Eddie Howe has criticised his Newcastle players after they were thumped 4-1 by Bournemouth at St James’ Park on Saturday.
The hosts went into the game hoping to continue their stunning form but found themselves behind after just six minutes, with Justin Kluivert on target.
Newcastle did level through Bruno Guimaraes, only for Bournemouth retake the lead just before the interval with Kluivert netting again.
The forward completed his hat-trick in stoppage time, with Milos Kerkez adding a late fourth to secure victory.
Newcastle news: Eddie Howe has criticised his players after they were thumped 4-1 by Bournemouth at St James’ Park on Saturday
REUTERS
Newcastle were poor throughout the match, with Bournemouth superior in every department.
And that’s something Howe acknowledged following the clash, with the 47-year-old saying his team were ‘off it in every area’.
He fumed: “We didn’t have total control in any phase. They were better than us and never allowed us to find our rhythm.
“That is not the level we have played at. We were devoid of energy. I don’t think any of our game survived. We were off it in every area.”
JUST IN: Luke Littler shows he’s a class act after losing to Gerwyn Price at Bahrain Masters
Howe’s thoughts on the match were echoed by Newcastle defender Dan Burn.
He fronted up to TNT Sports and admitted the Cherries deserved the victory, while also branding the defeat ‘disappointing’.
“We didn’t start very well. They set traps and we played into them quite a few times,” he said.
“It was hard to recover. Bournemouth were just the better team today, technically and physically, and deserved to win.
READ MORE: Wayne Rooney ‘in talks over new job with huge salary’ just weeks after Plymouth sacking
“They are very, very good on the counter. They’ve got some very good players and are very dangerous.
“They ask questions that a lot of other teams don’t ask. They go quite long and direct and you don’t come up against that as much in this league.
“We played in areas that we usually don’t. We lost the ball quite a lot in the middle of the pitch.
“It is disappointing. We’ve been on a great run so we just need to dust ourselves down and go again.
LATEST SPORTS NEWS:
Newcastle news: Eddie Howe admitted his team weren’t good enough against Bournemouth on Saturday
REUTERS
“Those are the standards we set for ourselves. The work we’ve done throughout the season has been exactly the same.”
Kluivert’s father, Patrick, scored just one league goal for Newcastle during his spell on Tyneside.
And the Bournemouth star was delighted after outdoing his old man.
Kluivert stated: “This feels lovely. We know how tough it is to play here. To come here with a lot of injuries and dominate like this – hats off to the team.
Newcastle news: Justin Kluivert scored a stunning hat-trick for Bournemouth on Saturday
REUTERS
“I want to help my team out, and be important for the club. Our run is beautiful and we showed we are here to make an impression.
“At the start of the season, we have a lot of ambitious players in the team, you want to play Europe and we show that.
“Why not dream big and we never know where we can end up. The Champions League would be very tough but who knows?”
Post comments (0)