Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle United

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Sunday 13th December 4pm
White Hart Lane
Premier League​

Having secured top spot in the Europa League, it's time to face McClaren's Geordies in the league.
They've not been on good form in recent weeks, but a win in the last game against Liverpool will have boosted them.
Very few people expected them to get anything from the game, including me, so they'll take heart from it.
Whether they can translate that into another successful performance is another thing altogether, though.

A midweek rest may help their organisation and fitness for this one and they've won the last two games at the Lane.
Last season's 2-1 loss to them looked like it was going to be anything but that at half-time.
A totally dominant first 45 minutes saw us leading 1-0 and it should've been more.
Eric Dier fell asleep at the start of the second period though, allowing Ameobi to score after just 10 seconds.
A Perez header just before the hour sealed all three points for them and they were in a similarly poor league position at the time, despite winning just before their visit.

I'm hoping that lessons will have been learned and complacency won't be allowed a place, anymore.
We need to win, as we've been generally playing well and dropping a few silly points here and there.
They'll be looking to build on a good result and trying to pull themselves out of the relegation zone.

Dier's injury didn't look serious and we didn't appear to pick up any other problems against Monaco.
Dembele missed the game through illness, so his availability remains to be seen.
Chadli and Bentaleb seemed to get through their appearances without any problems, too.
Pochettino might have a few possibilities to choose from, as more players return to fitness.

Lineups for the last league game:

Spurs: Lloris; Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose; Dier, Dembele; Lamela, Alli, Eriksen; Kane.
Subs: Vorm, Trippier, Wimmer, Onomah, Winks, N'Jie, Son.
League form: WWDWDD.

Newcastle: Elliot; Janmaat, Coloccini, Mbemba, Dummett; Sissoko, Colback, Anita, Wijnaldum; De Jong; Cisse.
Subs: Darlow, Sterry, Mbabu, Gouffran, Thauvin, Perez, Mitrovic.
League form: LDWLLW.

Did anyone do enough in the Europa League to warrant a start or a place on the bench?
Has our midfield balance been right in recent games or does it need tinkering with?
Do we need to rest anyone or was enough rotation done midweek to avoid changes?

 

I'm still confident about this game. NUFC have a discipline problem IMO and whether the win against Liverpool helps that is doubtful in my book. I don't believe they can sit back and if they do we will be all over them. If they attack then we'll get them on the break.

I hope I don't regret that comment.

 

Referee for this one is Roger East.

 

I knew I forgot something. Ta.

 

Morning all,

Your unbeaten run that you are on is very impressive and IMO isn't getting the acknowledgement it deserves. 14 games unbeaten is a very impressive stat no matter what way you look at it. We have been very poor this season and everything points towards a very comfortable win for your lot today. I can't remember the last time we won two games in a row, but think it is now over a year.

For some reason we've got a decent record against you lot in the Prem era - decent, but not great. There have been lots of high scoring hammerings for both teams when we have played each other. Since there is zero chance of us scoring a hat full against you then this could well point to a big score for you today. Even if we play out of our skin then scoring against your very impressive defence will be difficult. We have the worst defence in the league which will no doubt offer lots of encouragement to you. Our defence is deceptive though. As **** as it is, we actually defend quite well up until we concede. Our problem is that once we concede we go into panic mode and the floodgates open.

Another strange fact about our **** season is that we've actually played fairly well against the traditional big teams this year (with the exception of a 20 minute spell against Man City/Aguero where we conceded 6 in about 19 minutes). The suspicion for us is that some of our bottlers see it as a chance to put themselves in the shop window and attempt to get a move to a decent team. My head tells me that today will not see a repeat of that. Everything about this game says that the sensible prediction is a heavy win for you.

I've let my heart rule my head in our prediction league and gone for a 2-2 draw. In reality I'll be pleased to come away without being too embarrassed at a big scoreline.

I won't go as far as wishing you luck for today - we need as much of that as we can find. I will wish you luck for the rest of the season though

PS: If you are going to score a hat full against us, can you tell your players to let Alderweireld score as many as possible, as I could do with the boost in my FF team, and I couldn't afford to transfer in Kane for this week!

 

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/spurs-v-newcastle-team-news-121215/

Team news today - no Dembele, Clint, but Dier is fit, means my guess is the lineup will be:

Lloris
Walker Toby Jan Rose
Dier Alli
Lamela Eriksen Son
Kane

 

You lot were very impressive last week against Pool (enjoyed that!) so from our point of view, I hope you don't play as well again. Our run is very impressive, but we have been a little toothless on occasions. If you score first, we might well struggle. I think we'll win, but I doubt it'll be straightforward. From what I saw last weekend, I don't think your struggles will last too much longer, but hopefully one more weekend at least. I've noticed we have set backs every time we have a chance of going into top 4 - so a draw is probably on the cards.

 

Oh God, the opposition fans are resigned to defeat, this usually means we're going to lose

 

Took me 10 minutes to type what you expressed in one sentence!

 

Don't worry, it took me 20 minutes just to settle on the appropriate smiley.

 

Just seen Darren Lewis from The Sun on one of our Sunday night football progs.
He was asked if Spurs were contenders for the title and he said most definitely!
If that's not the KOD not sure what is .
COYS!

 

We had this under Villas-Boas. Started the season with a very strong defensive record, but got mauled a bunch of times after that.
Seven clean sheets in the first ten games and only conceded more than one goal on one occasion.
Lost 6-0 to City on the twelfth game!

I'd agree with that. Moving Eriksen back into the centre of the three will probably help his game, while including Son will give us more pace.

 

God I'm shattered, stayed up for the UFC 194 card last night only to see the main even last 13 seconds! Only had 3 and half hours sleep and I'm heading to the Lane as usual later on so I'm hoping for once atmosphere is ****e and we all sit down and be quiet .

Newcastle have had some good results at WHL over the years and the win against Pool last week will have massively boosted them so we're probably getting the best Newcastle of the season so far - great! That said we're playing really well and the unbeaten run is always breeding confidence, the defence is good, the midfield is good and the attacking options aren't too shabby either. I've said previously that I'd fancy ourselves against anyone at the Lane at present and today is no different.

Team I'd play:

Hugo
Walker, Toby, Jan, Rose
Dier, Alli
Lamela, Eriksen, Son
Kane

Vorm, Davies, Wimmer, Nabs, Onomah, Carroll, N'Jie

COYS!

 

This is why the Toon need to stay up this year. Their fans are so refreshingly honest and hilariously f***ing miserable. Makes a lovely change from the deluded drivel you get from Pool fans or tin foil hat conspiracy theories from Chelsea fans.

I'd agree with SoS on the team, although I think Njie did more than enough against Monaco to warrant a start ahead of Son, who's been good recently but has seemed a bit desperate to grab the headlines, which had led to numerous Row Z shots and a number of poor passes. I know Son has a healthy number of assists but Njie strikes me as a real team player with a fantastic work rate and I think a game such as he had on Thursday should be rewarded.

Loris
Walker Toby Jan Rose
Eric Alli
Erik Eriksen Njie
Kane

 

Lloris (c); Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose; Carroll, Dier; Lamela, Alli, Eriksen; Kane
Subs: Vorm, Davies, Trippier, Bentaleb, Chadli, Onomah, Son

In case that was too subtle...

 

Delighted for Tommy but patently lacking in pace up front. Where's Njie gone now?!!

 

Have to question the appearance of Carroll for a PL start against the Toon in
their present state, but there is no mistaking the message that Pochettino is
sending to the kids :

Front up in whatever senior games I pick you for, and a PL start will soon beckon.

Townsend must be really kicking himself over that touchline strop now.

 

Im excited to see TC get a start, but there's not a lot of pace in that front 6.


Edit : Sorry CK, hadn't seen your post. Great minds and all that

 

Simple minds also think alike Rob....

 

Njie picked up injury against monaco

Think tommy deserved his start after his performance in the last game