Tottenham first half player ratings vs Newcastle - Maddison scores, Son busy but defence slips

Tottenham Hotspur took on Newcastle United in a friendly match in Melbourne on Wednesday.

The friendly encounter brought to a close the debut campaign of Ange Postecoglou with the north London club and represented a homecoming for the Greek-born Australian, who grew up in the city. In front of around what was expected to be 80,000 fans inside the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground Postecoglou has named the team that will start the game but will likely change for the second half.

The Spurs boss named a starting XI that contained just two changes from the one that began the 3-0 win at Sheffield United before the squad flew to Australia, with goalkeeper Brandon Austin coming in for Guglielmo Vicario to start the game and Emerson Royal replacing Cristian Romero.

It was Tottenham who looked mostly likely to open the scoring and they did just that when James Maddison intercepted a pass from Nick Pope and then jinked past a couple of challenges before firing home.

Alexander Isak netted an equaliser late in the half, touching home a low Jacob Murphy cross after Austin had pushed it into his path.

Here are our first half Tottenham player ratings with the score at 1-1:

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Brandon Austin

Made a good punch away from a corner on 18 minutes but could only push Murphy's low cross into Isak's path before the break. 5

Pedro Porro

Active down the right flank and hit some good crossfield balls to Son. 6

Radu Dragusin

Made a good block 10 minutes in and looked solid on the most part. 7

Micky van de Ven

Like Dragusin, he has the Euros to look forward to but also put in a number of good interceptions with that trademark pace. Isak held his run though and got in behind the Dutchman to score late in the half. 6

Emerson Royal

Involved in plenty of Spurs' attacks but he was beaten too easily by Murphy's run down the right before the break. 5

Pape Matar Sarr

Plenty of energy in the middle of the park as Spurs dominated much of the play. 6

Rodrigo Bentancur

Some good work in the number six role despite saving himself for the Copa America. 7

James Maddison

Fired a shot wide 22 minutes in from a square Emerson ball. He opened the scoring not too long after, having intercept a Pope pass, although it looked to bounce up and hit him on the end, before dancing past a few challenges and smashing the ball into the net. 7

Brennan Johnson

Unable to convert a chance late in the half when Son hit a low cross into the six yard box but Johnson prodded it at Pope. 5

Dejan Kulusevski

Started through the centre again and was active throughout the half in getting the ball to his team-mates. 6

Son Heung-min

With plenty of Korean fans in attendance, the Spurs captain was looking to put on a show and he created plenty of problems for Newcastle and old team-mate Trippier. Tottenham's most dangerous player so far. Should have had an assist for Johnson. 8

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