Troy Deeney hammers £32m Newcastle player’s ‘awful’ defending against Bournemouth

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Newcastle United have made an unbeaten start to the Premier League season, although it has not been totally convincing.

Eddie Howe praised the likes of Bruno Guimaraes and Emil Krafth for their defending against Southampton, with Newcastle having to battle adversity following Fabian Schar’s fairly dubious red card at St James’ Park.

Still, it was a narrow win over a newly promoted club at home and Joelinton’s goal came from a pretty big Saints mistake.

They got away with one in the first game and that was a theme to have continued in Sunday’s Premier League draw with Bournemouth, albeit Howe’s side could well have scored more than the one goal they ultimately mustered.

The Cherries were unlucky not to have seen a late header count due to a controversial handball call from VAR, one even Alan Shearer admitted was harsh.

Indeed, a lot of Newcastle’s defending left a lot to be desired on the south coast.

Tino Livramento was caught out for Bournemouth’s goal and his positioning was picked apart on Match of the Day 2 by pundit Troy Deeney.

Tino Livramento slammed for “awful” defending in Bournemouth vs Newcastle

Speaking about the full-back, Deeney offered a fairly cutting view of Livramento’s lack of urgency in getting back to cover as Marcus Tavernier rolled in.

“Livramento is known for his pace,” he said. “He’s very, very quick and very good going forward.

“But not once does he go ‘Right, I need to sprint to get back in’.

“That’s awful defending. If that was Harry Maguire, we’d hammer him.”

Tino Livramento is not yet the finished product for Newcastle

Livramento has been talked up by Howe, although he did admit there’s still a lot for the 21-year-old to improve upon.

Going forward, he is surely the starting option for Newcastle, particularly with Kieran Trippier linked with moves away from the club.

That is exciting and the £32million star is certainly a talent but moments like that do underline that he is still a work in progress.

Livramento has vowed to improve his game this season. On Sunday’s evidence, he’s got things to be cracking on with…