Newcastle United headed to AFC Bournemouth on Sunday in Premier League motion nonetheless bruised from their slim 2-1 defeat within the Champions League by the hands of Barcelona.
With such a fast turnaround since Thursday’s defeat, too, Eddie Howe needed to make 5 alterations to his beginning XI for the journey to the Cherries, with none of those recent alterations coming in to information the Toon to a much-needed win, sadly.
As a substitute, the much-changed Magpies would unconvincingly stumble to a 0-0 draw on the street, with Joe Willock, particularly, not banging the door down for extra first-team minutes going ahead, primarily based on his poor show.
Willock’s no-show vs Bournemouth
In reality, it was a flat efficiency everywhere in the pitch from Howe’s guests, with solely a weak 4 photographs registered all match by the Toon, through the drab stalemate.
Worryingly, Willock confirmed no signal of being energetic all through, regardless of the ex-Arsenal man being handed his first Premier League begin of the season, as Howe made all these adjustments.
The colourful livewire that after netted eight targets from simply 13 league begins through the 2020/21 season is now lengthy gone, with Willock really managing to register fewer touches of the ball than Nick Pope in between the sticks, as a forgettable 32 touches of the ball had been tallied up throughout his hour or so on the pitch, subsequent to Pope’s 42, per Sofascore.
With simply 12 correct passes notched up from the center of the park, too, it is no nice shock that the closely rotated Newcastle that took to the pitch seemed so limp in assault when there was a whole lack of inventive aptitude coming from the declining 26-year-old.
After all, the attackers fielded by Howe additionally must take their portion of the blame after firing blanks all through on the South Coast, as one other underperforming member of the involved supervisor’s beginning XI worries about his first-team minutes shifting ahead.
The Newcastle flop who ought to be dropped
It was a troublesome day on the workplace for the Newcastle ahead gamers, however Jacob Murphy did handle to indicate some flashes of his high quality right here and there.
In all equity, the long-standing Magpies servant seemed considerably vivid for his hour run-out in opposition to Andoni Iraola’s stern hosts, with Murphy at the least coming away from the bore draw with a shot heading in the right direction registered, on prime of additionally finishing a dribble when making an attempt to catch out the Cherries defence.
It will, nevertheless, be considered one of Murphy’s attacking companions for the day in Nick Woltemade, who would notably battle all through, regardless of loads of reward coming the ex-Stuttgart centre-forward’s approach earlier than the match bought underway.
In any case, it is not as if the 6 foot 6 monster has the stress of trying to interrupt his Magpies duck weighing down on him, with a debut purpose coming his approach within the Premier League versus Wolverhampton Wanderers when he graced the St James’ Park turf.
Woltemade’s efficiency in numbers | |
|---|---|
Stat | Woltemade |
Minutes performed | 84 |
Targets scored | 0 |
Assists | 0 |
Touches | 37 |
Photographs | 0 |
Correct passes | 12/18 (67%) |
Possession misplaced | 19x |
Complete duels gained | 4/14 |
Stats by Sofascore | |
But, away from grappling nicely in a single occasion when having his shirt pulled by a Bournemouth man for a possible penalty, it was very a lot a forgettable second outing for Woltemade within the top-flight, as is illustrated within the desk above.
It would all centre on the mountain man looking for some consistency shifting ahead, along with his capturing boots presumably forgetting to be packed for the lengthy journey all the way down to the South Coast, as Woltemade did not register a single significant shot on the residence aspect’s purpose.
Much more concerningly, the below-par quantity 27 additionally struggled to place his towering body to good use, with solely 4 of his 14 duels being efficiently gained, per Sofascore.
Willock, at the least, got here away from his shoddy exhibiting with six duels gained below his belt, with Woltemade additionally dropping possession 19 occasions, whereas his midfield teammate gave up the ball simply 9 occasions. Regardless of all these worrying numbers, the German can be handed a 6/10 post-match score by Newcastle World’s Jordan Cronin, though Cronin did state that his efficiency “dipped” within the second 45 minutes.
After ringing the adjustments to attempt to freshen his aspect up didn’t work, it might nicely be that Howe reverts to what he is aware of extra for Newcastle’s upcoming contest within the league in opposition to Arsenal, with Willock liable to being dropped in opposition to his former aspect, alongside Woltemade probably sitting the conflict out again on residence soil.
