Ian Wright pinpoints key flaws in Newcastle United's second-half performance at Spurs

A second-half downfall was Newcastle United's downfall against Tottenham Hotspur and the Match of The Day 2 pundits, Ian Wright and Nedum Onuoha have dissected what went wrong for Eddie Howe's side. The Magpies were resilient in the opening 45 minutes and went in level at the break having led through Fabian Schar's free-kick.

A second-half capitulation, caused by a lack of defensive runners and a desire to chase the game, were behind Newcastle's drubbing in North London, according to the former Premier League duo. Harry Kane ran riot as Antonio Conte's side climbed into the top four.

As for Newcastle, the result leaves them nine points above the relegation zone, but know their work is far from complete. Onuoha was full of praise for the Magpies first-half performance.

Speaking on Match of The Day 2, he said: "That's exactly right and it's a shame for them because I felt at times in the first half, Newcastle were kind of making the game boring because they always made sure that the ball stayed in front of them. Anyone who was on the wrong side of the ball was breaking their back to get on the right side of it.

"You weren't able to go through the middle of them. There was no real threat from Spurs but as the game was going on, unfortunately for them, some of those gaps were beginning to appear.

"Some of those runs to get back into position stopped happening. If the game was to be played out like this, the task of Spurs would have been far different to the way it ended up with a 5-1 scoreline."

Wright added: "As Eddie Howe said they started to chase the game. That ball there he's tried to play [Fabian Schar across field to Allan Saint-Maximin] is Hollywood. Dan Burn tried to challenge Harry Kane here, can you just hold him