Alan Pardew tore into his ailing Newcastle players after a miserable first half at Tottenham, but his harsh words, coupled with some inspired substitutions, led to an impressive 2-1 win.
It looked like another bad day at the office for his struggling side after Emmanuel Adebayor gave Spurs the lead at White Hart Lane. But half-time substitute Sammy Ameobi delivered a sucker punch just seconds after the restart, before Remy Cabella, also brought on at half-time, then provided the cross for Ayoze Perez to score the winner.
"There were a few strong words," Pardew admitted. "We just said to them after, it's not nice as a manager to go in and bark out orders but sometimes it's necessary just to shake people up."
His opposite number said that Tottenham deserved more from a display undone by Ameobi's sucker punch. "It was a shock because after that it all changed in this moment," said Mauricio Pochettino, who was not even back in his seat when the substitute scored. "All was happiness and there was good energy in the stadium.
"[But then] our heads had gone and we started to take rash decisions on the pitch."
Elsewhere, Everton won 3-1 away at Burnley, who are still without a win this season.
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