Ruud Gullit said:

"There was no commitment out there and I blame the players.

Steve Clarke handled post-match press duties and said:

"We started well and looked in it for 30 minutes but once Spurs scored we lost our shape and discipline. 

"We conceded two bad goals from set-pieces and although Spurs' deliveries were good on both occasions, we've got to do better in situations like that.

"The game just ran away from us. We were beaten on Saturday because we lost a man but tonight we lost because we couldn't cope with set pieces."

 

George Graham said: 

To follow

A team carrying more passengers than the 17:02 from Waterloo eventually succeeded in making Spurs look like modern day gladiators by virtue of Newcastle twin trademarks: inability to defend from crosses and inability to create goalscoring opportunities. 

Apparently Alan Shearer was unlucky not to be given his "goal", but equally Spurs will point to the second handball in succession that has gone unpunished in games against us. Add in a bad David Ginola miss and the injury to Sir Les, and this could have been much worse.

Those were my initial reactions to this defeat, and not much has changed. The team that took the field started off well and deservedly took the lead, but at the merest hint of a comeback from the home side, went completely to pieces. 

To have Maric, Solano, Dyer, Speed, and Ketsbaia in a midfield worth well over £10 million and totally fail to compete against a workmanlike but not devastating Spurs middle order is frankly a disgrace. 

The parallels with the Gross-era Spurs side are there to be seen - defensive chaos, players on the treatment table and infighting on a yet-to-be-revealed scale. While Shearer is engaged in his own personal battles with demons within and without the club, the lack of a Pearce-type leader to marshall the side as a whole and rearguard in particular is staggeringly obvious. 

And as for the free kicks - three set pieces in good positions for United, hree foulups, Walker in the Spurs goal untested. No excuses.

The kind of heart will point to an iffy record in London going back decades and a debatable decision that denied Shearer a goal, but in the cold light of reflection, anyone anywhere could apparently beat this team with the minimum effort. 

Money isn't required for new players, a hammering out of tactics and an injection of grit and confidence will be sufficient. Where these qualities can be found I don't know, but our well-paid manager famously asked to be judged after a pre-season undertaken on his terms. 

That has now come to pass and reaped a poor harvest thus far. 

Under the circumstances a televised trip to the Dell is the last thing we need, but if you don't want to be in the big league, many other "smaller" clubs and managers would jump at the chance to show their credentials. Stout hearts and responsibility will be the order of the day, regardless of outcome.

Biffa