Suddenly everything counts, every game has something riding on it heavily… | OneFootball

“Jamie, it’s Mark, are you OK to do the match report?”

“Eh, what you talking about I’ve done it! Sent you two in the last few days”

“No there’s an early kick-off today. Have you been drinking again?”

*Sound of door clacking in the wind during desperate pelt to the bus stop.

The above interaction is of course, fictional. It does feel magnificently regular though, as the January blues have been offset by a constant supply of Newcastle games, with the smashing additional factor of nine straight wins these past 35 days.

There’s a problem though, that comes with such positivity. Suddenly everything counts, every game has something riding on it heavily and defeat would feel extra deflating were it to arrive.

In the scheme of the history of the Premier League, home to Bournemouth is a fixture that, with all due respect, you’d consider a great opportunity to extend your winning run. We have to assess the reality though, which is that Bournemouth came here on a hell of a run of their own, unbeaten in their last ten and eighth in the table, a mere four points off our Champions League positioned selves.

Then there’s the Howe factor. Our manager had yet to taste success against his former club in the Premier League, with a fairly scrappy success on the run to the 2023 League Cup final the only positive, with a disjointed game settled by a single own goal.

So, with nerves abound in the first place given our current standard, there was actual evidence to fear this one. Even with a level-headed approach, I doubt anyone fully expected what was to follow.

The early exchanges set the tone for a difficult afternoon. Dubravka had to pull of a point blank save to deny Bournemouth opening the scoring within three minutes, but it turned out, he was merely delaying the inevitable. Justin Kluivert has to cope with the perma-tag of “son of Patrick”, but it was always going to be mentioned when facing his dad’s only Premier League club. He set about making an impact firmly in his own right in this game. With six minutes gone, Kluivert found himself in space to smash in the opener from Semenyo’s cutback.

This was a reflection of Bournemouth’s dominant opening that suggested Iraola had done his homework on how to beat Newcastle. They combined a high press with a solid block at the back, but the alarming factor was how hard they chased down every ball, harrying our previously peerless midfield into loose passes and rushed decisions. They seemed to out-Newcastle Newcastle, looking livelier and fitter than the home side. This could have been down to the sheer volume and intensity of recent matches catching up with United, or even influenced by our Wednesday night match being less suited to the early kick off than Bournemouth playing on Tuesday, but there’s something to work on here for next time.

There was a bit of fight put in by United and an equaliser suggested we may have ridden the early storm and be set to take hold of the game. I had just berated Gordon for failing to beat the first man at a corner, when the corner this effort earned was well delivered by Hall to pick Bruno out to direct a header across Kepa. Bit of a collectors item that one.

Unfortunately, the pace of the game still favoured Bournemouth and in the moments approaching half-time the moment came that cost the game. United had failed to realise that playing out from the back was coming up short and Burn’s pass into Bruno led to the Brazilian taking a touch too many and being dispossessed. Kluivert was on the spot again to drive a composed finish past Dubravka in what was the first “Pope might well have saved that” moment of his recent run in the side.

The half-time change of Schar for Botman was intended to address the playing out issue, while giving Botman some recovery following his return from injury. Burn was having his worst game of an excellent season, so may have been a more obvious withdrawal. Hopefully it was a case of looking after Sven and not any further issue.

It didn’t seem like the same could be said for Murphy, who hobbled off to be replaced by Willock midway through the half. The hope here had to be that Murphy recovers quick enough, to not make Howe think that selling Almiron is a risk, as it feels like receiving a fee for Miggy will be useful in getting some reinforcements in within PSR, either in the summer or (less likely) in the days ahead.

The Cherries thought they’d stretched their lead just before this, only for the VAR to rescue us following confirmation the ball had gone out of play in the build-up. I can only imagine the overreaction of Arsenal fans on social media to this (correct) decision.

Moments came and went but Bournemouth were defending deep, with Isak constantly turning up on the right wing or the halfway line in a bid to get himself in the game. The best efforts were wild digs from distance from Tonali and Gordon, with the latter’s stunning volley from the edge of the box beautifully struck but never likely to get through the twenty bodies in the penalty area.

Gordon was involved in the killer moment, as his poor pass across the front of his own box allows Kluivert time to smash in his best finish of the day to secure his hat-trick. This was the second dispiriting hat-trick from an unexpected opponent in recent times, with former Mag Chris Wood the culprit last time, before a former Mag’s son did the damage today. Beware the connections of the next unexpected assassin.

Insult was added to injury as Kerkez steamed forward to smash in a fourth deep into injury time, but despite United being second best in all departments, this did feel like a slightly unfair tint to the scoreline.

Without Burn and Bruno”s dalliance for goal number two, this could have been a different second half without United chasing the game in a manner that led to this late collapse. As it stood though, this was the heaviest defeat at St James’ Park since an all-conquering Man City side won 4-0 against a post-Bruce team that Eddie had yet to fully reinvigorate at Christmas in 2021. I wonder if Eddie will ever get over what has become a bogey issue with his former club.

This has to be taken with perspective. I heard someone say after the game this was the worst performance of the season, which is not the case. The West Ham game saw Newcastle fail to complete the basics against a weak side with a lame duck manager, when they should have performed far better after an international break. This was a well drilled, highly competitive opponent that took advantage of their chances at a time when we were starting to look fatigued after some big challenges.

The good news here is that this game brings the end to that intense twice a week period. We have two clear midweeks to recover from recent excesses, punctuated by a single fixture. Without tempting fate, the nature of that fixture can only be a positive, facing a Southampton side that is shaping up to be one of the worst the Premier League has ever seen.

Suddenly, this game becomes huge, as it’s a golden opportunity to rest, recover and go again, making this result a one-off aberration as opposed to a spiral into a run of misery. It’s highly likely that Chelsea will take the point required from Wolves to send us back to fifth, but that’s still close to certain to be a Champions League slot if we can recover to the form that put us there in the first place.

Crucially, we can look to get back on track to complete the job against Arsenal and return to Wembley, a possibility that may dwarf any potential positive league finish.

One to forget, hopefully in a few weeks it will be long behind us.

Newcastle 1 Bournemouth 4 – Saturday 18 January 2025 12.30pm

Goals:

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:

Dubravka, Livramento, Botman (Schar 46), Burn, Hall (Trippier 66), Tonali, Joelinton, Bruno (Osula 90+1), Murphy (Willock 66), Isak, Gordon

Unused subs:

Vlachodimos, Almiron, Kelly, Longstaff, Lewis Miley

(This is excellent from Eddie Howe – Exactly what I expected – Read HERE)

(Newcastle 1 Bournemouth 4 – Match ratings and comments on all Newcastle United players – Read HERE)

(The usual suspects embarrassing themselves after Bournemouth 1 Newcastle 4 – Read HERE)

(All good things must come to and end – Newcastle 1 Bournemouth 4 – Read HERE)

Newcastle United upcoming matches:

Saturday 25 January – Southampton v Newcastle (3pm)

Saturday 1 February – Newcastle v Fulham (3pm)

Wednesday 5 February – Newcastle v Arsenal (8pm) Sky Sports (League Cup)

Saturday 8 February – Birmingham v Newcastle (5.45pm) BBC1 and BBC iPlayer (FA Cup)

Saturday 15 February – Man City v Newcastle (3pm)