It's safe to say that this has not been a rip-roaring start to the new season for Tottenham Hotspur. They may have dispatched Everton with some aplomb but they have now dropped points to Leicester City and Newcastle United.
The draw with Leicester across the opening round of fixtures was painful but the 2-1 loss at St James' Park on Sunday afternoon will no doubt sting even more.
Spurs arguably had the better chances, hitting the bar and constantly getting into promising positions courtesy of wide players Wilson Odobert and Brennan Johnson.
However, their defensive susceptibilities came back to bite them on a ground where, let's be honest, they've been pretty dreadful in recent years.
Remember that 6-1 defeat? Of course, you do. Things weren't quite as bad this time around obviously but it still left plenty to be desired.
Why Tottenham lost to Newcastle
A lack of end product could be blamed for Spurs' defeat on Tyneside. After all, they only found the net courtesy of an own goal from Dan Burn.
It was Johnson who was crucial to that goal and he was a big threat when he came on at half time, attempting three crosses and completing both of his two dribble attempts.
However, there wasn't much forthcoming from his fellow winger in summer signing Odobert. The Frenchman was a threat but that final pass was missing on too many occasions. He created just one key pass and missed a 'big chance' of his own,
It was ultimately their defensive performance that let them down the most. Players were caught out of position for both goals, scored in the first 45 minutes by Harvey Barnes and then in the second period by Alexander Isak, a man who has proven himself to be a constant thorn in Tottenham's backline over the years.
While standing out in moments, Cristian Romero must share some of the blame for Sunday's dropped points.
Cristian Romero's performance in numbers
Romero is one the most elusive football players going. On his day, the Argentine is a titan at the back and he pops up with pretty important moments in the final third too, scoring against Everton last week.
However, he's also rash and hot-headed, the first trait we saw for both goals conceded by Postecoglou's men.
For the first, Romero went sprinting out of the backline to press the Newcastle midfield but in the process of forcing a throw-in, Eddie Howe's side took it quickly. Where did the ball go? Exactly where the Spurs defender should have been, with the delivery sent straight into the path of Barnes who fired home.
He was arguably more at fault for the second. Once more he was caught straying out of position which left an acre of space in behind for Newcastle to capitalise on. Capitalise they did.
Jacob Murphy darted onto a ball and then slid it across the face of the goal for Isak who was handed a tap-in. That moment drew notable criticism from the Sky Sports commentary team, who stated: "Truly dreadful, you can't ball watch, you've got to drop off. Romero just seems to be watching the ball, he's got no idea where Murphy is. Udogie gets sucked in too."
Minutes played
90
Touches
60
Accurate passes
46/53 (87%)
Key passes
0
Long balls
0/3
Clearances
2
Interceptions
0
Tackles
2
Ground duels won
2/2
Aerial duels won
3/5
Romero's performance was also aptly summed up by Football.London's Alasdair Gold. The reporter handed him a 5/10 match rating, writing that he 'defended well until the goal when he was caught out of position after pressing up the pitch. Caught flat-footed for the second goal as well.'
So, two moments where the defender lost his concentration cost his team today and Spurs will now have to stew on this one for two weeks until the Premier League returns following the international break.
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