'I’m pleased you brought that up': Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe slams 'nonsense' claims

Goals from Joe Willock and substitute Callum Wilson gave the third-placed club a 2-0 win over Manchester United at St James' Park this afternoon.

Visiting manager Erik ten Hag – who labelled Newcastle as “annoying” before February’s Carabao Cup final – claimed that they set about to “delay” games in his pre-match press conference.

"We know they delay, yeah, and it’s something that the refereeing (body) doesn’t want,” said Ten Hag. “They want to have tempo in the game. That is the aim of the Premier League, to have tempo in the game, so then they also have to be consistent to let the game go, and do and act what the policy is.”

Howe strongly reacted to Ten Hag’s latest comments after the win which lifted the club into third place in the Premier League.

Newcastle’s head coach said: “I’m pleased you brought that up, actually. I want to make one thing very clear – we want the ball in play. We play a quick game.

"I don’t get where this time-wasting nonsense has come from. It’s not us. You saw today. We wanted the ball back in play as quickly as possible. High energy, high tempo. Ball in play.”

Asked if the comments had got to him, Howe said: “If something’s not accurate, naturally you want to put the right points across. As I said, we want the ball in play. That’s the type of team we are.”

Howe clashed with Ten Hag on the touchline late in the game.