Ange Postecoglou stood, as he always does, hands in pockets, at the edge of his technical area. It had been another frustrating afternoon, a defeat that means Spurs have now won just one of their last eight league games. There was ­general grumbling rather than targeted fury, but the clear sense of another season drifting away for Spurs. For Newcastle, meanwhile, a fifth successive Premier League win means Champions League ­qualification, which looked highly unlikely when they lost at Brentford a month ago, seems a suddenly ­realistic target.

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Of course it was going to be like this; how could it not have been? This is just the way Spurs do it, mate. There stands Postecoglou; he can do no other. But there also stands Radu Dragusin, and there stands Pape Matar Sarr, mystifyingly far apart. This is about philosophies, but it’s not only about philosophies. There is no ­system in which the opposition should be allowed to wander through the spaces in the way Newcastle did at times towards the end of the first half. That is not anybody’s process, and Eddie Howe’s side, particularly before half-time, took full advantage.

And it’s not to say it’s untrue to point out that the focus on Postecoglou and his dogmatism deflects from far deeper issues. Tottenham’s wages to turnover stands at a startling 47%, the lowest in the Premier League. That could be construed as the sign of a well-run club, but it also hints at a lack of ambition. Maybe if they pushed that to 48% they wouldn’t have begun the season with only three frontline centre-backs.

It is unfortunate – or perhaps a result of the intensity of the Postecoglou style of play – that all three are injured at the same time, with Dragusin forced off at half-time because of illness, but equally a squad that is thin in certain areas inevitably opens a side up to just that sort of bad luck.

It’s also why, when Guglielmo Vicario was injured, Spurs’ back-up was Fraser Forster, a very different style of goalkeeper. With the 36-year-old succumbing to the sickness bug that left Spurs with four teenagers on the bench, a debut was given to Brandon Austin. He turns 26 on Wednesday and has been at the club eight seasons, but has not played a senior game since Orlando City, where he was on loan, went down 3-1 to Chicago Fire in July 2021. The cheers every time he dealt effectively with a cross suggested just where expectations are these days.

Yet the new year had begun well for Spurs, Dominic Solanke muscling in front of Sven Botman, in his first game for 295 days, to head in Pedro Porro’s right-wing cross after four minutes.

The spirit of bonhomie lasted less than two minutes. Lucas Bergvall’s pass hit Joelinton on the hand, the ball broke to Bruno Guimarães who played it to Anthony Gordon, who converted neatly. The hand was by the Brazilian’s side and in no sense deliberate. Was it in the immediate buildup to the goal? Given two other players had to touch the ball before it hit the net, the referee and the video assistant referee deemed not. Postecoglou shook his head grimly.

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The equaliser was perhaps controversial but, equally, it was the sort of chance Spurs often concede, the ball given away in their own half. Again and again possession was squandered; again and again Newcastle created opportunities. Gordon had a couple of other chances, one well saved by Austin, one slithering just wide. But Jacob Murphy was also a persistent threat getting in behind Djed Spence and, eventually, one of his low crosses flicked off Dragusin and was turned in by Alexander Isak, the seventh league game in a row in which he has scored.

Spurs rallied after half-time, Sarr drawing a stretching low save from Martin Dubravka and Brennan Johnson slamming the rebound against the post. James Maddison came off the bench to whip one just wide. Johnson and Sergio Reguilón smashed balls across the six-yard box in quick succession. Newcastle defended well and while they offered a threat on the break, they weren’t slicing through Spurs in the way others had this season.

Particularly given Spence had to be deployed as an auxiliary centre-back – he performed the role admirably – the second half could be painted as a positive, something to build on. The problem, though, is context: when a side has taken only 37 points from its previous 30 games, it’s not much consolation if the defeat is doughtier than many others have been.