Newcastle United, man. For the club there was nothing to play for. Relegation was confirmed. For players like Gini Wijnaldum, Moussa Sissoko, and Daryl Janmaat there was £££ to play for, certainly. Spurs had a ton to play for... finishing above rivals Arsenal, second place in the PL. The stories are as old as they are tired. It was a recipe for disaster.
It wasn't on the cards from the word go, though. Newcastle were well into the match from the word go and took a deserved lead on Gini Wijnaldum's first goal since January (GET £££). Aleksandar Mitrovic would score a lovely header to make it 2-0. It all fell into place to allow the Rafa Love Fest™ to happen loudly and proudly. Although Spurs would score the next goal on a super-tight angle shot from Erik Lamela and Mitro would get a straight red card for a studs-down-shin incident –I don't mean to minimize... it was a red although "horror" and "dirty" are not apt as descriptors – it never really felt like Spurs got started today.
Moussa Sissoko would "earn" a penalty with what was almost certainly a dive and the most suspense was which "I GOTTA GET £££" was going to get the penalty. Gini got it, although Moussa couldn't be too mad because he was at his imperious best one last time in the black and white (and perhaps for the 5th or 6th time of his career at St. James' Park*). Andros Townsend smashed a lovely shot that curled onto the post to set up Rolando Aarons' goal. Janmaat got his ££ with the final goal.
It was exactly what you would have thought was coming from this match and more. Sure Spurs didn't turn up today.... a lot of that is on us, though. This team is going to the Championship on the back of that performance. Go figure.