LISBON: Two Newcastle United XIs recorded four wins over recently relegated Burnley as part of the club’s pre-season schedule in Portugal.
Eddie Howe and Vincent Kompany fielded two different starting sides in the 45-minute encounters, with United winning all four halves at the Portuguese Football Federation’s Cidade do Futebol, near Lisbon, on Saturday.
A Magpies XI skippered by Jamaal Lascelles won their first 45 against a youthful Clarets side with midfielder Joe Willock adding two goals to his summer tally as well as youngster Elliot Anderson netting his first strike since being brought into the senior group this summer. Paraguayan international Miguel Almiron got the fourth as Newcastle won 4-1.
Dan Burn, handed the armband for the first time, led the other Newcastle XI against a more senior Burnley side featuring former England international Jay Rodriguez.
And as Lascelles’ side did on an adjacent pitch, Burn’s XI triumphed, this time with Allan Saint-Maximin scoring the only goal of the game.
With both sides then switching opposition after a short break, Howe’s men picked up where they left off as Callum Wilson scored, then Almiron again found the net to ensure a 2-1 victory. Ian Maatsen scored for Kompany’s Championship outfit.
Matt Ritchie, who is likely to leave the club this summer, got his second goal of pre-season in the other game as a 2-0 victory was rounded off by Jacob Murphy.
This flurry of training ground games comes after United tasted their first defeat of pre-season in Austria against Mainz 05. That 1-0 loss followed on from wins over 1860 Munich and Gateshead, 3-0 and 5-1 respectively.
The Magpies take on Benfica on Tuesday evening in the Eusebio Cup before rounding off pre-season with two near to sold-out games at St James’ Park against Atalanta and Athletic Bilbao.
One footballer who has played the majority of minutes over the summer — and is likely to be a key part of the next campaign — is the 2021/22 player of the season Joelinton.
Howe said: “Joe has come back in a good position, technically and tactically he is very good.
“For me, it is just a case of getting him up to speed and Premier League ready.
“Hopefully he has got another big season ahead of him again.”
Speaking about United failing to add a striker so far this summer, Howe added: “We do have players that have played in that position before.
“Obviously, we have the two strikers (Wood and Wilson), Maxi has played there many times and Joelinton was signed as a forward as you say.
“So within the squad there’s versatile players and this season, more than any, that is going to be more important than ever.”
