Eddie Howe has not rotated his Newcastle United team at all over the past five games, which Chris Sutton believes says a lot about two players.
For the past five games, Eddie Howe has picked the same 10 outfield players. It has produced mixed results, with defeats against Everton and Tottenham putting a dampener on what had been an incredible few days for Newcastle United.
While Alan Shearer refuses to use it as an excuse, fatigue has to be an issue for the Magpies. They have been asked to give so much in such a short space of time, with Newcastle’s injury crisis threatening to derail what could be another magical season.
A lot of these players have had to play more minutes than they ordinarily would, with Howe unwilling to call upon some of his fringe players.
The likes of Lewis Hall and Emil Krafth have sat on the bench. That is despite the fact that the former is going to cost £28million next summer and the latter has proven himself to be very reliable under Howe.
And the manager’s decision not to play either Hall or Krafth tells BBC Sport pundit Chris Sutton one thing about the Newcastle duo – they are not trusted.
Chris Sutton does not think Eddie Howe trusts two Newcastle players
Chris Sutton spoke about some Newcastle players not being trusted by Howe on the Monday Night Club on BBC Radio 5 Live Sport alongside Micah Richards and host Mark Chapman.
Richards: “You want to be in the Champions League and fighting for the top four but you just can’t plan for injuries. The reason why Trippier still plays is because he gives so much to this team. Without Trippier Newcastle are not the same offensively. Defensively, after this little blip that he’s had, he is arguably Newcastle’s most consistent performer this season. We are saying he is in the form of his life and because he offers so much to the team. Krafth can do a job, of course he can.”
Chapman: “Lewis Hall on the left and Livramento on the right? Because Lewis Hall was presumably bought to be able to deputise for Trippier if Trippier needed a rest. This isn’t all on Trippier by the way.”
Sutton: “But he is not playing them for a reason. That’s trust as far as I can see. I don’t see or know what goes on on the Newcastle training ground every day but if he trusted them he would play them. He would rotate them, but he doesn’t quite fancy them.”
Resting Kieran Trippier is not a straightforward decision for Newcastle
The problem is that Newcastle have been playing in such high profile games that resting any key players would be a massive risk.
The only game we could have made changes in is Everton away, but even at full strength we struggled at Goodison Park.
A lot of the focus has been on Kieran Trippier, with the 33-year-old making a few mistakes in our previous two games.
He could do with a rest, with fans pondering why Hall hasn’t come in and Tino Livramento moved back to the right. Alternatively, Richards has suggested that Krafth could come in and do a job.
But Trippier offers so much that taking him out of the team would make Newcastle significantly worse. There were would be a severe drop off in quality if either Hall or Krafth were to come in.
With all due respect to Hall, he is not at the level required yet. There is no shame in that fact – it feels like a lot of fans forget just how little senior experience the 19-year-old has.
As Sutton says, the trust is not there. But there is no disgrace in that, as Howe would need to have a huge amount of trust in anyone coming in to replace a player as pivotal as Trippier.
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