Attacking struggles exposed again but seals valuable point

Pope's performance

- By LEE RYDER

AT one stage of this abject spectacle on the South Coast, £69million man Nick Woltemade pointed to his feet to make his expectations crystal clear to his Newcastle United teammates.

For a player that many of us naturally assumed would be United’s new target man at 6ft 6in, it was an important and standout feature of an instantly forgettable affair.

Chants of “what a waste of money” from home fans were harsh on the big man, but he cut a frustrated figure as he was subbed in the dying embers of this stalemate.

After all, he’s struggled to get a decent ball into his path either in the air or on the ground and you'd struggle to fill a postcard from Boscombe beach with any attacking notes from this toothless display.

That’s the negative part out of the way, on a brighter note this is still a handy point for Newcastle against a Bournemouth team that would have gone second had they nicked it.

That they didn’t was largely down to Nick Pope who grabbed his fourth clean sheet from five Premier League matches to suggest he is still at international standard with England watching ahead of next summer's World Cup.

The Magpies started with a 3-5-2 formation at the Vitality Stadium with Dan Burn, Sven Botman and Malick Thiaw lining up as the three centre-backs.

Newcastle's rejigged midfield was under pressure on eight minutes when David Brooks easily muscled through with Lewis Miley and Willock trailing in his wake.

The Bournemouth skipper backheeled the ball to Tyler Adams, who forced Pope to save with his feet before Newcastle cleared up the danger. Jacob Murphy got free down the right three minutes later, but his effort was saved well by Dorde Petrovic.