Dominant performance goes unrewarded at St James' Park

A bright performance at St James’ Park failed to reap any reward as Newcastle United consigned us to our first defeat of the season with a 2-1 win on Sunday afternoon.

Despite long spells of pressure and plenty of good chances in each half, Alexander Isak slotted home the winning goal against the run of play in the 78th minute after we’d worked our way back into the game with Dan Burn putting through his own net 11 minutes after the break. Earlier, Harvey Barnes had put the Magpies ahead in the first half, again coming at the end of a good spell for us, as we succumbed to a third straight defeat on Tyneside.

Always fast starters at St James’ Park, it was Newcastle with an early chance on five minutes when Heung-Min Son lost out to Isak who then clipped over a cross which struck the crossbar while Barnes curled just wide from the edge of the area shortly after.

We had the ball in the net in the 11th minute as Cristian Romero headed home from Pedro Porro’s cross but the flag was up for offside and we really took control of the game after that. Superb football in the 23rd minute saw us work our way from defence to attack but Wilson Odobert fired over with an angled drive at the conclusion, Pape Matar Sarr twice forced Nick Pope into good saves with shots from distance before Porro’s long-ranger fizzed over the bar.

But for all of our dominance in that period, we fell behind in the 37th minute when Lloyd Kelly got down the left and delivered a cross which Barnes met with a neat right-foot finish into the far corner past Guglielmo Vicario and we trailed at the interval.

We made a switch at the break with Brennan Johnson on for Sarr and both sides had half chances in the opening minutes of the second period, Radu Dragusin making a last-ditch tackle to deny Isak when through on goal before Dejan Kulusevski’s dangerous cross evaded everyone in the box.

Once again, we enjoyed a spell of dominance only this time it yielded a goal. First, Son saw an effort blocked by Burn, Porro’s cross deflected off Sean Longstaff and struck the bar before we found a deserved equaliser. James Maddison picked the ball up out on the left edge of the area and hit a curler which Pope shovelled away to his left, Johnson pounced to fire the ball goalwards and Burn could only divert it into his own net from a yard out.

The game started to become stretched with both sides having opportunities, Anthony Gordon’s flick finding Jacob Murphy but Vicario kept out his near-post effort while, at the other end, Burn gifted Odobert possession 20 yards from goal but his final effort was blocked for a corner which Dragusin headed wide at the far post. Pope then made a fine save to thwart Maddison’s 22-yard effort before just tipping over Porro’s shot from distance as we continued to search for the second goal.

Instead, it was the home side with the next goal with just 12 minutes remaining. Joelinton threaded an excellent pass straight through the middle of the pitch to Murphy who streaked away from our high line before laying the ball into the path of Isak who tapped home from close range. It was a real blow and one from which we couldn’t recover despite more pressure in the closing stages.

Team news saw Ange Postecoglou make two changes to the team that started against Everton last weekend. Dragusin came in for his first start of the season in place of Micky van de Ven, while Sarr was in for Johnson. Alfie Devine was on the bench for the first time this season. Newcastle made one change with Barnes in for Murphy, while Sandro Tonali, who returned from a ban in United’s midweek Carabao Cup win, featured as a second-half substitute for them.

Match data

Goals: Newcastle – Barnes 37, Isak 78; Spurs – Burn (OG) 56.

Yellow cards: Newcastle – Kelly, Longstaff, Joelinton, Guimares; Spurs – Sarr, Bissouma, Maddison, Bentancur.

Referee: Rob Jones.

Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle.

Weather: Light rain, gentle breeze, 17 degrees.

Attendance: 52,211.