Newcastle were unfortunately unable to make it 3 wins on the bounce as a Gareth Bale double saw us go down 2-1 at White Hart Lane but there were certainly more positives to take out of the performance than there has been in previous defeats.We certainly look like we have more pattern to our play now we have the likes of Cabaye back and the new boys in who have added much needed quality.Unfortunately like last year when we were humped 5-0 in the corresponding fixture we conceded early as Coloccini gave away a silly free kick and Bale got the ball over the wall and past Tim Krul into the corner.It was a decent strike but Krul and a lot of fans must surely be asking questions about the wall and James Perch in particular. The wall clearly made the decision to not jump in case he went underneath them but upon him striking it high only Jonas made any attempt to jump and the ball literally went millimeters over Perch's head without him so much as flinching. I think any kind of upward movement from him may have got enough on it to block it or at least give Krul a chance.Fortunately unlike last year though we managed to gather ourselves and get back in the game rather than capitulating. Cisse put a decent headed chance just wide before a neat move down the right saw Jonas play in Sissoko down the channel and his cut back was met by Gouffran who's shot took a deflection which saw it nestle in the top right hand corner.No idea whether the shot would have troubled the keeper without the deflection but it was a move that deserved a goal and at that stage of the game 24 minutes in and after going behind so early it was probably deserved on the balance of play as we knocked it about quite nicely at times.You always were worried about Spurs on the break though with the pace of Bale and Lennon - one thing that worries me about us is how quickly we get turned around when we lose possesion.We lost Gouffran on the hour as Kyle Walker caught him on the shin with a fairly forceful challenge when clearing the ball which left the Frenchman with a gash and in a considerable amount of pain.It looked fairly innocuous at first but watching the reply I have to say it looked to me like Walker whilst getting the ball was looking to leave something on the winger. Gouffran kind of pulled out of the challenge and dangled a leg in which I think probably did him more harm than good. I'm not saying Walker should have been sent off or anything but it seemed to get brushed off as one of those things when I am not so sure.With Marveaux coming on in place of him we kind of lost our impotus a bit as he had been having a pretty good game up until then and seems a bit more industrious than the likes of Marveaux who just never seemed to get in the game.As we once again struggled to keep the ball as well in the 2nd half of a game it seemed a matter of time befoe Spurs would grab a goal and there was only really one place it seemed likely to come from.Again we can probably look at the 2nd goal and say that we should have dealt with it better. Taylor and Coloccini both hesitated and Bale ran through to calmly finish past Krul with 12 minutes remaining and that was pretty much game over with Bale missing a couple of other good chance to seal things as we pushed for an equaliser.Obviously losing was disappointing but I think most fans will realistically say that 6 points from the last 3 games is a good haul and after the heroics of last week I think it was wishful thinking we were going to come to an in form Spurs and win although I think we can be slightly disappointed we maybe didn't come away with a point.Bale was the only real difference between the sides and in truth I think we handled him quite well in the main but the fact he still scored twice and won them the 3 points tells you how good he is.I don't like his theatrics and I don't like the fact that he seems to think that any tackle on him must be a foul but there is no getting away from the fact he is a fantastic player who I think Spurs would be lost without.Plenty of positives to take into the 2 Europa games followed by a massive home game against Southampton. More game time for the new boys, some definite improved play and passing, a massive improvement on the performance here last year, the Gouffran injury is apparently not serious and we didn't lose any other players to injury or suspension although Yohan Cabaye can probably count himself slightly fortunate that he didn't get a red card for a poor tackle on Dembele late on.I didn't think it was a red card but it was certainly one of those that the referee under pressure from the home crowd and players could have over-reacted to and deemed a sending off which would have been a massive blow as once again he was fantastic in the middle of the park and losing him for any of the upcoming games would be a terrible blow.So same old story at The Lane and on the road in general but certainly some positives to take from this one.
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