Eddie Howe fires ‘nonsense’ dig at Erik ten Hag as Newcastle United dominate Manchester United

Eddie Howe has strongly hit back at Erik ten Hag after the Manchester United boss suggested Newcastle United were good time wasters.

The Dutchman described the Magpies as an “annoying team” ahead of the Carabao Cup in February.

“The key word is intensity, they do really well, but they’re an annoying team to play against, so we have to find a way to win,” ten Hag said. They try to annoy you. We have to play our game and focus on our game.”

When it was suggested the Magpies are “annoying” for their apparent time-wasting, Ten Hag, in the same press conference, replied: “Yeah. For instance, so if you see from the FA, the referees want to play an effective time.

“They have the lowest in the league and they are quite successful with it. So it’s up to us that we get speed in the game and we are also then dependent on the refereeing as well.”

In the build-up to this afternoon’s match at St James’ Park, where the Magpies won 2-0 after second-half goals from Joe Willock and substitute Callum Wilson, ten Hag fuelled the fire again.

“Concern? We know they delay, yeah,” he said on Friday. “It’s something that is what the refereeing doesn’t want, they want to have tempo in the game, that is the aim of the Premier League, so they have to be consistent to let the game go and act what the policy is.”

And after watching his side dominate Man United, Howe was in the mood to hit back. “I’m pleased you brought that up actually because I want to make one thing very clear, we want the ball in play,” the Magpies’ boss said. “We want a quick game.

“I don’t get where this time-wasting nonsense has come from because it’s not us and you saw today, we wanted the ball back in play as quickly as possible. High energy, high tempo.

“I’ll always stand up for my team. I’ll always stand up for what I believe is right, and that’s what I’ll always do.

He added: “I think if something’s not accurate then naturally you want to put the right point across. As I said, we want the ball in play, that’s the type of team we are.”

Newcastle’s win at St James’ Park saw them leapfrog the Red Devils into third in the Premier League table.