Tottenham struggle on but selection crisis makes Ange Postecoglou judgement pointless | OneFootball

Hard to accurately assess the manager’s performance when Spurs do not have enough fit players to field a competitive team

Tottenham’s difficult form continued with a 2-1 home defeat by Newcastle, sealed by first-half goals from Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak.

Here are three Spurs talking points from the game:

Hard to judge spirited Spurs too harshly

There are questions about Postecoglou’s level of culpability in Spurs’ injury crisis but, putting them aside, how could you judge the head coach on this result?

While Postecoglou’s front five was not short of experience and quality, there were unknowns throughout Spurs’ back six – from Lucas Bergvall, 18, at the base of midfield to third-choice goalkeeper Brandon Austin, who made his first appearance for the club after No2 Fraser Forster was among the players struck down by a sickness bug in the week.

Archie Gray, also 18, and Djed Spence played out of position again, with Pedro Porro and Radu Dragusin completing a patched-up defence.

It was no surprise that Newcastle made hay after Solanke’s early goal, with Gordon levelling the game with a fine finish and Isak settling it late in the first half, having already gone close.

Spurs were still desperately unfortunate with the Newcastle equaliser two minutes after Solanke’s goal, with Bergvall’s pass clearly striking Joelinton’s hand, turning a counter-attack into a three-on-two for the Toon, who duly capitalised.

At half-time, Postecoglou’s selection problems only increased when Dragusin – Spurs’ only remaining senior centre-back – went off, presumably feeling the after-effects of the bug.

On came forgotten man Sergio Reguilon at left-back, leaving a centre-back pairing of midfielder Gray and right-back Spence – who only made his first Spurs start last month.

By the time Dragusin went off, Postecoglou was without 11 first-team players but Spurs were the better side in the second half, producing a spirited rally and going close to an equaliser several times. In the circumstances, they deserve credit, particularly given Newcastle’s form.

The reality is that Spurs are now winless in six straight home games and could slip to 13th by the end of the afternoon. That is not good enough for a club of their size.

The reality is also that Postecoglou simply does not have the players to put out a competitive team at the moment, so casting judgement on him or his team on the back of another bad result result feels almost pointless.

Bergvall impresses as senior players drop out

It was intriguing in the circumstances that Postecoglou left senior trio Yves Bissouma, James Maddison and Heung-min Son on the bench before introducing them in a triple change on the hour.

Bissouma and Son may be being saved for the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Liverpool on Wednesday (Maddison, though, is suspended for that game), but perhaps Postecoglou’s decision to leave them out was an indicator that he is ready to put more faith in youngsters like Bergvall at the expense of inconsistent senior players.

The teenager certainly impressed at No6, holding his own against Newcastle's powerful midfield and always showing for the ball. The Swede was particularly good at driving forward in possession and it was his surge up the pitch which led to Solanke's goal from Pedro Porro's inviting cross.

There were boos when Bergvall was replaced by Maddison on the hour but it was not clear if those were for the substitution or directed at Gordon, who had just risen to his feet after staying down following a collision. Either way, Bergvall made his case, while some of Spurs' senior players may be facing less certain futures.

Austin holds his own on delayed debut

With Forster likely to return from illness midweek and Spurs poised to sign 21-year-old Czech goalkeeper Antonin Kinksy, Austin looks likely to go down as a quiz answer for the ages.

Yet the stand-in did well on his debut, coming to claim a number of crosses and distributing the ball well.

In positioning, he was much closer to Spurs’ No1 Guglielmo Vicario than Forster has been, placing himself high up the pitch whenever the hosts were in possession.

He might have done better for Gordon’s cool leveller but made a smart late save from substitute Harvey Barnes and can be proud of his display on what seems likely to be his only senior appearance for his boyhood club.

Postecoglou, meanwhile, will hope that Austin’s cameo represents the peak of Spurs’ selection crisis.