Eddie Howe: Newcastle players are ‘hurt’ after biggest defeat in months at Tottenham

Eddie Howe has revealed his players “hurt” after Newcastle were given a 5-1 thrashing by Tottenham Hotspur.

The Magpies capitulated in the second-half of the Premier League encounter in North London as Antonio Conte’s men ran riot.

Four goals from Matt Doherty, Son Heung-Min, Emerson Royal and Steven Bergwijn after the break turned the match on its head, after goals from Fabian Schar and Ben Davies had things level at half-time.

Howe admits his side got their approach wrong, having taken the lead at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

“It hurts and I’m sure my players feel that too,” said the head coach. “First half I thought we did very well. Maybe a little nervous start, the opening 10 minutes we were maybe too deep. Then we got to grips with it. I think we produced a very good performance until Fabian scored.”

“We are frustrated as we controlled the areas they hurt us with the ball, and hugely disappointed to go in at 1-1, because bar a few nervy moments we controlled them.”

The result did little to impact Newcastle’s battle to remain in the top flight, with the gap to the bottom three remaining at nine points, with another game ticked off.

Howe, though, was far from happy with the manner of the loss, Newcastle’s third on the bounce.

“The manner of the second goal was disappointing. It was so close to half time, and we had to feel ourselves into it — we didn’t allow ourselves to do that,” he said.

“We then had to chase the game, depending on which way you look at it, a very aggressive way. We shouldn’t have done that,” said Howe. “We became very expansive and took risks with the ball, it was too early in the game to do that, we got punished by a top team. Some of their goals on the transitions were very good, from our perspective, not so good.”

“It was due to the ambition to get into the match — we didn’t manage that side of things very well.”

Newcastle went to Chelsea last month and largely frustrated the world and European champions, not conceding until the closing stages, but the Spurs clash could not have been any different, with United opened up far too easily.

For Howe, it is all about getting the balance right, particularly against the top sides in the division.

“It is a delicate balance. We got it right in the first half, we were solid defensively, had our moments and controlled their key players. But the minute we went behind we changed what we were doing and that played into their hands not ours,” Howe said.

“I just felt we chased the game far too early,” he said. “We became very, very expansive, taking risks in areas that we shouldn’t. It was in our desire to get back into the game. We had time in that second half to find a goal, but we committed too many men forward.”

“So, I am being careful in not going too far in my criticism. It is a great mentality to have — but we needed to be smarter, especially when you have Son and (Harry) Kane sitting in just behind you. We were far too open, but it was in our desire to chase the game.”