0 Duels Won, 0 Dribbles – Eddie Howe must rethink Newcastle star’s position after Man City disaster

Add as preferred source on Google

Newcastle United simply had no answer to Manchester City as they suffered a heavy defeat to the Premier League champions.

There is exactly one month to go until the 2025 Carabao Cup final, but first Newcastle United must try to keep their Champions League chase on track and navigate a tricky run of fixtures.

The first of those tricky fixtures came on Saturday afternoon when Newcastle United paid a visit to the reigning champions Manchester City.

Newcastle suffered a 4-0 defeat to City with January signing Omar Marmoush scoring a first-half hat-trick. Newcastle have a good record against the supposed ‘Big Six’ teams, but just 10 days after a fiery performance against Arsenal, the Magpies looked flat and void of ideas at the Etihad Stadium.

Defensively, Newcastle were nothing short of atrocious. Kieran Trippier was furious with Fabian Schar but Newcastle fans were furious at Trippier.

Kieran Trippier must be dropped after disaster

Eddie Howe seems to put his trust in Kieran Trippier to start in Newcastle’s biggest matches. In recent weeks, Trippier started against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup as well as against Aston Villa and Manchester United in the Premier League.

Before that, it seemed as though Trippier had lost his starting spot to Tino Livramento, who featured heavily in Newcastle’s nine-game winning streak.

Trippier lasted just 45 minutes against City before being hooked off. After the match, Howe explained that his decision was not influenced by injury.

If we take a look at Trippier’s stats from the City game, it becomes blindingly clear why Howe had to take him off.

Trippier was at fault for City’s opener after he completely misjudged the flight of the ball. Newcastle’s defence improved in the second half after Trippier was replaced by Livramento.

Newcastle United rejected Kieran Trippier offer

Newcastle were focused on raising cash over the January window with Miguel Almiron returning to MLS and Lloyd Kelly joining Juventus on a loan deal that will eventually pocket £20m.

But Newcastle also had other offers on the table with Galatasaray interested in signing Kieran Trippier.

Trippier was interested in the move, and the Turkish side’s interest rumbled on well past the English deadline with their window still open until 11th February.

Galatasaray made a bid worth £2.5million plus add-ons but Trippier wanted to stay at Newcastle after they reached the Carabao Cup final.

READ MORE: How Eddie Howe actually feels about Kieran Trippier leaving Newcastle United as Turkey calls

Plus, with the English window closed there was no opportunity for Newcastle to search for a replacement.

However, while Trippier did stay put this time around, it seems inevitable that the 34-year-old will head for the exit door in the summer.