Eddie Howe shares the real reason why he benched Anthony Gordon against Borussia Dortmund

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There was a sense of shock among Toon fans when Eddie Howe announced his Newcastle United team to face Borussia Dortmund.

The big surprises saw Anthony Gordon and Miguel Almiron drop to the bench, despite them being Newcastle’s two best wingers right now.

Instead, Howe started Tino Livramento down the right while Joelinton moved to the left, allowing Joe Willock to come into the side.

It immediately felt like a tactical decision, with Howe hoping to stay on the game before bringing on his attackers in the second half.

He did exactly that, but they were unable to stop Newcastle from losing 2-0 to Borussia Dortmund. The result, combined with AC Milan’s win over PSG, means that the Magpies are now bottom of Champions League Group F.

The Newcastle squad was so stretched last night, and Howe has now explained why he was unable to start Anthony Gordon at Signal Iduna Park.

Anthony Gordon was not fit enough to start against Dortmund

Following the 2-0 loss to Dortmund, Howe spoke to the Telegraph and gave his reasoning for naming Gordon on the bench.

“Looking at Anthony Gordon, he played for 90 minutes against Arsenal and gave absolutely everything physically, and I think the turnaround for him was just too quick,” he said.

“I didn’t think he could start the match, so we had to use him as an impact player.

“In a different set of circumstances, you’d probably have liked to have played a different type of winger, but I’m not going to sit here and make excuses, that’s what we have.”

Newcastle are so stretched right now

This has been such an intense period for Newcastle, who have played in three different competitions against three top level side in less than a week.

Injuries are mounting up, and Howe is having to rotate as best he can. He did not feel that Gordon was physically able to start against Dortmund, so used the £40million player as an impact sub.

The logic was sound, but it did not have the desired effect. Gordon was not a gamechanger off the bench, with Newcastle unable to find a way past Gregor Kobel.

Hopefully Howe believes that Gordon is fit enough to start against Bournemouth on Saturday, as it is vital that we head into the international break with a win after the disappointment of Dortmund.