If there's one thing Newcastle United under Eddie Howe cannot be accused of it's a lack of focus. This season has seen the Toon manager build a resilient team underpinned by a strong defence and driven by a focus to improve.
It's led them to the top four of the Premier League and within a real chance of qualifying for the Champions League. Newcastle's quick rise to the top of the table has come as a surprise for most but it's been helped by Howe and his staff laying home the importance of being focused on the task at hand.
The message has very much been one game at a time, no thinking ahead to next season and European nights on the continent but simply concentrating on the game directly ahead of them. Understandably, the League Cup final has become a distraction for fans. The excitement of a weekend in the Capital and the first major piece of silverware since 1969 has captured the imagination of a success-starved fanbase.
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Yet for Howe, at least publicly, the focus has been on the top flight - first West Ham and now Liverpool. He wants to win every game and with United having started the season so well, Howe knows there is a real chance of European football.
The players have seemingly bought into their approach - focused on three points and not a cup medal. It's seen in their sturdy defensive displays and despite conceding two poor goals in their last two games, it's fatigue rather than focus to blame.
Despite five draws out of their last six Premier League games, Newcastle remains two points ahead of Spurs in fourth with a game in hand, but make no mistake there is a fight to remain there.
Yet, Newcastle - especially with their defensive record - do not look like going anywhere. They look here to stay, and if they could only rediscover the goalscoring touch, they would be in a much more comfortable position.
That is something Howe and his staff will be working on, and with the unity in the camp and the focused minds, the hope is that the remedy won't be too far away. And it is that focus that will boost United in the race for the top four - or the lack of it at Tottenham.
Having beaten Manchester City, Spurs then fell 4-1 to Leicester City in a dismal display at The King Power Stadium. Despite being in the Champions League knockout stages, just outside the top four and going strong in the FA Cup - there doesn't seem to be a united front at Spurs, a unity on and off the pitch that Newcastle have.
The comments from Spurs' boss Antonio Conte ahead of his side's clash with AC Milan just add to the chaos.
"If you want to win or achieve some targets and have a good position in the Champions League or in England in the Premier League you have to be stable," Conte told reporters.
"And this stability is lacking this year. I always talk about it with my players. It is very difficult to keep concentration, it is very difficult to stay focused all of the time.
"It is not an easy task being so focused. We are working on that, playing under pressure all of the time is good for some players and bad for others. Sometimes players feel motivated, other times they feel so much under pressure that they can't perform.
"Maybe for a period they have a good performance and then they collapse all of a sudden if they feel too much pressure. We are working on this, we want to make our players more resilient."
No doubt it is easy to lose focus at times but for a manager to go publicly and say it, and emphasise the weak mentality within the squad by using the word 'collapse,' will be to some a strange move.
It certainly hands Newcastle a welcome advantage given that in recent weeks despite being by far from their best, they have not collapsed but instead persevered and dug in to keep their unbeaten run going.
To be told your nearest rival struggle to remain focused, with management 'working' on dealing with the pressure, can only boost the spirits - especially when as a team, Newcastle have shown they can very much handle anything thrown at them.
Conte also seems to suggest that the relationship between fans in England and the beautiful game is not as intense as you find in Italy.
"I think that the pressure is different between Italy and England," he said. "In Italy, you speak about football from Monday and you finish on Sunday. You speak only football and then you have a lot of TV that speaks football and putting a lot of pressure.
"You are born in this way and you grow in this way, with this pressure, and you are used to living with this type of situation. In England, I think that there is an atmosphere that brings to enjoy football without a lot of pressure, because football is a sport and in Italy sometimes football is not only a sport, it is a war between the teams and the fans."
It's an interesting approach from the former Chelsea boss - and one that is certainly different from that of Howe. If it's not quite Conte questioning his players' mentality, it's not far off - and that is something Howe would never do publicly.
It is another boost for Newcastle when it comes to weighing up their opposition - if Spurs' own manager is questioning whether his players have what it takes to be successful, then the Magpies have little to worry about. Of course, Howe will be focused on what his team are capable of and will spare the minimum thought for those around him and that is the focus that will secure Newcastle a top-four finish.
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