Three Points: Spurs Defeat

Three quick takeaways from Newcastle United's 2-1 defeat at White Hart Lane:

1. New look, but same old problems
Newcastle has been a different team since raiding France for much-needed reinforcements. And, while the overall performance on Saturday was still encouraging — United's passing fluency was particularly impressive when you consider it came on the road against one of the league's top sides — Newcastle was undone by some of the same old defensive mistakes that crippled it during the first half of the season.

James Perch's failure to jump while stationed in the wall on Gareth Bale's opening goal drew many angry tweets, but it was Fabricio Coloccini's clumsy foul on Clint Dempsey that set up the free kick.

Coloccini and Steven Taylor then teamed up to botch the long ball that led to Bale's game winner. Taylor played well overall, but you'd have to place more of the blame for the decisive goal on his shoulders.

Alan Pardew shouldn't overreact to one play, seeing as though Taylor has just returned from injury and is re-connecting with Coloccini. But the club also shelled out a significant fee for Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa for a reason, and he would bring quickness to the center back position.

2. More than just a backup plan
When Newcastle signed Yoan Gouffran from Bordeaux, it was widely assumed that the club had moved for the speedy forward in desperation after losing out on Loic Remy.

In his first three games, Gouffran has shown himself to be much more than a mere consolation prize. The 26-year-old has been composed on the ball and diligent in tracking back from his left-sided forward position while adding speed to United's attack.

He got his reward with a deserved first-half goal on Saturday, only to be stretchered off the field early in the second half. His loss clearly impacted the rest of the team — Sylvain Marveaux replaced him on the left wing and didn't offer much of anything, further strengthening my belief that he's much more effective as a central attacker — although X-rays were negative.

Gouffran may never turn into a star striker at the Premier League level. But his performances so far have answered suggestions that he had "found his level" in Ligue 1.

3. Cissé must step forward
Whenever criticism was lobbed at Papiss Cissé in the first half of the season, there were always mitigating circumstances to note. Oftentimes, he was deployed as a wide forward - not at all a natural position for the Senegalese striker. And on the occasions that he was played through the middle, he found himself next to Demba Ba in a partnership that never looked cohesive.

Cissé is now where he belongs: at the top of Pardew's formation. It's time for him to start performing at a level closer to the form he displayed a year ago. True, the service into him wasn't great on Saturday. And, yes, his run on Gouffran's goal did create space for the equalizer.

But Cissé also put one premium headed chance wide, and struggled to hold up the ball for most of the game. He wasn't a physical threat whatsoever to Spurs' central pairing of Michael Dawson and Steven Caulker, and he didn't give them any problems with speed, either.

Cissé is most definitely a poacher, the sort of striker who you persevere with because he can impact a game at any moment. At a certain point, though, you wonder if all those non-impactful moments will be too much for Pardew to take. If Gouffran bounces back from his injury and continues to perform, might he be worth a look in the middle?

Comments

[Callum Scott]

Your talking aload of fucking shite you clueless halfbaked (unt goofy is top class and is you Crnt see that you need a fkn eye test this article is a load of shite!! Suck my bell!

[Jaeger]

id blame colo more on that second goal...he hesitated before letting bale run by him..

hope we win big in the first leg of europa.... that'd be a nice turnaround.

[MNTOONARMY9]

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you a drunken Sunderland supporter. Apparently there are not enough Cattermole-kitten blogs to contain the sewage.

As for the match, Spurs were better today. I think if we played ten matches Spurs would take six. Bale was a horse today and despite decent effort, no one could really handle him. We did lose something major with Gouffran's injury, but without HBA, I don't know we have enough pace/skill outside.

Jonas on the right was interesting, but didn't really produce the dividends we would want. I was admonished that the "wall" was told not to jump on another blog, but Jonas jumped as it sailed close enough to Perch that James should have paid the ball $16.50 plus tip. I think he's supposed to jump.

I would have brought on Tiote at halftime. It seemed that Cabaye was happy to have his mate back too.

All in all a good effort and a one goal loss to a top four team can't be taken too hard. Use a mixed squad in Europa, and put HBA on the right and let's beat Southhampton.

[rob]

I would expect to see Mapou in one of the two matches against Metalist. If he performs well, I would then think he would start against Southampton. The job to start at CB is definitely up for grabs for him he must grab the opportunity.

[Blackie]

For God's sake if you are going to post a comment that will be read by many could you please ensure that a basic understanding of the English language is within your capabilities ???!!!! ' your talking a load ' should have read 'you're' ( you are ) within many of the post's there is an obvious display of below average intelligence. You should be embarrassed as you quite obviously are unable to string a worthwhile sentence together; which in turn negates the relevance of anything you have to say!! I don't rock climb..........because I can't....work it out you clown's

[SpursMan]

Yeah, that's right, ToonArmy9, Spurs would only take six out of ten against Newcastle. That must be the reason we're fourth and you're fifteenth. Delusional like the majority of Newcastle supporters.

Let me spell it out for you: the Kevin Keegan era when Newcastle were actually a force in English football was over 15 years sgo. Get over it. You're crap at the moment and with that fat wastrel Mike Ashley running your club and the philandering Pardew managing the team (an eight-year contract! LMAO!) you're not going to get much better.

[sidekick]

Pardew finds it difficult to drop his 'pet' players and this costs us dearly. He did this at West Ham , watching them lose games while he left Tevez and Mascherino sitting on the bench , stupidity that lost him his job.

Had he benched Jonas and Perch yesterday , and played a back four of Mbiwa , Taylor, Colo and Santon , with Debuchy moved to dm with Tiote , we would have had a strong six man defence to nullify Bale and the Spurs attack.

As Spursmag points out, we could be stuck with Pardew for some years to come.
Personally , I would like Pardew gone at the end of the season.

[89Norcal]

sidekick I have to disagree with playing Debuchy with Tiote as a DM, to me that makes no sense and wastes Debuchy's talent as a wingback where he is better than Mbiwa IMO. Plus we have plenty of midfielders now.

I was bracing for Gutierrez' guaranteed start vs Spurs (consequence of his goal vs Chelsea) but he did quite well. This may sound harsh but when our weak links like Guti are playing well vs Spurs AT White Heart Lane, that shows how much we've progressed. I no longer see the fear, hesitation, or mistakes I saw in December.

Colo imo made an error in anticipating Saylor's challenge on that 2nd Spurs goal. Maybe it's because a lack of games together or concentration but contrary to what so many have been stating, we were the better side in that game. Bale was the difference.

[MNTOONARMY9]

SpursMan: If you watched the match, and are reasonably knowledgable, which I assume you are, you'll admit to yourslelf a few things.

(1) That until the Gouffran injury it was a close match with both teams (though Spurs a bit more) creating chances. Not a thrashing.

(2) That where we sit, the team on the pitch the last three matches has not been seen for Newcastle since the beginning of the season and clearly better than what we had in the last two or three months.

(3) That based on Saturday's evidence, I think Spurs are a better side, but it's not like they're so much better that everyone else should stay at home.

So, maybe the Toon is delusional. I guess I'll take my three points from our first match for comfort, hope we stay up, stay off Spurs' Blogs out of courtesy and try not to feel schadenfreude when Bale gets sold this summer.

Cheers!

[SpursMan]

I'm sorry, Toonarmy9, but because of news aggregators, this sort of stuff turns up on Spurs fans browsers.

I have to say I posted in a little bit of irritation, because I'd read some truly unbelievable guff this time and last time we played you (last time was on this very site).

Let's put it this way: when you had Keegan in charge and the likes of Ferdinand, Fox, Ginola playing for you, you lit up the League and it was a pleasure to watch you.

But since then all that has happened is that you constantly think that you're doing better than you are. That's sort of natural, but it's for your own benefit that you grow out of that. God knows, many Spurs fans learnt the hard way to do so.

Are you a big club? Undoubtedly. Are you a successful club? Not at the moment. Are you in Spurs' league AT THE MOMENT? No. Can you be? Possibly. Only if you undertake a massive overhaul, the key part of which would involve replacing your current power structure.

Ashley and Lambias simply have no clue what is good for Newcastle United. Any other chairman signing their manager to an eight year contract to show that he had faith in him should be applauded. But PARDEW??? REALLY??? For a club the size of Newcastle? Ashley an ingenu. He's clueless. He's treating the Toon like a plaything, seeing what all the buttons do. That shows in the way he upped and sacked Chrissy Hughton who got you promoted back to the PL in one season and had you settling back into the League.

In answer to your points:

1) Yes, but a single game (much less a fraction of a game) is not an indicator of overall merit. Or are you suggesting that in the same vein because we beat Man U at Old Trafford that we're better than the club tipped to be this year's champions?

2) It's hard to say. You didn't start the season that badly. You just suddenly went into freefall. And that's the crux of it - that's your manager's effect. Your fifth place finish last season wasn't a fluke because it happened to Newcastle. It was a fluke because it happened to PARDEW!

3) Of course not. No one is suggesting that. God knows there are areas we can work on. Sadly, we all live in each others sites now. It's simply not possible to miss every single blog out. And yes, there's always that nasty little itch to see what others are saying about one's club.

Usually it's enough to just read, but sometimes you read enough crap that you feel like giving some back. I can't remember where it was, but after the match, I read that Bale: a) handballed when he beat Collocini; b) that he was offside; c) that he had elbowed Coloccini to beat him to the ball; and d) that he's taking steroids.

If you read stuff like that about say, Cabaye (sorry not sure who the talisman player is for you guys) how would you react? So apologies for riling you up in response.

As for Bale's departure, we shall see what happens. It's not quite as clear cut as the media like to make out, nor is it quite as unlikely as a number of Spurs fans would like to believe. Yes, there's money to be made on the continent, but at the same time, he signed a new contract the DAY after Redknapp left and he's not mentioned going abroad once since then. Plus which, he's just had his first kid. We shall see what we shall see. Personally, his behaviour has been impeccable and if he does go, we can make a nice little packet off him. If he stays, then perhaps we'll see some blue and lilywhite ribbons on the PL trophy in the years to come. ;) Who knows?

As for the three points from earlier in the season - always remember, one swallow does not make a season.

[MNTOONARMY9]

SpursMan:

From the lofty perch atop the table, I suspect its hard for you guys to sympathize with us as we went into the season thinking top-6 was possible and we're stuck two spots above the drop zone. It tends to take a fan base which is already a bit mad and passionate and crank up the anxiety level that much more. Didn't mean to be riled, no worries there.

I only sought to point out that on that day, admittedly a smaller sample size, that the gulf wasn't as large as it has been when we've played other EPL sides. Arsenal hung 7 goals on us and there have been matches we were never really in this year. Versus Spurs we competed and lost, but with that kind of effort I suspect we'd be competative against most any EPL side.

I don't recall saying anything negitive about Bale, I checked above and I called him a "horse". I could have said he was a "beast"/"animal"/"terror"/"stud", any of which in America is high praise. No Toon player could handle him. I don't know that two of them could. For the record, I hope you keep Bale, he's a joy to watch and a devil to play against.

Your critique of our management and manager may well be spot on. Unfortunately, given last year's result which was fairly unexpected, we're likely to retain most of the current lot and with crossed fingers if our new French players turn out solid, perhaps we'll stay up

I'm just keeping faith that my side, with efforts like that, the new players, the return (someday?) of Hatem Ben Arfa and Yohan Cabaye will eeke out 40 points and stay up so you can give me stick next year.