For a little while, Newcastle United were prisoners in Tottenham Hotspur’s kingdom of chaos. They started fast as usual, but Spurs started faster, two goals shared in the first six, nonsensical minutes, accompanied or followed by a disputed handball, a disputed elbow, home fans chanting at the officials “you’re not fit to referee” and “you don’t know what you’re doing” as well as targeting Daniel Levy, their own chairman, with discord.
At times this season, Newcastle have been a byword for inconsistency, but Tottenham take that distinction to a whole other level. Hit by illness, with players out injured, Brandon Austin making his debut in goal and form wholly absent, they resembled prime Jackson Pollock, an anarchic riot of mess. Shape, coherence, a discernible plan? No mate, not today, as Ange Postecoglou did not quite put it.
This virus of Tottenham’s — not the actual one, but rather their disarray — could have been infectious. There was more of it in the second half when Postecoglou fielded a decidedly pre-season defence (Djed Spence at centre-half, anybody?), when Anthony Gordon had his nose smashed, Joe Willock was playing up front and then Andy Madley, the referee, conjured up 12 minutes and 53 seconds of time added on. By then, it was simply a quagmire to be navigated.
Navigate it Newcastle did, much to Postecoglou’s frustration.
Gordon is felled after taking a blow to the nose (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
The Spurs manager declared himself “hugely proud” of his “outstanding” team and “as angry as I’ve ever been in my career they didn’t get the rewards they deserved”. Although there was some mitigation given their absentees and their difficulties, as well as a couple of contentious decisions, from a Newcastle perspective, it felt in keeping with a vaguely baffling, productive kind of day.
True, things got a bit ragged. When Son Heung-min and James Maddison came on for Tottenham with just over an hour gone, impetus switched and, having played their way towards dominance, Newcastle lost the thread. “We weren’t totally comfortable in the second half,” Eddie Howe admitted. “It wasn’t what we wanted it to be.”
The denouement was rife with tension, too tough to watch for Alexander Isak who, now substituted, had “gone inside until there was a minute left”.
Yet it was not wholly themeless. Look beyond the dishevelment and much was familiar and, ultimately, this familiarity served as Newcastle’s crutch when the road became rocky. Most broadly, a sixth consecutive win in all competitions and fifth in the Premier League spoke for itself in terms of a pattern; teams with momentum and confidence find a way of generating more, which is how it turned out.
Isak converts yet again (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Isak’s winner was instinctive to the point of improbability, his right boot in precisely the right place when Jacob Murphy’s cross was deflected on by Radu Dragusin in the 38th minute.
This, too, has its own context. Isak has now scored in seven Premier League games in a row, joining the only other two Newcastle players to reach this mark in Willock and Alan Shearer. “I don’t think about breaking records, but collectively we’ve been very good recently and it makes it easier for the individuals,” he told TNT Sports afterwards. It was the kind of finish that only a brilliant striker revelling in the most searing of hot streaks could conjure.
At the back, Newcastle coped with the suspension of Fabian Schar. Sven Botman’s surprise return to the side after nearly 10 months out with an ACL injury brought an early concession when Dominic Solanke wriggled around him, but in the circumstances, the Dutchman was excellent, playing on until cramp gripped him. For all of Tottenham’s late bluster, it was the fifth consecutive game that Newcastle have limited their opponents to an xG (expected goals) of less than one.
A centre-half pairing of Dan Burn and Botman — a player Howe previously said has “the tools to be as good as any other centre-half in Premier League history” — meant two left-footers, but otherwise disruption was minimal. “He won’t be at his optimum level, but that will come,” Howe said of Botman. “He was physically and mentally ready to play. He has been chomping at the bit.”
Solanke’s goal was the first Newcastle had allowed for 364 minutes in the league.
Botman’s return was a source of encouragement (Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
That fast start? Newcastle’s equaliser, a fine hit across goal by Gordon — the ball striking Joelinton’s hand in the build-up, fuel for Postecoglou’s ire — means they have scored in the opening six minutes of their last four league games.
This is not a coincidence, either. “We want to press teams high, win the ball high and try to kill the game early. That’s the way we want to play, home and away.” That was Emil Krafth speaking in pre-season. It has taken a while for them to get there, but this is who they are.
And then there is the consistency of Howe’s selection, a stark contrast to Postecoglou’s. “I’ve been very reluctant to change things and unbalance what’s been working for us,” the head coach told reporters after the match. “Sometimes, even within the game, that’s been so evident I haven’t wanted to change the dynamic too much, unless I feel like I absolutely have to.”
In this run of theirs, eight players have started all six fixtures.
In other words, Newcastle had plenty to lean on at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when otherwise their vision might have become a bit foggy. Confronted by uproar, they had consistency of performance in their locker. They had trust and self-belief in their armoury, knowledge that each component of their team could be relied upon. When Spurs scored, “there was a calmness about us in response to that, a mature response,” Howe said.
If they did not always have full control, they still did enough in that first half to wrest the advantage back from Spurs and then hang on. They did not have to be swept away.
Howe has steered Newcastle to five successive Premier League wins (Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
“When we win games like that, we feel like we can do big things in the season,” Bruno Guimaraes, the captain, said to NUFC TV afterwards and the opportunity is now certainly there for Newcastle. After Arsenal in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final on Tuesday, it is Bromley at home in the FA Cup and then two league games at St James’ Park against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Bournemouth.
They are fifth and at ease with themselves, an astonishing turnaround from a month ago and testament to both their own accomplishment and a haphazard league.
Chaos, they hope, is behind them.
GO DEEPER
The Briefing: Tottenham 1 Newcastle 2 – Where were Maddison and Son? Can Isak keep scoring?
(Top photo: Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
