The big Newcastle United takeaway from behind-closed-doors Dubai training camp

Eddie Howe and his Newcastle United squad landed back on Tyneside yesterday.
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The club’s chartered Boeing 757, said to offer the “ultimate in comfort” for its passengers, touched down after an eight-hour flight from Dubai, where the players had spent a week.

Howe – who had taken advantage of a 16-day gap between Premier League fixtures – now has just over a week to complete preparations for Newcastle’s game away to Tottenham Hotspur on April 3.

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The trip followed a similar jaunt to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which ended in a friendly against Saudi Pro League leaders Al-Ittihad, in late January following the club’s FA Cup exit.

This, Trippier’s rehabilitation was in focus as the defender pushes for a comeback.

Rest and recuperation

The trip followed an intense run of games which culminated in three away fixtures in the space of eight days.

Newcastle, 14th in the Premier League with nine games left to play, headed to Dubai the day after last week’s 1-0 loss to Everton. The game was decided by a 99th-minute goal from Alex Iwobi, and Howe told of his “disappointment” at his post-match press conference at Goodison Park.

Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe.Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe.
Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe.
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"The only thing that was missing was a goal, being really clinical in the final third, and I think that was missing the entire game,” said Howe. “We got into some good positions, but the normal rhythm wasn’t there. But the second half was a big disappointment.”

Howe felt it was right that his players had a couple of days off before they started work in the United Arab Emirates.

“Early on, the aim was to give the players some downtime,” said United’s head coach.

“There’s been a really intense period of games, a lot of away games as well, so we decided to give them some free time, let them unwind, enjoy the sun for a couple of days and then get back to work and start our preparations for the next game.”

Newcastle United defender Kieran Trippier.Newcastle United defender Kieran Trippier.
Newcastle United defender Kieran Trippier.

Close to a comeback

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Trippier and Callum Wilson, working towards late-season comebacks from their respective foot and calf injuries, travelled with their team-mates to Dubai.

Trippier – who had surgery after fracturing the fifth metatarsal in his left foot last month – is “pretty close” to being available, according to Howe.

And the 31-year-old said: "There's been really good progress since we've been here and I'm just looking forward now and stepping up my recovery."

Wilson, sidelined since December 27, isn’t too far behind Trippier, signed from Atletico Madrid in January.

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Speaking about the training camp on the The Footballer's Football Podcast, Wilson said: "This is a place where you can work hard, but also get some sunshine as well and it's a change of scenery. It's a good place to be.

“It's frustrating, I want to be playing, I want to be training, I want to be doing all the things a footballer does. I don't want to be stuck in the gym when everyone is outside, having fun, scoring goals, this and that.”

Asked about their respective comebacks, Howe said: “I'd say they're on schedule from where they were given their respective injuries, but I wouldn't say necessarily ahead of schedule.

"They're both serious injuries, both enough to obviously be operated on and go through a very intense rehab period.”

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The progress made by Trippier, in particular, is encouraging.

State-of-the-art facilities

Trippier and Wilson will have benefitted from the facilities at the stunning Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex, which has been used by other Premier League clubs.

The complex, described as “world class”, has a number of pitches as well as strength and conditioning facilities as well as rehabilitation support services.

Howe previously used the complex while Bournemouth manager, and the facilities will have given the club, based at an outdated centre in Benton, a few ideas as it considers moving to a new training centre.

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“For me, it's one of the best training arenas in the world,” said Howe. "First class facilities, a world-class pitch, and the facilities around the pitch are second to none. We took the boys in the altitude chamber, which they really enjoyed – swimming pool, cryotherapy chambers – we utilised everything we could to help the players.

"When you want to really push the players hard physically, you need to have the highest level of recovery equipment to utilise, and we have that here.”

It’s hoped that Newcastle will one day have a state-of-the-art facility of their own on Tyneside.

A media blackout

Rafa Benitez took his Newcastle squad away to Spain – and played two friendlies – during gaps in the club’s fixture list in his final two seasons at St James’s Park.

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Benitez opened those training camps up to the media, but the press were not invited to Dubai, where the only updates came via the club’s own media channels.

The club, however, didn’t report on the three 20-minute training games played against Gulf United’s academy on the team’s final day in Dubai.

They were staged in the morning before the temperature rose above 30 degrees, and Newcastle scored five goals without reply against their youthful opponents.

According to nufc.com, Allan Saint-Maximin – who hasn’t started a game since suffering a calf injury in the February 13 win over Aston Villa – netted twice, as did Dwight Gayle. Joelinton also found the net.

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Former United defender Steven Taylor, coach of the Gulf United first team, was a spectator.

What next?

Newcastle's players then flew back to England, and they will have felt a slight chill when they disembarked following their comfortable journey back given the temperature difference.

The challenge for them now is to get the club to an even more comfortable position in the Premier League table.

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