Bruno Guimaraes & Alexander Isak decision as five Newcastle United players leave Australia
Newcastle United round off their post-season trip to Australia by facing the A-League All Stars on Friday morning.
Eddie Howe will hand further minutes to Newcastle United’s youngsters as he prepares to ring the changes for the exhibition match versus the A-League All Stars on Friday (kick-off 8:05am BST).
Despite the long haul flight and taking on Tottenham Hotspur less than 72 hours after beating Brentford on the final day of the Premier League season, Howe opted to name just three changes to his starting XI. Fabian Schar and Sean Longstaff, both of whom were left at home, were replaced by Kieran Trippier and Elliot Anderson, while Miguel Almiron came in for Jacob Murphy.
James Maddison opened the scoring for Spurs before Alexander Isak levelled on the brink of half-time. Both teams made wholesale substitutions in the second-half, and a penalty shootout was needed to determine the winner. And Eddie Howe’s side emerged as 5-4 winners - Mark Gillespie saved Bryan Gil’s penalty before Joe White, Ben Parkinson, Amadou Diallo, Garang Kuol and Harrison Ashby converted theirs.
The aforementioned youngsters, and Gillespie, are in line to start at the Marvel Stadium on Friday. Alexander Isak, Emil Krafth, Bruno Guimaraes and Miguel Almiron have left the camp due to their international commitments while Joelinton has returned to Brazil to marry his partner Thays Gondim.
“It’ll be a younger team,” Howe confirmed. “A lot of the internationals will now leave us. They’ll go back to wherever they’re going to travel to. We’ll look after some of the senior players as well that have had long seasons and we’ll give an opportunity to the young guys again to perform in front of a big crowd. Mark [Gillespie] will play, for sure.”
Other senior players, although they will remain in Australia with the squad, are expected to be rested. And that is likely to include Kieran Trippier, who played the opening 37 minutes against Spurs.
The 33-year-old has only recently returned from nine weeks out with a groin issue and his fitness is being carefully managed as he prepares Euro 2024 with England. Trippier has been named in Gareth Southgate’s33-man provisional squad but is certain to make the final cut.
Asked about Trippier, Howe said: “No, I don’t think he’ll play Friday. Well, I don’t know actually, let’s see how he feels. He’ll be here with us for the full trip but we have to make sure we treat him well especially being in the early stages (of his comeback).”