What Postecoglou kept yelling at Son, why he grabbed Cristian Romero and Maddison's apology

Tottenham had got through the first 21 minutes without conceding a goal — the point at which they were 5-0 down a year ago at St James' Park — so surely this would be better than that horror show?

Well no, not particularly. Within a noisy stadium, Eddie Howe's men needed only 27% of the possession and just 185 passes to score four goals against a Spurs back four so generous that you would have been forgiven for thinking Cristian Stellini had selected them once again.

This latest defeat at Newcastle ended up being almost as woeful as its predecessor, simply because far more was expected this time around. It was a performance that showed up every crack and deficiency of a club still a long way off the one Ange Postecoglou expects to compete for the Premier League title next year.

The Australian's system requires everyone to be switched on, playing their part, physical in their play and most of all brave in their passing and movement. Without that it looks one-dimensional with the same rigid attempts to get the ball out wide and open to any opposition who wants to knock a ball over the top to a willing runner.

At its best, the Postecoglou way is a high energy display of total football with players interchanging positions and carving opposition defences apart and keeping the ball high up the pitch, only allowing the odd counter-attack that can be mopped up by a speedy centre-back or covering team-mate.

That was certainly not the case in the heaviest defeat of the Postecoglou era so far. Other than a string of early Timo Werner chances, Spurs created little and again struggled against an organised, packed defence with quick counter-attacking players.

Every word Ange Postecoglou said on what concerned him about Tottenham defeat and