Party scene soon goes flat after Newcastle revert to type
Newcastle 2 Wilson 2, Dier 89 og Tottenham 3 Ndombele 17, Kane 22, Son 45+4 Att: 52,305
They came to celebrate. They came to see out a despised ownership with Mike Ashley finally gone, and welcome in a fabulously wealthy, if controversial, new one. They came in the belief that they had their club back. Yet it all ended in a familiar, hollow performance as Newcastle slid to an ugly defeat by Tottenham.
There were even boos at the end – quite something when there was supposed to be a carnival with the billionaires in town. And 16 minutes from time there was a chant of “we want Brucey out” in reference to manager Steve Bruce.
This could hardly have been what was expected after the extraordinary scenes at the start when Newcastle
surged ahead within seconds and belief was coursing.
The chant started in the Gallowgate End but it spread long before the game finished, reverberating angrily as substitute Jonjo Shelvey was sent off.
Bruce puffed out his cheeks and then there were more chants, this time of “you’re getting sacked in the morning”.
It was only one game but it may, also, be the last for Bruce. His 1,000th match as a manager was no cause for celebration on the pitch and if this was a trial for him to keep his job then he failed it. Also, if there was any doubt as to the scale of the task ahead for the Saudi-led consortium, to turn the Toon into a superclub – and there surely was not – then it was laid bare and horribly exposed as the world watched on.
Amanda Staveley, who led the £305million takeover, new chairman Yasir Al-rumayyan and Jamie Reuben, the other financial backer and director, looked stony-faced in their seats, with their Newcastle scarves on, as it all unravelled before them.
It was only one game and it will not take away from the fact that Newcastle are now among the richest clubs in the world, that this is a new, exciting era and that their fans will dream. But the season is well under way and they are in the bottom three and still without a win after eight fixtures.
Relegation from the Premier League is not in the brochure when the ultimate aim is to compete with the likes of Manchester City and Paris St-germain. Action is urgently needed.
Newcastle were rudderless as Harry Kane led a remarkable turnaround and also scored his first league goal of the season. It was an indictment that it was all over by half-time, an interval delayed by 25 minutes after a supporter collapsed and the players led the calls for medical intervention before referee Andre Marriner led them off.
And to think the stadium was raucous, bouncing and unbridled before kick-off.
The fans had gathered for hours, the flags were back in the Gallowgate and there was a mix of excitement, relief and release as the teams took to the pitch. The momentum grew as the whistle blew and, gloriously for the home side, the surge swept Spurs aside. Inside two minutes there was lift-off as Newcastle scored.
They poured forward. Joe Willock spread the ball wide to Allan Saint-maximin with Javier Manquillo overlapping him. The fullback crossed and Callum Wilson guided his header across goal and into the net.
Wilson’s Alan Shearer-esque goal came in his first appearance since August. The noise was memorable, as was the reaction, with the cameras cutting to the new owners led by a gleeful Al-rumayyan, who had flown in from Saudi Arabia.
But after an adrenalin rush there is often a comedown. Especially when a team are not good enough to capitalise on it. The emotion had been surfed, but Newcastle blew up. Defensively they are an utter shambles and it showed as Spurs turned
the scoreline around in just five minutes.
Newcastle’s energy dipped and they were cut apart. A simple ball infield by Sergio Reguilon picked out Tanguy Ndombele and no defender was within five yards of him – and he was on the edge of the penalty area. Even then Jamaal Lascelles stood off, so Ndombele curled a right-foot shot around the centrehalf high into the goal. Cut to the glum faces in the directors’ box, who had been so euphoric when Wilson scored.
Newcastle were undone again when Pierre-emile Hojbjerg lofted the ball through and Kane lifted it over goalkeeper Karl Darlow with the outside of his boot. The offside flag went up but the goal was given after a Var check, with Manquillo clearly playing Kane onside.
Those glum faces of the new owners looked even glummer. Alrumayyan stared at his phone.
Spurs went close again when Lucas Moura – all 5ft 7in of him – rose unmarked to meet Son
Heung-min’s corner, but his header cannoned back off the crossbar.
Even the long delay after a fan needed urgent medical treatment did not deter Spurs and they soon scored again. Again Newcastle were cut apart as Moura easily beat Isaac Hayden and prodded the ball through to Kane inside the area. He crossed low for Son, who sent it first time past Darlow.
Would Newcastle respond? Could Newcastle respond? As they struggled, a coach punched the roof of the dugout, which summed up the enveloping frustration as Bruce looked on forlornly.
All the threat continued to come from Spurs, who were ridiculously comfortable.
Shelvey, already booked, was dismissed for tripping Reguilon, before Eric Dier’s late own goal when he directed a Jacob Murphy free-kick past goalkeeper Hugo Lloris gave Newcastle a sliver of hope. But, even after that, the chants were for Bruce to go.