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How do you analyse that game?

I think it's easy. We didn't play well. Very disappointed with our performance and the result in the end. Again we conceded a very cheap goal in the first half and then it was difficult. They showed that they were very well organised with their defensive line and they were very compact. For us we weren't capable of breaking down their organisation.

We created some chances. Not too many, not enough to be honest. That is why we're very disappointed with the performance and the result but we cannot justify our performance. We should be playing better, more desire, more capacity to be more aggressive in this type of game, because 80 per cent of possession is too much for only a few shots on target.

What was your view on the VAR decision on the penalty claim?

Look, I am going to have the chance now to see it, but I trust and am fully committed to the VAR. Of course before starting working with the VAR I was critical because I didn't like it before but in the moment that we all accept the VAR and rules we have to accept the element that is going to help the referee to make better decisions. When it's for us more than happy and when it's not for us I will respect, but nothing to complain about.

The Newcastle bench were complaining when Spurs didn't put the ball out, you wanted to play on...

No, no, on. In that situation we were having a conversation. He said to me that I must stop the game. I said 'how from here?'. All the players were running in another direction and I said 'how, how?'. He said 'no, you need to handle it, manage the situation'. I said 'I'm sorry but from here they can't hear me. If your players can hear you from here it is because you are connected'. No it was nothing, no big issue.

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I know you don't want to talk about it, but did you leave Christian Eriksen out because of the speculation off the field?

No, I cannot pick more than 11 players. A decision like that when you have plenty of players, but I understand a question like that. Should the result be 3-0 or 4-0 you're not going to ask me that question but of course I accept it. The players who are out are always good when you don't win.

It's just you said that you were unsettled by the transfer window being open and maybe he was?

Why you try to get me to tell you something you know better than me. You have more information than me. You know very well and I told you in pre-season, before Aston Villa, after Aston Villa, positive result or negative result the group is still unsettled. We need to find solutions. We have one week more to wait and see what happens in the last 10 days.

I think this is my sixth season and the most unsettled group we are working with. That is why we are relaxed and calm. Some situations we cannot fix. Nothing to say about that, situations that are going on in the squad. Still we need to wait.

That is the circumstances after playing the Champions League on June 1, we knew that some situations like this would happen but for us and the club it's difficult to handle. What can we do? We can only wait. I say again, you have for sure more information than me about what's happening in the market and that's why I cannot do more than try to help the team find the best dynamic to train and not to create too many problems and be a person who is not being very emphatic, but understand every single situation and try to get a good result.

Do you think Christian might have played his last game for the club?

I don't know. I don't know. Why you ask me? Maybe you know something. It's so difficult, the situation. We cannot blame one party or another. That is the situation, the circumstances. We arrive today with different players and different situations in the squad but I don't want to justify our performance because of that. I want to make clear the point. When you play football and are on the pitch you don't think about these situations.

Of course the problem is during the week, when you arrive at the competition maybe it can affect but I think we should with a bit more today be winning. This type of stuff happens in the Premier League and that's why you not only need quality players, you need a very good dynamic, and strong team bond and at the moment that situation in our group is still far far away from what we expect.

Are you worried that teams are targeting Davinson Sanchez and Danny Rose, three times here Newcastle put the ball in between them and scored from one and could have had more and Villa scored from a ball between them as well?

Only if you see the end of the situation. We need to analyse, like VAR, we need to go back and see maybe 10, 20 or 30 seconds before what happened and why this situation arrived. We cannot blame them. First of all it's to blame me and then blame the collective performance when you concede a goal like this.