To his extensive list of problems at Tottenham, Thomas Frank can add another. The manager is dealing with a ghost from the club’s more successful recent past. There were 49 minutes on the clock when the South Stand choir took up the song. “He’s magic, you know. Mauricio Poch-e-ttino.” The message was clear. They want their former idol back. They cannot persist any longer with Frank.
The only wonder here was that Newcastle, who had arrived on the back of three successive Premier League defeats and with numerous issues of their own, were not out of sight at the interval. If they were bright in the first half, Spurs were impossibly awful. Frank’s injury list numbered 10 players and he lost another one – Wilson Odobert – in the 34th minute. The captain, Cristian Romero, is suspended, of course. Nobody wants to hear excuses.
There was a period at the start of the second half when Spurs threatened an improbable comeback. Trailing to Malick Thiaw’s goal just before the interval, they re-emerged with a bit of purpose and Archie Gray would find the equaliser after a set piece.
Newcastle simply went again and there was an inevitability about Jacob Ramsey’s winner, his first for the club. It was entirely merited from a Newcastle point of view. They had brought an unwanted statistic to London, having given up 19 points from winning positions; the most in the league. It was never going to be a tale of frustration for them. Eddie Howe called it one of Newcastle’s best performances of the season.
The celebrations of the manager and his players in front of the travelling fans at full time stood in sharp contrast to the unhappiness of everybody connected to Spurs. The soundtrack to the evening from their point of view had been boos and more boos – and even more when Frank ventured on to the field after the final whistle.
At the start of stoppage time, he had heard another chant from them: “You’re getting sacked in the morning.” There was an end of days feel about it all. Where does Frank go from here? Next up is the derby against Arsenal on Sunday week.
A word on Pochettino. He is preparing to lead USA at the World Cup this summer and it feels inconceivable that he could be available before then. After the finals would be a different story.
When the dust settled, it did so on a grim detail for Frank and Spurs: they have won only twice in 17 league matches. It is relegation form. And, playing like this, with so little attacking intent and cohesion, it is impossible to say the club is not in a relegation battle.
Howe had gone for pace and mobility in his front three; it was Anthony Elanga and Harvey Barnes either side of Anthony Gordon. Newcastle settled quickly and their control of the first half would be total. The assurance on the ball belonged to them, with Bruno Guimãraes always seeming to have an extra second in possession. The only blot for Newcastle would be a suspected hamstring injury for him towards the end.
Joe Willock was a whisker away from the far corner with a low shot on nine minutes and the pressure from the visitors mounted inexorably. The Spurs support wanted something to get behind. Anything. There was zero from their team before the interval. Anxiety filled the void with Guglielmo Vicario a focus for it. When he punched weakly midway through the first half, there were howls from the South Stand. He was jittery on the ball, too.
The snap‑shots in Spurs anguish built up. When players went back rather than forwards there were yells. Where were the options? When Vicario collected an easy ball, there were cheers. Pape Sarr and Xavi Simons would be booked for diving.
There were boos from the Spurs fans after Willock ran on to a Ramsey pass on 44 minutes, cut inside Micky van de Ven and located the far corner with a cool finish. The goal would be disallowed when the video assistant referee spotted Willock was fractionally offside but Spurs’ reprieve did not last long. The breakthrough came when Thiaw rose unmarked to meet Elanga’s cross and Vicario could only pat the ball out weakly. Thiaw got to his own rebound ahead of Sarr and Gray. He wanted it more.
Spurs did restart with a bit of feeling. Mathys Tel, who had come on for Odobert, lashed high after good work from Gray. Sarr forced Nick Pope into a save. It was better and the equaliser came when Sarr headed back a Simons corner and there was Gray to volley home.
Newcastle’s response was emphatic and, after Barnes was denied by a Van de Ven block, they restored their advantage. Conor Gallagher squandered a counter‑attacking opportunity with a poor pass and Newcastle came back up the Spurs right. It was Gordon with the low pass into the area and, with nobody in white close enough, Ramsey shot low and first time into the far corner.
