I'll throw another angle in here, I don't see Dummett as either a left back or a centre back. I see him more a hybrid tour guide and waiter. Blokes not played regular football in what?????? 3 or 4 years at least. He's not played more than 20 games a season in 6 years. I think Hung's had more touches of the ball in that time than him.
And if Howe had thrown on an inexperienced player and they had made the same blunder against an eternal diver like Young he would have got the same criticism for not using an experienced player in a critical stage of the game.
I don't need to mate just refer back.... I wouldn't care I made a perfectly balanced post trying to explain things without being partisan.
The ONLY points that I am TRYING to make are: 1. Summer transfer window was beyond stupid. It suggested Burn, Almiron, Dubravka, Murphy, Schar and Wilson were good enough for a full tilt at a UCL season. That we then ended up playing the likes of Ritchie, Dummett, Lascelles, Karius and Krafth as well leads me to.... 2. The injury state of this squad, barely going a week without at least TEN players out injured cannot be attributed purely to luck; the squad management has been dreadful since the start of the season when the same XI were being rolled out playing 3 times a week, with the likes of Hall, Miley, Livramento and more sat on the bench and often not even coming on. 3. The obstinance with which Howe plays the exact same way, week in, week out regardless of personnel is weird, as is his odd loyalty to 'big characters'. 4. All of this is evidenced in Newcastle's 2023/24 season - and mirrored in Bournemouth's 2019/20 season. The reason I focus on THAT season is because that was the season Howe spent £30-40m on players including Danjuma, who then managed 15 games as they got relegated. It's the biggest blip on his career and, worryingly, is a trend that has followed him to Newcaslte, along with a bunch of backroom people he had at the same time. I retract the "signing nothing but British plodders" statement, as it's not actually true. HOWEVER as the season started, Longstaff was still getting more game time than Tonali, Burn has been played throughout, when Trippier was having a torrid time (off the pitch too by all accounts) there he was, playing 3 times a week with Livramento on the bench, then we've given new contracts to Dummett, Ritchie and Lascelles. They may not have been signed as such, but they have been re-signed by this very limited manager who puts character and attitude, maybe even dressing room bants, above actual ability. I have just never gotten over the Summer window (just typing those words makes me angry, what a clusterfuck that was), the Milan 1-2 Euro exit disaster, and our woeful Luton, Forest, B'mth and more performances. It has been a really disappointing season, and we're still in the middle of an everlasting injury crisis, the Ashworth saga is now, what, two months and counting, Joelinton's contract still not close to signed and with a crap draw against a dismal Everton we're now looking at ECL qualification at best. It's not what I envisioned when Staveley talked of "winning everything" within 5-10 years. We'll be lucky to get into the Europa League in the near future.
