Chelsea knocked Newcastle United out of the Carabao Cup on penalties, with Kieran Trippier having the nightmare of all nightmares.
The Newcastle United captain is usually Mr Reliable and Mr Consistent. But during these past few weeks, he has made error after error, with his latest one against Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea being the worst.
Eddie Howe’s side were just minutes away from reaching the League Cup semi-finals, then Kieran Trippier gifted Mykhailo Mudryk with an easy chance to score and the Chelsea winger duly obliged.
That sent the tie to penalties, and to make matters worse, the England right-back watched his spot-kick, in front of the Newcastle away supporters, sail past the post to the delight of the Chelsea fans inside Stamford Bridge.
After the game, in a classy response, Mykhailo Mudryk offered his support to the 33-year-old via his Instagram story.
Mykhailo Mudryk reacts to Kieran Trippier’s error
The Ukraine star wrote: “Kieran, I just wanna say to you: stay strong. Sometimes s__t happens, but I think you are a strong footballer, no matter what.”
Worrying times for Kieran Trippier
One of the main reasons why Newcastle have reached their current levels is because of someone like Trippier.
He has played a key role, from right-back, and led the team up the table, including to the League Cup final last season and the Champions League.
Newcastle fans will be hoping that this is just an out-of-character blip from the former Tottenham man because everything and anything is going wrong now.
One thing is for sure, he will get support from within. From his manager Eddie Howe to the Toon Army faithful.
They realise the impact Trippier has had on the club and understand, if they are to continue marching forward, then they need him back to his best.
All Newcastle can do now is fix these issues by picking up some much-needed three points, starting with a tricky trip to Luton Town on Saturday.
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