No ordinary JOES
NEWCASTLE...2 TOTTENHAM...2
HARRY KANE’S failure to score a hat-trick was the reason Spurs did not win this match. It is sentences such as the above that will force the England captain to quit north London. How much longer can the division’s leading goalscorer attempt to mask the shortcomings of his team-mates and manager Jose Mourinho?
He certainly should have completed his hat-trick, by the way. When Spurs broke on 85 minutes it looked like the striker was about to seal three points before his 12-yard shot kissed the post. His miscalculation proved far more costly than missing out on the matchball when, 52 seconds later, Newcastle claimed a deserved point through Joe Willock.
The hosts, for the record, were unrecognisable from their surrender at Brighton a fortnight ago. Then again, running around, making tackles and having the odd shot would have marked an improvement on that fiasco. But Spurs were fortunate to emerge with a draw, and that is why Kane is in danger of wasting his peak years in a team on the decline under Mourinho, who again wore the sour look of a man who has simply fallen out of love with this business.
Kane did not hide his frustration when he called their performance ‘sloppy’, for he must be sick of this. He scored twice at home to West Ham earlier this season, only for Spurs to concede three times in eight minutes to forgo victory. He put them in control against Crystal Palace and Fulham, too, but again those at the back could not protect their advantage.
Spurs have now lost 15 points from winning positions and 11 from goals conceded in the final 10 minutes. It must be a terrifying watch for Kane from the other end of the park.
Take Newcastle’s opening goal on 28 minutes, for instance. Newcastle’s Matt Ritchie was the smallest man on the pitch, yet both Japhet Tanganga and Davinson Sanchez failed to navigate botched clearances beyond him. The upshot was a loose ball that ran for Sean Longstaff to tee up the unmarked Joelinton to steer home from 10 yards.
The defending felt like a fitting tribute to this weekend’s return of Sunday League football. Then
again, that is perhaps unfair on park players. They would have managed the industrial hoof needed here.
It says much for Newcastle’s vulnerability right now that, within six minutes of taking what was a worthy lead, they had fallen behind. Kane can do that to the best of teams, of course, let alone one as generous as the Magpies.
You were still scrolling back through the records in search of Joelinton’s last home goal — June, it turns out — when Kane levelled.
Emil Krafth did his best impression of a Spurs defender in clearing Giovani Lo Celso’s low cross straight into Kane, whose body language suggested he had given up on the chance. A splitsecond later, however, and he was left with a two-yard tap-in.
His second again owed something to casual defending. Not with regards the finish, it must be said. Kane’s low strike was a blast of class. But Newcastle had allowed Tanguy Ndombele so much space to find his team-mate you would have thought they did not rate the midfielder. Ndombele accepted the invitation to slip Kane clear and he did the rest from 12 yards for his 19th league goal of the season, moving above Mo Salah to the top of the scoring charts. But two goals never felt like being enough for the win — in part because of Newcastle’s newfound attacking ambition but more so the encouragement offered by a Spurs backline seemingly intent on self-harm. So when Kane was unable to arrange his feet quickly enough in the six-yard box on 73 minutes — allowing goalkeeper Martin Dubravka to smother — and later when he flicked the post, you suspected there would be a price to pay. And so that moment began to unfold when Allan SaintMaximin spun away from three Spurs jerseys in the middle of the park — surely one of them could have committed to a tactical foul? The substitute fed Ritchie on the left and he was afforded too much room to measure a far-post cross. There was still plenty to be done before a goal could be scored. But when Joelinton got the better of Sergio Reguilon to return a header and centre backs Sanchez and Joe Rodon collided in the goalmouth, Willock was left with an easy close-range finish.
That is not to say Newcastle’s point was not hard fought for and it took on an even better complexion when Fulham then lost at Aston Villa. It leaves them three clear of the bottom three but with a record that still reads two wins from 19 in the league.
Bruce — fortunate not to lose his job in the wake of the Brighton debacle — believes it will take one point per game to keep them in the division, and he is probably right. That, though, is also an indicator of how low the bar has fallen at St James’ Park.
Bruce’s former club Villa did him a favour by coming from behind against Fulham, for the live table had Newcastle in the relegation zone for a 15-minute period.
On the subject of favours, Kane should be doing himself one after days like this against opponents bottom of the form table. You get the feeling he knows as much, too. NEWCASTLE (3-5-2): Dubravka 6; Krafth 5 (Willock 79min), Lascelles 6.5, Dummett 7; Murphy 7 (Manquillo 83), Almiron 6.5, Shelvey 6.5, S Longstaff 7, Ritchie 7.5; Joelinton 7, Gayle 6.5 (Saint-Maximin 71, 6.5). Subs not used: Darlow, Clark, Lewis, Hendrick, M Longstaff, Anderson. Scorers: Joelinton 28, Willock 85. Booked: Dummett, Shelvey, Almiron. Manager: Steve Bruce 6. TOTTENHAM (4-2-3-1): Lloris 6.5; Tanganga 5, Sanchez 5, Rodon 5.5, Reguilon 5.5; Hojbjerg 5.5, Ndombele 7; Lo Celso 6 (Bale 88), KANE 8, Lucas 5 (Lamela 64, 5.5 ); Vinicius 5 (Son 46, 6). Subs not used: Hart, Dier, Winks, Sissoko, Dele, Scarlett. Scorer: Kane 30, 34. Booked: Lo Celso, Tanganga. Manager: Jose Mourinho 6. Referee: Craig Pawson 7.