Jamie Carragher wasn’t best pleased with Kieran Trippier’s defending as Newcastle United suffered a costly 2-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday.
Eddie Howe’s side went into the game on the back of losing to Borussia Dortmund during the reverse fixture at St James’ Park, so they were up against it from the off.
Newcastle didn’t help themselves when inside half an hour, Dortmund were ahead through Niclas Fullkrug, with Jamie Carragher questioning Kieran Trippier’s defending.
The Liverpool legend didn’t understand why the England international was backing off and not ‘marking the opposition’ when Dortmund were playing some lovely one-two football whilst heading inside Newcastle’s penalty box, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (07/11/23 at 10:20 pm).
The Magpies just couldn’t stop the German giants, who were thrashed 4-0 by Bayern Munich over the weekend, from playing through them and causing havoc.
But given Kieran Trippier’s experience, Carragher singled out the £12 million signing.
Kieran Trippier v Dortmund
“Fullkrug scored this goal,” said Carragher. “But I was looking at Kieran Trippier in the lead-up to the goal.
“I always feel, when I see a player go on to the goal line, I never like it. Mark the opposition attackers in the box. The goalkeeper’s job is to save it on the line. And just a split second there put them 1-0 down.
“Then an unbelievable counter-attack to win the game.”
Newcastle facing an uphill task
It wasn’t so long ago that Newcastle were dancing with joy and celebrating a quite sensational and deserved win over PSG.
But it’s been back-to-back defeats since then and now they have to pick themselves up as quickly as possible because they are looking at no Europe after Christmas.
Newcastle are sitting bottom of Group F on four points, one point behind third-placed AC Milan and three points behind leaders Dortmund.
It’s a very difficult trip to Paris after the international break, before a home tie against AC Milan, which might decide who even secures a Europa League finish.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
