3 Positives and 3 Negatives to take from Bournemouth 0 Newcastle 0 | OneFootball

Sunday afternoon’s match ended Bournemouth 0 Newcastle 0.

Ahead of each game we ask one of our writers to come up with three positives and three negatives following the match.

On this occasion it is The Armchair Fan giving his positives and negatives…

Newcastle and Bournemouth played out a tepid 0-0 draw on Sunday.

Ninety minutes of lacklustre football barely threw up any talking points on an afternoon that had most Sky Sports viewers wishing they’d spent their time enjoying a Sunday roast, rather than tuning in to this ninety-minute sleeping pill.

Lucky old me has been chosen to come up with three good and three bad points, so it’s on with my thinking cap in an attempt to remember anything at all from the match.

A case for the defence

Four clean sheets in five league matches for the Toon this season shows just how difficult we are to break down.

We’re solid at the back and therefore difficult to beat.

Eddie clearly approached the match with the intention of not losing and in that respect, he was successful in his objective. Stick the ball in the net at the other end of the field once in a while and we could be in business.

An away point

Three away matches have now seen three points in total for the black and whites. Drawing away from home and winning at St James’ could be the formula for another crack at Champions League football. The seventy-six points this would be rewarded with over a thirty-eight game season would have comfortably been enough for a top-four finish in last year’s league table. This is still the case even when factoring in the recent home defeat against Liverpool. Seven points from our next three matches (two at home and one away) would see us well on course to becoming a team that consistently plays against the very best in Europe.

Squad depth

Long gone are the days when the demands of Europe would see our squad stretched beyond breaking point.

Eddie Howe was able to make seven changes from our midweek confrontation with Barcelona and still go toe-to-toe away from home against one of the form teams of the Premier League. Not only that but we came away with a decent result and a point in the bag.

NEGATIVES

Robbed?

Perhaps our best chance of taking the lead came at the start of the second half, when Waltemade clearly had his shirt pulled in the area.

Ludicrously, this was not only missed/ignored by the referee but also survived a VAR check, despite it being clear as day. What is the point of VAR when even the most basic of rules are completely overlooked? A penalty for NUFC at that time could have changed the whole complexion of the match and seen the travelling Toon Army celebrating three points for the lads, making for a much more enjoyable journey home.

Snooze fest

I’m in the process of attempting to encourage my three-year-old son into the bittersweet universe of being an obsessive NUFC fan.

I thought I was onto a winner when ‘Peppa Pig’ was switched over without protest and he pointed to the screen with a smile and said ‘Newcastle!’.

He then promptly lay down and fell fast asleep on the sofa for the entirety of the match. I think we can all agree he had the right idea, quite frankly I wish I’d done the same as the match proved to have very little incident of note zzzzzzzzz.

Points dropped

Three away draws so far this season that could (perhaps even should) have all seen wins for NUFC, mean that we have already dropped six points away from home. It’s still too early for the league table to be truly taking shape but our current position of thirteenth place could be a much healthier second in the league if we’d turned those draws against Villa, Leeds and Bournemouth into victories. Let’s start racking up the points that will fire us towards the top four, starting next weekend against Arsenal.

Bournemouth 0 Newcastle 0 – Sunday 21 September 2025 2pm

(Stats via BBC Sport)

Newcastle United:

Bournemouth:

Possession was Newcastle 44% Bournemouth 56%

Total shots were Newcastle 4 Bournemouth 11

Shots on target were Newcastle 1 Bournemouth 2

Corners were Newcastle 2 Bournemouth 5

Touches in the box Newcastle 18 Bournemouth 16

Newcastle team v Bournemouth:

Pope, Livramento, Thiaw (Lascelles 84), Botman, Burn, Hall, Tonali, Miley, Willock (Barnes 62), Woltemade (Osula 84), Murphy (Elanga 62)

Unused subs:

Ramsdale, Trippier, Joelinton, Krafth, Bruno

(Bournemouth 0 Newcastle 0 – Instant Newcastle United fan/writer reaction – Read HERE)

(Bournemouth 0 Newcastle 0 – A great point and (defensive!) performance from United – Read HERE)

Newcastle United fixtures definitely confirmed dates and times (All of the Champions League matches will also be available to watch on TV in the UK):

Wednesday 24 September – Newcastle v Bradford (7.45pm) Sky Sports+

Sunday 28 September– Newcastle v Arsenal (4.30pm) Sky Sports

Wednesday 1st October: Union SG vs Newcastle United (5.45pm)