Eddie Howe has claimed that the 'game management stuff' has been 'massively overblown' after Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag previously labelled Newcastle United a team who 'try to annoy you'.
Newcastle threw away a whopping 24 points from winning positions in the previous campaign, but the Magpies have become a more streetwise outfit this season. In fact, club captain Jamaal Lascelles has even picked up two yellow cards as an unused substitute, helping his side run down the clock in games against Arsenal and Chelsea.
The ball has been in play for 51 minutes and 41 seconds on average in Newcastle's Premier League games this season, which is the lowest of any side in the top-flight, while only Chelsea and Brentford's games have averaged more added time. The former was a statistic referenced by ten Hag before last month's Carabao Cup final.
READ MORE: Everything Eddie Howe said at his press conference
Although ten Hag hailed Newcastle as a 'great team', the Manchester United boss added the black-and-whites were an 'annoying' side who 'try to annoy you' before the Red Devils' 2-0 win. This was in reference to how Newcastle have seen matches out and ten Hag went as far as to say Manchester United were 'dependent' on the referee as well as themselves to get 'speed in the game' at Wembley.
When asked about those comments for the first time, Howe was unequivocal in his response ahead of these rivals meeting once again at St James' Park on Sunday.
"It's part of the game, but not the main part of the game," the Newcastle head coach told reporters. "The main part of the game is we have to play well. We have to be really good in possession and really good out of possession.
"The game management stuff has been massively overblown towards us in the media. That's just my opinion.
"First and foremost, we want to be a good football team, but if there are things you can do, as Kieran showed for the penalty, to help your team in certain moments, that are all within the laws of the game, we will try to do it."
Trippier, as Howe alluded to, has been at the heart of that transformation and the England international learned a lot from his time under Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid when it comes to being clever. Trippier previously told ChronicleLive that he 'wouldn't say it's cheating - it's about trying to win a football match'.
That know-how told in the dying moments at the City Ground last time out. With the score level at 1-1, Newcastle were awarded a penalty at the death against Nottingham Forest and it was Trippier, the on the field skipper, who grabbed the ball and placed it on the spot.
Trippier smiled as he stood over the ball and Forest goalkeeper Keylor Navas was booked for putting his hands on the England international and trying to get inside his head. Trippier simply picked the ball up and walked away, taking the heat out of the situation for a few precious seconds, before handing it to Alexander Isak.
Isak duly stepped up to convert the spot-kick as Newcastle came from behind to win a game for the first time this season. It could yet prove a season-defining moment.
"Me and my coaching team are taking no credit for that - the credit all lies with Kieran," Howe added. "That's his experience, his mindset, really, to think of someone else in that moment.
"It would be very easy to think about the penalty and go, 'Come on Alex - score.' But he actually put himself in a totally different position where he took the pressure off of Alex. It was a brilliant piece of game management by a very experienced and brilliant leader."
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