Newcastle United fans were shocked by Eddie Howe’s decision on Lewis Miley following their Champions League defeat to Marseille.
After a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang brace turned the game on its head after Harvey Barnes gave Newcastle United the lead at the Stade Velodrome.
Nick Pope’s mistake against Marseille is perhaps the major talking point from the game but the way in which Howe’s side responded to that setback wasn’t good enough.
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The second half became increasingly desperate and the sight of Miley operating at right-back was interesting.
Granted, Howe’s hand was somewhat forced due to injuries to Emil Krafth and Kieran Trippier, while Tino Livramento needs his minutes managed.
However, Newcastle fans couldn’t quite get their head around Miley playing there.
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Newcastle United fans shocked that Lewis Miley played at right-back for Newcastle United
Miley is highly rated at Newcastle, though as a midfielder.
As such, the fact he replaced Jacob Murphy as a right-back in the 60th minute out in France drew an awful lot of discussion from supporters online.
In Miley’s defence, he did a solid enough job there. It still spoke to desperation, however, as well as a worrying lack of depth heading into the busiest period of the season.
“Has he really got Miley playing RB?”, asked one fan.
Another said: “Utter madness.”
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One comment was: “I also didn’t enjoy seeing Lewis Miley forced to play 25 mins as a right back. That’s not good.”
“Why is Miley playing right back? Is this a pre season friendly? Just put players on anywhere,” said another supporter.
One fan added: “Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m here to tell you that Lewis Miley is playing at right-back. Right. Back. It’s not the last 30 seconds of the game, it’s the 65th minute.”
“Utterly bizarre,” commented another supporter.
Lewis Miley is the second midfielder Newcastle United have played at right-back this season
In isolation, it’s perhaps not that big a deal.
Still, Sandro Tonali has also played at right-back for Newcastle this season, which raises questions about the club’s squad depth there.
It’s obviously unlucky to lose Livramento, Trippier and Krafth to injury at roughly the same time.
However, Trippier is approaching the end of his career and Krafth surely isn’t good enough for a team with the kind of ambitions Newcastle have.
Outside of Livramento, the options look slim. Trippier cannot go on forever, after all.
A January signing at full-back may well be needed, particularly with Trippier and Krafth out of contract at the end of the season.
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