Newcastle: Eddie Howe’s biggest Newcastle challenge yet? Can he survive?
Long periods of time, which are rare on training fields, do not lead to an improvement in results after easing off a non-stop program.
Howe once again based his team selection on what he had seen throughout the week, selecting Newcastle’s youngest starting 11 in a Premier League match since 2005, with an average age of 24 years and 191 days.
Although captain Bruno Guimaraes would have started had he been fit enough after recovering from illness and injury, it was notable that not a single member of Howe’s leadership group was available after Nick Pope, Dan Burn, Trippier and Jacob Murphy were named among the substitutes.
The formidable £124million forwards of Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa also had to make do with places on the bench.
William Osula once again justified the call with his second goal in two games, but Newcastle became an increasingly reckless team, lacking aggression, quality and ideas.
They also leak rears, which is a dangerous combination for all the wrong reasons.
Even after Newcastle equalized through Osula midway through the second half, Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola told his players from the touchline “not to panic”.
When Truffert put the ball in the net late on, he knew he still had time to make one more change.
Truffert was one of a series of smart signings Bournemouth made last summer as the club rebuilt in stellar fashion following the sales of Dean Huijsen, Milos Kerkez, Illia Zabarnyi and others.
Newcastle, on the contrary, is still going through a bad period.
Not only are Newcastle failing to see a big return from the £100m+ net recruitment campaign in which Howe was heavily involved.
Newcastle are still searching for a permanent solution after striker Alexander Isak pushed to join Liverpool last summer.
Over the course of a grueling season, Howe moved from Woltemade to Wissa, then to Anthony Gordon and now Osula, who came close to joining Eintracht Frankfurt on deadline day last September.
It sums up Howe’s desperate search for a formula as his future comes under increasing scrutiny.
“It’s disappointing that you can’t serve your fans,” he said.
“When you feel like you let the people who came here and supported us, that’s the biggest disappointment.
“If they criticize us, we have to accept that this is the game we are in.”
