‘Captain to clown’ blast by ex-bosses

ising their misfortunes as “Spursy”. This was “Newcastle-y”: losing a left-back within the half hour, a new centre-back who had played with class and composure before half-time and their main playmaker on 50 minutes.

Newcastle already needed everything to fall in their favour to have a good season back in the Premier League and by the hour mark, the job has become more difficult for them.

Every single game is important, every point precious. Playing a big bottom-half rival whose tails are up next weekend is going to be difficult with those three.

You would think by now Mike Ashley would have learned cutting defenders not deemed good enough to start, thanks to injuries to Paul Dummett and Florian Lejeune, which threw plans into disarray.

Four minutes after the interval match skipper Jonjo Shelvey was red-carded for a stupid stamp on Dele Alli. From then on the game was lost.

For all his talent and his range of passing, Shelvey is a fragile personality always prone to self-destruct as he did here right in front of the corners and gambling just does not work in the Premier League.

Benitez tells a story in his book ‘Champions League Dreams’ about one of his first games in management, when he did not name enough substitutes because he was given the wrong information by a club official.

His team drew the game but he rued the fact the phantom sub could have earned them a win. From that moment on, he recalled, he would never be referee. He cost United this match, no question, and is now out for the next three. Ta so much!

Alli, cuter and cleverer, had the last laugh as with Shelvey off he scored Tottenham’s crucial first goal.

Ashley told us in an apologetic telly interview aired shortly after United’s Premier League opener, no doubt aimed at quelling the unrest of natives, he cannot compete in the transfer market with Manchester City by writing £200m cheques. let down by his own lack of planning. Yesterday, Newcastle’s system was clear: contain Spurs, work hard and make sure Tottenham’s attacking threat was nullified. Within 45 minutes they had been forced into two reshuffles, losing the excellent Florian Lejeune and Paul Dummett, who pulled up in the first 20 minutes. Benitez stocked his squad full of defenders last season to cope with injuries and make sure his team would not be stretched too thin if they had knocks - but that requires him to be given the tools he feels he needs in the transfer market. His insistence on Newcastle’s squad being deeper last season means they were able to call on two central defenders with pedigree on the bench but United do not have the same strength-in-depth up front. What happens if Gayle breaks down? What is going to happen now Shelvey, their creatorin-chief, is missing? Benitez’s squad is short in certain departments and – to be frank – there’s not enough quality either. Lucas Perez and Jack Wilshere have been linked in the last 24 hours. Mike Ashley and Lee Charnley were watching in the directors’ box. If they needed a reminder of what still needs to be done

The point is no one expects him to – Geordies are realistic if nothing else. What we want and expect is to compete with the likes of Bournemouth, Leicester City and Watford if that is not asking too much.

Bournemouth have paid £20m for a left-back, Watford £18m-plus for a striker and Leicester £25m for a goalscorer yet Benitez is forced to beg, steal or borrow a front man to shore up the numbers.

If the answer is to bring in Stoke before August 31, here it was in glorious technicolour. The Ghana winger was the most low key of Newcastle close-season signings, confirming his permanent deal for £6m in the early weeks of the summer. It was billed as a signing to provide squad cover but for the first 45 minutes yesterday he was the most clear and present danger to a Tottenham defence which looked unruffled by either Ayoze Perez or Dwight Gayle. Atsu was a player of promise and potential at Chelsea but they were happy to let him go and his role in the Championship title win was largely reserved for cameos. He ended the season with a flourish and through pre-season he maintained that form. Against Spurs, his performance carried enough substance to suggest he can be a big weapon in Newcastle’s armoury this season.

Benitez’s system and the way he set Newcastle up was not Kevin Keegan putting the Premier League on notice. They were set up to contain, squeeze the space and make life hard for Tottenham with their discipline, drive and desire. It was not pretty and did not conjure up much in the final third, but it was effective until Shelvey’s moment of madness.

It was not great and they will have to improve in the final third but Newcastle were playing OK and Benitez is hardly likely to tweak it significantly in the coming weeks. This is how Newcastle are going to set themselves up at home against the big guns. City’s Joselu at £5m does that make him only half as good as Aleksandar Mitrovic who cost £13m?

I hope not but you don’t get much for that when it comes to Premier League strikers.

United, it seems, cannot match clubs like Bournemouth, Leicester and Watford off the field so how on earth are we supposed to finish above them in the league?

Heaven help us all should anything happen to Dwight Gayle, who seems to worry continuously about his suspect hamstrings.

Next up are Huddersfield, who produced the best opening day performance by dismantling Crystal Palace on their own pitch 3-0.

Over to you, Mr Ashley. FORMER Newcastle managers Graeme Souness and Alan Pardew have blasted Magpies midfielder Jonjo Shelvey after he was shown a red card in yesterday’s 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

Shelvey was shown a straight red card after he stamped on Spurs’ Dele Alli before goals from Alli and Ben Davies condemned United to defeat.

He will now be suspended for at least three games and Souness believes that should be his final chance at the club.

When asked if he could provide a defence for Shelvey, Souness said on TV: “Absolutely none.

“He has gone from captain to clown in the space of 10 seconds.

“He is annoyed because Dele Alli has kept the ball. So what? How stupid is that?

“Newcastle are very much in the game, he is right under the referee’s nose and the referee has been left with no alternative but to send him off.

“I said to Alan before that I like Shelvey.

“He is always positive, always looks to move the ball forward, he plays risky passes but you cannot have anybody doing that at your football club. Nobody.

“That has cost them the game. I am not saying Tottenham would not have won but there was a real chance the game could have been a bit more ‘nip and tuck.”

“When you have someone like that in your group, that should be his last chance. You cannot do that.

“They might be relegated by one point, they might berelegated by two points, it might not matter in the bigger picture but right now his team are entitled to be very angry.”

Pardew used to manage Shelvey when he was an emerging youngster at Charlton Athletic and he believes his actions lacked responsibility.

He said: “I have been his manager and you have to have chats with Jonjo.

“He has a very short fuse over tiny little incidents like that.

“The stamp is not a stamp that is going to hurt you but it is a petulant stamp.

“It is the sort of thing you are going to have go in on a Monday and say ‘what are you doing? what the hell are you doing?.

“You are captain of the football team and you have to set an example.

“Not just to this football team but those watching on TV around the world and that is the sort of responsibility he needs to understand.”