Gary Lineker questions Spurs approach in Newcastle United defeat and predicts 'chirpy' Alan Shearer response

Newcastle United claimed their first win of the Premier League season at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday night.

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Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Gary Lineker has questioned his old side’s approach in Saturday’s defeat against Newcastle United - and is expecting a ‘chirpy’ response from Magpies legend Alan Shearer when they assess the game.

After being denied all three points by an injury-time equaliser in last weekend’s 2-2 home draw with Liverpool, Matthias Jaissle’s side racked up their first win of the Premier League season with a performance full of discipline and organisation as the Magpies continued their impressive record against the North London outfit. Despite coming under some pressure throughout the contest, it was Jaissle’s side that struck first when debutant Nico Gonzalez and fellow new addition Amar Dedic combined just after the hour-mark for Anthony Elanga to turn and fire home his second goal of the season.

Things got even better for the Magpies with just under 20 minutes remaining when substitute Nick Woltemade, who has been the subject of interest from Serie A giants Juventus and Napoli in recent days, headed down to find Yoane Wissa and the DR Congo international produced an acrobatic effort to grab his first goal of the campaign and all but secure the first league win of Jaissle’s reign.

However, it was Spurs’ high defensive line that caught Lineker’s high as they were caught out by a stunning pass from Gonzalez that ultimately led to the opening goal of the game and set the foundations for Newcastle’s fourth win in their last five visits to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

What did Gary Lineker say about Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle United?

Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast on Sunday, Lineker said: “I think Alan will be quite chirpy in the morning with Newcastle winning at Spurs. It’s a big win for them. I suppose the fact Spurs have spent so much, to lose your opening two games of the season, is a big story but ultimately, you’ve got two teams that were in the bottom half last season, although Newcastle have lost some players, Spurs are finding it hard to find their feet. It’s understandably going to take time when you’ve got that many new players.

“I think the issue always with high lines, and they’re really good and positive and I love high line football, that’s how I like to see the game, it’s far more entertaining, but the issue with high line is you can not do it when you have no pressure on the ball. Gonzalez has so much time to time his pass and defenders, if you don’t drop a little bit as he’s about to pass it, you’re in big trouble. It’s all very well saying the high line this and the high line that, but if a high line is done well and sensibly, you really need your midfield on it and to be closing people down for it to work. There are times when it can work and times when it doesn’t - and it certainly didn’t work for Spurs. They were all at sea with that.”