Tottenham look stuck in Premier League’s not-quite-elite netherworld

There are statements to be made in the transfer window or, if not, immediately after it. If much of the preface to this game concerned itself with Eddie Howe’s feelings on Newcastle’s summer of trading – or lack thereof – then Tottenham had their own questions to answer on this pilgrimage north. After this harsh defeat, doubts may linger in the mind for the length of an uncomfortable international break at least.

On surface level a relatively tidy Tottenham transfer window, bringing in players such as Dominic Solanke and Wilson Odobert – the latter the author of a bright cameo in the win against Everton – had almost been forgotten. Giovani Lo Celso’s departure back to Real Betis on deadline day, curiously, cast a shadow over that work by harking back to the big window of summer 2019, with none of Tanguy Ndombele, Ryan Sessegnon or Lo Celso working out (or recouping costs) after being recruited at considerable expense. Unfairly so, perhaps, but optics are everything especially with Jack Clarke – another of that summer’s eight-figure recruits – sold on by Sunderland to Ipswich in the later days of August for a healthy profit.

Related: Alexander Isak gives Newcastle liftoff as Tottenham fall to first defeat of season

With the sense that, like yesterday’s hosts, Spurs may find themselves trapped in a just‑below‑elite-level netherworld in this season’s Premier League – too swelled with expectation to be satisfied with a Europa League spot, not quite proactive enough in the marketplace to push themselves back into the orbit of the Champions League – there was a response to be crafted. It was not a gung-ho riposte. If Ange Postecoglou is sometimes accused of tactical idealism, Tottenham always seemed keener to be resolute than ritzy.

With reason, perhaps. It is not easily forgotten that Spurs had lost by a margin of at least four goals on three of their past eight visits to St James’ Park and by an aggregate of 10-1 in the past two seasons, the sort of results that prompt near existential crisis and make the away strips worn on the days in question consigned to the dustbin of club infamy. Bringing Pape Sarr into midfield as an extra layer of protection, with Dejan Kulusevski pushed further forward, was perhaps a nod to those recent horrible histories.

Postecoglou might have lamented not having more muscle on hand with no Solanke, no Richarlison and no Micky van de Ven at the back. After Radu Dragusin cut through Harvey Barnes to concede a corner in the first five minutes, he rose to dust off his hands: it almost seemed to signal that Spurs were ready for an afternoon of battening down the hatches, though if either of Joelinton’s or Barnes’s early efforts had gone in they might have been looking at being buried under another Geordie avalanche.

Yet it has not been unrelenting misery for visitors here from N17 in recent times. Spurs were also the first guests after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund took over in October 2021, emerging with a 3-2 win after conceding early to Callum Wilson. This time, with sporadic local concern of what the future may hold for the first time under the PIF, one wondered if the visitors could again capitalise with cold clarity.

While Spurs quelled the early storm well – “no noise from the Saudi boys” was the chant tumbling down from the visiting supporters – this was not an adventurous first‑half display and it ultimately did them little good when Barnes’s deliciously adroit finish put Newcastle in front against the run of play. The peak of that gradual visiting domination had been a pair of Sarr shots from distance blocked by Nick Pope, a lack of incision with which Howe must have been comfortable.

There is no point pretending to be what you’re not, and the more quintessential Postecoglou plan emerged with Spurs trailing, and Brennan Johnson replacing Sarr at half-time to reprise the lineup that rolled over Everton the previous weekend, save Dragusin standing in for Van de Ven.

The impact was immediate, Odobert poking over the bar from close range after being found by Johnson’s deflected cross. At the heart of a Spurs flurry, the equaliser was prompted by more foraging from Johnson, with Dan Burn launching the Wales forward’s cross-shot into the roof of his own net.

Groundhog Day was on the way, though, and Joelinton cut out the Spurs defence far too easily with a simple pass to send away Jacob Murphy, on as a substitute, to lay on a winner for Alexander Isak.

Postecoglou might reflect on 45 minutes wasted given how hard his team were to handle for the second half. Then again, he may simply be pleased that Newcastle away is done and dusted for another season.