KIERAN TRIPPIER had England fans worried after coming off in the first half of this controversial friendly Down Under and having ice applied to his ankle.
The Newcastle defender, 33, took a whack to the area in the opening 45 against old side Spurs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Trippier was then subbed in the 37th minute and ran off the pitch comfortably enough, suggesting it was a planned switch albeit at a strange time.
But he then had an ice-pack applied to his ankle, which will have left Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate grimacing if he was watching.
Trippier is a huge part of Southgate’s plans for this summer’s Euros and is set to start at left-back if Luke Shaw fails in his fitness race.
Former Atletico Madrid man Trippier had already branded this contentious post-season exhibition to the far side of the world as “not ideal” preparation for this summer’s major tournament.
The fixture, which came just three days after the final day of the season, had drawn widespread criticism for being purely financially-motivated.
Magpies icon Alan Shearer branded it “madness”, while Paul Robinson had called the friendly a “pointless exercise”.
Southgate himself said there was nothing he could do about the game, even though it involved two of his players included in his 33-man provisional Euros list in Trippier and James Maddison.
Injured Anthony Gordon was not involved.
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Toon boss Eddie Howe played down concerns after the match as he said: “That was all planned. We spoke to Kieran and thought the best thing to do was start him.
“He is still in the early stages of recovery so we didn’t want to take risks with him. Half an hour was always the aim.
“He did well and is not injured. Let’s see how he feels on Friday (when Newcastle play an A-league All Stars team in Melbourne).
“We have to make sure we treat him well at the early stages.”
Both teams named strong starting XIs in front of 78,419 spectators on a night of pouring rain in Melbourne.
It was a slow start in terms of goalmouth action but Son Heung-min wanted a penalty when Trippier appeared to block him off and was denied.
It was Maddison who broke the deadlock on 32 minutes, pouncing on a poor kick-out by Nick Pope, dribbling into the box and lashing into the roof of the net – though he did appear to handball it with his initial control.
Trippier then came off before Pope repelled Brennan Johnson from close range.
RUTHLESS Gareth Southgate has sensationally axed Marcus Rashford and Jordan Henderson from England's provisional Euro 2024 squad.
The two Three Lions regulars were left out along with Raheem Sterling, Ben Chilwell and Reece James as Southgate axed a host of former favourites.
As have former Liverpool stars Henderson and Sterling.
And Chilwell and James, when they’ve been fit, have been one of The Three Lions chief’s preferred left and right backs.
But Southgate has decided to leave the United, Ajax and Chelsea stars out of his provisional 30-plus squad for this summer’s tournament.
Southgate has made EIGHT shock inclusions in his provisional squad.
To read more about Southgate’s ruthless squad changes CLICK HERE.
Howe’s side looked second best but then levelled just before the interval as a cross from Trippier replacement Jacob Murphy was pushed out by Spurs keeper Brandon Austin straight to Alexander Isak, who could not miss.
The second half was full of substitutions but lacked chances. Harvey Barnes fired wide for the Toon, while Jamie Donley did the same for Spurs.
To penalties it went, which seemed to come as a surprise to both Ange Postecoglou and Howe.
Bryan Gil had Spurs’ first effort saved by Pope and that proved to be the only miss of the shootout, handing Newcastle a meaningless victory.
It ended Spurs’ season but Newcastle still have an A-league All Stars team still to play on Friday, with Trippier’s fitness a concern.
SunSport exclusively revealed how Trippier was set to be Southgate’s “emergency left-back” for Euro 2024 with Shaw’s fitness in question.
