Unfortunately for us Mags that day is today as a Gareth Bale inspired Tottenham Hotspur beat us 2-1 at White Hart Lane.
There is no real disgrace in that to be honest. The victory sent Tottenham third in the table for a brief moment in time and you can see why they are flirting with Champions League qualification. They are a good side, unbeaten in ten games now, and with a midfielder popping up and scoring goals in the manner that Gareth Bale is right now they look tough to beat.
That’s not to say that we disgraced ourselves by any stretch of the imagination. Once again I saw enough to suggest that we’ll be fine against other teams, and with matches against Southampton, Stoke and Wigan popping up in our next four league games there is a chance we’ll pick up points with the added quality and resolve we now have at our disposal.
What cost us today was poor defending more than anything, and the ability of Bale to take advantage of it. He scored his 12 and 13th league goals of the season, which is only six less than the whole of our team combined (not including the departed Demba Ba) have managed all season.
Bale gave Spurs the lead inside the opening five minutes after Fabricio Coloccini rather cynically fouled Clint Dempsey. The Welshman lined up the free-kick and sent the ball over the wall into the bottom right corner of Tim Krul’s goal. Could the wall have done better? Well jumping would be a start…
Newcastle came back into the game though and should of equalised through Papiss Cisse who headed Fabricio Coloccini’s cross wide of goal. However United weren’t to be denied a leveller and midway through the first half Moussa Sissoko squared the ball for Yoan Gouffran to hit home via a deflection off Michael Dawson.
From then on the game was pretty even. Newcastle had woken up and closed the space down that Tottenham were operating in. That was until early on the second half when Yoan Gouffran was taken off on a stretcher following a rash challenge from Kyle Walker. The striker has a gash on his leg and has been taken to hospital for a scan on his leg.
The home side gained the ascendancy from then on and delivered what turned out to be the knockout blow with 12 minutes remaining after a lack of communication between Steven Taylor and Fabricio Coloccini allowed Gareth Bale to run on to a hopeful long ball from Kyle Walker leaving the Welshman the task of finishing past Krul.
Shola Ameobi did nearly scrape an equaliser in added on time, but Hugo Lloris was equal to Shola’s shot and pushed the ball wide of goal in what was pretty much the last act of a defeat for United.
Tottenham are a good side but we didn’t get hammered like last season. I dare say the difference was Gareth Bale and that was about it. Everything positive for Spurs came through him today and better teams than us have and will struggle to contain him in this form.
Onwards and upwards!
Tottenham: Hugo Lloris; Kyle Walker, Michael Dawson, Stephen Caulker, Kyle Naughton; Scott Parker, Moussa Dembele; Aaron Lennon, Lewis Holtby, Gareth Bale; Clint Dempsey
Subs: Brad Friedel, Jan Vertonghen, William Gallas, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Jake Livermore, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Emmanuel Adebayor
Newcastle: Tim Krul; Mathieu Debuchy, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon; Yohan Cabaye, James Perch; Jonas Gutierrez, Moussa Sissoko, Yoan Gouffran; Papiss Cisse
Subs: Steve Harper, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Vurnon Anita, Cheik Tiote, Sylvain Marveaux, Gabriel Obertan, Shola Ameobi
Attendance: 36,244
Aubemeyang or whatever he is called chose this over us, lol
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BCrY3DHCYAAn0Gk.jpg
funkyjesus(Quote)
Watched some, on a dodgy stream. Yes Bale was excellent, but the rest of the spurs team looked at least our equal. Their speed and movement was better than ours. We performed very well however. Hope Gouffy is OK. Never expected him to be our star signing, but he and Sissoko look superb.
premandup(Quote)
Spuds are a one trick pony with Bale in the side.
My only real disapointment was the comments and attitude of Niall Quin who proved to the rest of the world just what SMB really means. Once a mackem always in the 5h!t. Roll on April 13th. Howaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay the Lads.
Porciestreet(Quote)
Newcastle United FC @NUFCOfficial
Gouffran was stretchered off this afternoon at Tottenham and will be further assessed on Sunday by the Club’s medical staff. #nufc
Newcastle United FC @NUFCOfficial
Newcastle United are pleased to report that a precautionary X-ray has shown that Yoan Gouffran has not broken his right leg #nufc
funkyjesus(Quote)
Gareth Bale, Gareth Bale…He was born to play for Spurs…He was born to play for Spurs 😉
Acton_Yid(Quote)
What did he say porcie?
Andymag(Quote)
If thats the case “Funky”, It’s a great relief because it bruised up extremely quickly for me. Looked like a cracked Fib. However, on to the Saints at home and no prisoners. Small matter of Metalist in midweek and another great home win for the mighty Magpies. Howaaaaaaaaaaaaaay the Lads.
Porciestreet(Quote)
Andymag @ 6,
He was making fun of the Gouffy injury implying feigned pain and saying he should get up and get on with it. Complete to55er.
Porciestreet(Quote)
Porcie
That’s unprofessional, was he commentating on the match? I didn’t hear it on Sky?
Andymag(Quote)
Luckily his leg isn’t broken. And he has two weeks off now to recover.
http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20130209/yoan-gouffran-injury-update_2281670_3070534
Who was the one taking the **** out of Benny saying he should just get up and get on with it when he broke his leg at Man City?
toonsy(Quote)
Was on Nilesat. I’m in Cyprus.
Porciestreet(Quote)
For some reason the feed I watch it on seemed to be about 5mins behind really time. Watched the first half and my opinion was that the wall was at fault for the 1st goal. I say wall coz of the 4 in it there was only Jonas who jumped – it should have been all of them.
Our goal was a very good move by the new boys and Sissoko seemed to know where Gouffran would be so they seem to have a good understanding amongst them already. It was also scored at a time I thought we were dominating play to be honest.
Bales 2nd goal was simply down to a very pacey intelligent footballer who’s bang in form!. Maybe the only criticism would be Krul should have done better from that angle but Krul pulled off some good saves to stop Bale having more so it wasn’t like he had a stinker today.
The reality is that we are where we are in the league because we have played poorly in too many games this season. That wasn’t the case today, but the new signings were never going to completely transform things. This was Spurs at WHL, and it was never going to be easy. But we played well throughout most of the match and the difference between the 2 teams today was Gareth Bale – the man likely to replace Ronaldo at RM next season.
Pleased Gouffran looks like he hasn’t broken his leg. Let’s hope that his injury doesn’t keep him out too long, coz he’s looked a really decent player since his arrival. I’m amazed at how well these French players settle in so quickly and have such an impact. Cabaye and Benny (pre broken leg) seemed to slot straight in as well.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Southampton are looking good. 2-0. we won’t be able to just turn up.
premandup(Quote)
Toonsy,
I think it was Ray Wilkins who said that about Ben Arfa, now we’ve had Quinn at it. Then again, BBC had Mark Lawrenson and Jonathan Gould or whatever the fat ******* is called saying they hoped an Italian player was seriously hurt when England played them at the Euro’s.
Commentary is offensive now. Gerry Armstrong and Rob Palmer should be the only two on all channels. They commentate like they are watching it at the pub and it’s brill.
funkyjesus(Quote)
Acton – enjoy him mate, he’ll be in Madrid next season 😉
Prem – cant bloody believe the Saints like?!, really thought their season was as good as over when Adkins was sacked. The buggers have gone from strength to strength!! They are deserved of their lead as well, nowt lucky about it 🙄
Sharpy17(Quote)
PREMANDUP you can never just turn up in the EPL m8 ,but Southampton are a very decent side . It is going to be a massive game for both teams but at SJP with an Atmosphere like the Chelsea game i am confident we will turn them over .
Axel(Quote)
Axel
We are due to give one 😉
Andymag(Quote)
We would have been 12th if we’d won 🙁 . Hope we give the Europa a good shot this Thursday. Pardew is gunna watch them play Whitley Bay tomorrow apparently, if they get beaten it’ll be good encouragement. 😀
Andymag(Quote)
Well a bit gutted to not get owt of the game but we done ok and are still showing fight and look like a totally different team to what we had a month or so back 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
That Southampton-City game is a hum-dinger!
Fans Should Own The Club(Quote)
I’m really torn–I want both of those teams to lose? Isn’t there some reality bending hoodoo trick that could make that happen and somehow reward the three points to us?
Fans Should Own The Club(Quote)
Thought Gouffran was just bad bruising…
Very happy he shouldnt be out too long.
Would be amazing to have him and Ben Arfa out wide with Sissoko in the middle and Cabaye behind them.
I can see plenty more opportunities for Cisse.
JJ(Quote)
I also think QPR are in proper **** after this weekend.
We should put in a cheeky 2mil bid for Samba and ask them to pay half his wages…
JJ(Quote)
Two well matched teams the obvious difference being the welsh boy who i think we may get another season out of.Good luck for the rest of the season.
Wyart Lane(Quote)
Thanks for the match report Sy as i didnt get to watch it. Encouraging to read. Shame but you travel to London (where our record is generally ****) and against a team in such great form you can’t bemoan the result.
Moreno(Quote)
Nice one Wyart.
Good news on Goof-man.
Fans Should Own The Club(Quote)
Why aye man i cood a not fookin believe the class of bale like man. What a canny player he is like why aye
KH THFC(Quote)
Lmao Gareth Barry 😆 England’s finest!
epsilonj(Quote)
JJ yeah it would be a treat to watch Goofy – Sissoko – Benny in the 3 behind Cisse.
For me Bale today was like Benny when he is on song = just unstoppable
Big Dave(Quote)
Is there optimism that HBA will be fit for Southampton?
epsilonj(Quote)
Not sure on Benny. I thought the announcer today said he was out because of a virus–not the hammy problem.
Fans Should Own The Club(Quote)
Two poor mistakes today
Wall at freekick was dreadful and Perch only had to go on tiptoes to head head the ball away – Krul might have done better as well as the ball was hardly travelling
Have to blame taylor for initial mistake letting Bale in for second goal, collo also had a chance to clear it but guess he was expecting taylor just to hoof it
Taylors a decent player but he always has a mistake in him, I’d syick Mbiwa in for Southampton
stevep(Quote)
man city are all over the place – southampton wont be as easy as some people on here think
stevep(Quote)
Can’t stand Mancini for some reason…
Fans Should Own The Club(Quote)
Fair comments, but if you look again at the incident where Gouffran gets injured, you will see that Kyle Walker just clears the ball, and your guy gets caught in the follow through: not a rash challenge as you describe it. Cabaye’s tackle on Dembele near the end on the other hand ….
Overall, the teams were mostly pretty well matched, though Newcastle couldn’t maintain their terrific work rate for the full 90, and Gareth Bale is in an amazing run of form. Long may it continue!
Cyril(Quote)
Me neither. Hard to tell quite how good Saints were today as City were complete *****.
epsilonj(Quote)
Agree with you Cyril that the challenge on Gouffran wasn’t a nasty one, just unlucky. I did think Walker got away with some cynical little pull-backs and fouls though, and should have been booked in the first half imo.
Cabaye was lucky not to get sent off. My heart was in my mouth as we can’t afford to lose him. Very similar to Ramires’ challenge on Jonas last week though, so at least we’re getting a bit of consistency.
epsilonj(Quote)
KH THFC – was that you trying to text in Welsh?! 😆
Re the Man City game – surely Manchini has to be in line for the chop by now?, I mean that as good as handed the league to Man U if they win this weekend, and he’s never got them playing in the CL, so at best they win the FA Cup
Sharpy17(Quote)
cant understand those who didnt see the game, but feel they have to contribute, the game went like this, spurs started to fast for toon to handle,after bale scores they spurs lost the momentum allowing toon to come at us and sor a goal, 2nd half geezer goes off on a stretcher, toon loose there way again, bale scores again could of got 4 if it wasnt for Krul, (watch match of the day) bottom line the result was right spurs deserved the win, as for toon in relegation what a load of bollox, you should get the points you need.
Dave@spurs(Quote)
Big Bad Bony scored two for Vitesse today. Wonder if we’re really after him.
PEA also had two assists today.
Fans Should Own The Club(Quote)
Those that said we wouldn’t be able to handle Bale’s pace were spot on. His passing and shooting are excellent as well. We played well in patches. Loved to see Gouffran score. Hope he’s not out for long. Entertaining to watch but our defense was too slow for their pace players. I hope Mbiwa is quicker than Colo, I think he must be. If Colo leaves in the summer we should bring in another CB. Llambias says we have replaced Ba? Does he mean Gouffran? Talk about a cheap replacement for our best goal scorer. Still not convinced by Cisse. He can’t beat a player so he must get the ball while completely open on goal which hasn’t been happening for him.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Just home from the match. Bale was the difference between the two sides. We (NUFC for the benefit of Spuds fans on here tonight) got into some great attacking positions but as we have done all season couldn’t find the final pass.
Spuds who have greater ambitions than us at the moment (3rd place) have some weaknesses that need addressed. The return of Defoe, Dempsey was poor. Parker and Dawson were dreadful.
We probably played as well as we have done away from home this season and have a long way to go before being a top eight side.
Cisse cannot afford to miss golden opportunities.
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
Toby – from your post:
We probably played as well as we have done away from home this season and have a long way to go before being a top eight side.
Cisse cannot afford to miss golden opportunities.
I think the Villa and Chelsea game may have given some false hope. I think some may have forget that the Villa win is our only away win of the season so far, so today would has a huge ask. It was pleasing to see the performance was very good tho but I’m with you mate, desperate for a goal scoring CF.
Just on MOTD now. City were destroyed by Saints and zero atmosphere at Stamford Bridge.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Can’t be too disappointed with the result, a few weeks ago would never have expected us to get owt from that game but somehow feel cheated as sloppy defending cost us the goals. Not sure what Perch was thinking of not jumping, but if I remember rightly only Jonas jumped the rest had their lead boots on – was it a deliberate tactic or a general mistake?? Have liked Gouffran since his first appearance, and we just seemed to lose our way when he went off. Hope he’s back soon as he has made a big impact, quick, agile, doesn’t give the ball away easily etc. Thought ref was pretty ****, missed/ignored lots of pulls by the Spurs players especially Walker.
Bale was excellent though. Krul doing my head in with his distribution. What has happened to him?
Geordie Deb(Quote)
How’s the crazy ****** that’s sat next to AVB that jumps round like fucking Bez out the happy Mondays whenever Spurs score? … Is that his role ‘chief celebrator’. The bloke looks like a tw@t!
Sharpy17(Quote)
Also thought comments by Niall Quinn during commentary on Sky when Gouffran injured were appalling, stupid mackem tw*t.
Geordie Deb(Quote)
Sharpy LOL
Geordie Deb(Quote)
Good to see Agents Bramble and Graham doing their worst for the unwashed
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
Disapointed with the score line but not our effort… still can’t understand the heat Perch has received. No mention of collo’s stupid foul just outside he box. No mention of Kruls poor positioning by being too far off the line and having to dive across and back. If he had been a pace further back I reckon he would have got to it.. As some have noted it is a game of inches….
You are damned if you and damned if you don’t when you are in a wall…
I guess Perch is now the bad guy while Willo is resting on the bench.. 🙂 🙂
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Next season when Spurs are in the champs league again and we have no European games I hope we can sort it out and get a good league position. Apart from Bale, I honestly don’t think they have much more than us. Their defense is nothing special and comparable to ours. It shows that they are in a similar position to us when Defoe was out, Adebayor had been away and they had no striker, Dempsey was playing there in the first half but he is no striker and it showed. They have Lennon, who is like a poor man’s Walcott tbh and Dembele who is quite good. But it is Bale that is the big difference, I don’t think they would have beat us today without him or be in the top 4. Good luck to them though, they are having their time in the sunshine. We have to make sure we steady the ship and get hot on the heels of clubs like Spurs, we didn’t look far away today.
DJG(Quote)
AMF
‘I guess Perch is now the bad guy while Willo is resting on the bench..’ …correct. Now Tiote is back we will have to find someone else… Jonas??…Cisse??.. 😉
DJG(Quote)
we did ok. nothing too spectacular, although we have improved hugely since the frogs arrived.
Soft goals to give a way, Spurs looked average apart from Bale and some neat passing.
Wonder what Anita has done wrong. I think his short one-two’s would work well with Sissoko. Considering how poor Tiote has been, I bet Anita was disappointed not to get the nod.
mark(Quote)
DJG – that’s right, Toonsy should put up a poll so we can vote on who should be the next scapegoat for us playing bad 😉 … I reckon Willo and Perch will get votes even if their not playing.. 😯
There are those that are still pissed off with Duff for deflecting the goal in that got us relegated… He made a move to stop the shot and it went in.. Perch didn’t move and it went in.. What do you do… All I know is that JJ would have stopped it for sure 😆 😆
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Aussie – to be fair, one of the posts pre kick off was should Perch be dropped for Tiote and a lot of people had said no don’t change a winning team. The point I’m making is that I don’t think people have turned on Perch, simply highlighting the fact he had a poor game. He was the obvious one at fault for the freekick for not jumping. That said, it was a stupid freekick to give away by Colo. Krul could have done better with the 2nd but pulled off some good saves to stop a Bale hat trick.
All that said, I’d expect Perch to make way for either Anita or more likely Tiote in the next game mate 😀
Sharpy17(Quote)
Thought the villain yesterday was Fatty Dowd, awful referee who just never kept up with the play but funny how he saw all of our fouls on their players and yet missed a load of cynical stuff from theirs, several reporters are saying the challenge on Goufran was accidental while Cabayes should have been red.
Difference is that Naughton had been fouling Goufran all game and hoyed him to the ground before the challenge suggests otherwise.
And play was stopped for Bale to receive treatment when he was lying off the pitch? When did that rule come in?
We definitely had them rattled yesterday and losing Goufran was the turning point for me, anyone else think that Collocini is playing well below his normal level, I think it might be time to give Mapou a chance alongside Taylor who I thought put a hell of a shift in yesterday.
Robert(Quote)
Sorry it was Walker not Naughton
Robert(Quote)
Perch for me is just not good enough to have a sustained run in the side – especially in such a pivotal role as holding midfielder. It’s absolutely beyond me what the manager thinks he has over Anita.
Stuart79(Quote)
Look I agree that Perch is average but to say it was his fault for the goal is a joke.. Tiote will start next week so Perch won’t be an issue……….. or will he 🙂 🙂
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
For me Anita is missed in midfield would like to see him replace perch.
Tiote only in when we are away from home and need more defensive duties.
Hba is our bale in that sense and it showed we missed him yesterday. It was a game only to be won by something a bit extra special and our man was injured.
Liam southern toon(Quote)
Hope we put out a strong side on Thursday. Play a changed side away.
premandup(Quote)
Prem won’t happen mate Europa not high on our agenda. Llambias and pards have said as much.
I agree though it would be much better to keep momentum going with wins
Liam southern toon(Quote)