Nick Woltemade may be many things. He is an aerial presence, an effective linker of the play and a proven finisher. But he is not Alexander Isak. Newcastle’s struggles in front of goal continued against Bournemouth in a third successive away goalless draw in the league and Eddie Howe admitted it would take time for his team to adapt to their new striker.
“It’s a really strange occurrence, three 0-0s away from home for us,” Howe said. “We’re going to be a different team attacking-wise this year without Alex. I think that’s not why we haven’t scored in three away games but we’ll be attacking with a different emphasis. We’re evolving into a different team, hopefully a better team. That’s the plan. But it may take a bit of time.”
The threat posed by Woltemade, Newcastle’s record signing who scored on his debut against Wolves, was largely nullified by Andoni Iraola’s side but the tall Germany striker made himself a nuisance. The travelling supporters were up in arms when, after touching down Tino Livramento’s cross, the tall Germany striker appeared to have his shirt tugged by Bafodé Diakité in the penalty area but the referee, Robert Jones, was not convinced.
“My gut instinct was that it was a penalty,” Howe said. “I was adamant that it was. The fact that he was tugged and it stopped him from getting a shot off … for me, it was a clear penalty.”
Howe made seven changes to the team that started the Champions League defeat to Barcelona on Thursday as he tries to manage his priorities between four competitions. Bruno Guimarães, who had made 68 consecutive starts for Newcastle in the Premier League until this game, was an unused substitute.
“We can’t look at it as a starting XI,” Howe said of his squad rotation. “If you look at our schedule, it’s relentless. We’re playing every midweek up until Christmas, so it’s going to be the squad that carries us to success, not 11 players.”
Against a Bournemouth side who came into this off the back of three league wins and in the Champions League places, Howe deployed a back five that sat stubbornly in their own third to begin with. Iraola, ever flexible, kept the visitors guessing, switching his wingers more than once in the opening exchanges.
Tyler Adams, set up by David Brooks’s back‑heel from the right, drew the first save from Nick Pope. Brooks, this time coming in from the left, was then found by Evanilson’s cutback and finished coolly, only to be offside. Jacob Murphy, a second-half substitute against Barcelona, was Newcastle’s biggest threat. He had their best chance in the first half when he combined with Woltemade and Sandro Tonali before his shot was saved by Djordje Petrovic.
It was perhaps no surprise that, by the time the half-time whistle went, there was a feeling both teams were cancelling each other out. Howe studied Iraola’s Rayo Vallecano during his sabbatical after leaving Bournemouth; the two coaches are known to occasionally exchange text messages and take leaves out of each other’s tactics books.
In introducing Anthony Elanga and Harvey Barnes with half an hour to go, Howe was clearly looking for more cut and thrust at a ground where he is yet to win since leaving in 2020 after 11 years across two spells as manager. It was Iraola, however, who was the more agitated on the touchline. He had thrown on Justin Kluivert, the scorer of a hat-trick in this fixture at St James’ Park last season, in the hope of a goal threat. The Spaniard was particularly aggrieved when Newcastle’s Malick Thiaw, who had just received a yellow card for handball, escaped another moments later for a cynical foul on Ryan Christie. Thiaw was withdrawn a couple of minutes later.
“I think it’s a second yellow. It’s quite clear,” Iraola said. “They subbed him straight away – they took him out the next minute, at the first chance they had.”
After dummying the free-kick that came from Thiaw’s foul, Kluivert was not going to pass up the opportunity to have a strike at goal when Bournemouth were awarded one in shooting range in stoppage time. The Dutchman’s powerful but low effort was batted away by Pope to preserve a point for Newcastle that leaves them in 13th. After Barcelona and Bournemouth, it is Bradford up next for Howe’s side as they begin the defence of their Carabao Cup title. The changes will surely be rung again.
