Spurs Ain't All That
By Tyne-Talk
March 29 2008
Newcastle United FC travel to White Hart Lane tomorrow where Tottenham Hotspur plays host to a side that won their first Premier League game of 2008 last weekend against Fulham. Having looked at several previews from Tottenham fan sites you would be lulled into a false belief that Spurs are cruising at the top of the Premier League when in actual fact they are a modest 11th to Newcastle's 13th.
Juande Ramos has been keen to highlight today how Newcastle are the looking like Spurs did when he took control, yet they remain just 2 places behind in the league.
He said:
"We're in a much more comfortable situation than Newcastle - it's an important game for them because they need the points.
They are a team with a lot of potential to be further up the table than they are. They have a good squad, a good team and a good manager.
Things are difficult for them at the moment and they are finding it tough to come out of their situation, but they are a team of potential."
All true, however Spurs stats are not exactly a million miles away from Newcastle's this season. Albeit they remain 7 points ahead, but as we all know the last 6 games or so of the season can through up many a surprise!
Newcastle's main problem this weekend is Middlesbrough. Should Middlesbrough lose or draw against Chelsea and Newcastle steal 3 points in London, they could potentialy be sat side by side Spurs in the league. History is on Newcastle's side this weekend, though performance and confidence may not be. Newcastle won all 4 of their last meetings with Spurs, grabbing a 3-2 win last time they visited WHL.
More interesting is how people are still comparing the club to those in the drop zone, and using relegation as being quick on the heels of the Newcastle players. Newcastle remain just 6 points clear of 18th place, Derby may go down today based on the possibility of them losing and other scores.
Can we truly state that Newcastle are still facing a relegation battle when the teams we should be concerned about are Bolton who are just 2 wins behind us and Fulham who are 3 behind us? Even then we have a cushion currently provided by Reading, Birmingham, Sunderland and Wigan.
Newcastle fans are under no illusion the team have struggled this season, and may continue to do so - who knows? The Fulham match may have been a turning point, it may have been a fluke, but what is true is that the team Keegan is picking has learnt to play together, talk from pundits and supporters of other teams of scrappy play is irrelevant when 3 points were won.
Whilst Newcastle haven't won the majority of their games this season, they have recently shown that they can play as a team, united. Something that we were not witnessing at the beginning of Keegan's reign.
And Spurs may have done well with the Carling Cup this season but they remain 34 points behind top spot and 11 points adrift from the top 6.
Newcastle United fans are under no illusion they will make it that far this season.
Head 2 Head - Each Team's Last 6 Games Of The Season | ||
Tottenham | Newcastle | |
Blackburn (a) | Reading (h) | |
Middlesbrough (h) | Portsmouth (a) | |
Wigan (a) | Sunderland (h) | |
Bolton (h) | West Ham (a) | |
Reading (a) | Chelsea (h) | |
Liverpool (a) | Everton (a) | |
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
balls bolton just scored*god im childish*
The Eastenders of football.. Newcastle!