Soccer
Matthias Jaissle takes positives as Newcastle battle back against Bournemouth
Matthias Jaissle took the positives after his Newcastle side battled back from 2-0 down against Bournemouth to claim a 2-2 draw and extend their unbeaten start to the season.
After a draw against Liverpool and a win at Tottenham, the feelgood factor around St James’ Park looked set to be punctured as Marcus Tavernier’s strike and Malick Thiaw’s own goal put the Cherries on top.
However, Evanilson and Tavernier failed to capitalise on loose Newcastle defending and Harvey Barnes gave Newcastle a lifeline before half-time with a wonderful curling strike from the left.
Bournemouth’s habit of conceding late on reared its head again as Jacob Ramsey side-footed home in the 88th minute following a scramble in the area to give Newcastle a hard-earned point.
“I am really happy at seeing the reaction after we were 2-0 down. It doesn’t happen (coming back to equalise) very often in the Premier League against such a strong opponent,” Jaissle said.
“I think that is something we can really build on. The lads showed big character, big personality and big commitment, and the desire to try to win this game was clear to see right to the end.
“We are still unbeaten at the start of the season. With the calibre of teams we have faced, that is a strong statement.
“When you see so many young lads in the squad, there will be ups and downs within a game. You saw that today, but the most important thing is that the learning curve is there.”
Both of Newcastle’s shots on target went in and the same thing happened in their 2-0 win at Spurs last weekend.
“It doesn’t worry me,” Jaissle said. “That’s something that shows where we have potential. There is another statistic, at least before the match, that shows we were the best team at blocking the shots.
“You need to be really involved in protecting your goal, so that is something really important as well.
“Offensive-wise, there are elements to improve. Often today, the final pass was missing. We didn’t find the free player. It is always better to get a point and see potential to improve.”
Bournemouth had conceded three times after the 80th minute in their first two games – surrendering a lead to lose at Manchester City in their curtain-raiser then drawing at home to Everton last weekend.
While they are now unbeaten in nine league matches against Newcastle, Cherries head coach Marco Rose admitted that finding a way to stop conceding at the death is a top priority.
“We are not happy about it and we have to change it but believe me, everyone here wants to win games,” Rose said. “It’s a phase we need to stop and we stop it the best way with a win.
“I never had the feeling that they put so much pressure on us or that we were really in trouble. They had more possession, yes, but in the end they had two shots on target and we conceded two goals.
“But we have to keep the energy, the confidence and the belief in the way we want to play.”
