United vs Tottenham Hotspur
Monday, 22 October, 2007
St James Park
20:00 UK Time
Newcastle United vs Tottenham – Match Preview
There’s one thing that’s certain about this game – it’s going to be very very close and probably decided by a single goal.
Newcastle tend to do very well against Spurs, especially at St. James’ Park and we think this be another opportunity for a good win at St. James’ Park.
There’s no doubt Tottenham have some excellent players, not least of which is Dimitar Berbatov, a big fan of Newcastle United and his hero Alan Shearer.
Tottenham are currently 4th bottom of the league, just one place above the drop zone with just 7 points from 9 games and they certainly will want to pick up points quickly. If they linger any length of time near the bottom, don’t be at all surprised if manager Jol doesn’t see out the rest of the year as Tottenham manager. It’s not surprising the Tottenham hierarchy want to see more from the team they have invested so heavily in over the last couple of years.
From a Newcastle viewpoint they have just 4 injuries right now and two of them, Ameobi and Viduka may just miss out on this game. But it will probably mean that Owen and Martins will start up front for the first time under manager Sam Allardyce. Many Magpie fans have wanted to see this pair working together but it will mean big changes in Newcastle’s tactics. No long balls down the middle in this game. The other interesting item is what will the starting 11 will be, since most players, including Barton and Emre, are finally back from injury. We think Emre may just a get a start in the following side.
Given
Beye Cacapa Faye Enrique
Milner Emre Butt (Capt) N’Zogbia
Owen Martins
Subs: Harper, Taylor, Rozehnal, Geremi, Barton
You can see how much the Newcastle team has been improved this season by just taking a look at the bench – it’s very strong. We think Newcastle can edge this game by a goal at 2-1. We’d really like to see a clean sheet and 1-0 would be good enough – but we’ll stick with a 2-1 win for the home side.
As we’ve mentioned at the start, there will be live coverage of this game on Soccerlens – so make sure you sign in and follow the game, if it isn’t televised in your part of the world.
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