Eddie Howe celebrated a “massive” win as Newcastle put their transfer window woes behind them to condemn Tottenham to a first Premier League defeat of the season at St James’ Park.
Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan was among the crowd as the Magpies scrapped their way to a 2-1 victory with a squad hit by injuries and arguably weakened by departures sanctioned in order to comply with spending restrictions.
Asked how important the win was against that backdrop, head coach Howe said: “It’s massive, isn’t it?
UNITED. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/NkY9DtY99G
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) September 1, 2024
“You need to win at any stage but I think when there’s difficult moments – and this transfer window has been tough for us – then it’s even more important because it just enables you to see things clearly and to move forward with positive momentum.
“Hopefully we can do that. Today was a tough game, but as I said we found a way to grind out a win and hopefully those are good signs for the rest of the season.”
Newcastle led at the end of an even first half, but endured almost incessant pressure after the break before somehow finding a way to win.
Harvey Barnes’ smart finish gave the Magpies a 38th-minute advantage somewhat against the run of play, and Tottenham finally got their reward 11 minutes after the restart when Dan Burn turned substitute Brennan Johnson’s cross-shot into his own net.
From that point on, there looked likely to be only one winner as Nick Pope’s goal came under repeated fire, but the visitors were hit with a 77th-minute sucker punch when substitute Jacob Murphy raced on to Joelinton’s through-ball and timed his pass to perfection to set Alexander Isak up for the winner.
![Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, centre, watches Newcastle's win over Tottenham](http://image.assets.pressassociation.io/v2/image/production/258e4a8d12f846ecfbebf0a2c90958adY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzI1Mjk0NDMy/2.77307696.jpg?w=640)
Asked if his team was playing how he wanted it to, Howe said: “No, I don’t think we’re playing as we would like, I think that’s obvious.
“I don’t think we’re playing with enough control, I don’t think we’re playing with enough composure. But what we are showing is the defensive and aggressive qualities that you need.
“I have to say we’re defending very well but on the ball, I think we’ve got a lot of work to do. Our attacking play has not kicked into rhythm yet.”
Opposite number Ange Postecoglou admitted Spurs had been made to pay for not killing the game off.
He said: “We controlled it for the most part, nullified most of the threats that Newcastle have.
![Ange Postecoglou claps to encourage his Tottenham side as Newcastle manager Eddie Howe looks on in the background](http://image.assets.pressassociation.io/v2/image/production/333b4ab5f38bf0e53e92ac684e215b55Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzI1Mjk0MzYy/2.77308000.jpg?w=640)
“It’s obviously a difficult opponent here at home, the crowd creates a pretty strong atmosphere for the home side and little things go their way.
“But I thought for the most part, we handled that really well and then gained the ascendancy in the game. We just needed to kill it off and it was a disappointing second half, where we switched off a little bit.
“But the game should have been all over by then so it’s another sore one, unfortunately, where we haven’t got the rewards for our play.”
Meanwhile, Howe insisted he wants Kieran Trippier to stay amid reports a deal had been agreed with Turkish club Eyupspor, something of which he insisted he was unaware.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here