Newcastle 2-1 Tottenham

[Biggs]

Newcastle

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Tottenham

Barclays Premier League - 18th Aug  - KO 17:30  - Ground: Sports Direct Arena

TV: | Live Feed | Make Prediction

[spursjoolz]

Here we go again! Some of you guys have us already in the championship. I will not make any prediction, but if we win our first away match,  I predict that we will go a long way up the table come May. 

[ugs]

Newcastle 2 - 0 Spurs
 
Ba
 
52,000
 
I don't want to be negative but without any strikers I can't see us scoring and the way Newcastle finished last season
 
 

[a12 warrior]

 
Really hope I get this wrong!
 
Newcastle 3 Spurs 1
 
48,950
 
Cisse

[pukekohespur]

It is still going to be a damned good team we put out .Yes we need another striker and yes Friedal can't carry on for ever [can he?]


But it will still be very strong. Question is does Sandro start and is there room for Gio?
Personally i would also start with a Dawson Kabul partnership for the first game. BAE and Walker wide.
Siggy just behind Defoe with VDV  a little bit deeper [possibly more of a Modric role]. Bale and Lennon as well. Then pop Sandro in as well. Come on its looking pretty good. Livermore Kane Hudd Vert and Gio on the bench.

[ugs]

I have watched all the highlights (listened on the radio cause I was working) and from the 15mins or so of footage that they show we looked reasonable and in the first half perhaps even unlucky with the woodwork coming into play but ....
 
Firstly why didn't we start with Vertonghan, is he injured because I was under the impression that AVB had told Gallas he could go, so why start with a player that is potentially not going to be around for the rest of the season !!!!
 
Secondly with no Modric why the hell didn't we start with Van der Vaart ? We looked OK with our approach work but couldn't find the final ball or the spark needed to open their defence up fully.
 
And lastly and probably most importantly playing this high line made the whole team condense into a 30 yard area (from what I could see) leaving no space for Bale or Lennon to really open up which kind of takes a fair bit away from their game. The times when they did open their legs and actually have a run we looked almost dangerous, and on the negative side if you manage to play the ball past our midfield three then there seems to be acres of space in behind.
 
It wasn't as bad as I feared but there needs to be a shed load of improvements to even get us back to last years level let alone improve !!!