The song remains the same for Spurs as Newcastle United make it yet another painful day on home soil
- By Yann Tear at the TH Stadium
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
Premier League
Tottenham Hotspur (0) 0
Newcastle United (0) 2 Elanga 62, Wissa 72
The personnel may have altered quite a bit but the grim record for Spurs on their home patch shows no signs of immediate improvement.
So much optimism has accompanied Tottenham into their new season after they splashed the cash with abandon. But once again they faded after a bright start in their first home league game of the season.
They managed only three league wins at N17 last term - a shameful stat that could easily have seen them demoted. They expect much much better but Newcastle fans delighted in reminding Spurs that "It's happened again!"
Spurs fans were denied a chance to watch £75m Savio in action - the Man City import having picked up an injury after his goalscoring cameo in the League Cup win over Charlton in midweek.
They at least had the consolation of having another ex-Pep Guardiola man in the ranks as £59m Omar Marmoush was handed his debut by Roberto de Zerbi. But his lively contribution could still not pave the way towards a much-needed home win.
There was no James Maddison to offer up more options either - the luckless midfielder having picked up yet another injury - this time his shoulder - and he looks set to be out for a while.
Marmoush was involved in the game's first threatening moment as far as the home side were concerned. He fed Mathys Tel for a shot aimed at the far corner which needed a big stretch from keeper Lukas Hornicek to keep it all square.
It upped the noise levels and soon after, World Cup winner Pedro Porro had a shot deflected over. The livewire defender also flashed a firm volley just over the bar.
Sandro Tonali, who had a shocker of a debut in last week's abject surrender at Brentford, nearly had an assist for that one, which would have gone some way to paying back the Magpies fan giving him the bird for his 'money-grabbing' defection, as they see it.
Spurs were edging it without being entirely convincing but they could have stolen a match when Jan Paul van Hecke leapt high to meet a Matheus Fernandes corner with a firm header - the Newcaastle keeper again equal to it.
The Geordies had hope when they broke in the shape of the speedy duo Anthony Elanga and Yoane Wissa. The former missed a great chance after the interval when a heavy touch took him too far around Anton Kinsky to ruin his angle.
But the Magpies nabbed a lead just past the hour when Elanga seized onto a nod down from Bosnian defender Amar Dedic to turn Tonali and fire low across Kinsky and in off the far post for a fine eye-catching finish.
Ten minutes or so later and the Magpies had their hands virtually on the points when sub Nick Woltemade got a far post header in at a corner and Wissa's acrobatic overhead kick.
Mo Kudus came on to lend Spurs more of a threat but he too was unable to turn the tide. we've seen this story before.
Spurs: (4-2-3-1) Kinsky - Gray (Moore 68) , van Hecke, van de Ven, Robertson (Udogie 68) - Tonali (Solanke 75), Betancur - Porro, Matheus Fernandes, Tel (Kudus 68) - Marmoush
Magpies: (4-2-3-1) Hornicek - Dedic, Botman, Thiaw, Hall - Gonzalez (Steur 71), Miley - Elanga (Murphy 82), Willock (Woltemade 71), Barnes (Toure 93) - Wissa (Ramsey 82)
Attendance: 61,025
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