Newcastle United have become the subject of ridicule after their 8-0 defeat to the A-League All Stars.
The Magpies’ controversial trip to Australia has ended with an embarrassing defeat, after it had began so…promisingly.
Newcastle United won their first game down under, beating Tottenham Hotspur on penalties thanks to Mark Gillespie’s efforts. That was a bit of a non affair at the MCG, despite Eddie Howe putting out his strongest possible team.
Eddie Howe’s young Newcastle side get embarrassed
But it was a completely different XI on Friday, with Howe giving the youngsters a chance to impress. Mark Gillespie was the only senior player to start, while Harrison Ashby was the next oldest player involved at 22-years-old.
There was not much experience at all. Garang Kuol got his first ever Newcastle United start and was largely anonymous, while Travis Hernes showed the odd nice touch on what was a miserable night for the Magpies.
The only player who can perhaps take the smallest bit of credit is Alex Murphy, who showed hints of why Toon staff think he is similar to Sven Botman. But even the 19-year-old was far from impressive, which is no surprise considering he was part of a defence that shipped eight goals.
San Marino fan account mock Newcastle United
While it was just a friendly with a massively inexperienced side, to be on the end of an 8-0 scoreline is always embarrassing. Now we know how Sheffield United feel after our meeting at Bramall Lane back in September!
It is a really heavy defeat for Newcastle – the type you would only normally see at Sunday league level or when an incredibly weak international side is forced to face a much better team in a qualifier for a tournament. It is the type of scoreline that San Marino has been on the end of a fair few times, for example.
And a San Marino fan account has now mocked the Magpies following their heavy loss out in Australia.
In reply to Newcastle United’s official X account about the defeat, a San Marino fan account tweeted: “We want to play against you. We have similar levels.”
Did Eddie Howe make a mistake?
It was men against boys in Melbourne. Ahead of the game, Howe did state that he would be picking a much younger team, and he certainly was not lying. However, I don’t think many expected the team to be this young!
Gillespie was the only senior player to feature, despite a lot of them still being with the group in Australia. Kieran Trippier, Elliot Anderson and Lewis Hall were on the bench, for instance.
But they did not feature, while the likes of Paul Dummett and Matt Ritchie did not play a single minute of the club’s trip to the other side of the world.
While Howe clearly was not a fan of this venture to Australia, it could be argued that he made a mistake on Friday. He threw his young players to the wolves, when he probably should have offered them a bit more protection by picking some experienced players alongside them.
It was a meaningless end of season friendly, but that scoreline could do some serious damage to those young players. Hopefully that is not the case, but it is a comical end to what was a farcical end of season excursion.
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