Given his past exploits, Jose Mourinho used to savour the sense that history was repeating itself. Not now. Tottenham Hotspur can be trapped in unwanted action replays. Their capacity to squander leads has denied them wins and could cost them Champions League football. “A little bit of déjà vu,” Mourinho said. “I am frustrated. It is not a good point.”
Four points have slipped through his grasp against Newcastle alone this season. Tottenham have lost 11 in the last 10 minutes of games, 15 from winning positions. Many a Mourinho team would have held on to such advantages.
“Same coach, different players,” he said, blaming his charges. But Newcastle (twice), West Ham, Crystal Palace, Wolves, Fulham all came from behind to draw with Spurs. They were beaten in last month’s North London derby after scoring first. An on-loan Arsenal player, in Joe Willock, cheered both his temporary and his permanent employers with the equaliser.
A poll this week suggested 95 per cent of Newcastle fans wanted Steve Bruce sacked but he had a fine day; he was justified in making five changes, switching to a back three and then bringing on Willock.
“We have to put up with so much nonsense,” said Bruce. “The spirit and the togetherness in the camp is always going to be there. It was as good as I've seen us play for a long, long time.”
But if the fact that Newcastle have now only won two of their last 19 games and face top-half opponents in five of their next six matches, this was a day to give them that rarest of things on Tyneside: hope.
Theirs was a spirited performance, with more attacking zeal than usual. It was a sign of their intent that they had 22 shots, 17 from inside the penalty area, and got that oddity: a Joelinton goal. Tottenham are the closest he has to a bogey team, with two of his four league goals coming at their expense, even if ought to have had a second on Sunday.
When an altogether more potent finisher, Harry Kane, scored a five-minute double, Tottenham were headed for the top four. And yet this felt a microcosm of their campaign: his heroics could be in vain. He leapfrogged Mohamed Salah to become the Premier League’s top scorer. Kane already had the most assists and a rare double beckons. But Spurs were utterly unconvincing, defensively shambolic and spared defeat by their captain and vice-captain.
Hugo Lloris made a magnificent double save from Dwight Gayle – perhaps Callum Wilson would have scored, had he been fit – and another terrific save from Miguel Almiron.
They could regret the missed opportunities to add a third goal. Japhet Tanganga had a header cleared off the line by Almiron. Kane was twice close to completing a hat-trick, thwarted by Martin Dubravka and then hitting the post on a counter-attack a minute before Willock scored.
And yet Newcastle earned their point. Matt Ritchie delivered a deep cross to Joelinton, Gayle had a header blocked by Joe Rodon and Willock was on hand to finish, via the underside of the bar. “I was dismayed to be on the bench. I wanted to make an impact as soon as I come on,” said Willock. He did, just as Joelinton made his mark.
“His all-round game was terrific,” said Bruce. So was the famously goal-shy Brazilian’s precise finish when picked out by Sean Longstaff. It was vindication for Bruce’s decision to grant the midfielder a first start since January but Spurs were culpable, with Tanganga and Davinson Sanchez conceding possession in a failed attempt to play out from the back. “Too many individual mistakes,” Mourinho said.
It was a deserved lead but Tottenham were level 26 seconds after the restart. Newcastle could bemoan poor defending, Emil Krafth presenting Kane with a tap-in with a scuffed attempt to clear Giovani Lo Celso’s low pass. His second was drilled in with unerring accuracy, Kane springing the offside trap to meet the excellent Tanguy Ndombele’s pass and angle a shot past Dubravka.
He savoured a roving brief, eluding the Newcastle defence at will and setting up the offside Carlos Vinicius when he had a goal disallowed. “This is Harry, he did his job,” said Mourinho. But too many others did not do theirs. Including him, perhaps.
