Opinion: Everything which was wrong with Spurs’ performance against Newcastle

Tottenham Hotspur once again failed to capitalise on their rivals dropping points, wasting the chance to break into the top four after Chelsea lost to West Brom.

Let’s take a look at everything that went wrong with that Spurs performance against Newcastle yesterday.

First up has to be the mentality. We went into that match knowing that, somehow, a win would put us back in the top four. Where was the desire to make that happen? It looked like a dead-rubber last day of the season game from us.

We have now dropped 13 points from winning positions by conceding goals in the final 15 minutes this season. That is not even nearly good enough. That’s joke levels.

I don’t want to gun for players but Davinson Sanchez was simply not good enough. Mistakes galore in the first half that led to Newcastle’s opener, then he hid away and booted it long out of fear in the second. Should have been replaced at HT.

I have to quickly mention that, once again, Joe Rodon was a shining light in a leaky back four. Looks to have a real future at the club. Heart, desire, reads the game very well. Big fan.

In the first 45, Hojbjerg should have been deployed as a deeper-lying DM rather than alongside Tanguy. Ndombele and Lo Celso were there to create, we needed PEH to help in defence. He did it in the second half really really well.

Carlos Vinicius was put up front, yet Spurs did not use him. Where were the crosses into Kane and Vini? Where were the balls into his chest to bring others into play? If you set up with him up top, use him properly.

The width on the right side was awful. We had Lo Celso cutting in and Tanganga staying back. We’re talking a CM and a CB on the right flank. It gave Newcastle very little to worry about.

The curse of Harry Kane. When he scores two and plays well, it unfortunately only further highlights that Spurs are falling well short of his levels as a club. We need to build an XI worthy of keeping him in North London… and soon!

All-in-all, Spurs were missing that something yesterday. The grit, determination, concentration, desire, shape. Whatever the word is for ‘it’, Spurs have been lacking it all too often this season. As fans, the most frustrating thing is feeling as though the players left a bit behind.

We aren’t out of the top four race but the finish line feels a long old way away…

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