Newcastle United Match Thread

Versus

At





Saturday 9th February 2013
Kick Off @ 1245hrs GMT

TEAM NEWS

Tottenham are without striker Jermain Defoe, who has an ankle injury.

He could be replaced by Emmanuel Adebayor, who is back from the Africa Cup of Nations, although Spurs need to assess the fitness of the Togo forward.

Newcastle welcome back midfielder Cheick Tiote following the Ivory Coast's defeat by Nigeria.

Hatem Ben Arfa's return from a hamstring problem has been delayed by a virus, and he is unlikely to be fit until the end of the month.


MATCH PREVIEW

It's a quirk of fate that in a week when news emerged of Paul Gascoigne's latest attempt to deal with his alcoholism, the two clubs where he sprang to prominence and shone so brightly should meet at White Hart Lane. Both sets of fans have fond memories of Gazza and, like the rest of football, will hope that he can get well and overcome his demons.
Tottenham will see Saturday's match as a chance to move into the top three for a few hours at least as they continue their quest to return to the Champions League.

If they can keep their current run of form going then it is starting to look like a very achievable target, with third place and automatic entry to the group stage a possibility, never mind the prospect of a qualifier for finishing fourth. Spurs are just a point and a place behind inconsistent Chelsea, and go into the weekend unbeaten in nine league matches.

If this match had been played two or three weeks ago I wouldn't have fancied Newcastle's chances at all, but with a raft of seemingly inspired new signings, a first away win of the season at Aston Villa and a thrilling comeback victory over Chelsea last Saturday, they suddenly seem a very different proposition.

Those two wins are the first back-to-back successes they've had all season and they'll head to the Lane feeling much better about themselves. The 3-2 victory over Chelsea was the first time in over two years Newcastle have come from behind to win a league game. Add that to the win at Villa and suddenly they're looking onwards and upwards rather than slightly nervously over their shoulders.

Newcastle won the reverse fixture 2-1 on the opening day of the season, but were thumped in the corresponding game last season 5-0 and haven't scored on any of their last three visits to White Hart Lane.


MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

The Magpies won 3-2 at White Hart Lane in 2006-07 and 4-1 the following season, but have lost their subsequent three games away to Spurs, conceding eight unanswered goals.
Newcastle have failed to keep a clean sheet in their previous 16 league games against Tottenham. Their last shut-out against Spurs came in a 4-0 home win in December 2003.

Tottenham Hotspur

Gareth Bale has scored nine of his 11 Premier League goals this season away from home. Only Robin van Persie (10) has scored more often on the road.
Tottenham won 17 corners against West Brom last weekend, more than any other side in a Premier League game this season.
Spurs have lost just one of their last 13 league games (W8, D4, L1).

Newcastle United

The Magpies have won successive league games for the first time this season. This is their best run since winning six Premier League matches in a row between March and April 2012.
Newcastle's victory against Chelsea was the first time in 27 months that they've come from behind to win a league game.
Moussa Sissoko managed one goal and one assist in his final 38 league appearances for Toulouse. He has already beaten that tally (two goals, one assist) in two games for the Magpies.
Alan Pardew's men have conceded 18 goals in their last seven league games.

5 Lloris
16 Naughton
20 Dawson
28 Walker
33 Caulker
02 Dempsey
07 Lennon
08 Parker
11 Bale
23 Holtby
19 Dembele
Substitutes
24 Friedel
05 Vertonghen
13 Gallas
32 Assou-Ekotto
22 Sigurdsson
29 Livermore
10 Adebayor

good team
good ref in charge for this game
holtby gets a start

the bubble has truly burst with dembele lol
caybaye running the show.

holtby not done much.

bale and parker and dawson been our best players.
get ade

fantastic performance from all today i thought, really looked like a team today. all helping out in defending when needed. good sharp passing and good vision for some of the longer balls played. well happy after a nervous 7 mins were added on. cmon the black cats and wigan.

are you at the game lought ?

did you.??????????????
we got the goal then newcastle got back in the game and we looked poor for most of the game then bale makes it 2 1 and we counter attack them and should of got more goals

Gareth Bale continued his extraordinary scoring run to hand Champions League-chasing Tottenham victory at the expense of Newcastle.

Bale gave Spurs a great start when he fizzed in a free-kick from 25 yards which beat goalkeeper Tim Krul.

Yoan Gouffran equalised midway through the half when his firm shot went in off a slight deflection.

But Bale made it four goals in three league matches when he ran onto Kyle Walker's ball before slotting in.
In fact, he is the only player to have scored for the north London side in those games, underlining his importance and value, to both the team and in monetary terms.

The 23-year-old international - who also scored for Wales against Austria on Wednesday - could have added three more to his tally late in the second half, only to be twice denied by the excellent reflexes of Tim Krul, before showing he is fallible by missing from three yards.

But his manager Andre Villas-Boas and his adoring fans inside a packed White Hart Lane would have forgiven him for that blip. He is now the joint third top scorer in the league with 13 - impressive for a midfielder.

It must have felt like Groundhog Day for Newcastle when Bale scored inside the first five minutes, having conceded at Spurs during the same period last season.

The home side went on to hit Newcastle three more times in that opening 45 minutes, winning 5-0 in the end, but the Magpies are slightly more resolute outfit these days thanks to wise spending in January.

Nevertheless, visiting defender Fabricio Coloccini fouled Clint Dempsey 25 yards from goal on the right. Bale took charge and poked his effort with plenty of dip over the wall, into the bottom right.

Spurs were playing with Dempsey as the lone man in attack, with Bale, Aaron Lennon and new signing Lewis Holtby, making his first start, in support roles.

Germany international Holtby had great stamina and played with a willingness to cover the whole pitch.

But it is as an attacker for which he was purchased by Villas-Boas, and twice he had a chance to score from the fringes of the area with shot that just flew over the wrong side of the bar.

Moments later, another new signing kept his shot low enough to bring the Magpies back into the match.
Gouffran, signed from Bordeaux, was the man to level when Moussa Sissoko pulled the ball back for the forward to smash in via a deflection off the back of Michael Dawson.

The goal settled Newcastle down, with Tottenham not given the sort of space afforded to them in the first quarter of the match.

However, Alan Pardew's side were dealt a blow early after the restart when goalscorer Gouffran was carried off after receiving a nasty gash to his shin.

It seemed to unsettle the visitors as Tottenham attempted to grab a foothold in the match; Bale again leading the charge.

And it was the flying winger who ultimately decided the outcome when he latched onto a hopeful lofted ball from Walker and outpaced Stephen Taylor, before firing his shot past Newcastle's Dutch keeper.

The Magpies came close to snatching a point when substitute Shola Ameobi's strike was deflected wide, but that would have been cruel on Bale and Tottenham, who look a good bet to take a Champions League spot.

Second-half kings

Tottenham have scored the highest proportion of goals in the second half of Premier League games this season - 72%


Managerial might

Andre Villas-Boas is on the longest unbeaten run of his Premier League managerial career - 10 matches (W6 D4)

we needed bale to save us. until we got the second goal we looked lost. are we a 1 man team.

people are blinked because in the last 10 mins we kept counter attacking. but they forget about the other 80 mins

Lloris 8 - not his fault for the goal, very quick off the line
Walker 7 - worked hard and had a few vital tackles/clearances
Dawson 7 - was good at one one ones,
Naughton 6 -not a left back
Caulker 7 - assured at the back and very adventurous up front
Parker 7 - very good good game
Lennon 7 - worked tirelessly and won the battle of fitness on his flank
Dembele 7 - awfull first half but worked harder second
Bale 9 - would have been a 10 if he'd gotten a hattrick. stood up well to tackles.
Holtby 7 -faded badly in 2nd half and being replaced was a good decision, but those touches
Dempsey 7 - put in a good shift, held the ball up well

Subs not rated but special mention to BAE's wicked long pass to Bale who should've scored

AVB 6 - too many changes at the back that resulted in poor understanding in covering for each other especially when the ball is put behind the fullback (the CB commit to cover and the fullback track back to cover the CB).

Loughtonlegend wrote:we needed bale to save us. until we got the second goal we looked lost. are we a 1 man team.

people are blinked because in the last 10 mins we kept counter attacking. but they forget about the other 80 mins

Bale to save us? Lloris had one save to make in 92nd minute, all I saw was mainly Krul lumping it long, we battled well against a team that last week beat Cheatski, I don't suppose you'll e er be happy Lought, so everyone's blinkered because they don't agree with your constant whingeing.

krull had nothing to do untill bale got the second.
we get a late win and it all papers over the cracks.

we had more chances up front i thought just our shots were a bit off target, holtby had 2 pretty good chances, caulker had a header just wide, bale had a couple more shots and dempsey i beleive a couple. i thought we were looking more likely to score if we had finished better. we were very capable at the back, and dawson had a good game as well imo.

i thought it was a decent performance by us, some solid performances by Dawson, Walker, Lennon, Bale, the whole team played well for each other. I'm still not happy with Dempsey though and Parker needs to improve his passing, lost the ball on quite a few occasions. I thought Adebayor did well when he came on, some good link up play and went on a few decent runs aswell as setting up Bale a few times. Also, good pressing in the last 10 minutes from all the players to defend our lead!

That was a nasty challenge on Dembele by Cabaye, he was lucky to be on the pitch! I think Dembele might be out for the next match.

Could of won that by 3 or 4, but definitely deserved the win.

ye in the end it was very convincing.
lloris is so quick off hes line.
thought cabaye should of got a red for that challange but its cos our players dont harrase the ref like arsenal do.

maybe i should make myself clearer. for most of the game newcastle bossed the midfeild and one again dembele was woefull. i just hope hes not going to be the new jenas.
he inproved second half and he did put in a good shift.

Dembele will improve Lought, he's a top player and its only his first season. Remember Sandro during his first season, look at him now!

We deserved our win and I admit that Newcastle looked dangerous at times but we always looked like the winners.

I said when the transfer window closed what happens if JD gets injured. Now I pray that Bale keeps fit because he is the only one who looks like scoring....in fact he's the only one scoring.

We created a lot of chances but there was no real striker on the end of them if we had one then I believe the last few games including today we would have had 2 or 3 more.

Mikey M

dont bear thinking about baz. dave hopefully will give his report later, i believe he was going to game today.

good free kick from bale even if the defender didnt jump.

he did what adel done when you get the ball to bounce on the line. clever skill that