Sunday 21st October 2001, 7.45pm

FA PREMIERSHIP, St James Park

NEWCASTLE UNITED 0

Given; O'Brien, Dabizas, Distin; Solano (sub Lua Lua, 74), Acuna (sub Bassedas, 74), Speed, Hughes (sub Ameobi, 80), Robert; Shearer, Bellamy

Sheringham

Ferdinand (Rebrov 78)

Poyet 1 (20)

Ziege

Anderton 1 (8) (Sherwood 88)

Freund

Taricco (Davies 48)

King

Richards

Perry

Sullivan

Subs not used: Keller, Thatcher

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 2 (Anderton 8, Poyet 20)

Referee:- A Wiley

Attendance:- 50,593

Super Spurs coast to an easy win at highflying Newcastle on a miserable wet afternoon on Tyneside – the Hoddle revolution is in full swing and we are loving every minute of it.

Television commitments meant that this game was switched to Sunday, and those of us travelling up from London had an early start on the 8.30 train out of Kings Cross.

There were loads of London based Geordies on the train, but we were lucky to have a couple of Spurs from Walthamstow at our table (Alan & Sean) and we gave Highbury the finger as past the rotting hole on our journey Northwards.

Alan and Sean were good company and the journey went quickly. The rain in London followed us North and persisted for the whole of the day.

 

On the face of it, Newcastle city centre was deserted – but take a look in any of the millions of pubs on the uphill walk to the ground, you would have seen it packed with replica kit wearing Geordies having their pre-match pint, and by all accounts arguing whether it would be 5-0 or 6-0 to them.

The stadium dominates the Northern skyline, and just as we were glad to get out of the rain, 150 steps awaited us in the stadium to take us to Level 7, somewhere in the stratosphere, which doubles as the away end at St James. In all fairness, the stadium facilities were excellent, although you had the feeling that it was n’t a proper football stadium as you were too far and high away from the pitch. Spurs should learn from this as we do up WHL.

After the excellent display against Derby, the team picked itself, with Hoddle playing his preferred 3-5-2 formation. The bench was also strong including Rebrov, Davies, Keller, Sherwood and even Fatcha.

Newcastle were without the sulking Rob Lee and played a man to man marker on Poyet, as well as two uncomfortable looking wing backs

Spurs attacked the Leazes end where the away fans were gathered in the first period, and immediately picked up the rhythm from the Derby match. There was plenty of space for both Taricco and Ziege to exploit deep into the Newcastle half, and with Anderton having his best match of the season alongside Sheringham, Spurs dominated the opening exchanges. Treacle who is still looking for his first Spurs goal had a chance after being put through by Anderton, but shot wide.

This was in stark contrast to Newcastle who looked a shadow of a team that had notched 4 goals in a game 6 times already this season, who seemed bereft of ideas, and could not play an accurate pass inside the Spurs half.

Spurs took the lead after 8 minutes when Taricco was fouled on the by-line, on the right-hand side of the goal. Newcastle fell asleep and allowed the ball to get slipped to Anderton, unmarked on the edge of the box. His first effort was blocked, but he tried again as the ball rebounded to him, and this time his shot, which was probably going wide cannoned off Gary Speed and into the net, much to the delight of the travelling fans.

The famous “toon army” were pretty quiet before this and the game was played out in an odd atmosphere with all the noise coming from one corner way up in the sky, with not a whimper from 49,000 others. Before the match, the officials from Newcastle had tried to inject some atmosphere with some phoney flag waving, which fell flat.  And those two massive fat blokes with the NUFC tattoos were nowhere to be seen.

Spurs continued to boss the match, with our impressive brand of football, which is starting to turn a few heads, and it was from one of these lovely moves that we doubled our lead on 29 minutes. As you would expect, Sheringham, who was again excellent was at the heart of it. He released Taricco who got the ball to Anderton in the right wing position. It was like the Anderton of old, as he floated over a deep cross which initially looked to high for the on rushing Poyet, buy he managed to get over the ball and head powerfully over shortarse Given and into the far corner of the net for his third goal in as many games. Poyet was a tiny figure on the pitch beneath us as he came over to celebrate, and the Spurs fans could not believe the excellent start we had made.

Spurs should have had a certain penalty when a Newcastle defender blocked and Anderton shot with both arms, but we got nothing (again), although to be fair the ref had an ok match.

I was encouraged to read in the programme at half time that the 2-0 scoreline was more like “Service resumed” as Spurs have the best away record of any team at Newcastle, even though we had not won since Aug 1993 and had a 7-1 and 6-1 reverse in the meantime. Half time allowed me to meet many of the usual faces inc Rosie, Tony Marco and Sean from the train, and sat next to John from Chesterfield in the second half who I met at Anfield but forgot to mention in the Liverpool report.

Ziege spent most of the first half in his laid back mode – looking dangerous going forward and not being too troubled at the back, but after Taricco was injured chasing a pass up the right touchline, Hoddle changed to a 4-4-2 with Davies coming on to the righthandside of midfield and Ziege dropping back to left full back and Mr Ed coming across to cover at right full back. In his less familiar position of full back Ziege was excellent with several great tackles and a wholehearted display when the team needed it, as it is fair to say that Spurs we not as fluent after the injury.

While Poyet continues to grab the headlines by doing at least one important thing per match, his overall contribution is patchy, ranging from excellent to could do better, and Davies proved that he must be close to an automatic starting position with another accomplished display – excellent going forward and important defensive clearances, none more so than when heading off the line at the far post from direct from a Robert corner.

Spurs fans, in excellent voice sang “you’re just a small team in Scotland” to the Newcastle, who could never really come up with anything back.

Ferdinand was again replaced by Rebrov midway through the second half after doing a good job for Spurs, and got a better reception from the Newcastle fans, who he acknowledged first than from us, which is a shame as much of his effort goes un noticed. Rebrov was again lively when he came on and should have claimed his first goal of the season when the ball was cut back to him from the right, but he blazed over from 10 yards out.

Spurs best chance of the second period came when Rebrov was upended Dabizas (the man who’s right arm is invisible to Durkin) just outside the box. Just as Ted does not get a look in at the free kicks for England when Beckham is around, so Anderton and Ziege have to wait in the wings. Sheringham hit a brilliant free kick, which slammed into the top of the bar with the keeper beaten. 3-0 would have been nice, but we were all happy with 2-0 and I think that reflected the match more accurately as while it was a stroll, it was not the hammering the first half promised.

A goal during the second period could have galvanised Newcastle to put us under pressure as Sunderland had in the previous month, but they never really looked like scoring and apart from an excellent diving save right at the end, Spurs held on comfortably for the points.

After the match, we saw Warren Barton and his nipper leaving the stadium not looking best pleased with not even being able to get into that team. A good match was rounded off with a few beers with and happy journey home. We’ve got our Tottenham back – and its just great!

Sullivan (7/10) – Some good saves in the second half, and you knew he would not let Spurs down.

Taricco (7/10) – In the process of having an excellent match before being taken off injured

Perry (6/10) – Solid and reliable as ever, and did well as an emergency right back

Richards (7/10) – Slotted in well in the heart of the defence and looks money well spent

King (7/10) – Coped well with Shearer and had another good match

Ziege (7/10) – Laid back in the first half but had a storming match at full back after the reshuffle.

Anderton (8/10) – Played his best game of the season and is beginning to look like the player we all hoped he would be. Lets hope he stays injury free and reproduces this sort of form against top 5 sides.

Freund (6/10) – Did his usual in the midfield and is a vital member of the team at the mo

Poyet (6/10) – Scored an excellent goal and got involved when the pressure was on in the second half

Sheringham (7/10) – Along with Anderton. ran the show from the deep forward role. What a player

Ferdinand (6/10) – Ran hard for the team and generally did ok

Subs:

Davies (7/10) – Had an excellent match when replacing Taricco, and must be a first team regular soon

Rebrov (6/10) – Looked lively when he came on but missed a couple of decent chances

Sherwood (6/10) – Managed not to get sent off!

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