They are now out of the relegation zone but only two points above 18th place.
Advertisement
Mauricio Pochettino refused to blame Tottenham’s Europa League exploits for a poor second-half display on Sunday as Newcastle United fought from a goal down to win 2-1 at White Hart Lane.
Far from competing at the top end of the Premier League, Newcastle have spent the majority of their first season under manager Steve McClaren as relegation candidates.
On the back of an worldwide break which had been nothing but bad news for the number 45, Mitrovic had a shocked against Leicester (along with many others) and was subbed after an hour for Papiss Cisse.
“It’s important for us to climb the table”.
Newcastle will now get ready to host bottom-placed Aston Villa next weekend as Tottenham head to St Mary’s to meet Pochettino’s former club Southampton.
“That made the difference”.
“What has changed? We changed our mentality”.
Ayoze Perez, Mitrovic’s fellow substitute, claimed all three points with a stoppage-time strike.
“It’s hard because you know you have to win these matches if you want to be in the top four”, he said.
Yet, less than two weeks ago, all the talk was about how Steve McClaren was possibly just two games away from the sack because of the Magpies’ woeful performances against Leicester City and Crystal Palace. It shows what an huge talent they are, both of them. I think we are an attacking team and we tried to move forward and you know you give chances away sometimes.
McClaren backed his players for finally finding their voices.
“I thought we’d competed well and were really disappointed and angry with the goal”.
I have been extremely impressed by the players over the last too games and I give them great credit for putting in those back-to-back displays. It was a win for the player, this.
They were rewarded for their persistence 16 minutes from time.
“There have been so many times when I have gone in at halftime and the dressing room has been silent”, he said.
“But it was so vocal, and there was such a determination amongst the players not to lead down the normal path of losing the game”.
Tottenham had not been beaten in the league since their opening match at Manchester United in August and a win would have seen them go above Louis van Gaal’s side into fourth place. I respect that. And what I have to do is try to take the minutes I have.
Spurs took the lead in the first-half of the game after Eric Dyer headed the opener.
Mitrovic, who had only been on the pitch two minutes, bundled an equaliser after Toby Alderweireld and Hugo Lloris failed to clear Chancel Mbemba’s header. Now they know they can do that, hopefully they can replicate it going forward.
Advertisement
Tottenham have one of the youngest teams in the Premier League with the likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Dier all under 23.
