Kieran Trippier names what has been a ‘bit poor’ for Newcastle recently

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Kieran Trippier and set-pieces have had something of a difficult relationship this season.

While the England international remains a dangerous free-kick taker, the 32-year-old has been criticised in some quarters for his perhaps not quite as deadly corners of late.

Indeed, while that has proven frustrating at times, Trippier certainly sent a message to doubters during Thursday night’s win over Brighton.

It was he who whipped in a dangerous ball from which Deniz Undav put through his own net as Newcastle beat Brighton 4-1 before another Trippier cross was met by Dan Burn for the second goal.

Kieran Trippier speaks out on set-pieces

Asked by Sky Sports on the importance of set-pieces, the former Tottenham and Atletico Madrid defender made a key admission in regards to his output of late.

“We’ve been practicing them in training,” he said.

“The set-pieces have been a bit poor recently, we should score more goals.”

Set-piece improvement comes just at the right time

It has often been frustrating to watch Newcastle waste corner after corner of late.

Fabian Schar, Sven Botman and Burn all boast obvious aerial threat but they are not often exploited. As per WhoScored data, Newcastle have scored only ten times this season from set-pieces, the tenth-highest in the Premier League.

Given the number of draws Eddie Howe’s side have had this season (12, the second-highest amount in the division), more cutting edge from them may have swung tight games into the favour.

With Trippier clearly capable of doing the business, it’s a wonder why it’s taken so long to yield tangible results.

Still, having played a key role in helping Newcastle claim such a big win, that improvement has come just at the right time.