Kieran Trippier argued with angry Newcastle fans following the 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth for Eddie Howe’s injury-hit side.
The injury-hit visitors were downed by Dominic Solanke’s second-half double on the south coast. The players went to applaud the travelling fans after the final whistle and footage of Trippier was posted on social media showing him responding to one supporter by saying: “Are the lads not giving everything? How many injuries have we got?”
Afterwards, Trippier played down the incident. He told Sky Sports: “The fans are emotional, they have travelled a long way. I had a chat with one of them, saying we are giving everything and there’s no need to panic. We got beat and we apologise for that result, but the lads are giving everything.”
Howe, the Newcastle manager, said he understood the fans’ frustrations. “Kieran is fine. Emotions run high,” he said. “We all feel a bit emotional after that from our perspective. We value all our away support, we value them greatly. We thank them for their support.”
It was a nightmare return to Bournemouth for Howe, who saw his side’s seven-match unbeaten league run end and their injury crisis deepen. Newcastle were already missing 11 players through injury and suspension after Callum Wilson injured a hamstring in the midweek defeat at Borussia Dortmund.
Howe revealed Wilson will withdraw from the England squad and faces a spell on the sidelines. He then lost Miguel Almirón to another hamstring problem midway through the first half.
The long casualty list meant a first Premier League start for Lewis Miley, 17, in central midfield. Such are Newcastle’s lack of options they ended the match with Ben Parkinson, an 18-year-old who had never previously made a first-team appearance, playing alone in attack.
“It was a game where we couldn’t be where we needed to be for it and it was a tough watch. We were unrecognisable today,” added Howe, who was in charge at Bournemouth the last time they beat Newcastle, in 2017. “It was a real off day. There are reasons, but I don’t want to sit here and make excuses. I want to support the players.”
The only surprise was that it took dominant Bournemouth an hour before they made the breakthrough. Joe Willock challenged Antoine Semenyo and the ball rolled off him into the path of Solanke, who raced into the area and lashed his shot inside Nick Pope’s near post.
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Bournemouth doubled the lead from a corner, Solanke flicking the rebound home with his heel after Luis Sinisterra’s header hit a post. It secured only a second win of the season for Bournemouth and lifted them out of the bottom three.
Andoni Iraola, the Bournemouth manager, said: “I think we really deserved this win. We played well and had good chances. Luckily we finished the job in the second half.
“Dom has been very good for us. On the ball and off the ball, he helps his teammates. He missed chances in the first half, but cleared his mind and continued playing the same way.”