What Newcastle United's Joelinton cheekily did against Fulham – and Eddie Howe's response

A number of incidents were highlighted after last weekend’s 1-0 win over Fulham at St James’s Park. It was claimed that goalkeeper Nick Pope had engineered a “time out” for the team requesting treatment late in the first half.

Bruno Guimaraes had his ankle strapped during the stoppage in play, while Joelinton eavesdropped on what Fulham head coach, and fellow Portuguese speaker, Marco Silva told his players during the break in play.

BBC Sport also reported that Newcastle "told the officials Fulham had 12 players on the pitch” late in the game, necessitating a game-delaying player count from the referee.

Howe was asked ahead of this afternoon’s game against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park if he was pleased that his team was becoming “savvy and streetwise”.

“I’m not sure on any of those things (the incidents during the Fulham game),” said United’s head coach. “You’ve obviously watched the game in a different way to I do. You’ve noticed different things to me. Those little things that you’ve mentioned, I haven’t seen them.

"Game management’s an important part of the game, but we want to manage the game within the rules. We’re desperate to win, and we’ll do everything we can to win, but in the right way.

"We pride ourselves on conducting ourselves in a good way, but we’re determined to win.

"I want my players to have that mentality where they’ll do anything to win, but anything, for me, consists of running, really committing to the performances, and tactically committing to the performances that we ask them to deliver.”