‘Experiment’: Eddie Howe now shares his plan for ‘fantastic’ 28-year-old Newcastle man

Eddie Howe was looking forward to trying something new at Manchester United last night but fate had other ideas.

Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe made eight changes to his starting lineup last night and as fans looked at the team sheet they tried to work out where each player would be deployed.

At kick-off, we got a better understanding of what Howe was going for and it looked like left-back Matt Targett was playing in central midfield alongside Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock.

Targett's night came to a very premature end

Unfortunately, Targett's night lasted just 90 seconds before he pulled up injured and had to be withdrawn.

Another injury to add to the already lengthy list of unavailable players.

Serena Taylor via Getty Images

Speaking to NUFC TV after the game, Eddie Howe shared what he was trying to achieve by playing the former Aston Villa fullback in midfield.

“We were going to try and experiment today a little bit with Matt Targett’s position so we were going to look at him as a midfielder just in case in the Premier League we would need another midfielder so we were going to look at him in there and unfortunately, we didn’t get to see much of it, I think it was a minute or two he lasted.”

Howe is still a big fan of Targett despite his lack of game time. The gaffer called Targett 'fantastic' when he signed for Newcastle, but injuries, illnesses, and the superb form of Dan Burn have meant that Targett's minutes have been limited.

It would make sense that Howe was trying Targett in a new position as the more versatile he can be, the more chance he has of playing. Now, though, we have to wait and see how long this current injury is going to keep him out of action.