Howe 'played a tactical blinder' against Spurs
It is rarely dull at St James’ Park so as I tottered along on Saturday I confidently expected fireworks. The home side did not disappoint and the quality of Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes should not be glossed over.
They were unstoppable, but what about Spurs!
It must have been shocking for Ange Postecoglou and all Tottenham fans to witness such an uncharacteristically insipid performance. But why did it happen?
Eddie Howe played a tactical blinder, exploiting the naively high defensive line. Will Ange ever change that? The answer is an emphatic no. There is also the fact that the high intensity ‘Ange-ball’ style wears players out over the course of a season. Postecoglou will fix that over the summer by increasing the squad size if he is given the funds.
The most obvious problem on the day however was that the normally brilliant Micky van de Ven had a shocker. I honestly thought he must have been wearing the wrong boots as he slid like Bambi on ice every time anyone threw him a dummy.
Maybe he was carrying an injury or was not getting enough cover, or we were just discovering that he does not have quick enough feet at close quarters for this level. We will find out soon enough.
On the positive side, others have had high profile disasters this season and recovered. Kieran Trippier had a toe-curling few weeks and Raheem Sterling had such a horror show for Chelsea against Leicester in the FA Cup that his own fans booed him off.
Best just ignore social media, blank the highlights on TV, then hope and believe it was just a bad day at the office.
Pat Nevin was writing for the BBC Football Extra newsletter
