I DON’T know about you, but I was not invited to the Eid open house hosted by Newcastle on the second day of Syawal. Tottenham Hotspur were on the menu, and it was delicious.
All jokes aside, what a performance by the Newcastle team within 25 minutes in St James Park.
Spurs were chasing the black-and-white shadow in the game, and Antonio Conte was right; this Spurs team lacked the fire or the fight to compete at the highest level.
While Spurs pulled a goal back, the damage was done in the first half.
It might be easy to give the man-of-the-match award to one of the goal scorers, but for me, the award was for Bruno Guimaraes. Guimaraes was like a conductor in the middle of the park and is the heart of this Newcastle’s midfield.
The club would be lucky to retain him in the seasons to come.
The last time Newcastle played in the Champions League, Spurs had qualified for it seven times.
The media billed the battle between fourth (Newcastle) and fifth (Spurs) as the battle for fourth spot and audiences worldwide expected a great and competitive game between the two clubs, but it did not materialise.
Spurs were out of the game before the 30-minute mark.
Daniel Levy probably wished he could sack the whole team now instead of just the manager.
This Spurs team are prime for a reset, and the next manager’s appointment will be crucial for the rebuild. Time to ship the superstars out and rebuild because the current players will not win the club anything.
Cristian Romero has been missing since Qatar. You might see a doppelganger playing for Spurs because he is not the same player before the World Cup. Pedro Porro, meanwhile, is making Trent Alexander Arnold look like an able defender. Eric Dier and Harry Maguire are competing with one another in trying to be the worst English defender in the league.
Surprisingly, the English media have not called out on his performance yet.
Spurs should sanction the sales of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min as a start. They can use the money from the sales to rebuild and let both players win a trophy elsewhere.
You can call it pulling a “Robin van Persie” because both players deserved some silverware.
With Liverpool winning and Aston Villa dropping points, the battle for fourth is heating up, and it is for Manchester United to lose.
Diogo Jota continued his hot streak and made it four goals in two games.
The most alarming thing about the game was how the Liverpool defence handled the long ball from the throw-in into the box.
Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate had trouble controlling the aerial threat from the long throw.
It gave Liverpool fans nightmares thinking that Rafa Benitez’s type of defence was back in the current squad.
UEFA Conference League semi-finalist West Ham finally carried through their momentum in Europe to the league by solidifying their position by beating Bournemouth.
Declan Rice was outstanding again in the middle of the park and helped himself to another goal. Rice looked like a player that Arsenal need to mount a title challenge consistently in the future.
Rice’s leadership quality could be an upgrade to the Gunners squad after drawing their third game in a row.
You can praise them for mounting a comeback and salvaging a point from a losing position. Still, Arsenal have technically thrown away the league title to Manchester City.
The game at the Etihad in midweek was billed as the title decider, but if City win their two games in hand, Pep Guardiola’s team will be one point ahead of Arsenal.
City will feel less pressure to get the result this Thursday.
