Laura Woods has labelled Eddie Howe as “hypocritical” following his comments about Arsenal’s timewasting antics yesterday at St. James’ Park.
Newcastle lost 2-0 to the Gunners yesterday as Mikel Arteta’s side proved that they are not going down without a fight in the title race.
It was a match full of mind games, with both sets of players getting under the skin of their opponents multiple times and after the match, Eddie Howe admitted (quotes via Talksport) that he wasn’t pleased with Arsenal’s time-wasting efforts throughout the match.
“They managed the game well from their perspective. They slowed it down, lots of breaks in play, which was frustrating for us. Naturally, we wanted the ball in play more. Especially when you’re chasing the game.”
However, this morning, Talksport Breakfast and Arsenal supporter Laura Woods claimed that the league title challengers were just giving the Magpies a taste of their own medicine.
“Howe was referencing the lack of time the ball was in play – which is a big problem across the league. But particularly with Newcastle – this stat has cropped up across social media over the weekend.
“The average delay time before goal kicks – Newcastle are bottom of that metric with 36.8 minutes. Lots of people are saying, ‘Hang on a minute, this is a bit hypocritical‘.
“I think Arsenal maybe played them at their own game.”
A win for the Magpies against Arsenal would have seen them consolidate 3rd place that little bit further before Manchester United’s game against West Ham, but with the Red Devils going on to lose to the Hammers themselves, Newcastle remain 3rd in the table, the gap between them and United still just two points.
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