Tottenham Hotspur have gone into the international break on the back of a disappointing 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United.
Spurs have played three Premier League games so far, resulting in one win, one draw and one loss.
The manner of Tottenham’s defeat at St James’ Park, as was the case with the draw at Leicester City, will be a particularly bitter pill to swallow.
Spurs dominated the Magpies on their own patch, clocking up 66 percent of possession, registering 20 efforts, and making 500 passes at 84 percent accuracy.
However, Tottenham’s wastefulness in the final third, combined with their high line getting caught out, resulted in yet another loss on Tyneside.
But despite Spurs’ poor start to the season, Gary Lineker has sought to remain optimistic with how things are going at N17.
Gary Lineker says Tottenham have come a long way
Likener, speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, said Tottenham have “made a lot of progress” since Ange Postecoglou took the reins.
The former Tottenham forward also singled out the club’s recruitment since the Australian arrived at N17, saying they’ve done well.
“They’ve made a lot of progress if you consider since where they were before Postecoglou joined,” said Lineker.
“And they do play risky football, we know that, by his own admission he (Postecoglou) likes to play high attacking, high line, which for the winning goal they got caught out again, which which they will do.
“But I I think they’re going in the right direction I think that their recruitment by and large has been pretty good over the last 18 months or so.”
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Micah Richards and Alan Shearer more critical than Lineker
Lineker’s comments were in opposition to the more negative verdicts presented by Micah Richards and Alan Shearer.
Richards acknowledged that Spurs fans shouldn’t be “concerned” at this moment in time, opting instead for the word “frustrated”.
He added: “I just think they just ‘nearly there’, aren’t they? They always seem to be ‘nearly there’.”
Meanwhile, Shearer said: “I thought they were really poor in forward positions where they lacked that killer instinct in front of goal.
“And they lacked that little bit of know-how when those balls were going into the box and when they were dominating Newcastle, which was for large parts.
“Yeah, that would be a little bit of a worry for me in terms of the away games.
“As you say, I know they’ve lost Solanke in the last couple of games but, in terms of front of goal today, I thought they were poor.
“It’ll be very important that Solanke fits in and starts scoring when when he gets fit again and playing.”
What next for Tottenham?
Spurs are back in action on Sunday 15 September when they host Arsenal in the North London derby.
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