Eddie Howe makes Newcastle United injury claim as Kieran Trippier remains on the bench in 8-0 defeat

Newcastle United finally ended the 2023-24 season with an 8-0 friendly defeat in Australia.

The A-League All Stars thrashed a young Newcastle side that didn’t have a single Premier League start between them. Only Goalkeeper Mark Gillespie, Alex Murphy and Joe White had featured more than once for the first-team in a competitive match.

Newcastle’s first-team players were involved in the penalty shootout win against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday but many flew home early ahead of the summer.

Reflecting on the match, head coach Eddie Howe said with a smile: “Ooh, a tough one for our young lads. A difficult one for them to take but we probably saw the gap between experience and youth out there.”

The likes of Bruno Guimaraes, Alexander Isak and Joelinton had already returned home by the time the match had kicked-off though Howe still named first-team players Kieran Trippier, Elliot Anderson and Lewis Hall on the bench.

When asked if any first-team players could have been involved in the match, Howe responded: “I don't think we could have done, especially when you consider the travelling time that we've had and the quick turnaround that we've had, it would have been too big a risk of injury and we couldn't afford that.

“We gave an opportunity to the younger lads and they found it tough today.

“We have to do better than what we did today. I think too many mistakes were forced by the All-Stars, who played very well, a good performance from them. For us, I think the players individually need to reflect on that and see what they need to do to come back stronger.”