EDDIE HOWE admits he was “left frustrated” by Arsenal’s time-wasting tactics during Newcastle United’s 2-0 defeat at St James’ Park.
Whereas Newcastle have previously been criticised for running down the clock this season, the boot was on the other foot this afternoon as Arsenal’s players broke up the rhythm of the game with a series of stoppages.
Granit Xhaka, in particular, repeatedly went down for treatment, while Aaron Ramsdale seemed to take an age with every goal kick. Yet at no stage did referee Chris Kavanagh suggest he was about to clamp down on the visitors’ approach.
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Howe said: “It was frustrating from our perspective. We wanted the ball the play, we wanted to find our rhythm. It was very stop-start.
“That was suiting, of course, the away team. As the home team, you want the ball in play, so it was frustrating in that sense for us, definitely.
“They managed the game well from their perspective. They slowed it down, lots of breaks in play, frustrating for us. Naturally we wanted the ball in play more especially when you are chasing the game.
“But we have to look at what we can control. We can't control that, that's the referee's job. What we can control is out ability to take our chances, and possibly defend better than we did today.”
Unsurprisingly, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta saw things differently, praising his side’s character and resilience as they withstood an early Newcastle barrage before running out two-goal winners.
When asked whether his side had purposefully wasted time, Arteta said: “For sure, our team is not like that.
“I don’t even want to get close to that conversation with the game we had to play today. We have done what we had to do to win the game and I am very happy with that.”
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