ST JAMES’ PARK – If this is to be Kieran Trippier’s last lap as a Newcastle United player, how appropriate that it is turning into a victory one.
With everyone at St James’ Park in dire need of this sort of season-defining win to save a listing campaign, a Magpies side whose foundation was experience and know-how delivered in some style. Veterans are not exactly in fashion in the Premier League these days, but boy did they pay dividends for Eddie Howe when he needed them most.
Pick of the lot? That would be 35-year-old Trippier, who most assumed would not be shuffling off the substitutes bench all that much in the business end of the final season of his contract.
"It would've been easy for the players to feel sorry for themselves at half-time"
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Eddie Howe reflects on the mentality shown by his Newcastle side to beat Man United with ten men
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How wrong we were. Trippier has played 112 times for Newcastle since a bargain £12m move from Atletico Madrid and yet there is a case to be made that his performance against Manchester United was the best of the lot.
It was certainly his most timely. The walls might not have been closing in on Howe quite as quickly after the Everton shambles as they were when Newcastle slipped up against Brentford but he needed a big win to rescue the season and remind a growing band of doubters just how good he is.
This was that victory, an epic 10-man illustration of all that is good about Howeball. White knuckle pressing? Check. Rapier intensity in transition? That was here. And so too was what has been missing in recent weeks: discipline and a desire to do the ugly stuff in defence.
That is what has always marked Trippier out as different. His technique is great but his reading of the game is levels above as Manchester United found out to their cost at a frenetic St James’ Park. He just never let them settle or build the sort of counter-attacking patterns that have been the hallmark of Michael Carrick’s interim spell.
For those of us who regard Trippier as a modern day Newcastle hero, we can also breathe that bit easier. He has been a great servant to the club but there is understandable anxiety about the number of games he has been forced to play recently. At times there have been signs of tired limbs, too, and the nightmare scenario would be such a fine player exiting after hanging on for too long.
This performance hinted at a renaissance that would be very well-timed. Newcastle have four huge games across three competitions in the next fortnight: come out of games with Manchester City, Barcelona and Chelsea with something to show for it and suddenly the season has a very different feel.
Might it also change the calculus on Trippier’s future? At the moment the prospect of him staying rests at less than 50 per cent. No-one is saying it out loud but Newcastle know they need to drive down the average age of their squad and recruitment prep is being carried out with that in mind.
Right-back is a priority position to strengthen and the word from insiders is they won’t shy away from difficult decisions this summer.
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And that sounds about right, because at times in recent years their hesitancy has cost them. Howe likes his loyal lieutenants to the extent that he even wanted Callum Wilson to stay last summer. Retaining Trippier – a known quantity at a time when there is uncertainty over Tino Livramento’s future – might appeal.
But to keep the project rolling, clear-headed calls are required. Sporting director Ross Wilson has to be ruthless when the numbers are crunched on Trippier and another brilliant servant Fabian Schar.
None of that, though, means Trippier is not good enough right now and can’t play a huge role in a season suddenly imbued with possibility again. On Wednesday night he showed just what he can offer. If it is to be the final act, it has the potential to be glorious.
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