Howe on the good, bad and VAR error from Newcastle's 0-0 draw at Bournemouth

A drab affair down south saw us share the points with AFC Bournemouth after another 0-0 draw away from home.

Eddie Howe named a much-changed XI, seven different faces in total from the Champions League clash against Barcelona, in a hope to end our recent bad run of form against the Cherries.

But similar to the draw against Leeds United earlier in September, neither side could muster up any chances, and we can perhaps be happy to take away a point against another one of our bogey teams.

Here’s what Howe had to say after today’s stalemate at the Vitality Stadium.

On today’s overall performance

With today’s result, we’ve become the first side in Premier League history to record three 0-0 draws in our opening three away games of a campaign.

Coupled with Howe now failing to defeat Bournemouth in seven attempts as our manager, and today’s result will make for very disappointing reading within the fanbase.

And the boss similarly isn’t happy with neither the result nor his team’s performance, saying:

“We know Bournemouth are a really good team. We limited them to long shots and Nick (Pope) made some good saves. We didn't get our attacking game going.”

“Naturally we will be a different team without Alex (Isak), we will be attacking with a different emphasis.”

“It's not good. You want to create chances and clear-cut chances. I didn't feel that in our performance.”

“It didn't feel that in our performance. We are going through one of those phases where it's hard to score away from home.”

With our attacking threat almost non-existent, the game recorded the lowest combined xG we’ve seen in the league this season, beating our own game against Leeds for the ‘honour’.

On positive defensive display

Despite our attacking woes in recent weeks, our defensive work looks to be back to its best.

With a fourth clean sheet in five Premier League games, and the welcome inclusion of Lewis Hall, Sven Botman and Malick Thiaw into the matchday XI, we’re looking as good and stubborn as ever at the back.

“Defensively we were good. You want to see the team defending our box well.”

“We were strong, robust. We didn't create the amount of chances we would want but it's a really hard place to come.”

“If you look at the games we've played, it's not by luck we've kept these clean sheets. We weren't as aggressive but it was a mixture of Wednesday and getting the best out of our players.”

On controversial Woltemade penalty call

Early in the second half, Woltemade finally looked to have an influence in the game, establishing himself as a big threat to the Bournemouth defence.

And perhaps the biggest moment of the entire contest came when the German saw his shirt pulled in the box by Diakite, denying him a potential goalscoring opportunity.

Both the on-field decision and subsequent VAR check ruled against us, but Howe wasn’t so sure that it was the correct call When told about how the lack of ‘sustained holding’ was the PGMOL justification for the referee’s call, Howe responded:

“My gut instinct was a penalty. I was adamant it was. He was tugged & pulled & it stopped him getting a shot off.”

“I need to see it again before I make a clear opinion. I’m only going off my gut instinct, and usually your gut instinct’s not far away.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11LJjMe5Ojs