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· Last Season's Corresponding Game - Newcastle 2 Spurs 2 - 16th October, 2011
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 1 2011-12
· See the current injury list for all Premiership Teams
· All the Spurs Stats you could hope for here! THFC6061 Sports Stats
Full Record of Spurs -v- Newcastle United
Prem Pl W D L For-Ag Pts
Home 18 11 1 6 31 -22 34
Away 18 3 5 10 19 -37 14
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Total(Prem) 36 14 6 16 50 -59 48
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Lge Div 1
Home 43 24 7 12 87 -48 59
Away 43 15 14 14 70 -76 45
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Total(Div 1) 86 39 21 26 157 -124 109
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Lge Div 2
Home 6 1 3 2 6 - 7 5
Away 6 3 0 3 6 - 4 6
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Total(Div 2) 12 4 3 5 12 -11 11
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Total(Prem) 36 14 6 16 50 -59 48
Total(Div 1) 86 39 21 26 157 -124 109
Total(Div 2) 12 4 3 5 12 -11 11
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Grand Total 134 57 30 47 219 -194 167
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Last Six Premier League results:-
Newcastle
Newcastle 2-0 Bolton
Newcastle 3-0 Stoke
Wigan 4-0 Newcastle
Chelsea 0-2 Newcastle
Newcastle 0-2 Man City
Everton 3-1 Newcastle
Spurs
Spurs 1-2 Norwich
QPR 1-0 Spurs
Spurs 2-0 Blackburn
Bolton 1-4 Spurs
A. Villa 1-1 Spurs
Spurs 2-0 Fulham
Final Positions 2011-12
Pos P W D L F-A GD Pts
4 Spurs 38 20 9 9 66-41 25 69
5 Newcastle 38 19 8 11 56-51 5 65
I should be excited, but I'm not
Another new season begins, and once again, Spurs have failed to complete their transfer business before the opening game. At the time of writing, Spurs have yet to sign a striker to either partner or supplant Jermain Defoe. I've left it as late as possible on this Thursday evening before publishing, but even if Daniel Levy does make a new signing between now and Saturday, it looks extremely unlikely that such a signing would hit the ground running, so Andre Villas Boas will have to go with the pre-season squad, and one or two of those returning from Olympic and International duty.
I'm not sure that AVB has even met Sandro yet, let alone schooled him in his desired playing methods and strategy. Sandro is only due to arrive at the Spurs training ground today. It could be Jenas and Livermore in front of the defence at Newcastle, which is not a selection that will please too many of the Spurs faithful. Jake Livermore did well for us last season, and got his first England cap this week as a playing substitute against Italy. Jenas was a Spurs outcast last year though, although Aston Villa had to return him as spoiled (injured) goods. Pre-season reports do not suggest that Jenas's form has been outstanding. I was always a supporter, rather than a critic of this player, who would love to take part at the home of one of his former teams. I hope for a good performance!
Spurs made two early summer signings in Jan Vertonghen and Gylfi Sigurdsson, both of whom are great additions to the squad, and yet I am neither excited or confident about the new season; our chances at Newcastle; or our ability to finish in the top four of the Premier League again. To a certain degree, I think I am suffering from post-Olympic blues. Like many people, I am hoping to see some Olympic spirit in our national game this season.
As I write it looks as if the Modric saga is finally over, but once again surely Daniel Levy's brinkmanship has not helped his new "head coach" in his quest for a good start to the season. Spurs fans have also been mystified about the decision to delay Scott Parker's achilles operation, which means we won't see him in the team before October. Anyone for a Spanish style 4-6-0? Well, it won't quite be like that, as Jermain Defoe will be supported by three of Rafa van der Vaart, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Gareth Bale, and Aaron Lennon.
When Spurs last played Newcastle on February 11th and won 5-0, we were on the crest of a wave. We sang to Harry Redknapp, "We want you to stay", during a glorious performance and victory at the end of a week which had seen our manager acquited on tax evasion charges, and then immediately linked the newly vacated England manager spot.
Spurs stood no less than 10 points clear of Arsenal and Chelsea in third place, and yet mysteriously embarked upon a run of league form that saw only one victory in the next 9 games, surrendering that commanding position, and ultimately losing the position that would have guaranteed Champions League football, despite Chelsea's May 19th win. That run, rather than the summer contract talks, is probably what led to the parting of the ways between Harry and Spurs. Whether or not Andre Villas-Boas makes a better fist of the job remains to be seen. He has a lot to beat when it comes to Harry Redknapp's overall league record, but I suspect AVB's leadership will see us genuinely compete in all cup competitions. AVB is our twelfth manager in the Premier League era. Our previous 12 managers had covered a 54 year period.
Newcastle had an excellent 2011-12 season, and were true competitors for a Champions League place until they lost their last two games at home to Man City, and away to Everton. Alan Pardew's side have also been quiet in the transfer market, but today we hear they have secured the signing of 23 year old Dutch midfielder Vurnon Anita from Ajax. Anita can play at full back, but the understanding is that he is required for midfield duties. I suspect he should be seen as an upgrade on Danny Guthrie who left for Reading in the summer. Another summer siging was 22 year old French midfielder Romain Amalftano.
Pardew has declared confidence in his squad, and apart from Guthrie, has off-loaded Alan Smith (to MK Dons), Leon Best (to Blackburn), and Peter Lovenkrands (to Birmingham). However, Pardew does have a potentially long in jury list which includes Ben Arfa and Tiote, with no publicly known return dates. Others listed may be available for Saturday evening's game. They are key strikers, Ba, Cisse and Ameobi, plus defender Coloccini. I suspect the last four will be playing.
Spurs have a great record in early season Premier League meetings against Newcastle. The only time we met them in the first Premier League fixture was on 14th August, 1993. Kevin Keegan's "Toon Army" had missed out on the first Premier League season, but had marched convincingly to promotion. 34,565 were inside St. James' Park (pre enlarged stadium days), hoping for victory, but Spurs won 1-0, thanks to a Teddy Sheringham goal. Spurs would suffer an abysmal season, largely due to the prolonged absence of Sheringham, and would only ensure their Premier League status with a 2-0 win at Boundary Park, Oldham in their penultimate game. Newcastle finished third, and their lead scorer was Andy Cole, with a tally of 34 Premier League goals. A certain un-mentionable defender made his first full appearance for Spurs in this game, having made one substitute appearance in the previous season against Chelsea, when he scored.
We played Newcastle in our first home game of the 1999-2000 season, beating them 3-1, with goals by Iversen, Ferdinand and Sherwood, two of whom have survived the summer cull and remain on Spurs coaching staff. Les Ferdinand of course remains a "Toon" hero for his two season stay on Tyneside, which included a partnership with Alan Shearer in 1996-97. Newcastle finished runners-up in both those seasons. (Spurs 3 Newcastle 1 - 9th August, 1999). Our other meetings with Newcastle that season were not so memorable. In particular, we were knocked out of the FA Cup before Christmas after a 6-1 defeat at St. James' Park.
On 21st August, 2004, in our first away game under Jacques Santini, we beat Newcastle 1-0, thanks to that Thimothee Atouba goal.(Newcastle 0 Spurs 1 - 21st August, 2004). Atouba became a cult figure at Tottenham because of that goal, and later played for Martin Jol at Hamburg, also following him to Ajax.
Last year's game at Newcastle was the only game in a run of 11 Premier League matches in which we dropped points (Newcastle 2 Spurs 2 - 16th october, 2011). Ledley King pulled up after only 30 minutes, and had to be replaced. Now of course we have to face life without Ledley King the footballer, after the club captain's announcement of his retirement during the close season. Ledley's style, class and expertise will be much missed, but we do have strength and pace at the back that will hopefully deal with the infamous AVB high line. First choice central defenders are likely to be Younes Kaboul and Jan Vertonghen. They will be the two players under most pressure if AVB persists with his strategy.
I think that we are guaranteed an entertaining and attacking game, played at a fast pace. The home fans are bound to be well up for a good start to the season, and I think the best we can hope for is a scoring draw. I think it might be 2-2.
Our referee for the day is Martin Atkinson, who we last saw in charge of us in the FA Cup semi-final, when he scored the equal lowest mark of the season (1.6 out of 10), mostly thanks to awarding another "goal that wasn't" against Spurs. After this Saturday's game, you'll have the chance to grade the players, coach and officials via the Spurs Odyssey survey. However, please note that due to social commitments, my post-match web presence is likely to be delayed. Enjoy the game!
Ten Years ago
· Everton 2 Spurs 2 - 17th August, 2002. Matthew Etherington and Les Ferdinand scored for Spurs. Ferdinand had replaced skipper Teddy Sheringham. Jamie Redknapp made his Spurs debut, and Wayne Rooney became the youngest ever Premiership player.
· Robbie Keane scored Leeds' third goal against Manchester City in a 3-0 win. (Premier League Review Week 1 2002-03)
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