Tottenham 1 Newcastle 2: Gordon scores in front of England boss Tuchel as Toon fight from goal down at crisis club Spurs
THOMAS TUCHEL barely had time to take his seat here before his England hopefuls quickly showed just how much talent he has at his disposal.
Dominic Solanke gave Spurs the lead within four minutes with a brilliant header, before Anthony Gordon levelled up with a smart finish just two minutes later.
Both players will be hoping to be included when new Three Lions boss Tuchel names his first squad in March – and be a big part of his mission to end our 60-year wait for silverware at the World Cup next year.
At 29, Jacob Murphy is unlikely to be called up but even he put up a decent case with his assist here for Alexander Isak’s winner his sixth goal involvement in the last five games.
Newcastle have won all five of those to motor up the league and put them in sight of the Champions League spots.
While injury-hit Spurs, who were interested in Tuchel after Antonio Conte left, have now lost three of their last five home league games, winning none of them.
The horror run has left the North Londoners nearer the drop zone and the top four and cranked up the heat on boss Ange Postecoglou, though his absentee list has been crippling.
It was not just Solanke and Gordon on show for the baseball-cap-wearing Tuchel and his assistant Anthony Barry to keep an eye on from their seat up in the director’s box.
Newcastle full-backs Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall, along with Gordon, started November’s 5-0 thrashing of the Republic of Ireland and started here too.
Murphy and Dan Burn, 32, have never been called up for their country but the way they are playing, and the short-term nature of Tuchel’s tenure, the German may have had them on his notes list too.
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As for Spurs, they fielded 18-year-old Archie Gray at centre-back again due to their injury crisis.
While the obvious candidate for Tuchel to consider, James Maddison, was surprisingly left on the bench.
That was despite him being suspended for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Liverpool and Postecoglou’s squad being stretched to breaking point.
Maddison, 28, had been due to start Sunday’s draw with Wolves but was put on the bench due to illness, emerging as a second-half sub,
He then went out to watch the darts at Ally Pally that night hours later, though Postecoglou on Friday said he had no issue with that, having given his tired team two days off.
A sickness bug then hit Postecoglou’s team in the week, to the point where goalkeeper Fraser Forster – another player eligible for England – missed this game altogether.
It meant Brandon Austin was handed his first-ever Spurs appearance, despite being at the club for nearly ten years and turning 26 next week.
His last senior appearance came a whopping four years ago while on loan in the MLS at Orlando City.
Livramento’s game looked like it might have been over inside the first minute after colliding into Lucas Bergvall, but he eventually picked himself up and carried on.
https://twitter.com/footballontnt/status/1875521597693386782 https://twitter.com/footballontnt/status/1875522403532484867 https://twitter.com/footballontnt/status/1875530355169485183Spurs were in need of a fast start and they got one thanks to Solanke expertly finishing off a brilliant move.
Bergvall, the 18-year-old Swede starting ahead of Yves Bissouma, drove the ball forward and gave it to Brennan Johnson, who cut it back for Pedro Porro to swing in a cross.
Solanke managed to hold off Sven Botman – starting his first game in nine months after recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury – and headed into the far corner.
The lead lasted all of two minutes though and, such has been Spurs’ season of late, it came in desperately unlucky circumstances for the hosts.
They were breaking up the pitch when a Bergvall pass struck Joelinton’s hand, diverting the ball back towards their 18-yard box, allowing Bruno Guimaraes to tee up Gordon who slotted into the corner.
Spurs protested but VAR agreed with on-pitch referee Andrew Madley that Joelinton’s hand was not in an unnatural position when the ball struck it.
Which, as tough as it was on Spurs, was probably right by the letter of the law.
Postecoglou was left incensed anyway – as were the Spurs fans when the already-booked Burn did not receive a second caution for what they felt was a deliberate handball midway through the half.
Isak has been the man of the moment of the festive period with eight goals in his last seven before this game.
He surprisingly let Spurs off the hook on 32 minutes when firing Murphy’s cutback just wide.
But lightning does not strike twice, particularly for Postecoglou’s team right now, and six minutes later the super Swede diverted in a Murphy cross which had hit Radu Dragusin along the way.
Amazingly, Spurs’ selection problems worsened as Dragusin was forced off at half-time, meaning Postecoglou was now without all FOUR of his centre-backs.
Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Ben Davies were already out injured and not expected back until the end of the month.
It saw Sergio Reguilon come on and Djed Spence, presumably because he was a bit taller than the other full-backs, pushed into the middle of defence.
The results may be dismal of late for Postecoglou but his players still appear to be giving their all for him on the pitch – and that was the same in the second half here.
His knackered side pushed for a leveller, with Brennan Jonson striking the post and Maddison, who came on in the 63rd minute, whipping narrowly past the post after a short corner.
Even Reguilon looked like he might score after an attacking frenzy from Spurs but the Spaniard’s wild shot ended up going out for a throw.
Solanke had a brilliant chance to win it in ten minutes of stoppage time, but planted his header from Porro’s cross straight at Martin Dubravka.
That did not take away from a superb individual display from Spurs’ centre-forward, giving Tuchel plenty to think about as he hot-footed it down to the South Coast to take in Brighton vs Arsenal.
It could quite conceivably have been Eddie Howe sitting up in the director’s box as England boss had the Three Lions hierarchy gone for him.
He will have to settle instead with Newcastle’s red-hot form, while Postecoglou was left to stew over another defeat during this painful period which shows no signs of easing up.