3 Positives and 3 Negatives to take from Newcastle 1 Bournemouth 4

In partnership with

The Mag

·19 Januari 2025

3 Positives and 3 Negatives to take from Newcastle 1 Bournemouth 4

Saturday afternoon’s match ended Newcastle 1 Bournemouth 4.

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

Video OneFootball

Plenty to talk about after this one…

On this occasion it is The Armchair Fan:

Newcastle United hosted Bournemouth on Saturday, hoping to achieve a club-record tenth successive victory.

With NUFC the form team of the Premier League and competing for a place in the prestigious Champions League, Toon fans were loving life and daring to dream once again.

What goes up however, must come down, and Bournemouth were more than happy to bring us back down to Earth with a rather shuddering bump.

It could have been worse

Perhaps a strange place to start from a 4-1 defeat but hey, I’ve got the thankless task of coming up with three positives, so I’m choosing to attempt to look on the bright side.

With goal difference being potentially crucial in such a tight league, a real hiding could have been completely disastrous.

There’s now only five points separating fourth and tenth!

Bournemouth hit the post twice and had a goal disallowed in a dominant display that could (maybe even perhaps should) have seen them score more. Thankfully, our goal difference of plus twelve is still one of the best in the league.

League table

At the end of the weekend, we find ourselves sitting proudly in the lofty heights of fifth in the Premier League.

Defeat away to Brentford at the start of December had us twelfth and seemingly going nowhere. At that time, we couldn’t have dreamed of the position we now find ourselves in, having racked up eighteen points since that weekend. A top four finish is now well within our grasp.

In a thirty eight game season, there are always going to be good days and bad days. We had just won six league games in a row before Saturday and are more than capable of again going on a similar run.

The objective must now be to see off Southampton and Fulham in the next two matches, before embarking on some very tasty six pointers against teams near the top of the league. Exciting times!

The future is bright!

With a place in the Champions League up for grabs, as well as a two goal advantage in the League Cup semi-final, there is plenty to look forward to over the coming months.

Throw in a potential run in the FA Cup and there could be a lot to celebrate come the end of the season.

Granted, Saturday wasn’t much fun for anyone supporting the Toon, but we have a lot to be very excited about having hit form at exactly the right time.

The lads now have a full week to rest some tired legs after playing six matches in just nineteen days, hopefully we’ll travel to Southampton with our batteries fully recharged, as we look to get back on track with three points against the Saints next weekend.

The fact of the matter is, football is a results business, so this was an absolute stinker!

Any loss at home constitutes a bad day at the office but a 4-1 defeat is a real kick in the teeth at the best of times.

Without taking any credit away from Bournemouth, this was easily one of our worst results of the season. At 1-1, I was hopeful that something could be gained from the match, but going behind before half-time sealed the destination of the points and the second half was pure torture.

The danger in pushing for an equaliser near the end is always that you get caught on the break and the fact this happened twice, added some gloss to the final score for the visitors. Bournemouth ran out comfortable winners on the day and 4-1 didn’t flatter them one bit.

Performance

The team collectively had an off day and no one, bar Tonali, came out of the match with any credit.

Dubravka made some good saves but even he will be desperately disappointed to concede four, especially with the form he’s been in. This was a poor performance all round, with a number of key players not at the races.

Defensively we were poor, the midfield hardly got going and the attack never looked like continuing our fine form of late.

Probably unfair to single anyone out for particular criticism but this was a team performance that got exactly what it deserved – nothing.

The record

A win over Bournemouth would have seen the Toon win ten on the bounce for the first time in history, eclipsing the record set in 1994 under Keegan and then equalled in 2016 under Benitez.

Unfortunately, we fell well short of claiming the three points in a match where even a draw looked unlikely for the vast majority of the ninety minutes. It would have been great to break the record and another excuse to celebrate long into the night, sadly though it wasn’t to be.

Another record was also starting to be under threat with Isak scoring in his previous eight league matches, meaning he was only three games off equalling Jamie Vardy’s record of scoring in eleven league games in succession.

Unfortunately, our Swedish Superstar didn’t really get a sniff at goal all afternoon, with only a late free-kick being blasted off the wall, leaving us wondering what might have been.

Newcastle 1 Bournemouth 4 – Saturday 18 January 2025 12.30pm

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Bruno 25

Bournemouth:

Kluivert 6, 44, 90+2 Kerkez 90+6

Possession was Newcastle 55% Bournemouth 45%

Total shots were Newcastle 13 Bournemouth 19

Shots on target were Newcastle 5 Bournemouth 10

Corners were Newcastle 7 Bournemouth 6

Touches in the box Newcastle 32 Bournemouth 35

Newcastle team v Bournemouth: