Tottenham's 4-1 win at home to Newcastle seemed signifcant. Spurs' slump in recent weeks had begun with a 4-1 loss to Chelsea in early November and was the start of a run which saw Ange Postecoglou's side pick up just one point from a possible 15. On Sunday at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with the same scoreline, it felt as if that sorry streak had ended emphatically.
Much of the recent criticism and analysis of Tottenham has been bizarre. Postecoglou has been called naive for not being prepared to alter his plans, yet a closer look at the performances shows Spurs were also unfortunate in defeat to both Aston Villa and West Ham. They should have won both of those matches.
Postecoglou will not change his beliefs, but on Sunday the Australian did make an important tactical tweak, moving Son Heung-min out wide as he brought back Richarlison. And it was inspired as the South Korean set up two goals and scored another, with the Brazilian on target twice.
"I thought Sonny really set the tone for us early on," Postecoglou said in his post-match press conference. "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."
Son beat former team-mate Kieran Trippier on his way to setting up Spurs' first two goals – for Destiny Udogie and Richarlison – and later won a penalty which he converted himself. The South Korean now has 10 goals in the Premier League this season, which is as many as he managed in 36 appearances last term.
He is back and so, it seems, are Spurs. Although James Maddison, Micky van de Ven and Rodrigo Bentancur remain sidelined, it is logical that Tottenham's improvement comes as some of their other players – like Richarlison and Cristian Romero – return to the side after absences through injury and suspension.
"Yeah, look I have been struggling with that a little bit all week because we're trying to build something here," Postecoglou said. "And part of that is through the tough periods to not allow the lads too much latitude in terms of excuses but the reality is and I have probably been too hard on them in retrospect but we got decimated after the Chelsea game. And it is no coincidence that now we are getting some players back that we are starting to look a lot stronger."
Decimated is a word that can be used to describe Newcastle at the moment. With numerous players unavailable, manager Eddie Howe picked the same 10 outfield players for the fifth match in a row and it is perhaps unsurprising that the Magpies were off the pace at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
"I will not speak on Eddie Howe's behalf but I can see what he's going through and in this league if you have one or two key players out, you're going to struggle," Postecoglou said.
And Howe admitted as much. "The last two have been tough games, not us at our best," he said. "Physically we looked fatigued today and there was not much we could do about it.
"We'll look at the game and try to analyse it properly to work out who to select on Wednesday. We're not aflush with options."
On Wednesday, Newcastle meet AC Milan in a huge Champions League clash. And fortunately for the Magpies, it comes at St. James' Park, where their recent form has been much better than their performances on the road.
Meanwhile, Spurs will hope to be involved in such special occasions again soon and Sunday's win leaves Postecoglou's side just three points behind last season's champions, Manchester City, in fifth place. Hardly a crisis, then.
Contrary to much of what you may have read or heard in the last few weeks, 'Ange Ball' is very much alive – and something special is happening in N17. You can just feel it.
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