Nuno's verdict on Newcastle | OneFootball

Nuno Espirito Santo praised the team’s reaction at St James’ Park - this time in matters both on and off the pitch as we secured a 3-2 win against Newcastle United in the Premier League on Sunday.

With 40 minutes on the clock, leading 2-1 and as Heung-Min Son prepared to take a corner, the players from both teams were drawn to supporters in the East Stand at St James’ Park who were signalling to stop the game and get medical attention to a fan. Eric Dier and Sergio Reguilon reacted quickly to the situation - Eric ran over to the touchline to get help - and, thankfully, reports later confirmed that the fan ‘was stable, and on the way to hospital’.

The players came off the pitch in that time and eventually play resumed with seven minutes of added time. In that time, we added a superbly crafted third goal, converted by Sonny.

Speaking to Spurs TV pitchside, Nuno told us: “Eric, Reguilon was also aware, and the referee made the right decision. There is nothing more important than human life. We have the news that the fan is stable, and that’s the best thing that happened today.”

Earlier, we entered a cauldron of noise and celebration following Newcastle’s takeover, and found ourselves a goal down after two minutes, Callum Wilson heading home.

But we responded well, crucially got ourselves back on terms on 17 minutes via Tanguy Ndombele’s fine strike and it was a quick one-two with Harry Kane beating the offside trap to meet Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s pass and clip over advancing Karl Darlow, the goal initially ruled out for offside but awarded after a VAR check. Sonny’s goal, made by Lucas and Harry, put us in control and it stayed that way until the 89th minute, when Dier diverted Jacob Murphy’s free-kick into his own net, but there was no late sting in the tail as it stayed 3-2 and we deservedly took home the points.

“It was good, but we didn’t start well,” added Nuno. “We lose a little bit of possession and allowed Newcastle to use the atmosphere, then they are motivated, but we reacted well, and that’s something we’re improving on. We played so good, we played really, really good football.

“In the first half, the chances we had, the way we broke, in the second half, the lines of possession, we worked hard off the ball, didn’t allow anything to Newcastle. Unfortunately, in the end they had the goal that came from nothing, but the way we controlled the game, the work... really good.”

After a tough September, victories against Villa and Newcastle either side of the international break have lifted us up to fifth in the table. Nuno added: “The international break is always disruption. This time we did it well, but to get back into the rhythm the boys need to play together, stay here a lot of time and create partnerships. This is the way we should improve.”

Nuno on Spurs TV