Eddie Howe admits Newcastle United were ‘punished’ by a ruthless, emphatic Tottenham Hotspur side during Sunday’s 5-1 Premier League thrashing at the hands of Antonio Conte, speaking to The Chronicle.
The Newcastle boss probably knew how Michael Corleone felt as he analysed the disastrous defending that led to the heaviest defeat of the post-Steve Bruce era.
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Newcastle were supposed to have left the relegation zone behind. Burnley, Watford and Everton mere dots disappearing over the horizon in the rearview mirror.
But, on the back of three successive Premier League defeats, supporters are glancing nervously over their shoulders once again, even if there is still a healthy gap between themselves in the bottom three.
More performances like Sunday’s – Newcastle conceded as many goals in 40 minutes in North London as they had in their last six games – and it could still be a nervous end to a topsy-turvy season on Tyneside.
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“The key goal is the second goal,” says Howe, reflecting on the manner in which Spurs took the lead through the revitalised Matt Doherty just three minutes into the second-half.
“The manner of it from our perspective was really disappointing. We needed to feel our way into the second half, but we didn’t allow ourselves to do that.
“Then, we chased the game in a very aggressive way, and probably played in a way we shouldn’t have done. We played very expansively and took risks with the ball. And it was too early in the game to do that.
“Then, we got punished by a top-level team.”
It was, in many ways, reminiscent of Tottenham’s recent hammerings of Leeds and Everton. Carving through a team desperately chasing the game, their high-pressing tactics nothing less than defensive suicide up against the speed of Heung Min Son and Steven Bergwijn, the craft and vision of Harry Kane, Dejan Kulusevski and the wonderful Rodrigo Bentancur.
Tottenham have now scored at least three goals in five of their last eight games.
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