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Newcastle United‘s recent form in domestic competitions has proved that Eddie Howe‘s side can battle it out with the best teams in England. However, Europe has offered a reality check for the Magpies.
Newcastle lost 1-0 at St. James’ Park two weeks ago in the Champions League against Bundesliga outfit Borussia Dortmund and a defeat in the reverse fixture in Germany has left the English side needing to get a result away at Paris Saint-Germain before the month draws to a close.
Howe’s men were not at their best at the Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday evening, allowing Die Schwarzgelben to win a home and away tie against an English team for the first time since the 1996/97 season.
A number of subpar performances from key players handed Dortmund a comfortable three points and left the Magpies with a mountain to climb to qualify for the next round of the competition.
One star, in particular, had a night to forget under the lights at the Westfalenstadion.
Newcastle United’s game in numbers
Dortmund always looked likeliest to win this clash given how the game unfolded. The hosts accumulated an xG of 1.34 on the night from 17 shots fired at Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope, while also having two big chances during the match, according to FotMob.
The German giants opened the scoring in the 26th minute through Niclas Fullkrug, whose shot registered an xG of 0.49.
As the Magpies pushed for an equaliser, Dortmund wrapped up the victory 11 minutes from the end with a swift counterattack that Julian Brandt finished off within 14 seconds of the home team regaining possession from an opposition set-piece.
Brandt’s left-footed strike into the bottom corner recorded an xG of 0.27. The two goals combined tallied a higher xG than Newcastle United managed in total on the night from ten shots.
The visitors’ best chance of the game came from a Tino Livramento cross into the box. Joelinton latched onto the ball with his head but couldn’t steer the 0.10 xG chance past Gregor Kobel in the Dortmund net. Newcastle did have more of the ball, with 54% possession, but struggled to break down Dortmund’s dogged defensive block and have returned to the North East of England with nothing to show for their efforts.
Kieran Trippier’s game in numbers
Kieran Trippier particularly struggled at the Westfalenstadion. It was his poor delivery to the near post from a free-kick that set Borussia Dortmund away on a menacing transition to put the game to bed.
The England international has averaged a 7.15 Sofascore rating this season in all competitions for Newcastle but mustered a lowly 6.7 last night. When digging deeper into his statistics from the defeat, it’s easy to see why.
Kieran Trippier v Dortmund in numbers |
|
---|---|
Touches |
106 |
Accurate Passes |
63/76 (83%) |
Key Passes |
1 |
Expected Assists (xA) |
0.14 |
Tackles |
3 |
Duels Won |
3/11 |
Possession Lost |
25x |
Dribble Success |
0/2 |
Cross Success |
4/11 |
Stats via Sofascore |
From 11 total duels, including eight ground duels and three aerial duels, the 33-year-old lost 73%, including all of his battles in the air. Trippier managed to win just three of his ground duels too. Furthermore, the former Tottenham Hotspur man lost possession 25 times on the night, taking up exactly 19.3% of Newcastle United’s total possession losses.
Going forward, the experienced fullback offered little threat too, completing only 36.3% of his crosses, while failing to successfully dribble past a Dortmund defender from two separate attempts. On the flip side, Trippier was dribbled past twice and didn’t manage to make a single interception or block any of the opposition’s 17 shots on goal.
Trippier – slammed “woeful” by some in the local media – has been one of the most important players for the Magpies in their transition over the past two years from being a side scrapping it out amongst the bottom half of the Premier League table to one fighting in Europe’s elite competition. However, when Trippier plays poorly, the rest of the team tends to follow suit and this was certainly a night to forget for him and Howe’s side.
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