Newcastle suffered their fifth defeat in six Premier League home games on Saturday; Bournemouth following Aston Villa, Brentford, Everton and the mackems by netting late second half goals and leaving with maximum points.

Eddie Howe's eighth successive failure to beat his former club was the latest blow in his side's attempts to salvage a season that has gone increasingly awry since the Cherries were beaten here in the FA Cup Third Round back in January.

Both sets of fans gave vocal support to their respective managers here today, but despite news of his close season exit breaking this week, it was visiting boss Andoni Iraola whose game plan was executed by his players as they extended their unbeaten run to 13 matches.

That's in stark contrast to a muddled, toothless display by a Newcastle side showing three changes to that similarly undressed by Crystal Palace. If the hosts had any strategy at all, it was submerged in a display from a side that appears to have forgotten how to play football, beaten again by a side who are capable of accurate passing and incisive movement. Why is that so difficult?

One of those changes saw Anthony Gordon omitted from the matchday squad, but that was reportedly due to injury rather than being one of the players Howe said would be dropped if he thought they weren't 100% committed. Our diagnosis of a heart defect may yet be accurate...

Aside from an early effort from Harvey Barnes that was narrowly off-target, United offered nothing in front of goal and fell behind to the first cohesive attacking move Bournemouth managed.

That came just after the half hour mark, when Rayan got past Lewis Hall and pulled the ball back from the right wing for Marcus Tavernier to walk the ball home from close in.

A rerun of that move five minutes before the interval should have brought a second goal for the Cherries, but Alex Scott's centre was somehow missed by Evanilson right in front of goal.

Dorde Petrovic then saved the visitors from close range following a free kick played into the box by Lewis Hall, but that didn't prevent home fans booing their black and whites off at the break.

Kieran Trippier replaced Hall before the second half - although Livramento could equally have gone off - and attempted to open up a supply line of crosses from the left that were conspicuously absent while the wasteful Anthony Elanga was on the field. Any positives he may have mustered in recent weeks translated into a big fat nothing today - the Swedish Obertan, as online wags would have it.
 
The return of Bruno Guimaraes from a 12 match absence at least lifted the mood when he appeared midway through the second half - and within six minutes his side had levelled, William Osula's goal surviving an offside flag and VAR review that noted an inadvertent assist by a visiting player.

Hopes that the Magpies would go on to claim victory would prove false however; a continuation of their carelessness on the ball and unwillingness to shoot undermining attempts to find a second goal. They also lost the services of Tino Livramento, who limped off to be replaced by Dan Burn.

Almost inevitably though, they would be caught out with five minutes of normal time remaining: Adrien Truffert starting and finishing the move with a shot from close range. 

United's last chance of salvaging a point went when Bruno was denied by Petrovic's foot at his near post in the third minute of nine added on. That total was due to time-wasting by Bournemouth that had begun in the opening stages of the game with the elongated throw-ins of James Hill, but was immaterial by the end. We could played until dark and not scored again.

Lingering thoughts European qualification have rapidly turned to looking back at the sides below us; grateful that we look to have scraped together just enough points to remain clear of the drop zone.

As ever though, while guffawing at the misfortune of Spurs and West Ham, it's pertinent to note the drop-off suffered by both following long-awaited cup wins and bungled recruitment programmes. Is that to be our fate next season?

Five games left in a season that cannot now finish quickly enough; a manager, a squad and a fanbase for whom discontent feels like the only common factor at present. Howe spoke of wanting to fight until the very end, but too many of his players now seem more interested only in the conclusion.

Sadly, there's yet another entry on the list of current club "uncertainties"; that of manager now sitting alongside ownership, ground, training ground and squad. Whether the recent re-titling of the position Howe's nephew Andy holds at Gallowgate has any bearing on Eddie is debatable, but the delay in making and acting on any decision by the current owners doesn't suggest an early exit.  

Talk of judging him after a full pre-season with the squad rings hollow though: messrs Barnes, Elanga, Gordon, Guimaraes, Wissa and Woltemade all set to be involved in the World Cup Finals this summer, after which they'll have a delayed break.

In the knowledge that there's only so much that can change in one window, his future looks to rest on whether the current mess it's better sorted with a new voice or new faces. Whoever is in charge though will lose Trippier's experience and leadership though - whether his impending departure has adversely affected the dressing room already is open to question.

One consequence of watching this club for what seems like several lifetimes is being able to recall the highs and lows of previous shirt wearers - including all eleven members of the ant-racism select XI.

The contrasts within that group alone are immense - skill and stupidity in abundance - but we've never been faced with a situation where so much value on paper has translated to such little achievement on grass. At least our bottlers and grifters back then were cheap(ish) flops. 

Whether Howe's comments about Yoane Wissa having his best week yet in training were glib or sarcastic, he didn't feel that the player was worth bothering with today. Woltemade meanwhile now gets called upon in much the same way as Matt Ritchie, whose fleeting latter day appearances caused us to wonder whether he was on an appearance-only contract.

That's not much return on £125m investment and although there's no suggestion that the owners are interested enough to dabble in team selection, their assessment of our situation in purely financial terms may not place Howe on safe ground. The misdeeds of last summer are catching up with him.

Biffa