Newport County vs Tottenham: Five things we learned as Spurs are forced into FA Cup replay
Padraig Amond's header pput the hosts ahead before Harry Kane equalised in the final 10 minutes of normal time at Rodney Parade
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Your support makes all the difference.Newport deserved to win
A bobbly pitch, disconcertingly bright floodlights and even an irritating drone flying overhead – Spurs will have plenty of potential excuses for why they made such hard work of their FA Cup tie against Newport County but the bottom line is that they weren’t as good as the League Two side.
Tottenham were out-thought, out-fought and – crucially – out-run by their less illustrious opposition. Newport were brilliant, never afraid to throw bodies forward to support the attack and moving the ball around very well, particularly in their own half. Make no mistake: Tottenham did not throw this game away. Newport deserve their replay.
Spurs were set up far too defensively
The warning signs were there as soon as the Tottenham Hotspur team sheet began circulating ahead of kick—off. Three deep-lying midfielders – Victor Wanyama, Moussa Sissoko and Mousa Dembélé – in the starting XI, as well as a start for Fernando Llorente, who partnered Harry Kane in attack.
There was no pace. No creativity. No dynamism. Spurs were slow and sluggish, and after they conceded midway through the first-half they looked toothless whenever they brought the ball forward looking to attack. Simply put: Mauricio Pochettino rested the wrong players. He got his tactics badly wrong for this one.
Llorente running out of chances
This was Llorente’s seventh start for Spurs since signing from Swansea last summer – and he still has just two goals to his name. He was poor again today, utterly failing to gel with Kane up top and having precious little impact on the game.
Last season for Swansea, Llorente’s physical presence and clever movement made him on the best strikers in the league, but this season he has appeared slow and even a little lazy. At 32 he doesn’t have an awful lot of time left at the top – it wouldn’t be a surprise if Spurs moved him on in the summer.
Dier’s slump continues
It is worrying for Gareth Southgate and England that Eric Dier, a player who has made himself so important to both club and country, is enduring a real slump in form.
Dier is such an intelligent player but too often recently he has been getting the basics wrong. Pochettino decided to field Dier in a two-man defence alongside Jan Vertonghen at Rodney Park but he was bullied off the ball on more than one occasion while his touch often let him down.
Magic of the cup can still see Newport upset the odds
After felling Walsall and then Leeds United in the FA Cup, Newport looked on course to claim their biggest scalp yet - that of European hopefuls Tottenham Hotspur. The Welsh side has been fighting outside of their weight category for much of the competition but, so far, have shown no signs of backing down.
Such self-belief and plucky defiance has put them in good stead in – as was the case tonight as Newport took the fight to their below-par opponents. It’s a well-worn cliché but the magic of the cup was in full force and even after Kane’s equaliser, there was a sense that the apple cart could still be upset. They may have not got their dream ending but they still get a trip to Wembley to look forward to – and the chance to do this all over again.
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