Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has admitted that he actually thought Tottenham Hotspur played well despite their 6-1 defeat.
This is another embarrassing day for Spurs, a sentiment that is becoming all too common at the moment.
Tottenham were unbelievably 5-0 down inside 20 minutes as Newcastle absolutely ran riot at St James’ Park.
Cristian Stellini’s decision to go with a 4-3-3 system just didn’t work and Spurs looked all at sea defensively.
Harry Kane did score a consolation for Tottenham but Newcastle restored their five-goal advantage with a Callum Wilson strike.
This was supposed to be a big game between two teams gunning for the top four.
Instead, Tottenham were once again shown up as the rudderless mess they are right now and ultimately far away from a Champions League side.
Eddie Howe praises Tottenham Hotspur
You would do well to find any Tottenham fans who watched that game and came away feeling remotely positive.
One man who did actually like some of Tottenham’s performance is Eddie Howe – and not just because Spurs made life easy for his Newcastle team.
Howe has told Football London that he actually thought Tottenham were ‘very good’ in some parts of the game.
Tottenham came out looking a little more urgent in the second half and created some decent chances after the break.
Howe felt that Harry Kane and Son Heung-min were both effective on the counter-attack and felt Tottenham created very good opportunities to score.
Howe did note that this was all about how good Newcastle were but offered some crumb of comfort for Tottenham fans.
“I actually thought Tottenham at some stages in the game were very good. You look at Kane and Son’s ability to counter attack and they created three or four chances and the goal, but today was all about us,” he added.
Tottenham’s top four hopes appear to be fading as Newcastle pull away and no matter what Howe says, this will go down as an especially dark day for supporters.
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