Yet when their manager Steve McClaren, recently public enemy number one on Tyneside, brought on strikers Aleksandar Mitrovic and Ayoze Perez in the second half, even he could not have imagined they would prove the Magpies’ match-winners.
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“We need to change that and to play every game like we did against Man City in the first half, like how we did against Chelsea, and like we did (against Tottenham)”. OK, I didn’t say anything because I respect Papiss Cissé, he played really well the last two weeks and he scored against [Crystal] Palace, and I respect the coach, so I didn’t say anything and I waited for my moment, and it came today.
“It is hard because you know you have to win these games if you want to stay in the top four”.
“There have been so many times when I have gone in at halftime and the dressing room has been silent”, he said.
“I was angry because I spent two games on the bench and I wanted to show that I deserved to play”, said the fiery 21-year-old, who was a £13m summer signing from Anderlecht.
“It was so vocal, such a determination in the players not to go down the same path as they usually do”.
“Overall for us, it was a great week”, Wenger said on Sky Sports, referring to his side’s midweek heroics when they managed, against the odds, to qualify for the knockout phase of the Champions League once again. “No-one would expect this end to the game if you see the first half”. We feel like this is an incident and the last couple of years that was a bit different.
The lengthy additional time was for the long delay after Craig Gardner’s reckless knee-high challenge – which went unpunished – on Dejan Lovren saw the Croatia defender carried off on a stretcher.
Tottenham have fielded the youngest team in the Premier League this season but Mauricio Pochettino does not worry about the quality or age of his players. “I think there is an easy explanation – we lost control and we started to make easy mistakes”.
From there it felt inevitable that the game would get away from the home team; exhausted passing and sloppy possession led to further chances for the Toon, would could well have scored several times over if not for incisive center-back play from Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen.
“I think our first half was fantastic; we dominated the game”, he told BBC Sport.
Perez is “delighted” with the team’s performance and believes that they “all fought for one another”.
“He added: “(Am I) concerned?
“You never know. Football takes many turns”.
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The Belgian is confident it is just a blip and, while he is disappointed Tottenham’s unbeaten run is over, he is aware the Lilywhites have had more draws (eight) than wins (six) in the league and that simply avoiding defeat is unlikely to earn a place in the Champions League.
