Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has deemed the 5-0 defeat at the hands of Tottenham as uncharacteristic of his side.
The Magpies were hit by four goals in the first half as Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Niko Kranjcar, and Louis Saha ran riot for Tottenham. Pardew told nufcTV that the loss was on his hands.
"I have to take some responsibility because I probably had too many offensive players on the pitch." he admitted.
"Playing 4-4-2 we could not cope with them. When they got two quick goals like that we lost our heads for ten minutes and we looked disorganised, which is unusual for us."
However, Pardew has praised his players for putting on a much better second-half performance after their abysmal first-half showing.
"But in the second half we could only do one thing - keep them at bay, keep disciplined and try and offer a threat. We had a couple of good chances and gave ourselves some pride from that second half." the manager stated.
While he could not deny the talent in the opposite ranks, Pardew believes the margin of Newcastle's defeat could be attributed to Tottenham players wanting to prove something to their boss Harry Redknapp.
"4-0 down at half-time against the players we were up against. The likes of Gareth Bale, Lennon, Defoe, Adebayor, Louis Saha - that's some proper players." he shared.
"They wanted to show their manager they want to keep him, and there was a little bounce in their steps,"
Newcastle will be expected to have a much easier time when they host relegation-threatened Wolverhampton Wanderers this Saturday.
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