Tottenham and Ange Postecoglou sent warning about daunting fixtures after humiliation at Newcastle

13/04/2024 16:20

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has been warned his gung-ho footballing philosophy is in danger of wrecking the club's Champions League hopes.

Spurs were humiliated in a 4-0 defeat at Newcastle on Saturday in a game where they were punished for their all-out attacking style.

It was a proper drubbing at St James' Park as the north London side's defensive frailties were underlined again, and Stuart Pearce says they could be in for more heavy defeats with some huge games coming up.

Spurs face Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City in their next five games.

Tottenham had the chance to consolidate their position in fourth place as they travelled to Tyneside to face a Newcastle side that has been out of sorts this season compared to last term.

But they were in for a rude awakening against Eddie Howe's side, who stunned the visitors with a quickfire double in the first-half as Spurs refused to learn their lesson.

Twice Micky van de Ven was punished for slips while backpeddling against Newcastle attackers – first Alexander Isak opening the scoring after a long ball forward as the hosts hit on the break.

Anthony Gordon then fired in the second while replays of the first goal were still being shown on the screen, with viewers only seeing the England winger shimmy past Van de Van before scoring.

It was here where Pearce sent Tottenham and early warning, saying: “We’ve seen this before where Spurs have conceded early and they’ve kept playing the same way. They have to change. If they keep playing like this they will continue to be punished.”

And punished they were, as the third goal, Isak's second after the restart, was more of the same. 

Spurs were caught on the break with one long pump forward, the Swede latching onto the ball and beating Vicario with a neat finish, before Fabian Schar completed the rout late on with a towering header from a corner.

Postecoglou has more than once had to defend his philosophy, with his Spurs side having the look of numerous teams in the past who were free scoring going forward but leaky at the back.

What do these teams have in common? Think Brendan Rodgers' 'SAS' Liverpool side – the ethos of 'scoring more than your opponents' works on paper, but history tells us it ultimately doesn't work. You fall short of achieving your objectives.

And England legend Pearce, watching the game at St James' for talkSPORT, admitted Tottenham will fall short of their top-four ambitions unless they shape up at the back – saying great teams are built on strong foundations.

“For a team where they are in the division, they conceded far too many chances in front of their goal, that's the bottom line for me,” he said.

“If you're a problem solver and someone said to you, ‘Come and have a look at Tottenham, tell me what you see and report back to the coaching staff’, you'd say you cannot sustain results by ceding so much room behind your back line.

“They’re also inept at dealing with corners into their box, in most of them the first contact was made by Newcastle players.

“And the amount of shots they had on their goal, you can't win enough games to be in credit over a whole season. Newcastle had 18 shots on goal.

“Every time Newcastle got the ball, tactically, every player knew what to do – turn it in behind and if you're one of the front three, you run. I want to see your number and I’ll ping it over the back-four and into that gap for you to run onto.

“For Isak's second goal he was still a yard or two inside his own half when the ball was fired over, and he was already on the move. Tottenham had no chance of catching him.

“It's 4-0, but it could have been eight, comfortably. I'm not kidding.

“If Tottenham defend like this against the big teams they’ve still got to face this season – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City – there could be some big scores coming their way.”

And Pearce admits Postecoglou may have to rethink his approach if he's serious about guiding Tottenham back to Europe's top table.

“We’ve heard Ange say before it’s his footballing philosophy and this is how he wants his team to play, and I admire that mentality from the manager and his Spurs team are really good to watch," added the talkSPORT pundit.

“But they’re challenging for Champions League football, so it’s interesting. He’s in credit at the moment, but there might be a time in the future when he’s not in credit with the fans or the media and this type of defending might get called out a little bit more."