At the time of writing, Eddie Howe has as many senior defenders injured as he has some ready available to play for him.
After Dan Burn’s injury was reported on Monday evening, one which will see the England international miss up to six weeks and ten games of action, he joins Sven Botman, Kieran Trippier and Emil Krafth on the sidelines.
The news leaves just the quartet of Lewis Hall, Tino Livramento, Fabian Schar and Malick Thiaw as Howe’s sole defensive options: not ideal considering we have games against Fulham, Chelsea and Manchester United coming in the next week and a half alone.
Despite the rampant injury crisis however, a new report is hinting that we will not resort to recalling a defensive star currently out on loan: an interesting sign as to how the manager may lineup for the upcoming fixtures…
According to The Northern Echo, Newcastle United currently have no plans to recall Matt Targett from his loan spell at Middlesbrough, despite the injury crisis on Tyneside.
This comes at a time where full-back cover looks non-existent on Tyneside, with makeshift option Burn ruled out until the new year, along with Trippier and Krafth.
Targett has had a key role to play in Boro’s strong start to the Championship season, appearing 17 times in the league this campaign, and scoring twice in the process.
By comparison, that’s more than the 12 competitive starts he enjoyed in the last two seasons of his Toon tenure, having fallen well below the likes of Burn and Hall in the fullback hierarchy.
With no plans to recall him right now, we can expect Targett to complete his season-long loan on Teesside before departing on a free transfer next summer when his Newcastle contract expires.
With Targett now out of the equation, how does Eddie Howe successfully navigate his lack of full back options without causing another injury due to fatigue and overplaying his stars?
Both Hall and Livramento have only just returned from injury themselves, and the latter has played almost every minute possible since his return.
Where a player like Jacob Murphy or even the aforementioned Thiaw can deputise at right back to ease some of Livramento’s workload, the same cannot be said for Hall: the best option currently available after him is fellow youngster Alex Murphy, who Howe depended on during our pre-season tour of Asia whilst Hall was still injured.
With no Lloyd Kelly replacement either, are we closer to seeing Livramento deputise at left back simply for rotation? We know for a fact he can play and succeed there, and it’s a viable option that would buy us enough time until Trippier, Krafth and Botman come back and instantly boost our defensive depth.
