Eddie Howe makes Alexander Isak claim after double Newcastle United Premier League blow
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After scoring in each of his last eight Premier League appearances, Isak failed to register a shot on target as Newcastle were beaten 4-1 by Bournemouth. Bruno Guimaraes scored a header for Newcastle as a Justin Kluivert hat-trick and a Milos Kerkez strike in stoppage time saw The Cherries run out as convincing winners.
Isak went into the match as the most in-form striker in Europe but was kept quiet by Bournemouth’s defence at St James’ Park as The Magpies’ nine-game winning run came to a disappointing end.
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Hide AdHead coach Eddie Howe admitted his striker ‘suffered’ along with his team.
“No, he didn't [have chances],” Howe said. “I think he suffered as the team suffered from a lack of ball.
“But I think just Bournemouth knocked our rhythm and all our normal way of playing was knocked.
“As I said, I don't think any department survived, I don't think any individuals survived in the sense of the levels they had been playing at previously. I don't think we were there.”
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Hide AdHowe pointed to ‘fatigue’ as a reason why Newcastle’s performance levels were not what they had been in recent matches. The Bournemouth game marked The Magpies’ 10th game in little over a month.
“My initial assessment is fatigue – and that's not making excuses,” Howe added. “As I say, Bournemouth were better than us and we have to accept that. But I think from our viewpoint, probably the three games in six days, we just looked lacking in that sharpness and that sprinting work that they had and we didn't.
“We've lost three points, but its maybe an important marker for us to go, 'You drop your level against anybody at this level and you will get punished'.
“That's the first time we've done that in a long time. We've been very, very good home and away, our collective qualities have been there on show. They weren't there today.
“I don't think any of our game survived, really. I thought we were off in every department and when you perform like that, invariably you're not going to get anything from the game.”
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