Spurs 4-1 Newcastle | Ange’s verdict: “Sonny set the tone for us”

Ange Postecoglou said we were ‘more effective in the front third’ on our way to a convincing 4-1 win against Newcastle United in the Premier League on Sunday - and pointed to captain Heung-Min Son’s contribution as key as we laid the foundations in the first half.

Starting again on the left, with returning Richarlison up front, Brennan Johnson on the right and Deki Kulusevski in the ‘10’ role, Sonny twice got the better of Kieran Trippier to set up Destiny Udogie - his first goal for us - and Richy for 2-0 in that opening period. Brennan hit the post, Cuti Romero had a header cleared off the line and Richy was inches away from heading home a second as we dominated.

The pattern continued in the second half as Pedro Porro’s defence-splitting pass was dispatched by Richy for 3-0 before Sonny got his rewards by first winning and then converting a penalty for 4-0. Brennan struck the woodwork again as we had 23 efforts at goal, 12 on target. Newcastle's consolation arrived via Joelinton in added time.

Speaking on our Review Show, Ange said: “It's fair to say all our starts have been good in recent weeks, I just felt today we had a little more belief, and Sonny was a big difference there, I thought he set the tone really early for us and the other lads fed off that, that’s what you want from your leaders. Pape’s energy, Richy’s energy, just making those two changes helped us enormously.

“I’m pleased for the lads, they got their rewards today for a really strong performance. In general, our performance was probably at the level it has been, but we were more effective in the front third and, defensively, I thought we were outstanding.

“It’s fair to say I’ve been hard on the lads, maybe too hard at times, but we’re getting players back - Richy today and Pape I thought were really important to give us some energy and the quality they have. It makes a difference when you get some players back, and we’ve been really thin from that perspective, it’s important.”

Speaking in his post-match press conference, it was put to Ange that he’d asked for more conviction from the players after our midweek loss against West Ham.

“I thought we were better in that area,” he said. “I thought Sonny really set the tone for us early on. Whenever he got the ball, he was really positive with it. That's what you need from leadership, and I think the rest of the lads fed off that and we were a lot more threatening in that front third than we have been. I thought we got the goals we deserved and could have had a couple more at least. So yeah, really pleased with that aspect.”