ED’S DONE FOUR
Howe vows to battle on but Cherries look doomed after dismal display
DEFIANT Eddie Howe insisted Bournemouth can still beat the drop even after a disastrous night at the Vitality Stadium.
The Cherries are now one place off the bottom of the table and look doomed with just six games left.
Dwight Gayle, Sean Longstaff, Manuel Almiron and Valentino Lazaro condemned their hosts to a third defeat in three games since the restart.
“It was a really disappointing night,” said boss Howe (above). “We never recovered from the early goal. It was a tough one to take. I still believe we can get out of this, I believe in the group. We take tonight on the chin.”
Next up is Saturday’s visit to Manchester United, then Tottenham, Leicester and Manchester City. Ominous in normal times, yet alone in this dreadful run.
So something was needed against a Newcastle team mired in takeover wrangles, but safe in mid-table.
Yet with only four minutes played, Jefferson Lerma lost the ball to Longstaff, Allan Saintmaximin played Dwight Gayle through, and he drilled his shot home.
Howe put his hands on his head. It was the 16th time in 32 games that his team had conceded the first goal. And they rarely come back.
If they were going to create anything it was only ever going to come from David Brooks, who showed some neat touches. But their defence was horribly fragile. And gloom
45%
BOURNEMOUTH: Ramsdale 6, Smith 5, S Cook 5 (Mepham 79, 6), Ake 6, Kelly 6, Brooks 6 (H Wilson 61, 6), Billing 5 (L Cook 46, 6), Lerma 5 (Gosling 75, 6), Danjuma 6 (Stanislas 61, 6), King 6, Solanke 5 NEWCASTLE: Dubravka 7, Kraft 7, Lascelles 7, Fernandez 7, Manquillo 7 (Yedlin 72, 6), Shelvey 7, Bentaleb 7, MOTM Saint-maximin 8 (Lazaro 61, 6), Longstaff 7 (Almiron 33, 6), Joelinton 7 (Hayden 72, 6), Gayle 7 (Carroll 61, 6)
REFEREE: Kevin Friend deepened at a ground devoid of the atmosphere Bournemouth thrive on when Saint-maximin beat three defenders, reached the byline and pulled the ball back for Longstaff to thump in.
The home side simply never got to grips with the tricky Saint-maximin, who again turned provider when he played a ball inside to Almiron, who had acres of space to finish in style. Dominic Solanke struck a post for the Cherries and Brooks the bar, but Toon sub Lazaro raced on to Jonjo Shelvey’s pass to make it 4-0.
Dan Gosling scrambled in an injury-time reply for the Cherries. It was barely a gesture and Lazaro still had time to hit the bar.
Delighted Newcastle boss Steve Bruce said: “That is arguably our best performance of the season.
“If we can get into the top 10 that would be a great achievement after a lot of people wrote us off. That just makes me roll my sleeves up and show them. It was a bit disrespectful. But it spurs you on.”
Yes, there are still six games left for Howe and his men - but miracles in football are rare.