Nico Gonzalez could be Newcastle’s transfer masterstroke after key role sinking Spurs
Tottenham began the evening by parading £300m of new signings before kick-off, a conga line of talent that included three title winners, like the world’s most luxurious eight-a-side team inside the Premier League’s most luxurious stadium. Yet they finished this game much like they finished last season, looking like a team who might have just enough to beat the drop if they really dig in.
This was a slightly improved display on the disastrous 3-0 defeat at Brentford last weekend. Tottenham enjoyed spells of controlled possession and created better chances than Newcastle, certainly for the first hour. They opened up promising situations for wingers Mathys Tel and Pedro Porro. But, troublingly, considering Roberto De Zerbi handed a debut to new striker Omar Marmoush here, Spurs were tame and toothless in attack, lacking any punch, like a boxer with a giant foam hand.
Newcastle have undertaken a little summer refurbishment too, and Matthias Jaissle gave his own Manchester City signing, Nico Gonzalez, a debut anchoring midfield. Evidently, Pep Guardiola’s influence on the Premier League will last long after his departure, and at the end of this frenetic match, it was Gonzalez, not Marmoush, who had played the decisive role.
On the hour, the Spaniard played a glorious diagonal pass which found the run of his right-back Amar Dedic, another impressive new recruit, and his header fed Anthony Elanga who swivelled and fired home Newcastle’s first goal. A few minutes later Yoane Wissa cleverly flicked in their second at a corner, and Newcastle held on to win 2-0.
If Spurs produced a timid home performance then Newcastle’s was the perfect away display, largely containing their opponents and proving clinical in the box. It was a tactical victory and on the touchline, the two managers stalked their technical areas, Jaissle like some magnificent Grand National horse, De Zerbi more like a chipmunk going through a crisis.
This was always going to be a chaotic affair. The day’s rain made a slick surface. Both teams deployed direct wingers, quick strikers and technical midfielders. There were no targets to aim at, so unlocking defences had to be done on the floor, often at breakneck speed, relying on a precise first-time ball which rarely came.
On first look, this wasn’t necessarily a game to suit a couple of pupils from the school of Guardiola. Gonzalez’s first act of note in a Newcastle shirt was to receive a yellow card for clattering through Archie Gray. Omar Marmoush’s first shot for Spurs was a free volley at the back post from Andy Robertson’s deep corner, which he scuffed well wide.
But Gonzalez soon got his foot on the ball, dropping in between his centre-backs to start attacks and he began linking the play. Squint a little and it could have been Rodri pulling Newcastle’s strings. Marmoush became more involved for Spurs, too, and his pace on the break caused problems. He had a strong shout for a penalty under Sven Botman’s challenge at the start of the second half, but Peter Bankes turned down Spurs’ appeals.
But it was Gonzalez who would prove influential. No doubt it had been a frustrating 18 months after he left Porto to join City, in a £50m transfer in the final hour of last year’s January transfer window. Although, what else did he expect? Gonzalez played a fringe role in a team built around Rodri. He was not involved at the World Cup and has still not earned an international cap for Spain.
But the move north may prove to be the making of a player who looked at home here in Newcastle’s midfield, alongside Lewis Miley and Joe Willock. Gonzalez has that uncanny ability to look like he’s landed the easiest job in the world, always without an opponent within 10 yards, with time to look up and pick his pass. But just as elite goalscorers are not necessarily the best finishers but rather those who find the best positions over and over again, so Gonzalez’s secret is not his passing range but his ability to sniff out space, to make time, to find a patch of calm in the vortex.
So when he received a harmless pass in his own half midway through the second period, Gonzalez had a couple of seconds to play with and he used them. He took a touch out of his feet, made fleeting eye contact with Dedic, and pierced a high diagonal over Tottenham’s left-back Robertson to spark the move for Newcastle’s opener.
The natural concern about Newcastle this summer was not just Eddie Howe’s departure, but that their midfield was shallow and shorn of quality. Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali left a gaping hole to fill, and the latter energetic and sharp here without ever producing a killer moment. Tonali was booed throughout by the travelling Newcastle supporters, who showed impressive levels of concentration and commitment to the bit by jeering every minor involvement, up to and including the Italian’s second-half substitution.
But on this evidence, perhaps Newcastle are in a better place than we thought. They might have the best full-backs in the league – both Dedic and Lewis Hall were excellent. They have options in attack – Nick Woltemade came off the bench to set up Wissa’s goal – and terrifying pace on the wings. Their new goalkeeper, Lukas Hornicek, made a couple of important saves. And then there is Jaissle, who radiates a confident glow, answering media questions with a slight smirk like he knows something we don’t.
And perhaps the axle holding the entire wheel together will be Gonzalez. Newcastle have certainly replaced some of the composure and control lost earlier in the transfer window, and made a healthy profit in the process. They have not ripped through the transfer market like Tottenham, as the pre-match pageant showed. But Newcastle’s summer business may yet prove the most effective.
