Kieran Trippier will not allow a nightmare evening at Everton to derail Newcastle’s season as they attempt to cure their bout of travel sickness.
The 33-year-old England full-back has been one of the stars of the Magpies resurgence since his arrival at St James’ Park in January last year, but two errors in quick succession at Goodison Park on Thursday evening handed first Dwight McNeil and then Abdoulaye Doucoure the chance to score as the Toffees surged to a 3-0 victory.
Eddie Howe’s injury-hit squad head for Trippier’s former club Tottenham on Sunday desperate for a response, and the hugely experienced defender is confident he can put a dark night firmly behind him.
He said: “I don’t hide. We’ve just got to move on now, we’ve got another big game in three days.
“Listen, it’s one of those where you’ve made mistakes. Players make mistakes – I’ve made a couple today, I hold my hands up, I take responsibility and now it’s about getting on the bike again and getting ready for another big game in three days against Spurs.
“For me personally, obviously I’m very disappointed because of my own actions in certain moments in the game, but that’s something I’ll deal with. I’m an experienced player and I can handle these things.
“But the best thing about it is there’s a game in three days where we can try to put it right.
“It’s another tough test, like every single game in the Premier League, but we can’t dwell on this result and like I said, we need to get on the bike and go again.”
Newcastle will head for north London having lost five of their 15 Premier League games this season, the same number as they did during the whole of the last campaign.
Four of those five defeats have come away from Tyneside – at Manchester City, Brighton, Bournemouth and Everton – with a remarkable 8-0 win at Sheffield United and 2-2 draws at West Ham and Wolves all they have to show for their efforts on the road.
There are mitigating factors – Howe had 12 senior players unavailable on Merseyside – but the head coach remains at a loss to explain the disparity in his team’s home and away performances.
He said: “That’s been the frustration for us because it’s a difficult one to work out. We want to play the same way, we want to impose ourselves on the game, grab the game and take the initiative.
“I don’t think we did that well enough against Everton. Hopefully that will change against Tottenham.”
Howe is hopeful of avoiding another addition to his lengthy casualty list after skipper Jamaal Lascelles limped off at Everton with a dead leg.
