Newcastle 2 Tottenham 2
Cristian Romero is crucial in this Tottenham side. Of course Romero is going to take the credit for scoring 2 goals in this match but the way he leads this Spurs team as captain is crucial especially when things aren’t going well like they aren’t at the minute, I thought him and Kevin Danso were excellent in this match when they were having to stop attack after attack from Newcastle and ultimately limited them to only a few chances. It was a stark difference to Fulham on Saturday night when Spurs were opened at will in that first half, with Van De Ven rested it was imperative that Romero stepped up tonight and he managed to rescue Spurs a point in the end.
Newcastle couldn’t get going in attack. Newcastle largely dominated the game but really struggled to create clear-cut chances for much of the game, the frontline of Jacob Murphy, Harvey Barnes and Nick Woltemade never really clicked although I thought Woltemade had quite a tidy game with some really nice touches and link-up play although he was starved of service. Barnes and Murphy were quite poor and I’m suprised Eddie Howe left it until the 66th minute to sub Gordon and Elanga on. It will be interesting to see if Howe changes up the attack against Burnley on Saturday and if Gordon or Elanga will get back in the side.
Tottenham’s attack almost solely relies on Mohammed Kudus. This was yet another example of Kudus being Spurs’ only real threat in the final third with Brennan Johnson being completely anonymous until he came off and Randal Kolo-Muani being starved off service yet again up front. Kudus’ cross for Romero’s first goal was excellent and his battle against Lewis Hall at left-back was really good to watch with Kudus coming out on top in my opinion. It will be interesting to see how Spurs’ attack will operate when he goes to AFCON in a couple of weeks, Spurs need Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski back sooner rather than later if Tottenham want to start picking up form.
Can Newcastle stay consistent with Champions League football? The last time Newcastle were in the Champions League they really struggled to stay consistent in the league finishing 7th in the league after they finishing 4th they year before. So far this season Newcastle have been performing well in the Champions League so far currently sitting 11th with losses coming against Barcelona and Marseille who are both performing well in their respective leagues. It does seem like again Newcastle are struggling to balance both competitions currently sitting 13th in the Premier League but there is only 3 points separating 5th and 14th so they could move up the table fast if they put a few wins together.
Does this ease the pressure on Thomas Frank? I’m not sure Spurs fans will be overly happy with the performance with the team struggling to create chances yet again, you get the feeling that if put in yet another poor performance against Frank’s old side in Brentford at home on Saturday time might be up for Thomas Frank at Tottenham, he has to try and find a good home performance from this team but Brentford will be tricky with Igor Thiago on fire at the minute. Can Tottenham finally put in a convincing performance at home? We’ll see on Saturday.