Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe was not pleased with the behaviour of United colleague Erik ten Hag after the victory over Manchester United. The Dutchman complained in the closing minutes about the home team’s alleged wasting of time.
Howe corrects ‘nonsensical’ Ten Hag after colliding on the sidelines
A few minutes before the end, Ten Hag and Howe got into a fight on the sidelines. It was then 1-0 for Newcastle and United had just brought in three new players. After Newcastle had also made a substitution and goalkeeper Nick Pope took a lot of time to take a goal kick, according to Ten Hag, the Dutchman expressed his displeasure to the fourth official.
The way in which Ten Hag did that irritated Howe and the Newcastle bench. The day before the game, the United manager announced at a press conference that he expected Howe’s team to waste time when it would suit them.
Those words weighed in on Howe’s irritation. “I want to make one thing clear. We are a team that always wants to keep the ball in play. I have no idea where this nonsense about time wasting comes from,” Howe said at the press conference afterwards. “We always play with a high intensity and at a high tempo. That also means that we like to have the ball.”
Howe confronted Ten Hag
Howe confronted Ten Hag, after which United assistant Steve McClaren kept both managers apart. “I always stand up for my players and for issues that are close to my heart. If I notice that someone is doing or saying something that is not right, then I also want to make my point. We fully deserved to win this game. This match is a blueprint of how we want to play as a team,” Howe said.
Ten Hag also briefly discussed the incident after the defeat. “It was a moment in the heat of the moment and we shouldn’t make it bigger. We then focused on managing our teams again,” says Ten Hag.
“It could and should have been 7-0”
BBC analyst and Newcastle United icon Alan Shearer came back on Twitter on Monday to the incident between Howe and Ten Hag. The former top striker also said that “it could and should have been 7-0”. Shearer also responded directly to a cynical tweet from the Newcastle United account about the alleged time-wasting.
