Eddie Howe talked about his expectations from **Tottenham**in the Carabao Cup.
Newcastle hosts Spurs in the fourth round of the tournament on Wednesday evening. They face an outfit coached by Thomas Frank, whose focus on stability and set plays has produced a solid start to life in **North London**— even if their performances have not been spectacular across 90 minutes.
Most recently, they scored twice with headed goals from corners through **Micky van de Ven**in a 3-0 triumph over **Everton**to hold onto their unbeaten record away from home. It is a run that is just one reason why the Toon must be ready for a battle if they wish to keep defending their cup title.
“I don't really think about it to be honest. I think it's you're just you're playing the team. You're not necessarily playing against the manager. I understand the question because I think with certain managers, you get a repetition of how they play and you sort of understand what they're trying to do.
*“We've come up against Thomas' teams a lot historically with Brentford. I think he's made a really positive start to life at Tottenham and you can see his imprint on the team already, whether that be set plays have been very successful. Open play, they've got a lot of things that they do that similar to Brentford. So, I think it is a good game for us, a really tough game, but one we'll look forward to.*
“Tactically, very interesting, very versatile coach, he'll build up in lots of different ways, aggressive off the ball, I'd say. Predominantly they have their different ways of trying to make that happen in the game and set plays.
“I think they're very well organized ultimately and I think set plays is probably the biggest guider of that when you watch a team. Everyone knows their roles. They're very efficient both for and against. Credit to him and his coaching staff for what they're doing.”