Tottenham Hotspur vs. Newcastle: Key Issues That Will Shape Premier League Game
Tottenham Hotspur look to get back on track in the Premier League this weekend when they host resurgent Newcastle United.
The Magpies recorded their first league win last weekend when they beat Leicester City 1-0. With four points in two games, a positive result at White Hart Lane would likely see them move out of the relegation zone.
Tottenham's 4-1 loss to Manchester City last time out has halted their own mini run of good league form. With the north London club commemorating the 10th anniversary of legendary manager Bill Nicholson's passing this weekend, they will be desperate to lift spirits with a victory.
Over the following four pages, the key issues that will shape Sunday's game are examined. First up, a selection headache for head coach Mauricio Pochettino.
Has Kane Scored His Way into Pochettino's Premier League Plans?
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Harry Kane's hat-trick against Asteras Tripolis in the Europa League has given Pochettino plenty to think about in regards to whom he plays up-front against Newcastle.
Despite his missed penalty, Roberto Soldado staked a decent claim for more playing time in the Manchester City loss. He held the ball up and linked well with his midfield, Christian Eriksen particularly.
Rested for Man City, Emmanuel Adebayor has been his manager's first-choice in the league this season. Goals have been in short supply, but deference has been paid to his experience and proven, if inconsistently applied, ability, in selecting him for the role of the team's forward focal point (as well as appointing him as a vice-captain). Prior to the international break, he had arguably his best game of the season in Spurs' 1-0 win over Southampton.
Pochettino's decision to use Adebayor and Kane as a front two against Tripolis—their first start together since the end of last season—was likely a concession to the Greek side's inferiority allowing more of a presence further forward.
If a return to using one recognised striker against Newcastle is on the cards, the decision Pochettino makes will have consequences.
Soldado needs a run in the team if he is to truly find some form and recapture his sharpness in the box. Adebayor is a senior figure in the squad—dropping someone like that is not insignificant, regardless of the merits of the decision.
With seven goals to his name this season (albeit all in cup games), Kane is clearly the in-form forward, though. He displayed his range of finishing against Tripolis in clinical fashion. The first goal from outside the box highlighted his awareness, the second and third from inside the area his positioning and alertness.
After three goals last spring, Kane's Premier League aptitude is not in doubt, and perhaps will have got even better given the improvements he has made individually since then. Pochettino might not be able to ignore the 21-year-old here any longer.
Newcastle Will Look to Prove a Corner Has Been Turned Defensively
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After conceding 14 goals in their previous games, Newcastle kept their first Premier League clean sheet of the season in last week's 1-0 win over Leicester City.
It also happened to be Steven Taylor's first league start of 2014-15.
The visitors did not severely trouble the Magpies defence, save for a few tricky crosses into the area as they searched for an equaliser. That was in part because, alongside Fabricio Coloccini in central defence, Taylor had done well marshaling Newcastle up against the lively Leonardo Ulloa, in particular.
Taylor won his two aerial encounters with the striker (as recorded by Squawka), and provided solid cover for Coloccini as the captain took the lead in clearing the home side's lines.
Away from home, Newcastle will likely concede the initiative for longer spells than they did at St. James' Park last week. An on-song Spurs attack could make for a long afternoon of backs-to-the-wall defending.
Full-back Paul Dummett is a doubt according to PhysioRoom.com, but otherwise manager Alan Pardew could look to stick with Taylor and Coloccini (along with right-back Daryl Janmaat) in the hope a little consistency can held them turn the corner defensively.
Taylor is definitely keen to prove his worth to his manager as Newcastle attempt to push on.
"I’ve worked hard in training and done the extra stuff that I’ve needed to do," he told The Shields Gazzette's Miles Starforth, adding, "I got that buzz back [against Leicester]. I’ve got a love for the game, and just want to play."
Spurs' Nervy Defence or Newcastle's Confidence-Lacking Attack: What Will Give?
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Gabriel Obertan's 71st minute goal against Leicester was a heck of a way to win the match.
He received a pass from Papiss Cisse out left after the striker had raced forward following a blocked Ritchie De Laet shot. The winger turned sharply inwards as he reached the penalty area, went past two defenders and fired back across goal into the bottom corner.
It was as confident as Newcastle had looked all afternoon going forward as a team, bar the exception of the resurgent Cisse.
On a roll with four goals in three games, the Senegalese front-man had earlier intercepted a Paul Konchesky back-pass and went through on goal having rounded Kasper Schmeichel. The striker fired into the side-netting, but it underlined how he was his team's biggest threat.
Those behind Cisse had looked comparatively hesitant, though, typified by an opportunity late in the first-half when Yoan Gouffran got onto a loose ball from Jack Colback.
With plenty of space to advance, he instead dithered, allowing Leicester to regroup into a more organised defensive shape. The wide-man then over hit his pass to Moussa Sissoko and the chance went.
Pardew will almost certainly drum into his team that Spurs have looked arguably more nervy in defence in their last two games—that they should be more optimistic when they get the chance to go on the offensive
Pochettino's switching between Younes Kaboul and Jan Vertonghen alongside Federico Fazio visibly contributed to an uncertainty between Spurs' centre-back pairings against Man City and Asteras Tripolis.
Between the speed of Obertan and Gouffran, they dynamism of Sissoko and the renewed confidence of Cisse, Spurs could find themselves cut open again if they are not careful. With summer signing Fazio suspended, the more familiar partnership of Kaboul and Vertonghen should see a more stable work from the home side.
The Latest Test of Spurs' Thursday-to-Sunday Resilience
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Tottenham are 2-2 in the arguments battle between those who view balancing efforts between the Europa League and domestic affairs as detrimental, and those who think it can be managed.
Pochettino's men won after beating AEL Limassol away and drawing with Besiktas at home. They lost after a comfortable night's return work against the Cypriot outfit, and a tougher test away at Partizan Belgrade.
Dropping points to Newcastle would quickly see the highs of the Kane-, Lamela-inspired victory over Tripolis give way to more doubts about Spurs' ability to handle the demands of fighting on various fronts. Should they win, it would quiet the naysayers for now, but the same argument would be trotted out at some point again.
There is no real answer to all this. Like anything, you have to take it on a match-by-match basis.
Regardless of all the discussion that accompanies it, the last thing Spurs need after the simultaneously encouraging/discouraging display versus City is more doubt surrounding their expensively assembled squad.
"We are in a very tough period in the club, but when you arrive to a club with big potential like Tottenham, a big club, and have the possibility to build something important, this is a very good challenge for us," Pochettino told the press prior to Thursday's game, via Sky Sports.
Fair or not, the best way for the head coach to guarantee time and space to do his job is for his team to get back to winning ways this weekend.
