Newcastle United’s impressive response to Arsenal’s ‘time-wasting’ tactics

Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe refused to dwell on Arsenal’s time-wasting tactics following his side’s 2-0 defeat at St James’ Park.

The Magpies suffered just their second home defeat of the 2022-23 Premier League campaign courtesy of a long-range strike from Martin Odegaard and an own by Fabian Schar.

United started the game brightly as Jacob Murphy hit the inside of the post. Referee Chris Kavanagh then awarded a penalty after Bruno Guimaraes’ shot hit the arm of Jackub Kiwior but Kavanagh overturned his decision at the pitchside monitor.

The delay in reaching a decision halted Newcastle’s early momentum. From then on, the Gunners noticeably ran down the clock, namely through goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, and forced numerous stoppages.

But rather than criticise Arsenal’s approach, Howe was more focused on discovering what went wrong for his players. He said: “They [Arsenal] managed the game well from their perspective. They slowed it down with lots of breaks of play which was frustrating for us.

“Naturally, we wanted the ball in play more, especially when you’re chasing the game but we can’t control that - that’s the referee’s job. What we can control is our ability to take our chances and possibly defend better than what we did today.”

Asked if he felt Arteta’s side were deliberately slowing the game down, Howe replied: “That’s a difficult one for me to answer. It was frustrating from our perspective as we wanted to keep the ball in play and keep our rhythm.

“It was very stop-start and that of course suits the away team. As the home team, you want the ball in play.”

Arsenal became only the third team - after Manchester City and Liverpool - to beat Newcastle at St James’ Park since Howe was appointed head coach in November 2018.

The visitors moved to within one point of league leaders Man City. United, meanwhile, remain just three points ahead of fifth place Liverpool as the race for Champions League qualification takes a nervy turn.

“Teams will look at this as a really tough game for them, I would if I were an opposing manager,” said Howe. “You have a lot to contend with, not just the team but the crowd and everything that goes with it.

“I don’t want to go too much into the game management side, I want to look at our performance and how we can improve. That’s certainly what I’ll do.

“I’m aware of what you’re discussing and that happened in the game, everyone who watched the game could see it but we need to control what we can control.”

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