The England right back later apologised to travelling fans after Newcastle slumped to a second straight defeat
Kieran Trippier became embroiled in an angry pitchside row with a travelling Newcastle United fan after the team slumped to a 2-0 defeat against Bournemouth.
Manager Eddie Howe admitted his players were “unrecognisable” from recent matches and, as the players went to acknowledge fans who had made the 700-mile round trip, Trippier appeared to take exception to something that was said. He confronted the fan, saying, “So the lads are not giving everything?” before repeatedly demanding to know “How many injuries have we got?” in reference to the club’s injury crisis.
The exchange lasted for about 15 seconds before Joelinton ran over to usher his team-mate away and a Bournemouth steward intervened. Trippier, who then spoke to Howe, later apologised for the result.
“The fans are emotional, they have travelled a long way,” he said. “I had a chat with one of them, saying we are giving everything and there’s no need to panic. We got beat and we apologise for that result but the lads are giving everything. We were way off it.”
The defeat ended a seven-game Premier League unbeaten run and, with 11 players absent even before the match and Miguel Almiron then suffering a first-half hamstring injury, the international break is certainly now welcome. Dominic Solanke, who was brought to Bournemouth by Howe, scored two second half goals to seal a win that lifted his team out of the relegation zone. Newcastle have now slipped to seventh in the Premier League – below Manchester United – after picking up only five points in their four matches immediately after a midweek Champions League match.
“We just couldn’t be where we needed to be – it was a tough watch,” said Howe. “We were unrecognisable with how we can be and have been.”
Of Trippier’s post-match reaction, Howe said: “Kieran is fine – emotions run high. We all feel a bit emotional after that. We value all our away support – value them greatly. We thank them.”
Howe, though, stressed that he could not personally feel anger with the players. “Anger is an emotion you feel if you feel they have let you down,” he said. “These players have been unbelievable for me. They need support and I will give them that – we are aware we can’t perform like that. No excuses. I have to take ownership today and it was not good enough.”
Howe also revealed that Callum Wilson, who was missing with the hamstring injury he sustained in the midweek Borussia Dortmund defeat, would now pull out of the England squad and will be out for “a number of weeks”. He also said that he does not expect “a flood of” players to return even within the next fortnight. One small crumb of comfort is that Bruno Guimaraes was serving only a one match suspension after controversially escaping a red card against Arsenal last week for violent conduct.
Newcastle have now not won in the seven matches he has missed since his debut and his presence was badly missed from the very first minute when Bournemouth immediately exploited the obvious uncertainty running through Howe’s makeshift team. A first-minute attack down the left wing saw Marcus Tavernier square the ball for Ryan Christie, whose rising effort was held by goalkeeper Nick Pope. Antoine Semenyo was frequently also driving forward on the other Bournemouth flank and he soon forced Pope into an even better save low to his left.
Semenyo had retained his persistent threat into the second half and, having run directly at Joe Willock, the ball cannoned somewhat fortuitously into Solanke’s path. There was still plenty for the former Liverpool and Chelsea striker to do, however, and he rode several challenges before seeming to slightly wrong-foot Pope by shooting inside the near post. To their credit, Bournemouth did not seek to nurse their lead and duly doubled their advantage 13 minutes later.
Substitute Luis Sinisterra had drifted into space following a corner before brilliantly angling the ball back towards Newcastle’s goal with his head. The post initially came to Pope’s rescue but Solanke was then again alert and superbly adjusted his footing to deliver a standing scorpion kick to hook the ball into an empty net off his heel. There were scarce opportunities for Newcastle to mount a comeback and, while Sean Longstaff did waste their best second-half chance, Bournemouth were full value for only their second Premier League win of the season. Manager Andoni Iraola hailed the performance as “the best” since he arrived at the club during the summer.
