Newcastle United enter the international break with three vital Premier League points in the bag but Eddie Howe has something of a concern.
Indeed, not many of the Newcastle United players will be getting much of a rest over the international break given they are away with their countries.
There’s not much anyone can do about that, so Howe will just have to hope none of his players pick up any more injuries.
While the Newcastle United squad is now much deeper following a busy summer transfer window, Howe could do without any more fitness issues.
Already this season, he’s facing something of a crisis at full-back. Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento are both injured for Newcastle and their return dates remain unclear.
Dan Burn has had to play at left-back recently and while he has performed well, it is hardly an ideal situation – particularly during such a relentless fitness schedule.
The Newcastle United manager isn’t blessed with options at full-back, although he did suggest the relatively inexperienced Alex Murphy as a potential internal solution to the injury issues.
Eddie Howe suggests Alex Murphy could play more often now
Howe was speaking after Newcastle beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 on Sunday.
Goals from Bruno Guimaraes and Nick Woltemade sealed a hugely important victory at St James’ Park, although Newcastle were dealt a blow before it.
That’s when the news of Hall’s hamstring injury emerged. After the contest, Howe was asked about his full-back position.
It was put to him that the likes of Kieran Trippier and Emil Krafth could swap sides to cover both roles. Trippier has played there for England in huge international tournament games, although Krafth is less experienced at left-back.
Howe admitted he didn’t have many options but did namecheck the 21-year-old Murphy as a potential solution.
“There’s not too many options, I wouldn’t say,” confirmed Howe.
“I haven’t got a rabbit in the hat that probably you wouldn’t have thought of. It’s a concern for us because it’s such a key position. I think Dan [Burn] has played really well the last two games there.
“But, yeah, we’ve got players that can switch sides. That is difficult, I think Tino Livramento made it look very easy but it’s very difficult to do.
“Some players probably feel more comfortable doing that than others. We’ve got Alex Murphy who is developing all the time who can play that role for us.
“Beyond that, I don’t think we have too many others.”
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The Republic of Ireland U21 international hasn’t been included in any of the squads in the Premier League this season, so is clearly some way down the pecking order.
Still, it was notable that Howe mentioned him relatively unprompted on Sunday.
The defender – who joined Newcastle from boyhood club Galway United in 2022 – has only ever played 12 minutes of action for the first team.
He spent part of last season on loan at Bolton and had interest to leave during the summer transfer window, too.
Still, Newcastle stopped Murphy from leaving on loan. Though needing to lean on him during a campaign that is packed with big games is hardly ideal, they’ll now be glad they did given the lack of available cover right now.
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