Tottenham marked Ange Postecoglou’s much-anticipated return to Melbourne with a defeat to Newcastle United on penalties at the MCG.
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has absorbed the “special” experience of bringing the Premier League giants home to Melbourne, despite a friendly defeat on penalties to Newcastle United.
James Maddison’s 31st minute goal, after a long period of Spurs dominance, broke the deadlock before Alex Isak responded in the 45th minute.
Australian youngster Garang Kuol, 19, made his debut Newcastle opened their eyes in the 71st minute and with the score 1-1 at half-time, Wednesday’s match went straight to penalties.
What a warm welcome for Postecoglou, one of Melbourne’s favorite sons.
A selection of highlight moments from Postecoglou’s playing and coaching career were shown on the big screen at the MCG before the match, delighting the home fans.
Postecoglou noted that the game slowed down when both clubs came off the bench after halftime, but he was pleased with the early intensity.
Admitting he was caught off guard by the “surprise penalty shootout” but pleased that it “added a little bit to the punters” at the end, Postecoglou added: “It was a pretty good game, I thought we actually, I played very well “And that’s very important because, as I told everyone before the game, there’s 80,000 people here and there’s nothing so I was on the other side of the line for a long time and I’m extremely disappointed.
If I think foreign clubs come here and just pretend.
Today.
“So to be in charge of one of the biggest clubs in the world, bring them back to my hometown and play in front of 80,000 people – yeah, that’s pretty special and I feel really Lucky to be in that position.
” Maddison joked post-match that Postecoglou was “quite famous” and received a “warm welcome” from the Melbourne crowd.
Perhaps the only person at the MCG who overshadows Postecoglou is Korean superstar captain Son Heung-min.
His son received thunderous applause when his name was announced and there were shouts of joy every time he touched the ball during park time.
Spurs take the lead thanks to a shout from Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope, who tries to block Maddison.
The playmaker danced around the Newcastle defense and finished with confidence.
Newcastle’s Kieran Trippier was substituted for Jacob Murphy just 37 minutes after the planned substitution.
Newcastle equalized after Murphy’s cross forced Brandon Austin to clear the ball, but the Tottenham goalkeeper blocked it straight towards Isak, who scored.
Fringe Socceroo Kuol, who has endured difficult loan spells at Scottish club Hearts and Dutch club Volendam since joining Newcastle last January, came on with 20 minutes remaining.
.
He played as a central striker but rarely saw the ball before scoring in the penalty shootout.
Howe thinks this is an opportunity for Kuol to “show off his talent”.
“It was a tough game.
We didn’t have a lot of the ball, we were playing a slightly younger team,” Howe said.
“So it was just defending and seeing the game go that way and I thought he contributed to that and he took his penalty very well.
“So I’m delighted for him .
” The post The friendly of the season is Spurs’ last game before the break as Newcastle face the A-League Men’s All-Stars at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.
Leave a Reply