Newcastle’s quick-fire Australia tour hasn’t received particularly positive feedback and it certainly ended on a low note with Eddie Howe‘s young team being thrashed 8-0 by the A-League All Stars on Friday.
The majority of the Premier League side’s top stars had already made the flight home after Wednesday’s penalty shootout victory over Tottenham and their replacements had a night to forget in Melbourne.
Lewis Hall, Elliot Anderson and England’s Kieran Trippier were the only first team regulars in the matchday squad and all three remained on the bench for the entirety of the game.
And they watched their less experienced team-mates fall 2-0 down in just six minutes before going on to concede five more at Marvel Stadium.
Apostolos Stamatelopoulos, who plays for Newcastle Jets and was eyeing a maiden national call-up under the watchful eyes of Socceroos boss Graham Arnold in attendance, scored twice after the break.
Newcastle’s young players suffered a humiliating 8-0 thrashing to the A-League All-Stars
Apostolos Stamatelopoulos scored twice on a humbling evening for the Magpies
Jake Hollman, Jordan Courtney-Perkins and Bozhidar Kraev netted late to round out the thrashing.
The two post season friendlies arranged for the Magpies faced wide criticism from the football world with former Newcastle legend Alan Shearer describing it as pure ‘madness’.
Shearer wasn’t the only one to voice his concern over the quick turnover faced by the players who played their last Premier League game just five days ago.
England manager Gareth Southgate who has named Newcastle’s Kieran Trippier in his provisional Euro 2024 squad described the friendlies as ‘not good news’.
Eddie Howe’s players cut dejected figures as the home side continued to find the net
Manager Howe (right) saluted his team’s fans following their final game of a long season
Each year a team from Europe’s top flight League’s makes the journey over to play the All Star team.
Manchester United were the first team to do so in 2013 and since then, teams such as Juventus and Barcelona have made the long trip to face Australia’s best.
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