Eddie Howe has hit back at Brentford boss Thomas Frank following his 'dark arts' jibe in the aftermath Saturday's clash at the Gtech Community Stadium. Newcastle played their opposition off the park in a fine second-half comeback but were still accused, once again, of underhand tactics.
"Everyone needs to game manage but we need to look into the dark arts of football and be aware of the sportsmanship. We know that Newcastle have that strategy where Jason Tindall always speaks to the fourth official through the game so we just had to be aware of that," the Brentford boss told reporters after his side lost 2-1.
But Howe has defended his team, again insisting his Newcastle side never set out to time-waste or cheat their way to victory. "I don't even know what dark arts are! If someone could explain it to me that would be great. I've said many times we just try to win but within the laws of the game," he said.
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"It shouldn't [impact refs]. They should just referee the game as they see. As I say, someone needs to sit down and explain to me what they are. Erik [ten Hag] made those comments quite clear about time-wasting but we don't want that in any game. We want to try impose ourselves with the ball in play.
"I understand the statistic about our ball being in play the least but that could be down to a number of reasons and not down to use wasting time."
Newcastle's 2-1 win wasn't without controversy as Alexander Isak conceded a first-half penalty when appearing to foul Rico Henry. The decision was awarded after a lengthy VAR check despite referee Chris Kavanagh initially waving play on.
Brighton were also victims of technology after seeing three penalty appeals waved away against Tottenham despite VAR checking each incident. The Seagulls received an apology from the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL) after the game but Howe admits he is surprised Newcastle didn't receive one themselves.
"No [we didn't receive an apology] and it's a surprise to me because I still don't think it's a penalty. I didn't think it would be given, it wasn't a clear and obvious error or even foul. I thought that was an example of VAR not working as it should be."
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