Tottenham only have one mode

Ange Postecoglou stood on the touchline, taking in the senses of St James’ Park before kick-off, unblemished by what had befallen Tottenham Hotspur at the same ground almost a year ago.

Postecoglou’s arrival was barely a consideration when Spurs slumped to a 6-1 horror show last April under Cristian Stellini, 5-0 down after just 21 minutes. He was still, quite literally, 10,000 miles away for the 5-1 final day humiliation under Mauricio Pochettino in 2016 that robbed them of a second-place finish.

Now he has a haunting Tyneside capitulation of his own to look back on. As much as Spurs’ brand of football has been a welcome breath of fresh air, there is no illusion that it will change or adapt, regardless of circumstances. Once, Spurs were applauded off the pitch after the 4-1 defeat to Chelsea, despite their late collapse being partly self-inflicted by a determination not to divert from their principles. Patience is wearing a little thin five months on.

The pace of Micky van de Ven, clocked at a Premier League record 23.23 mph earlier this year, has been the anchor of the gameplan. Even that was proven fallible up against a lightning front three and in particular, the speed of an in-form Alexander Isak.

Van de Ven suffered a horror 95 seconds, in no way representative of his season, slipping twice to allow Isak and Anthony Gordon to score as Newcastle surged into a 2-0 lead before the break.

James Maddison, who had his summer gone differently might have been lining up in black and white, accepted afterwards that Spurs should have known how high Newcastle would press immediately after the first goal and still chose to go back to the goalkeeper and leave themselves vulnerable.

Just as worrying was the third. Tottenham may have sensed an opportunity against a second-string Newcastle defence and they did not have a single outfield player in their own half when Isak broke free. Van de Ven was close to the halfway line and still let the Swedish international sneak behind him, unable to win the footrace and falling spectacularly off the tightrope he has been instructed to grace.

Worst of all is that the 3-0 thrashing at Fulham in March can no longer be seen as an aberration. Then, it was viewed as a consequence of Van de Ven’s absence as a one-footed Radu Dragusin struggled on his full Premier League debut. Had Van de Ven been fit, so went the logic, they would never have been caught so easily on the break and the high line would continue to be just another symptom of the scintillating football they have played under Postecoglou. The same vulnerabilities were on show at West Ham, where they escaped with a point thanks to Michail Antonio’s glaring miss.

“It’s not the first time it’s happened to us [a result like this] and it won’t be the last,” Postecoglou conceded after Saturday’s defeat, which was so heavy that they crashed out of the top four on goal difference.

“It’s part of our growth. Sometimes that growth is painful.” He denied there was a mental hangover from last season’s defeat even with six of the squad having featured that day.

When Fabian Schar headed in the fourth, it was another case of yet another corner going unchallenged in the box. Spurs’ set pieces came into sharp focus after the 2-2 draw with Everton but they are not solely down to Guglielmo Vicario. The midfield battle is being lost too – no sooner does one of the central partnership return to form than there are question marks against another, this time in the form of Yves Bissouma’s defensive cover.

Postecoglou responded this week to an assertion in an Eric Dier interview that he “doesn’t do any tactical work”.

“I don’t know what you mean by tactical work, everything’s geared around how we’re going to play our football,” he said.

“That, for me, by extension is tactical work, whether that’s on us, on the opposition. In fact I’d say we don’t do anything apart from tactical work.”

Yet his hands are tied when it comes to assessing what Spurs might have done differently. Son Heung-min as a central striker did not work but Giovani Lo Celso and Dejan Kulusevski were the only viable options to bring on. After a triple substitution, they were still reduced to Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg shooting frantically from distance.

Postecoglou is working within the limitations of the wider squad he has and now faces a wait to hear on Pedro Porro’s fitness after the right-back was forced off.

Spurs wait two weeks before returning to action for no menial run of games: Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. Manchester City then await in their final home match of the season. Before a ball was kicked, the chief aim was to improve the football – Postecoglou is a victim of his own success in that sense now the bar has raised.