Newcastle United have excluded their contingent of walking wounded from their trip to Melbourne, Australia for a friendly against Tottenham Hotspur. That’s not news, nor is it surprising. What is news is how the following five players also won’t be making the trip Down Under: Anthony Gordon, Fabian Schar, Martin Dubravka, Loris Karius, and Sean Longstaff.
The Geordies just finished a very injury-plagued season, and the last thing they need is to risk more players getting hurt right now.
Postseason Friendly FYIs
Tottenham Hotspur vs Newcastle Unitedย
Kickoff (local day and time): Thurs May 23, 7:45pm, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia
Team News:ย Tottenhamย Newcastle
Starting XI Predictions:ย Tottenhamย Newcastle
Premier League Finishes Tottenham 5thย Newcastle 7th
Series History: Newcastle wins 62ย Draws 34ย Tottenham wins 74
Newcastle United Team Newsย
Especially so for an exhibition match that many believe shouldn’t even be staged right now. It is rare to see a friendly just after Championship Sunday. This practice game would have made more sense to be staged in mid-to-late July.
And as this will be played in Australia, and everything relates to The Simpsons, at least in our eyes…
…”I see you’ve played knifey-spooney before.”
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor ofย The Sports Bank.ย Heโs also theย author of โTransatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,โ andย โNo, I Canโt Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.โ
He currently contributes toย Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMGโs NFL Wire Networkย and theย Internet Baseball Writers Association of America.ย His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated,ย Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times.ย You can follow himย on Linked In and Twitter.
