The Times - UK (2022-04-04)

lengthy medical attention for Saint-

Maximin after he had encountered

the robust Bentancur.

As the 120 seconds ticked down,

the temperature rose. Bentancur and

Saint-Maximin squared up, Emerson

waded in, pushing the Newcastle

winger. Joelinton piled in, knocking

Bentancur over. But the real impact

came from Conte in the home

dressing room at the break. Spurs

came out and took Newcastle apart.

After Burn fouled Kane and was

booked a minute into the second half,

the Newcastle defender seemed

cautious about challenging him again.

Kane exploited that within two

the Newcastle fans, who compared

him unfavourably to their beloved

Alan Shearer.

The travelling 3,000 soon had even

more to sing about after 39 minutes.

Briefly. Son fouled Joe Willock on the

edge of the Spurs area, left of centre.

Shelvey looked initially to be taking

responsibility for the dead ball,

Targett stood to the right, threatening

to whip the ball in left-footed, but it

was Schar who took charge.

Barring the way to goal was the

five-man Spurs wall, which Hugo

Lloris organised to his right,

protecting that side as he focused on

his left. Emerson, Kane, Eric Dier,

Romero and Bentancur formed the

barricade, with Doherty on draught-

excluder duty. Davies was close to the

left side of the wall, ready to break,

with Son just a bit further out. Schar

simply drove the ball past Davies, past

a weak wall and past a struggling

Lloris. The French world champion

had to take some culpability. VAR

checked for a Chris Wood handball,

but rightly the goal was awarded.

Spurs were level within four

minutes, Son making amends for his

earlier mistake. He won a corner, took

it, and when the ball came back out

Son simply crossed again, picking out

Davies, who guided his header past

Martin Dubravka.

Conte still was not happy, and

chuntered away. Graham Scott, the

fourth official, tried to calm Conte,

which predictably just stoked the fire.

Conte then looked bemused as Scott

signalled two additional minutes. It

was strange, and another reminder

why independent time-keeping will

eventually be brought in, given there

had been two goals, a VAR check and

Antonio Conte has transformed

Tottenham Hotspur. The head coach’s

demanding mindset, passion and

tactical nous, along with some

judicious recruitment during the

winter window, have turned Spurs

into a significant threat. Conte has

organised them, motivated them, and

guided them ahead of Arsenal in the

race for fourth place in the Premier

League. North London has some

noisy neighbours. The derby is going

to be a raucous, high-stakes collision,

whenever they can decide on a date.

Arsenal have two games in hand,

starting away to Patrick Vieira’s

Crystal Palace tonight, and will

doubtless respond, but Conte has got

the Spurs players and their supporters

believing again. “Antonio, Antonio,”

reverberated around the Tottenham

Hotspur Stadium here yesterday.

Spurs fans know they have an elite

manager in charge, a perfectionist

who drills his players in this 3-4-3

formation, but with versatility to

switch to a back four late on. Spurs

fans love the Italian’s emotional

engagement, celebrating goals wildly

and frequently complaining to a

pernickety fourth official.

Conte is fire and ice, adrenaline and

intelligence. With the sides level at

half-time, Conte demonstrated his

class with word, urging intensity and

accuracy, encouraging his players, and

with deed, making the tactical tweak

of getting Harry Kane to drop off into

the space between Jonjo Shelvey and

Dan Burn. Kane immediately pulled

the strings, confirming that he is a

world-class No 10 as well as a world-

class No 9. Spurs scored five and it

will probably become a quiz question

as to how many Kane scored. None, is

the answer, but his influence was all

over this rout of Newcastle United.

Newcastle are a decent side, all but

safe from relegation, well managed by

Eddie Howe and with Allan Saint-

Maximin starting, but they were

blown away by Spurs. Newcastle had

narrowly lost their two most recent

games, away to Chelsea and Everton,

and won six and drew one of their

previous seven, but could not live

with Kane’s movement and the

raiders in white.

There were good performances all

over, from Cristian Romero, such a

force now fit, exuding anticipation at

the back, to Rodrigo Bentancur, an

inspired January signing, running

midfield with his reading of the game

and distribution. On it went to Son

Heung-min and Kane further

forward. Much pre-match scrutiny

was on Spurs’ wing backs, Matt

Doherty and Emerson Royal, but

both impressed — and scored. The

odds for Ben Davies, Doherty and

Emerson being their first three

scorers would have been generous.

Another element to any quiz

would be who scored first, and it was

Newcastle, through Fabian Schar, six

minutes before the interval. Kane had

just lost the ball, his pass picked off by

Matt Targett. Kane ran back and

tripped Saint-Maximin. The England

captain was promptly barracked by

HENRY

WINTER

Chief Football Writer

at the Tottenham

Hotspur Stadium

Indiscipline of old

haunts Newcastle

Newcastle United’s deficiencies

have become more pronounced

despite Eddie Howe making them

more disciplined to move clear of

trouble. Joelinton was off the pace on

the left and, having struggled to hold

possession, was taken off to avoid him

being sent off. Having been booked

for shoving Rodrigo Bentancur, the

midfielder made a cynical tackle to

prevent a counterattack.

TALKING

POINTS

Gary Jacob

WEEKEND

AT A

GLANCE

GOALS

U 3 from last round

25

CARDS

26

V 10 from

last round

1

V 1 from

last round

POSSESSION

77% Manchester City

Highest possession

23%

Lowest possession

Burnley

2 1GG Monday April 4 2022 | the times

Leading from the front

0

Manchester

City are the

only side yet

to drop a

point from

a winning

position in

the Premier

League this

season,

winning all

23 games in

which they

have led. No

side has gone

through an

entire Premier

League

campaign

without

dropping

points when

ahead before.

Lampard travel sick

4

Frank

Lampard has

become the

first Everton

manager

in Premier

League

history to lose

his first four

away matches

in charge of

the club in the

competition,

and the first

at a single

club since

Paul

Heckingbottom

with Sheffield

United last

season.

62% 38%

POSSESSION

61

SHOTS ON TARGET

10 7

FOULS

51

Davies 43, Doherty 48 Schar 39

Son 54, Emerson 63

Bergwijn 83

Kane shows

he does not

need a goal to

inspire Spurs

RATINGS

Tottenham (3-4-3): H Lloris 5 — C Romero 8,

E Dier 6, B Davies 7 — E Royal 6 (S Bergwijn 81min),

P-E Hojbjerg 6, R Bentancur 8 (H Winks 75),

M Doherty 7 — D Kulusevski 7 (L Moura 76), H Kane 7,

Son Heung-min 7. Booked Kane, Bentancur.

Newcastle (4-3-3): M Dubravka 6 — J Manquillo 5

(B Guimarães 59, 6), F Schar 6, D Burn 5, M Targett 5 —

J Willock 5, J Shelvey 5, Joelinton 5 (J Murphy 59, 5) —

R Fraser 5, C Wood 5 (J Lascelles 70, 5),

A Saint-Maximin 6. Booked Saint-Maximin,

Joelinton, Burn.

Referee M Atkinson.

Attendance 57,553.

Tottenham

Hotspur

Newcastle

United

PWDL F APts

Man City 30 23 4 3 70 18 73

Liverpool 30 22 6 2 77 20 72

Chelsea 29 17 8 4 58 23 59

Tottenham 30 17 3 10 52 37 54

Arsenal 28 17 3 8 44 31 54

West Ham 31 15 6 10 51 40 51

Man Utd 30 14 9 7 49 41 51

Wolves 31 15 4 12 33 27 49

Leicester 28 10 7 11 43 47 37

Aston Villa 30 11 3 16 42 42 36

Southampton 30 8 1210 37 46 36

Crystal Palace 29 7 13 9 39 38 34

Brighton 30 7 1310 26 36 34

Brentford 31 9 6 16 37 48 33

Newcastle 30 7 1013 33 54 31

Leeds 31 7 9 15 35 68 30

Everton 28 7 4 17 30 49 25

Watford 30 6 4 20 29 57 22

Burnley 28 3 1213 22 40 21

Norwich 30 4 6 20 18 63 18

HOW THEY STAND

30

Goals scored by Tottenham in the

Premier League in 2022, more than

any other team. Liverpool have scored

the next most with 27, followed by

Wolverhampton Wanderers on 20

14

13

12

11

24

23

19

16

14

Most points gained from a

losing position 2021-22

Tottenham

West Ham

Brentford

Newcastle, Everton, Brighton

Newcastle

Southampton

Leeds Utd

Chelsea

Leicester, C Palace, Burnley

Most points dropped from

winning position

WINNERS AND LOSERS

Tottenham’s 5-1 win over

Newcastle was the biggest in

the Premier League by a side

that conceded the opening

goal since Spurs beat

Manchester United 6-1 in

October 2020. Tottenham

have gained 14 points from

losing positions this season,

the most of any side.

Conversely, Newcastle have

dropped 24 points from

leading positions, also a

league-high