Fair play to Bournemouth. In an era where money talks and massive clubs devour all before them, the Cherries approach their 5th consecutive season (and their tenth overall) with Europe to look forward to and an apparently solid set up.
On the other hand, I could be honest and say I’m sick of Bournemouth.
The novelty has worn off, and I may come across as bitter and twisted here, but I find consistent struggles against well run smaller clubs hard to swallow, as tens of thousands of home fans trudge off disappointed while small handfuls of hardy Dorset folk leave St James’ Park with something for the fifth season on the bounce.
Yes they’ve exited both cups here in that time, but the hope that Eddie Howe’s curse against his old club in the Premier League might have left with him, was extinguished in extremely frustrating fashion here.
One of those garbage early kick offs never help the mood (I’m sure this lot have used that against us previously) but I took advantage of the early start to take my kids for breakfast in the town.
A small wind started blowing and they both claimed to be underprepared in short-sleeved United shirts, so I was instantly fleeced for a pair of training tops/hoodies at the club shop that clearly weren’t needed on what turned into a nice warm afternoon.
Photo by Jamie Smith via The Mag
If anyone is out there contemplating having children, take my advice and get yourself tons and tons of money first.
Luckily I clawed a bit back by getting a few half price drinks, on offer in SJP (sometimes you’ve got to spend more to save more).
This game had not been going very long before it put me in a bad mood. Anthony Elanga went on a run that saw his attempted centre blocked out for a corner. This was then given as a goal kick by a referee who was setting about to ruin the game and everyone’s weekend but United hit back from the kick, Elanga on the ball again only to be grappled to the floor in a monstrous assault. The ref decided not to give another obvious decision and instead kept playing until Bournemouth scored, which some sloppy defending allowed them to do immediately, Tavernier getting on the end of a deflected effort from Scott. Crowd and players turned on the official who seemed bent on making himself the centre of attention in a week when former official Mike Dean gleefully revealed how he would ruin Premier League matches in order to play stupid little games of his own within matches. He was a disgrace today.
The rest of the match saw Bournemouth utterly kill the game. We have used football’s dark arts to our advantage in recent times, as have many others, but Bournemouth weren’t even trying. No attempt to draw a foul and make the most of it, they just kept chucking themselves over without any real initiation of contact in a style reminiscent of Football Italia on Channel 4 in the 90s. The incompetent Rob Jones allows this every time, with the clincher for me being Wissa doing tremendously well to release Barnes on goal, only for a Bournemouth play actor to sprawl randomly next to him and their manager to screech off the bench for some very active cheating. The hapless Jones both gave the foul and booked Wissa.
By now things had advanced a bit. United fell 2-0 behind and this game looked lost. For all my moaning about the officials and the undignified opposition, make no mistake United were not playing well and architects of their own downfall in this instance. Failure to stem a visiting attack saw Kluivert hit the post and while Hornicek was alert to scramble it clear, yet another spawny deflection from Alex Scott undid us, with Thiaw’s block diverting it unfortunately into the top corner.
This could have been game over but the arrears were instantly reduced as Lewis Hall put Barnes through in space and he curled a rather magnificent effort past Petrovic into the postage stamp.
Photo by The Mag
With United still in touch, the second half saw some attacking impetus added including a debut for Matias Fernandez-Pardo. The Belgian went on a tremendous mazy run that was halted by another miscarriage of justice as Smith shamefully threw himself down and the incapable Jones gave another shocking call Bournemouth’s way. Smith milked it for a while on the ground before obviously being absolutely fine and shout out to whoever it was on the East Stand who pelted a stray ball at him as he went to take a throw in later.
There was to be a degree of justice in the dying moments as Murphy’s cross ended up falling to Barnes. His shot was blocked but broke for Ramsey to produce an excellent cool finish, passing it into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
The addition of six minutes gave hope with United’s tails up but Dedic’s wild free kick put paid to any hope of three points. It may even have been more than we deserved on an afternoon when several were off their game, with Botman, Miley and Elanga all turning in performances that would have suggested the previous night spent in Julie’s if this had been an early kick off in the 90s.
To take the positives, this was a game we’d have lost last season and from 2-0 down it’s a point gained. However, had the game been allowed to play out properly and fairly, some confidence may have been gained as it progressed, instead of the knocker of the opposition being gifted a head start.
At least the unbeaten start is maintained and a cup tie against an injury ravaged Millwall looks a good opportunity to get back among the wins and keep the Jaissle train going. On to the next one.
Match Stats
Goals:
Barnes 37, Ramsey 88
Bournemouth:
Tavernier 9, Thiaw OG 35
Possession was Newcastle 57% Bournemouth 43%
Total shots were Newcastle 8 Bournemouth 17
Shots on target were Newcastle 2 Bournemouth 5
Corners were Newcastle 4 Bournemouth 3
Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 19 Bournemouth 23
Newcastle team v Bournemouth:
Hornicek, Dedic, Thiaw, Botman, Hall (Livramento 90), Lewis Miley (Ramsey 63), Gonzalez (Steur 77), Elanga (Murphy 78), Barnes, Willock (Fernandez-Pardo 63), Wissa
Unused subs:
Pope, Schar, Bamba, Toure
🎙️ THE MAG PODCAST
THE NEW MAG POD IS LIVE!
Join Jamie, Simon and Hutch as they take a deep dive into everything Newcastle United.
| Spotify | Apple Podcasts |
| Amazon Music | Acast |