London – Tottenham
had only themselves to blame for a shock 1-0 home defeat to Newcastle,
according to manager Mauricio Pochettino, who refused to hide behind
being denied a late penalty on Sunday.
Joelinton’s first goal for the Magpies gave Steve Bruce’s men a
first-half lead to defend and they did so manfully to pick up their
first points of the season.
“It’s easy (to analyse), we didn’t play well. I’m very disappointed about our performance and our result,” said Pochettino.
“Again we concede a very cheap goal in the first-half and then it was difficult.
“We weren’t capable to break down their organisation. We created some
chances but not enough. We cannot justify our performance. We needed
more desire, more aggression with the ball.”
Spurs were saved by VAR to claim a fortunate 2-2 draw away to
Manchester City last weekend as the champions had a late goal ruled out,
just as they did in a dramatic Champions League quarter-final between
the pair last season.
However, it was Tottenham’s turn to feel aggrieved as Harry Kane was
felled by Jamaal Lascelles inside the area, but VAR did not overturn
Mike Dean’s initial decision to wave play on.
Newcastle had suffered a terrible start to the season with defeats by
Arsenal and Norwich, the latter of which forced Bruce to cancel a day
off for his players for extra training.
That work clearly paid off as a disciplined and dogged Newcastle
frustrated a Spurs side lacking in invention without Christian Eriksen – who was again left on the bench with his future at the club in
question.
“All week we’ve worked on the system. Tactically to go and nail it
the way we did on one of the big platforms in Europe now is
outstanding.”
Newcastle fans continued to voice their displeasure with Mike
Ashley’s ownership of the club for a lack of investment that contributed
to Rafael Benitez not extending his contract to remain in charge this
season.
But there was finally some reward for the club-record £40 million splashed on Joelinton as the Brazilian striker pounced on
some awful defending from Davinson Sanchez to fire Newcastle in front on
27 minutes.
“Whoever followed Rafa it was going to be a rocky ride,” added Bruce,
who was far from a popular choice as the Spaniard’s successor.
“The
supporters can only witness the team today.”
Spurs continued to probe without
much cutting edge and Eriksen was eventually called for, along with
Giovani Lo Celso for his home debut just after the hour mark.
Eriksen’s contract expires at the end of the season, meaning
Tottenham will have to sell him before the transfer window closes across
Europe on September 2 or run the risk he leaves the club for free next
summer.
And not for the first time this season, Pochettino hinted the cloud hanging over the Dane’s future has affected his squad .
“You need not only quality players but to create a very strong team
dynamic and bonding. At the moment that is very far from what we
expect.”
Just like on the opening day of the season when Eriksen helped
overturn a surprise 1-0 deficit against Aston Villa, his introduction
sparked Spurs into life.
Kane should have had a chance to level from the spot when he was wiped out by Lascelles as the defender stumbled in the box.
Referee Dean turned down the appeals and the decision was not
overturned after a VAR review as it was deemed not a “clear and obvious
error”.
However, the Premier League’s high bar to not overturn referees’
original decisions will be scrutinised as it seemed a certain penalty.
Moments later, Lucas Moura spurned the hosts’ best opening of the
game by firing over Moussa Sissoko’s low cross and Newcastle saw off a
bombardment during six minutes of stoppage time for a vital victory.
