A football game is 90 minutes, but often a game is decided in just a few seconds, as was the case Sunday, as Newcastle bullied a hapless Tottenham to a 0-2 lead they would not relinquish.
As fans have seen many times this season, Tottenham Hotspur jumped out of the blocks quickly, and Heung-min Son had a shot on target within the first minute. That one shot turned into four in the first twenty minutes, including two on target. However, none had beaten Nick Pope, and, in the meantime, Newcastle found their footing.
Having gained confidence in the game, Newcastle created two chances from poor Tottenham play to take a two-goal lead.
Lloris’s mistake leads to an easy Wilson goal
Tottenham fell apart in the first half from one good ball. Spurs were playing a high line, and there was no pressure from the forwards, giving Fabian Schar ample time to play a long ball down the middle of the pitch. An alert Hugo Lloris did the right thing and came out like a sweeper keeper to beat Callum Wilson to the ball. However, from there, things went south for our captain.
Instead of heading the ball or just booting it out first, Lloris tried to collect the ball on the run at the edge of his box. It is not that the touch was necessarily poor from Lloris; it was just a when in doubt, kick it out moment. Instead, as Lloris picked his head up to do something with the ball, Wilson came clattering into him, flopping the keeper back onto the pitch.
With Lloris down, Wilson calmly hit a left-footer over a scampering defense and into the goal for the 0-1 lead.
VAR reviewed the play, deemed it a coming together, and allowed the goal to stand. Had Lloris cleared the ball, Spurs would likely have lived to fight another day. Instead, they fell into a hole they could not climb out of for the rest of the first half.
Tottenham struggles to get out and pays for it
After the goal, Spurs lacked an actual response. Missing the leadership of Pierre Hojbjerg on the pitch, Tottenham struggled to move the ball through an aggressive Newcastle press. Minutes later, disaster struck again for Spurs.
Davinson Sanchez was struggling to play with the ball at his feet on the right side, so it was swinging back to the left through Hugo Lloris. Tiring of the inability to move the ball out with passing, Lloris hit a hopeful long ball up the left toward Ryan Sessegnon.
Sessegnon went up in vain to try and compete with Sean Longstaff, who easily won the ball, heading it forward to Miguel Almiron. It was from that point that Almiron took matters into his own hands. The Paraguayan held off Sessegnon, who was trying to track back. Then with one big touch, Almiron blasted past Clement Lenglet like he was a cone.
Almiron had the time to run past Lenglet, take a touch, and then open up to finish with his left foot under Lloris. Another play that took only seconds had gone Newcastle’s way, and Spurs were shell-shocked and looking for answers.
Second half surge was not enough for Spurs
Tottenham was better in the second half because they pushed harder and scored a goal. Harry Kane‘s header off a corner looked very familiar. However, it was the only real positive on the day, as the lack of depth in attack and the midfield showed.
The only attacking player to come on for Tottenham in the second half was Lucas Moura, who settled in as part of the midfield three rather than as a third attacker. Matt Doherty for Sanchez made Spurs moderately more offensive, but Doherty did nothing to impact the game, and his best chance was ruined by an overhit Rodrigo Bentancur ball.
Ultimately, Spurs could not find an equalizer, and it was a second-straight disappointing loss for Tottenham. They have little time to recover with a critical game Wednesday in the Champions League before a trip to Bournemouth next Saturday.