How Spurs Lost: Home vs Newcastle

For the third time in a row, a lowly Newcastle side has stolen a Premier League win from Spurs at White Hart Lane.

Two second half goals from Aleksandar Mitrović and Ayoze Pérez – the latter two minutes into stoppage time – nullified then bested Eric Dier’s goal off a corner in the first half.

The scoreline more or less represents the balance of play. The first half featured Spurs’ best chances and only goal. They were dominant in a way they’ve been dominate all season, stealing the ball from Newcastle’s attempts to play out of the back and generally creating havoc. Only Robert Elliot’s fine goalkeeping kept Harry Kane and Érik Lamela from adding to Dier’s goal.

Newcastle returned after the halftime interval with a trio of changes, each hinting that they learned something for the first 45 minutes.

Short passes between the centre-backs, full-backs, midfielders and goalkeeper virtually disappeared. Per FourFourTwo’s Statszone, Newcastle were successful in 26 of 37 passes that ended in their own third in the first half. That number dropped dramatically in the second, with only 11 such successful passes in 13 attempts.

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McClaren also changed the direction of his players’ passes in the second. Whereas in the first most of their successful passes in attack targeted either Daryl Janmaat or Moussa Sissoko on the right flank or Paul Dummett and Georginio Wijnaldum on the left, most of the passing the second happened through the center of the pitch. Why the change? Because McClaren likely recognized what an opportunity Tom Carroll represented.

Carroll does some thing very right. He’s proactive in possession, always looking for a forward pass and attempting to overlap with the attackers in front of him. He’s so good at it, in fact, that he often favors that aspect of his game over all else. While that kind of play kept Newcastle pinned back in the first, it also left a tremendous hole in the center of the pitch. Arsenal had exploited that space before in their 2-1 win over Spurs in the Capital One Cup, and McClaren did the same here.

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In that Capital One Cup game, both of Arsenal’s goals came directly from Carroll’s lack of defensive discipline. Defensive midfielder Mathieu Flamini found acres of space in which to run and maneuver, and consequently scored both of Arsenal’s goals. Newcastle’s didn’t benefit quite so directly from the space Carroll vacated, but did enough in that area to keep the pressure on Spurs throughout the half. Papisse Cissé got on the end of an excellent through ball from Sissoko in the 52nd minute, only to see his final shot miss Hugo Lloris’ far post by less than a yard. The handball foul that Danny Rose conceded came from a counter-attack initiated by Pérez operating unmarked in Tottenham’s deep midfield.

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Pérez and his striking partner Mitrović are the third portion of Newcastle’s second half resurgence. Neither started the game, though you’d suspect they will be going forward after this display. They scored both of Newcastle’s goals in the half, of course, but their high-pressing, well-timed runs and impressive combination play only deepened Spurs’ defensive stress, even after Mauricio Pochettino subbed Carroll off in the the 68th minute. While the rest of their teammates were content on playing a deep and disciplined defensive game, these two were given more or less free license to track down balls in Spurs’ third and find ways to bring in the flanks during counters.

All three of these changes improved Newcastle’s chances in the second half while also limiting Spurs’, but none of them were actually the final decisive factor. While Spurs genuinely seemed stunned in midfield and attack throughout the second, the defense remained overall very solid. Toby Alderweireld turned in perhaps the single greatest individual defensive effort of Spurs’ season. Danny Rose and Kyle Walker kept Newcastle from finding their usual advantage out wide. Jan Vertonghen had at least two last-ditch tackles. This was as fine a defensive display as Spurs fans could have asked for – except when it mattered most.

Newcastle managed four shots on target. That’s over their season average of 3.3 per game, but not by much.

Two of those shots were converted into goals, both of which were directly or indirectly the product of some uncharacteristic errors from Spurs. Imagine how the game might have been different were it not for Danny Rose’s handball or Lloris’ subsequent bobbling of the ball ahead of Mitrović’s shot. Even Pérez’s goal was scored at an improbably tight angle. These are flukes that can and will happen from time to time and shouldn’t change anyone’s assessment of the defense.

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The same cannot be said for midfield and attack, however. This was Carroll’s first ever Premier League start, one earned on the back of an impressive display against Monaco on Thursday, but he fell short of impressing. This might not have been his last chance to prove himself under Pochettino, but it’s becoming increasingly less likely that he’ll be given many more such chances.

Pochettino’s primary concern should be creating a backup plan in attack that doesn’t rely on pressing. When Newcastle found a way to bypass that press, Spurs should have responded by playing an increasingly more direct game. Heung-min Son’s inclusion helped with that, but it was too little and too late.

In all though, this loss shouldn’t hurt Spurs in the long run. It was bound to happen eventually, and at least it happened here more due to chance and bad luck than poor play.