Tottenham thrash Newcastle 5-0 (From Haringey Independent)

Tottenham thrash Newcastle 5-0

8:05pm Saturday 11th February 2012 in Local Sport By Chris Hewett

Tottenham capped off a fantastic week for manager Harry Redknapp as they thrashed Newcastle 5-0 at White Hart Lane.

Goals from Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Niko Kranjcar, Emmanuel Adebayor and a brace from home debutant Louis Saha secured victory at the end of a week in which Redknapp was first cleared of tax evasion charges and then billed as the frontrunner for the vacant England manager’s job.

Spurs were at their fluid best in a pulsating first 45 minutes that stunned the visitors from Tyneside and all but secured victory.

It took just three minutes for the home side to make the breakthrough as Adebayor produced a neat interchange with Gareth Bale inside the box before squaring to Assou-Ekotto who slotted home at the far post.

Two minutes later, Tottenham scored again as Kranjcar played Adebayor down the right flank who beat Collocini and found Saha in the middle to hammer past the helpless Tim Krul for his first goal since signing in January.

Adebayor completed a hat-trick of assists on 15 minutes when he received a pass on the edge of the six yard area from Luka Modric before controlling for Saha to slot home his second of the afternoon.

Newcastle’s misery was compounded on 33 minutes when Kranjcar followed up Adebayor’s close-range shot that was saved by the desperate Krul.

Tottenham’s flair and attacking verve continued into the second half as an Assou-Ekotto crossed to Saha who headed down for Adebayor to hammer the ball into the bottom corner on 64 minutes.

The Geordie visitors’ much-lauded attacking pairing of Demba Ba and new signing Papisse Cisse failed to trouble the home side as Newcastle were blown away by the pace and precision of Tottenham’s attacking play.

Alan Pardew cut a frustrated figure on the edge of the technical area as wave after wave of Spurs offensives cut through the Newcastle defence.

On a bitterly cold afternoon in N17 the stadium was fired up by an electric atmosphere created by the Tottenham faithful who were vocal in their support for Redknapp.

The former Portsmouth boss acknowledged chants of ‘we want you to stay’ and ‘there’s only one Harry Redknapp’ with regular applause directed towards the home fans.

Newcastle did their best to limit the damage during a second half in which Spurs could have scored even more.

Substitutes Aaron Lennon, who came on for the ever-dangerous Gareth Bale, and Jermain Defoe, replacing Saha, provided more attacking potency for Tottenham.

The pair’s return will no doubt have been a welcome sight for Redknapp who faces tough fixtures against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United in the coming weeks.

Ryan Nelsen made his debut for the home side when he came on in place of King on 74 minutes, such was the dominance of the home side’s display.

A late Defoe penalty shout was turned down by referee Andre Marriner to spare further embarrassment for Newcastle as Tottenham tightened their grip on third place.