‘No he didn’t’: Eddie Howe says Alexander Isak didn’t play anywhere near his best on Saturday but didn’t blame him | NUFC Feed
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Newcastle United were humbled at home by Bournemouth on Saturday with the Cherries taking full advantage of a Newcastle side who were well off the pace.
The hectic schedule finally caught up with Eddie Howe’s men on Saturday as every player who stepped onto the hallowed turf wearing black and white looked miles off their best selves.
Seeing Lewis Hall step in front of a Bournemouth forward (I can’t remember who it was, and I don’t want to subject myself to any highlights to look it up) only to be immediately muscled off the ball was the warning sign that it was going to be a hard day.
Bournemouth had a yard of pace on every Newcastle man. They fought for everything and won while our lads looked dead on their feet.
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The face says it all
Eddie Howe said that everyone was poor yesterday – we agree
As well as Newcastle’s winning run coming to an end, so too did Alexander Isak’s run of scoring in consecutive games, and when asked after the game (via The Northern Echo) whether Isak played to his usual levels, Eddie Howe didn’t mince his words but also didn’t place the blame solely at Isak’s feet.
“No, he didn’t. But I think he suffered as the team suffered, suffered from a lack of ball. I just think Bournemouth knocked our rhythm and all our normal way of playing was knocked.
“I don’t think any department survived, I don’t think any individuals survived in the sense of the levels they had been playing at previously. I don’t think we were there.”
Southampton are up next … surely we have to get back to winning ways
It’s impossible for Isak to have a good game if he has to come so deep just to get a touch of the ball and that’s what was happening yesterday.
We just discussed our player ratings this morning (we couldn’t handle it yesterday) and when your star man gets a 6/10 you know it has been a bad day.
At least we have a week until the next fixture against rock-bottom Southampton. It may be an away game, but if we don’t win that one then PSR be damned. Get stuck into that transfer market and get Eddie some squad depth!
