please log in to view this image Tottenham Hotspur host Newcastle United at White Hart Lane in the 11th Round of matches of the 2013-14 Premier League season on Sunday 10th November 2013 (KO 12:00). Spurs come into the match in 4th place in the Table on 20 points with Newcastle in 9th place on 14 points. This will be the 151st time the two clubs have met. The first meeting came in the old second round (today's fourth round) of the FA Cup in February 1905 with Newcastle drawing 1-1 at White Hart Lane before winning the replay at St James' Park 4-0. To date, the clubs have met 9 times in the FA Cup. The clubs met for the first time in the Football League in November 1909 in the First Division with Newcastle winning 1-0 at St James' Park and completing the 'double' over Spurs with a 4-0 win at White Hart Lane in March 1910. Tottenham's first win over Newcastle came in a First Division match at White Hart Lane in November 1912 with Jimmy Cantrell scoring the only goal of the match. There were further meetings in the First Division up to season 1933-34 with honours generally pretty even. An FA Cup 4th round match in January 1935 was won 2-0 by Spurs at White Hart Lane with George Hunt (Spurs' record goalscorer until Bobby Smith) scoring both goals. The next 12 meetings between the clubs came in the Second Division of the Football League either side of World War Two from 1935-36 to 1947-48. These dozen matches were the only League games contested between Spurs and Newcastle outside the Top Flight of English Football. The 1950-51 season saw Spurs win their first Football League Championship and in the process they did the 'double' over Newcastle winning 7-0 at home and 1-0 away. The 70,336 spectators at White Hart Lane for that emphatic 7-0 win were the largest crowd at any Spurs v Newcastle fixture in history. Spurs beat Newcastle United in the 1952 Charity Shield 2-1 at White Hart Lane with Les Bennett and Peter 'Spud' Murphy scoring the goals which won the silverware. The first Football League Cup meeting came in the Semi-Finals in January 1976 with John Pratt scoring the winning goal at White Hart Lane in the first leg but Newcastle winning 3-1 at St James' Park despite a Don McAllister goal to advance to the Wembley Final. Newcastle United, along with West Ham United, were the first clubs to be promoted to the Premier League for the 1993-94 season and Spurs won the first match against Newcastle in the competition 1-0 away at St James' Park with a Teddy Sheringham goal. The Magpies had their revenge at White Hart Lane in December with a 2-1 win. An FA Cup Semi-Final at Old Trafford in April 1999 was won 2-0 by Newcastle after extra time. Newcastle lost their Premier League status at the end of the 2008-09 season but won promotion at the first attempt managed by former Spurs player and assistant manager Chris Hughton. Hughton was sacked under controversial circumstances in December 2010 and Alan Pardew was appointed as Newcastle's new manager. The fixture at St. James' Park in October 2011 resulted in a 2-2 draw. Rafael van der Vaart opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 40 minutes. Demba Ba pulled Newcastle level three minutes into the second half but Jermain Defoe's 68th minute goal looked like securing all three points. Substitute Shola Ameobi scored a late equaliser for Newcastle. The reverse fixture at White Hart Lane in February 2012 resulted in a comprehensive 5-0 win for Spurs with goals from Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Louis Saha (2), Niko Kranjcar and Emmanuel Adebayor. The opening match of the 2012-13 season at St James' Park resulted in a 2-1 win for Newcastle. Demba Ba put United ahead after 54 minutes with Jermain Defoe equalising for Spurs after 76 minutes. Ben Arfa was fouled by Aaron Lennon and he scored from the penalty spot for the winner on 80 minutes. Spurs won their home League game in February 2013 2-1 with two goals from Gareth Bale, the first coming after 5 minutes from a free-kick and the second after 78 minutes. Yoan Gouffran had levelled things for Newcastle mid-way through the first half. Tottenham Hotspur have won 63 of the 150 matches played so far with Newcastle United winning 55 and the remaining 32 games drawn. please log in to view this image Full History of Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle United Matches 1905-2013 please log in to view this image They Played for Spurs & Newcastle.... Ossie Ardiles (Spurs player & manager, Newcastle manager) Sebastien Bassong Ted Birnie Kevin Bond (Assistant manager at both clubs) Garry Brady Ivor Broadis Keith Burkinshaw (Spurs manager, Newcastle coach) Sol Campbell Stephen Carr Jesse Carver (Newcastle player, Spurs coach) Ray Clarke Les Ferdinand John Fleming Ruel Fox Tony Galvin (Spurs player, Newcastle asst. manager) Peter Garland Paul Gascoigne David Ginola Bert Gosnell Chris Hughton (Spurs player & asst. manager, Newcastle manager) Jim Iley Jermaine Jenas John McTavish Peter McWilliam (Newcastle player, Spurs manager) Paul Moran Taffy O'Callaghan Alan Pardew (Spurs loanee, Newcastle manager) Scott Parker Wayne Routledge Louis Saha Kevin Scott Mark Stimpson Allan Taylor Archie Turner Chris Waddle Jonathan Woodgate Charlie Woods (Chief scout with both clubs) please log in to view this image Tottenham Hotspur Premier League Player's Squad Numbers 1993-94 to 2013-14 Newcastle United Premier League Player's Squad Numbers 1993-94 to 2013-14 please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
Newcastle are going to be on a high after the Chelsea win so it's probably a bad time to play them. We'll probably keep a clean sheet but also draw another blank in my opinion, unless we can play natural wingers and get some crosses into the box where I think Soldado will take advantage of. If we're going to play the inverted stuff again, I'd play Sig on the left as he seems the only player at the moment capable of scoring. Team I'd go for: Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Kaboul, Vertonghen Sandro, Dembele Lennon, Eriksen, Townsend Soldado Subs: Friedel, Chiriches, Paulinho, Capoue, Sigurdsson (unless inverted, then him for Lennon), Kane, Defoe
Big game, Pardew's having his side play a lot higher up the pitch these days so it'll make for an interesting battle. I think it depends on which Newcastle turns up as much as anything.
Nail on head. I think we'll go 4-5-1 with Remy up top on his own and we'll have Gouffran and Sissoko on each wing. Our game plan will probably be a mirror image of our Chelsea game plan. Keep it tight and try to use the speed of Gouffran, Sissoko & Remy to hit you on the counter. Ben Arfa will be on the bench again and he'll be our first sub should we be in need of a goal. I'm just hoping this isn't the game where your front four click as when they do someone is due a hammering. After the Chelsea game though I do think we could nick something from you provided we don't concede early.
To be honest mate we/ AVB doesn't know who our best front 4 is at the moment. We've played a complete mix this season. We were delighted when Lennon returned but AVB keeps playing him on the left where he's ineffective. Townsend has been exciting and is probably the only player who deserves his place in the side. Sigurdsson can score at any time but fails to impact on the match any other way. Holtby is useless in the Prem yet keeps getting selected over Eriksen. Chadli keeps getting injuries but hasn't set the world alight and Lamela clearly needs time to adjust. Soldado looks a great finisher but with the tactics we play it's making him look a bad player as he gets no service and so people automatically think he's useless, granted for £26m you'd expect a bit more but we're definitely not helping the situation. Defoe has been great in Europa yet only started 1 league game so can't really judge him yet. I'd say our front 4 won't reach it's peak until well after the new year as it's hard to tell who should definitely start as some players are yet to hit form/ adapt.
Sorry but that's ridiculous. He's not exactly ripping teams to shreds, granted, but he's been a key part of us breaking up the oppositions possession early and has looked bright in attack too. Eriksen really hasn't done much to force his way back into the side, even in the Europa League where the opposition is easier.
Holtby's given away nigh on every attacking pass he's made (think I counted 4 vs Everton) so not sure where this bright in attack bit comes from, I don't think he's registered a single assist in the league since joining. Eriksen got an assist on his debut vs Norwich and got the ball out to Paulinho for the second, done all the work for the Chelsea goal where Soldado laid on Gylfi, scored against Tromso and got an assist against Sheriff. All of Holtby's good play comes in the Europa and that's where he should stay in my opinion. As for breaking up opposition play, that's what Paulinho/ Sandro/ Dembele/ Capoue + the back 4 are for. A creative attacking mid shouldn't be needed to break up play unless we're on the back foot with 10-15 mins to go after being 1-0 up, this is one of the reasons why we're so ineffective up top.
Adding onto my Holtby bit, we need to remember he's been here nearly a year now, Eriksen just 2 and half months and for me, Eriksen looks far more settled and "right" for Spurs. Holtby reminds me of Pienaar when he was with us, no doubting he is/ can be a good player but I just don't think we'll see it consistently with Spurs. Needs to be a "main" player.
Sorry, that's simply not true, I remember him playing in several good crosses and passes, setting free other attacking players. Eriksen was dropped because he was too easily getting marked out of the game, he wasn't in his debut where Norwich suicidally played 4 in midfield but if you're going to credit him for passing the ball to Paulinho before Soldado flicked it to Sigurdsson then you can also credit Holtby for setting up the winner against Cardiff by playing in Lamela and playing the ball to Paulinho for Soldado's against Villa. I'm not saying Eriksen hasn't had his moments, they both have and both could have done better too but to call Holtby useless is just stupid, especially when you're defending Eriksen. For me I'd rather a player who doesn't go missing from games, even if it means them playing deeper at times but as I've said on the other thread, I'm hoping they both get a chance to play together as I think Eriksen would see more of the ball in the right areas if Holtby's alongside him.
I too would also like to see Holtby out left in the Siggy role, Eriksen middle and Towny/Lennon right. Holtby still carries a long-range goal threat but also has added guile and can cross with his left foot. Him and Towny are more two-footed than Lennon so will be more effective when switching too.
I thought Holtby had a good first half against Everton where he did make one or two incisive passes and did look to make things happen - he does have a bit of zip in his game both offensively and defensively. But I really do wonder if he's really good enough, especially when the team is so sterile in general. There's a lot of pressure on our number 10 to create chances, take chances, do the special thing that opens up a team. For me Holtby is, very obviously, not even in the same league as an Oscar or Rooney or Silva or VDV. Krancjar was a player deemed not good enough and yet I'd rather have him in that role than Holtby right now. In fact I'd probably take him over any of our current options. It's a bit tricky cos Holtby really has impressed in the Europa at times and it makes you wonder if he's still adjusting to the EPL. He's still only had 18 league appearances total and the majority of them sub appearances. Right now I'd give Eriksen another go, though to be honest I don't think it would change much.
Errm, bit of a mix up with the pics - it's Saha following Parker, and Routledge between Scott and Stimpson.
Also is it just me or does Steven Taylor look like he's really enjoying that Gareth Bale shot in the photo up top?
I can see your points in that it's useful to have him chase the ball when not in possession but I think it creates a problem up top then for when we do get the ball. It's a catch 22, if he stays up then there's more pressure on other players to win the ball but when/ if they do he'll be in space for a counter attack where as if he tracks back and wins the ball, it's one less person up top to aim for. Playing them together would be interesting to see. Creativity would hopefully be there in abundance but sometimes playing two players who are too similar can end up having an adverse effect as they both get into similar attacking positions. Only one way to find out though, hopefully AVB gives it a go, it really can't be much worse than what's been behind the striker in most games.
Have to say I do hope that Lennon either remains on the left or on the bench. Our left back (Santon) is right footed and is much better when players cut inside against him so although he's in good form I'm hoping Townsend remains on the right. Debuchy is finally starting to look the player we thought he'd be and kept Hazard almost in his pocket at the weekend. I do think this is the one game where you should perhaps go 4-4-2 as we're weak at CB at the moment, we've got Williamson who isn't really Premier League quality and Mbiwa who is still learning the league and therefore prone to the odd howler. If Soldado is up front on his own I think that would suit our two CB's as although his movement is good he hasn't got that burst of speed that a Sturridge/Suarez etc have and it would enable us to play a high line whilst also remaining compact. I really do think whether there is an early goal will have a major say on the outcome of this game. If we concede early we're likely to just collapse (see Everton & Man City) and we'd then have to come out and attack you which would suit you perfectly.
YV & SOS......lads, compadres, you both have this essentialy wrong, yes Holtby has looked ****, Eriksen has also looked ****, Siggy has looked ****, Dembele has looked ****, see the pattern forming here? central midfielder asked to create and what happens, they look ****! The reason, Tommy Carroll, he is the only central midfielder who can light up the lane and provide the passing game to save Avb from the current abuse he is getting for playing dour football. Avb consigned us to a season of boring tika taka, without the taka and that is because we loaned out little Tommy Carroll!
I've never seen any evidence that this is true when he has played. I would love it if we could get him in, but i've not seen him create that much when he has played.
**** it, everyone's ****! I still can't believe we loaned Carroll to the Championship. Bizarre decision in my opinion, if no one in the Prem would've taken him I'd rather have kept him, would've got some chances based on the performances we've seen so far.
Holtby looks like an away game player for his pressing and good engine when we're keeping it tight (which is every game atm I know but bear with me!) and Eriksen looks like your flair home game player. Yes we have Sandro and co for breaking up play in deeper areas, but away from home you defend from the front and LH is better at that than Eriksen, no question. As far as these two go as an either or, depends on the type of game we expect, however, I also agree there's room for both in the right setup.
