Reflections on Tottenham’s Opening Day Defeat At Newcastle

Pluses and Minuses from Tottenham’s Loss at Newcastle

Tottenham’s defeat at Newcastle was a disappointment but there were many positives and some negatives to be taken by Head Coach, Andre Villas-Boas, from his first Premier League match in charge.

(+) Newcastle at St. James’ Park was one of the more difficult opening day fixtures that Tottenham could have had but the team played with a control and a discipline that will have pleased the new manager. The players were well organised and pressed the Newcastle defenders throughout the match but were most effective in the first half when they controlled the pace of the game.

(-) Unfortunately, during that time they failed to take advantage of their domination as the two best chances from Jermain Defoe and Gareth Bale, hit the woodwork.

(+) That Spurs were able to restrict a Newcastle side who like to play through the midfield to playing long passes out of defence, was a credit to their hard work. With playing a high defensive line, the long balls often ran through to Brad Friedel who was required to patrol the edge of his area to safely gather the ball and act as a sweeper. This worked well and when Newcastle attempted to move out from defence, there was often four, five and even six Tottenham players, lined across the pitch to meet any forward movement and attempting to quickly regain possession. Such a style of play will demand great fitness and energy from the team so Villas-Boas will have to rotate the players to ensure maximum effectiveness throughout the season.

(+) The Tottenham defence coped adequately with Newcastle’s much vaunted attack of Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse. They rarely caused William Gallas or Younes Kaboul any problems so it was disappointing that the opening goal scored by Ba came because of an error. On many occasions a team would escape with an error similar to Kyle Walker’s, but Ba produced a wonderful strike to punish Spurs and give Newcastle a lead their play, to that point, didn’t really deserve.

(+) Tottenham showed resilience and spirit to recover from conceding the goal by coming back to create a number of opportunities before actually drawing level through Defoe. The striker worked hard in a role for which he is not best suited – he dropped deep in search of the ball and was constantly looking to get a strike on goal from both inside and outside the area. Defoe commented after the match,

"“I thought we were unlucky and that we were the better team. We were patient, organised and didn’t give them anything through the middle. They didn’t have any clear-cut chances, that’s why I think we did well and were unlucky to lose.”"

(-) Villas-Boas showed his delight at the goal but he must have been annoyed that Spurs were only level for a few minutes and also by the nature of the winning goal. It was poor defensive work by two experienced players. While, Rafael Van der Vaart and Aaron Lennon are not defenders, they know they have defensive responsibilities and made a shambles of trying to prevent Ben Arfa from getting onto the Spurs area from Newcastle’s second corner of the day. The winger was looking for the penalty and the Tottenham players obliged by bringing him down as he went between them.

(+) Having been critical of Lennon’s part in the winning goal, he must be credited for his creative play through the game. He was a constant threat to the home defence with his running and pace and he linked well with Walker on the right. He is looking very lively this year and is more prepared to take on players and create problems for defenders. Gareth Bale had moments where he used his pace to create space but on this occasion, especially after the interval was less involved than Spurs would want.

(+) The Tottenham performance at a ground where they frequently fail to deliver was better than might have been expected on the first day of the season, especially as Villas-Boas had to spend much of his pre-season assessing the squad. The non-availability of players because of the Olympics was another problem for the new coach as was the lack of signings and the imbalance in the squad with no creative replacement for Luka Modric and no alternative striking option.

Before the end of the month, numerous decisions will have to be taken over players’ future at the club and it will be interesting to see how the dilemma of five central defenders for two places will be resolved. Gallas captained the team on Saturday, playing with Kaboul. New signing Jan Vertonghem was on the bench while Steven Caulker was in the squad but Michael Dawson was omitted. Other players who may have concerns are Kyle Naughton who was on the bench and Tom Huddlestone who was not in the squad and doesn’t seem too pleased. Both players will probably want to know what their future prospects are at Tottenham and with new signings expected any day soon, but more likely 31st August, there may be more with questions to be answered.

It was a promising start but a win is essential to ensure the potential in the side is fulfilled before any doubts or uncertainty start to develop. There has been a generally favourable response from supporters and media on the first performance under Villas-Boas and fans must continue to show this level of support and patience over the coming weeks.

What was your reaction to Spurs defeat – disappointment and ….?