Newcastle looked hopeless in that first half on Saturday at White Hart Lane.
Mike Williamson challenging Adebayor on Saturday
And it showed in the score-line, when Newcastle were trailing 4-0 after just 34 minutes, and we wondered how many goals Newcastle would concede before they woke up, came to their senses, and started to defend like we know they can.
Thankfully the lads only conceded one more goal, and that was in the second half, but it could have been a lot worse than 5-0.
And we even got off lightly given the complete dominance of Spurs in the first 45 minutes – so that was the good news. 😀
And surely Alan Pardew now has to work on the defense in the next couple of weeks to try to shore it up – and to think we once had a decent defense earlier this season.
Mike Williamson talked about how hopeless Newcastle were in that first half, and he’s right about that
“The first half, indeed the first 20 minutes, were a disaster for us,” “You just can’t do that against quality teams like Tottenham and we paid the ultimate penalty.”
“We got it together a bit more in the second half, which pleased us, but of course it was far too late.”
“We didn’t give Demba Ba or Papiss Cisse much to feed off, just scraps really, and that obviously didn’t help either. Credit to Tottenham though, they’re a top side and deserve to be where they are in the league.”
“Our sole aim now is to bounce back against Wolves, as we’ve got ourselves into a great position in the league, and want to keep pushing on.”
We have Steven Taylor missing for the season with his Achilles injury, and with the form he was in at the beginning of the season, he would be a starter again next season.
But we need another top center-back and a top full back brought in this summer, and that’s assuming Danny Simpson stays on Tyneside and signs his new deal.
Next up for Newcastle are Wolves and they were also hopeless at home yesterday, when West Brom took them to the cleaners by a score of 5-1, scoring four goals in the second half.
So in the next game, two teams will be meeting who let in 5 goals in their previous game, and both will no doubt be trying to pacify their fans which a much improved performance, as Mike admits our lads will be trying to do.
Wolves at home is a game Newcastle should win, and we’ll have three good players back in the side with Cheick Tiote back from the African Cup of Nations, Yohan Cabaye back from his three match ban, and Ryan Taylor back from his slight ankle injury.
Cheick will be lamenting how the Ivory Coast never conceded one goal in all their six games in Africa, but they still lost to Zambia 8-7 on penalties in the final last night, after extra time ended 0-0.
The first 14 penalties were scored, with Tiote taking the very first one, and then three were missed, with Kolo Toure and Gervinho missing for the Ivorians, before Sunzyu scored to give Zambia their very first win ever in the competition.
And Didier Drogba missed a penalty in normal time after 70 minutes, when he blazed the ball over the cross-bar.
The Ivorians will not be feeling great this morning, but that’s the way football goes sometimes – it’s tough. And we wonder how many very good and comparatively unknown players Zambia have in their side?
Quite a few we would imagine – and we are assuming Newcastle have been checking them out.
Comments welcome.
16 comments so far
spitfire_
Feb 13, 2012 at 9:48 AM
Comment #1Now thats are spirit. We was throw we was kicked we was raped… but could be worst… could be born a mackem.
gstadt
Feb 13, 2012 at 9:48 AM
Comment #2Can’t help thinking that AP’s ego led to the hammering, all the talk before was of trying to outplay Tottenham. We needed our absolute 1st choice team (Cabaye/Tiote as a minimum) to even have an outside chance of competing with Tottenham in this way.
Lynxie
Feb 13, 2012 at 9:48 AM
Comment #3If Pardew knew we were limited in midfield why did he not bolster it?
monasnyr99
Feb 13, 2012 at 9:50 AM
Comment #4Can’t believe some people on here are questioning Pardew, we are ONE point from 4th in mid February and you’re telling me he isn’t a good Manager.
ilovetoon8788 Bottom 6 if it it was not for Ba. How come Ba is playing the best football of his life, nothing to do with Pardew and how he motivates and uses him?
AK Malaysia
Feb 13, 2012 at 9:50 AM
Comment #5Agreed… Spurs was on fire.. Cant do much… We should play 4-5-1 but with Papiss & Ba scoring in last game… that’s the best first 11… 1 off I hope!!
martoon
Feb 13, 2012 at 9:57 AM
Comment #6I’ve read a lot of the comments about the Spurs game. I may have missed this but I have not seen anybody mention when Fergie came on at half time and Jonas switched to the right. I thought this worked quite well (although admittedly Spurs took their foot off the pedal) and just wondered if anybody else thought this was worth pursuing in future games?
Jail for Ashley
Feb 13, 2012 at 9:58 AM
Comment #7It beggars belief that people are having a go at Pards considering the position we are in,if he had of played a 4-5-1,there would have been an outcry of why we didn’t take the game to them when players like Ba and Cisse are in the team,my only gripe is the constant talk of how great our youngsters are,but apparantly not as good as James Perch.
gstadt
Feb 13, 2012 at 10:05 AM
Comment #8Not questioning what AP’s done for us overall, I would have taken 1 pt off 4th at the start of the season. I’m comparing say Spurs tactics when they went to Liverpool – they set up defensively, ended up grinding out a 0-0, with us who set up to attack and got hammered. Difference between a top 4 side and the rest ….
Benton Toon Exile
Feb 13, 2012 at 10:14 AM
Comment #9Guys, what really erked me was the way we simply rolled over without a fight.
I accept Spurs are a better team, and can even accept losing 5-0, but from where I was sat several members of our team looked like they had no pride in OUR shirt!
Brutooon
Feb 13, 2012 at 10:20 AM
Comment #10if spurs convert all their chances it might be 8 or 9 goals
tjrowe89
Feb 13, 2012 at 10:20 AM
Comment #11lot of fans on here have been slagging off simmo for some of the spurs goals sat, personally it think it was a few things
1- i know perch has played well last 2 games but imo he is not good enough i dont know why he has been played when we have gosling on the bench, the 2 games he played well in where blackburn nd villa….enough said, he is exactly the same as smith for me
2- willo had a shocker for the goals simmo is gettin blamed for are clearly willos fault, 1st goal willow dint pick up a free man front post so simmo had to rush in, sahas goal from the cross he’s in no mans land nd needs to drop back onto sahas toes, nd then for adebayors goal is no were near touch tight nd realises to late
rant over just hope tiote nd cabs come back nd we get a bit more solid defensivly cause imo willo is a major weak link
toonincheek
Feb 13, 2012 at 11:03 AM
Comment #12Based on how teams have played against us, Spurs were certainly the best we have met this season.
They were really on their game and dominated throughout – we never really got into it.
Plus, everything seemed to fall just right for them. I remember the first goal– Colo had Adebayor pinned against the touchline, a low cross just anywhere into the centre and it turned out to be a pinpoint pass to the foot of the only Spurs player in sight, right in front of the goal.
All this doesn’t mean that Spurs are worldbeaters, nor that we are rubbish.
But it’s a timely reminder that we need to maintain our discipline and work ethic if we are to maintain, or even improve a little, on our current 6th position. Only 1 point covers 3rd 4th and 5th. We are still in the mix.
Sav
Feb 13, 2012 at 11:13 AM
Comment #13We had three first choice midfielders out. Only Jonas is first choice and he hasn’t been on fire for a couple of games now. They were up against the Spurs midfield which is probably their strongest area of the team.
Barring miracles, the defeat was, frankly, inevitable.
Good news is we’ve Cab and Cheick back fit and able. And 4th spot is there for the team who puts a run together. Our fixtures suggest it could be us. Keep the faith.
davis_toons
Feb 13, 2012 at 3:12 PM
Comment #14Common lar bro..simmo is just an avg hard working player if you want to try for something we have to get some class in.
Class = Evra (ManUtd) , Johnson (Lipool) even players like Richards (ManCity) can be consider better players.
So stop talking crap that simmo is a very good player.
He just cant dribble and cant pass to the right person. No composure and cant keep the ball. Keep moving back when defence in a 1 to 1 situation. until into the box.
max
Feb 13, 2012 at 3:55 PM
Comment #15simpson played really bad last time. always out of position.
north east lincs toon
Feb 13, 2012 at 7:58 PM
Comment #16Spurs were Good because we made them look good defended like we did against fulham and Brighton forget top six if we carry on like that willo is shit so is Simmo ba and cisse will get 30+ next season