Eddie Howe has to get these players going again if he hopes to clinch a Top-4 spot. Newcastle United suffered through a pretty boring 1-1 draw with Bournemouth that somehow didn’t see them get bumped out of the Top-4.
Newcastle have gotten away with another average performance, but they won’t in the future as their Top-4 rivals are slowly creeping up to them.
Like I said, this game was an utter snooze fest as both Bournemouth, who currently sit in 19th place, and Newcastle, who currently sit in 4th place, just couldn’t find a way to get the all-important second goal. The limitations of Newcastle’s squad was put on display today as Bournemouth completely shut down and kept 10 men behind the ball at all times, forcing the Newcastle attackers to have to break down rather sophisticated banks of Cherries defenders.
Mind you, that may not seem like a big deal for teams like Chelsea, Man United, Man City, Arsenal, Spurs, or Liverpool as they’ve been doing that for essentially the dawn of time (well, more like the dawn of huge commercial and financial investment into English football), but that’s not the case for Newcastle United.
By December of last season, Newcastle was desperately struggling to survive their 3rd relegation from the Premier League under former owner (and unconfirmed gremlin) Mike Ashley prior to the sale of the club to the Saudi Crown Prince-lead consortium, PIF. So, this kind of struggle is entirely new for a team that was in the Championship only six years ago, and it’s really starting to show on the offense.
Even though Newcastle dominated possession (67% vs. 33%), had four more shots (15 shots vs. 11 shots), 2 more shots on target (7 vs. 5) nearly 300 more passes (562 passes vs. 272 passes), 16% better passing accuracy (82% vs. 66%), and 2 more corners (6 vs. 4) than Bournemouth, they only generated two A+ chances, with one being the goal and the other coming from a huge goalkeeping error (the Anthony Gordon chance in the second half).
Yet, if I’m being honest, it was Bournemouth who looked the most dangerous throughout the match. They had at least 3-5 chances that they could have capitalized on in the opening stages of the first half (such as Dominic Solanke’s header in the 12th minute, and his header in the 33rd minute), while they also nearly won the game in the dying seconds as Kieran Trippier kept out a Solanke flick-on by the literally stiches on the ball.
So, in other words, this match proved that Dominic Solanke couldn’t score a goal if his life depended on it.
Alright, that was just a joke (sort of), but it is true that Bournemouth was the more dangerous and energetic team as it seems the pressure of Top-4 football has gotten to these Newcastle players. I know they are missing Bruno Guimarães in the midfield, which is a massive loss for the Geordies, but his loss shouldn’t impact the player’s energy levels.
Everyone just looks so much slower than the opposing player in their, respective, position, while injuries have also crept into this Newcastle side as both Miguel Almiron and Allan St. Maximine went down with injuries today. And that is a disaster for any “smaller” club (compared to the Big Six) looking to break into the Top-4.
Plus, with Newcastle now without a win in their last three Premier League games, there can be no doubt their place in the Top-4 is hanging on by a knife’s edge. It’s a good thing Spurs got destroyed today or else that knife edge would have cut the Geordies already and bumped them down to 5th place for the first time in weeks.
As for Bournemouth, I don’t think this draw will do anything more than add a point onto their final season tally. They’re one of the three worst teams in the league and should find themselves in one of the three relegation spots when May rolls around.
Sorry, Bournemouth fans, but it’s the truth.
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