Newcastle 6-1 Tottenham | 20 minutes of madness | Tactical Analysis

Let’s analyse the first 20 minutes of Newcastle-Tottenham with Eddie Howe’s side scoring 5 goals.

Newcastle United

Pressing

The Magpies pressed in a 4-1-4-1 formation and were very aggressive in all lines, trying to anticipate every pass.

1-0

That’s how they scored the first goal, Longstaff recovered, Isak received with his back to goal and left it to Guimaraes to give a first touch pass to Joelinton on the left flank. As he enters the box Willock joins the attack, causing Pedro Porro to move away from Joelinton who takes the opportunity to drift inside and finish. The shot is deflected by Lloris but at the far post Jacob Murphy is waiting to score the rebound with the Spurs defence very passive throughout the play.

3-0

In another good pressing Fabian Schar anticipating Son Heung-min finds Murphy, who progresses with a couple of touches and scores with a long-range shot with Pape Sarr failing to block.

Attacking space

4-0

Once again Newcastle wins a duel to recover the ball and an extraordinary pass from Willock with the outside of the boot to Isak who attacks the back of the defensive line which is very poorly positioned, with only one center back trying to defend the play.

2-0

These movements attacking the back of the defensive line with long balls also led to the second goal. Pedro Porro again defended badly against Joelinton who scored. Despite the bad game of all the Tottenham players, it must be said that the change of system from a back 5 to a back 4 didn’t help them.

Alexander Isak

And the last key was Isak’s movements off the ball, dropping back to receive the ball and taking advantage of Pape Sarr constantly moving out of position, leaving a lot of space in the middle of the pitch. The Swedish striker understood these situations very well, linking up with the wingers as in the fifth goal.

5-0

 Isak’s ball to Murphy, Murphy played a pass to Longstaff into the box, who back-heeled to Isak who scored to put Newcastle very close to 4th place, in the most dominant minutes of the Premier League this season.