ALAN Pardew watched Newcastle United concede five goals for a second London game in succession – but exonerated his team of repeating the mistakes of Fulham.
The dominance that led to Tottenham Hotspur’s 5-0 win on Saturday night came largely from a fluid midfield passing the ball quickly.
At Craven Cottage last month, Fulham won 5-2 with a more direct approach.
At least at White Hart Lane Pardew could console himself with the thought his side had been beaten by rampant opposition on top form. “It has to be a concern for us,” Pardew said of his side’s capital performances this year.
“That’s twice now, and we’re not going to ignore the fact we’ve been involved in two heavy defeats in a fairly short space of time.
“But I didn’t really think the problems we had here resembled what happened in the Fulham game. I thought the issues at Fulham could be rectified.
“The problems here were down in a large part to a team that was just too good for us. Sometimes you have to accept that.”
Despite being without Rafael van der Vaart, and with Jermain Defoe and Aaron Lennon on the bench, Tottenham went into the game on a high thanks to Wednesday’s news that Harry Redknapp had been found not guilty of tax evasion.
Although Fabio Capello’s resignation as England manager soon after put a huge question mark over Redknapp’s White Hart Lane future, it did not dampen the mood.
“You were obviously going to see a reaction from the Spurs fans and players,” said Pardew, who had a brief spell at the club as a player.
