Battered and Bruced after game 1,000
IF perspective was needed, it arrived late in the first half when Eric Dier and Sergio Reguilon led the urgent requests to get emergency medical help to a stricken spectator.
The actions of those players and everyone else involved in providing assistance were the most significant of the day. Let’s get that straight.
But football does not do perspective for long and there was plenty here to go overboard about. Such as the gargantuan size of the challenge facing Newcastle United’s new owners, the impending end of Steve Bruce’s tenure and the startling ineptitude of a handful of the home players.
And that is not to mention the jarring sound of a raucous ovation for the main representative of the Saudi Arabian takeover.
This was a party that fell spectacularly flat, spectacularly quickly. Not for some, though. Not for Nuno Espirito Santo, whose team, albeit against extremely limited opposition, produced one of their better performances of his short time as manager, even if they did somehow find a way to make the closing stages a little nervy.
And not for Harry Kane, whose contribution suggested that if he was ever in a sulk, he is now out of it. It might have only been in snatches but there was some prime Kane to be admired.
The lobbed finish to put Spurs ahead after Tanguy Ndombele cancelled out Callum Wilson’s header was a thing of casual beauty, even though he did not appear at all convinced that a VAR check would overturn the initial offside decision.
But equally impressive was Kane’s awareness and execution when coming up with another assist for Heung-min Son.
Kane and Son have now combined for 35 Premier League goals, while the England captain has scored a remarkable 88 in 128 Premier League away games.
The connection between Son, Kane and Lucas Moura caused problems every time they went forward. And as Spurs took more and more control and Jonjo Shelvey got himself sent off barely 20 minutes after coming on, the crowd predictably turned on Bruce. What a way to have your 1,000th game as a manager celebrated.
The comedy own goal from Dier distracted the natives for a moment but, advisedly, Bruce was one of the first down the tunnel at the final whistle.
Kane was one of the last, having lingered long to applaud the visiting fans.
Newcastle have got their new owners, Spurs have got their Harry back.