English Championship: Tottenham collapses in Newcastle

Led 5-0 after 21 minutes of play, Tottenham seriously began its chances of competing in the Champions League by losing (6-1) at its direct rival Newcastle, Sunday, for the 32nd day of the championship.

The Spurs, 5th, are now 6 points behind Manchester United (4th) and Newcastle (3rd), with respectively two games and one more game on the clock.

The start of the game was completely crazy, the Magpies hitting the mark with almost every offensive.

Hugo Lloris’ nightmare in goal began when the French goalkeeper fended off a Joelinton strike at the feet of Jacob Murphy which opened the scoring 61 seconds into the game.

On a misalignment of the defense, Joelinton then went to dribble Lloris to score in the empty goal (2-0, 6th minute).

The former goalkeeper of the Blues did not even move on a sublime strike from 27 meters from Murphy whose face after the goal (3-0, 9th) expressed all the disbelief at the insolent success of his team.

An incredible opening from the outside of Joe Willock’s foot, from along the touchline in his half, found Alexander Isak in the back of the Spurs defense for the 4-0 (19th minute), before the Swede, served by a heel from Sean Longstaff, did the double, two minutes later, with a cross shot passed under the gloves of Lloris (5-0).

Lloris points to a « lack of pride »

Only Manchester City, against Watford, in September 2019, took less time (18 minutes) to take such an advantage.

While Cristian Stellini had left midfielder Pape Sarr in the 23rd minute to bring in defender Davinson Sanchez, Lloris also had to leave injured at the break, replacing Fraser Forster.

« It’s really humiliating and the first thing to do is to apologize to the supporters, » admitted the Spurs captain after the match, at the microphone of Sky Sports.

“It’s not even a question of talking about tactics, it’s just that we didn’t know how to fight. We were behind in all aspects of the match (…) and it’s difficult to analyze there right away but the first thing is that we lacked pride, ”recognized Lloris.

Remarks which echo those of Antonio Conte who had denounced « selfish players, who do not want to help each other and put their hearts » during a press conference after a 3-3 against the lantern red Southampton, a few days before his dismissal, at the end of March.

« We can’t hide behind the club’s problems, we are professionals and today too many things were missing, » concluded Lloris, referring to the absence of a coach for next season and the suspension of the sporting director. Fabio Paratici, embroiled in Juventus’ overpriced transfer scandal when he was at the Italian club.

At the very beginning of the second half, Harry Kane reduced the score (49th minute), but in the 68th, Callum Wilson, two minutes after replacing Isak, gave his team a 5-goal lead (6-1).

West Ham escape from the red

In the other match of the afternoon, West Ham did not make a detail either in Bournemouth (4-0) garnering three very precious points for the maintenance.

Michail Antonio in the 5th (1-0) and former Lyonnais Lucas Paqueta in the 12th (2-0) knocked out the Cherries, and Declan Rice, shortly before the break, drove the point home (3-0, 43rd minute ) for the Hammers.

Entering in the 65th, Pablo Fornals added a fourth goal seven minutes later, on a « scorpion kick » (heel while the player is horizontal and facing the ground), allowing the Londoners to move up to 13th place , with 6 steps ahead of the red zone.