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Newcastle United were under the cosh for long periods against Spurs on Sunday afternoon, but it took just one moment to completely transform their fortunes.
Much like their two league games so far this campaign, the Magpies started well but faded as they let their opponents dominate. Unlike their last two Premier League outings, however, on Sunday they came up against a very good Tottenham Hotspur side and could - and probably should - have been punished for their dip in performance.
However, credit to Eddie Howe’s side, they stayed in the game and reacted from conceding an equaliser to give themselves a chance of victory - one that was taken by Alexander Isak twelve minutes from time. However, it was a moment exactly ten minutes before that goal which sparked their comeback into life.
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As Howe has done well in previous games, he turned to his bench to help get his side over the line and this time, ten months in the making, he had Sandro Tonali to turn to. The focus of Wor Flags’ brilliant pre-match flag display, the Italian’s introduction raised the roof at St James’ Park and galvanised a crowd that had fallen a tad quiet as Ange Postecoglou’s side began to dominate possession and territory.
Much like the sending off of Fabian Schar 15 days ago, visiting teams should never give 52,000 Newcastle United fans a reason to make their voices heard. History repeated itself this weekend and again the vast majority of those at St James’ Park went home with smiles on their faces.
It is a cliche to say the crowd were the ‘12th man’ but once again that turned out to be true. Tonali may not have directly contributed to the winning goal, nor did he make any goalsaving challenges during his time on the pitch, but simply his presence gave his side and the crowd added impetus on a day that had threatened to fall flat.
Relying on a spark to lift the crowd is not a long-term solution for Newcastle United - but it has arguably won them four points already this season. Now their challenge is to ensure their performances on the pitch keep the crowd at that level for 90 minutes.