The Times - UK (2022-04-04)

(Antfer) #1
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
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