'Not good enough': Eddie Howe holds his hands up after heavy defeat at Tottenham

Newcastle United's disastrous away form continued on Sunday evening as Tottenham Hotspur got back to winning ways with a 4-1 win over the Magpies.

Eddie Howe refuses to use the injury crisis as an excuse, so we'll do it for him. The lads looked absolutely knackered today. They were so far off the pace it was ridiculous, but we can't point the finger at anyone specifically because luck doesn't have a face - oh but if it did...

It's the fatigue that's killing us right now. Away form is just a thing, but to be honest, even if that game was played at home today we doubt the outcome would have been much different. As we'll probably find out on Wednesday night.

The lads must now dig deep for Wednesday night

Again, like we keep saying, it's nobody's fault, we've just had terrible luck with injuries this season, nobody could have predicted it, and nobody could have mitigated it. All we can do is hope the lads who are fit can muster up energy from their reserve tanks long enough to keep the ship afloat before players come back into the fold.

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Eddie Howe admitted to NUFC TV after the game that his side just wasn't good enough today and came up against a Spurs side who were up for the fight.

“I think we tried to give everything we had but it wasn’t enough. I thought Tottenham played well, I don’t think we did although we had our moments in the game things could have been different, as always. With football matches there’s a fine line, but no, not good enough today.”

It wouldn't have made any difference but Spurs should have gone down to 10-men

The fact that it was evident that the players were trying to give it their all is probably why the isn't a full-blown meltdown occurring amongst the fanbase.

Every single player on the pitch was on empty, you could see it from kick-off, everyone was a yard off the pace, and stupid mistakes crept into everyone's game but most telling was just how easily our players were going to ground from the lightest of touches. That's a sure sign of fatigue.

However, one player who had every right to go down on the deck was Callum Wilson after Cristian Romero tried to remove his foot at the ankle. How that wasn't a red card we may never know.

Howe may have to take a risk or two and switch things up for Wednesday night because this starting XI cannot go again as it is, especially against a side like AC Milan.