Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle United

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Sunday 17th October 4.30pm
Premier League
St. James' Park​

So we've finally seen the back of another international break and we're back to the Premier League again.
Things have changed rather a lot for our opponents, though.
Their takeover has certainly buoyed up the fanbase and all the talk is of them being the new Man City.
A number of our players are returning late from South America too, so it's a big opportunity for them.
Can Espirito Santo repeat the improvement of the Villa performance or will Bruce buy himself some time?

This is Steve Bruce's 3rd season with the Magpies and it's almost certainly going to be his last.
The fans haven't taken to him for a variety of reasons, ranging from managing Sunderland to boring play.
They've also spent quite a lot of money during his tenure, especially when compared to his predecessor.
He did match Rafa Benitez' 13th place finish in his first season and then better it last time, though.
12th place still won't impress the locals, especially when you're 10 points adrift of 11th.

This campaign has not started well at all, either. They're yet to win a league game...
Back-to-back losses to claret and blue teams opened proceedings and it hasn't improved much since.
Draws with Southampton, Leeds and Watford and losses to Man Utd and Wolves have left them 19th.
Going out of the League Cup to Burnley at home on penalties added to their poor start.
Spirits have been lifted though, so expect us to be the gift that keeps on giving.

Our visit to their place last season was one of Mourinho's last games in charge and it showed.
We started slowly and could've gone behind even earlier than we did, as Gayle spurned two chances.
A poor clearance from Sanchez allowed them to play the ball to Joelinton and he didn't waste his.
Kane levelled it up almost immediately, then put us ahead, where we stayed until late on.
Attacking subs shifted the momentum and Arsenal loanee Joe Willock nicked a draw at the death:

The home game earlier in the campaign was also a draw, but under far more controversial circumstances.
It was basically one-way traffic for 90 minutes, producing an excellent performance from Carl Darlow.
The Newcastle keeper was beaten after 25 minutes by Lucas Moura, but we didn't add to the count.
Son hit the post and bar and nobody else managed to beat the on-form stopper.
VAR stepped in and they equalised from the spot with their first shot on target in the 97th minute:

Davies, Sessegnon and Doherty are all big doubts, though Bergwijn trained and should be available.
Sanchez, Romero, Lo Celso and Emerson are all late back from international duty.
Dubravka and Dummett are out for the hosts.

Lineups for each side's last league game:

Spurs: Lloris; Royal, Romero, Dier, Reguilon; Hojbjerg, Skipp; Moura, Ndombele, Son; Kane.
Subs: Gollini, Doherty, Rodon, Sanchez, Winks, Lo Celso, Alli, Gil, Scarlett.
League form: WWLLLW.

Newcastle: Darlow; Manquillo, Fernandez, Clark, Ritchie; Hayden, Longstaff, Willock; Almiron, Saint-Maximin, Joelinton.
Subs: Gillespie, Krafth, Schar, Lewis, Hendrick, Anderson, Murphy, Fraser, Gayle.
League form: LDLDDL.

Ref: Andre Marriner. VAR: Chris Kavanagh.

TV: Sky Sports.

How would you like to line up for this one?
Would you stick with much of the same lineup from the Villa game, tinker a little or change it completely?
Which system and tactics would you use and what are you expecting Newcastle to go with?

 

Pre-match manager press conference:

Just wouldn't be drawn on anything about Newcastle, which is fair enough.

 

Given recent events in Toon town, a win or low-scoring draw
via dirge fest is ok by me for this one (get it done, and move on) .

 

The crowd will be bang up for this one. It’ll be interesting to see how Bruce and the Newcastle players handle it. He was bullish in his press conference today about keeping the job but he must know that even if he improves results he’s gone in January or the summer. And a lot of the players will know that they’ll be out as soon as better replacements come in.

SJP will be a bearpit on Sunday though, so Nuno and the boys had better get this one right. Need to build on the Villa game and get a bit of momentum going ourselves.

 

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Cue "But Amazon have dealings with Saudi Arabia, so if you use Amazon you support Saudi Arabia"...

 

Oh, excellent

Nearly impossible to predict the lineup for this game as we have no idea who that is and on top of them, we have no idea if the South Americans will be available.

This could be a ****show of a game for us.

 

My immediate thought is that Lloris is one of them, given Theo Hernandez tested positive after the Nations League final

Adrien Rabiot really is the gift that keeps on giving, isn't he?

 

Then again if they’re saying it’s players who haven’t had close contacts then that probably rules out anyone we’ve seen in group training pics the last 48 hours, which would include Hugo.

 

Juventus v Tottenham basically.

Or at least the Newcastle players will be playing as if they're Juventus. Those Newcastle players are all fighting for their careers, will be tough for any side to beat them.

 

And fair play to Steve Bruce for having a bite back at the media wolves. After 999 games as a manager and over 900 as a player, he should have had more respect than he was given. Of course his time there will be soon be up, but the media should be ashamed at the way they’ve handled this one.

 

Not great timing though, given what their owners do to journalists they don't like.

 

Are we having a sweep on who has Covid in the squad? Put me down for Gil and Son

 

As much as I don't rate him as a manager, I do think the treatment of Bruce and some other managers is a bit off. It's almost like since Pep, Klopp and co came into the league and took the game to another level the likes of Allardyce, Bruce and other pragmatic managers get thrown to the wayside.

 

Thats what Twitter thinks. Specifically Paul O’Keefe

 

Some no mark on Twitter is claiming Son and Gil

Both have been seen in training galleries in the last 48 hours

 

Paul O’Keefe is reasonably reliable and he’s saying it. Apparently the players training together isn’t considered close contact which is fair enough, because transmission running around outside is fairly unlikely, but you’d think that training rooms, the canteen etc would be a different matter.

Either way it’s a ****ing mess. 10 days out and **** knows what it’ll do to them physically. Plenty of under 30s in good shape have been ruined by COVID and the stress that is put on footballers’ bodies can negatively affect their immune systems anyway, even though they’re in great shape.

 

It's from Paul O'Keefe, originally. Wouldn't surprise me, but it also wouldn't surprise me if he's wrong.

 

Apparently Son and Gil will miss Newcastle, vitesse and west ham.

you have to laugh, or you’ll cry.