£12m Newcastle player now admits he has no excuses for playing badly last year

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This has been far from a perfect season for Newcastle United. There have been plenty of incredible moments, but some real lows too.

The team has suffered due to a relentless fixture list and some crazy injuries, leaving Newcastle United fighting just to get back into any European competition. It won’t be the Champions League, but the Europa or Conference League are still possibilities.

The Magpies have been inconsistent, struggling to recapture the stability that served as the foundation to last season’s success.

And one player who has seriously struggled at times is Kieran Trippier.

Overall, it has been a good season for the 33-year-old. He has got 10 Premier League assists and continued to be a key cog in the Newcastle machine, but a winter blip has put a dampener on his campaign.

Trippier made a couple of key errors in a defeat to Everton in early December, and that kicked off a rotten run of form for the England international. He kept making mistake after mistake, which was incredibly uncharacteristic.

Kieran Trippier delivers honest opinion on his Newcastle form late last year

Now Trippier has opened up on his form during December, and explained to the Daily Mail why he is unable to pinpoint what was going wrong.

“Do you know what? I don’t actually know [why he hit a bad run of form],” he said.

“It was a strange one, really. I was just making a mistake and then making another mistake. I haven’t got any excuses, really. It’s just you make a mistake and you want to try even better and then, because you’re trying so hard, you make another mistake, and it’s not me.”

Trippier is now over his Newcastle woes

It was sad to see Trippier struggle so much. He was making major mistakes on a consistent basis, and it was seriously hindering Eddie Howe’s side.

His most high profile error came in the Carabao Cup, as his mistake handed Chelsea an equaliser. Then Trippier went on to miss in the penalty shootout, as Newcastle were dumped out of the competition.

Since the FA Cup win over Sunderland, the £12million man has looked much more like his usual self. He has returned to form and put his winter woes behind him.

Now he is focussing on getting back to full fitness, with the defender set to miss Newcastle’s next two games due to a calf problem.