Eddie Howe's pre-Tottenham Hotspur press conference
Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur: Thomas Frank’s side were beaten in the Carabao Cup by goals from Fabian Schar and Nick Woltemade.
The Magpies just shaded the opening exchanges and went ahead when Schar rose above his markers to plant home a Sandro Tonali corner past Antonin Kinsky. The Czech stopper was beaten again just after the break when Woltemade rose above the defence to nip in-front of the Spurs goalkeeper to seal a comfortable win for Eddie Howe’s side.
Woltemade’s goal settled any nerves that had crept into the crowd at St James’ Park - but Spurs were left reeling following Schar’s opener. The visitors were incensed when Tonali was allowed to take a corner, despite Djed Spence having only just finished tying his laces.
Having already delayed the restart of play for a fair while, Chris Kavanagh signalled for Tonali to take the spot-kick as Spence rushed to take up his position in the penalty box. Ultimately, the former Middlesbrough man was unable to affect the play as Tonali delivered an inch-perfect cross that was met by the Swiss defender.
Thomas Frank reacts to Newcastle United v Spurs controversy
Spurs’ protests in the immediate aftermath of the ball hitting the net were led by captain Pedro Porro with Thomas Frank and his coaching staff showing their displeasure at the decision to fourth official Dean Whitestone. That goal came at a crucial moment for the hosts as they capitalised on a positive start to nudge themselves into the lead - one they never really looked like relinquishing save for a couple of dangerous crosses into the area towards the end of the first period.
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Speaking post-match, Frank gave his view on Kavanagh’s decision to allow Tonali to take the corner before Spence was able to take up position in the penalty box and mark the eventual goalscorer: “We conceded two goals because of two mistakes,” Frank said. “Unfortunately, the referee was part of the mistake for the first goal.
“I’m not saying there aren’t things we can do better, but his boot is off he’s tying his shoelaces and you can clearly see from the footage afterwards that his boot comes off so he needs to do it. It’s not like we’re playing the game for ten minutes and we’re one nil up. It’s common sense to allow him time to get back in and get his boot on.
“To make it perfect, it’s Djed’s man to mark who scored. That’s why we were very animated.”
Former PGMOL chief Keith Hackett also gave his view on the controversy, describing Kavanagh’s decision as ‘really poor’: “This really is poor officiating from Kavanagh,” Hackett told Tottenham News.
“He has allowed the stoppage in the game to allow Spence to tie his lace. Good practice is then to restart the game once Spence is in position. I feel that this might be a loss of concentration by Kavanagh to allow this to happen.”
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