Lewis Hall rehab plan judged as Newcastle United respond to injury setback – ‘Let’s not forget’
Newcastle are taking a careful approach to Lewis Hall’s recovery from injury
13:00, 27 Nov 2025
Lewis Hall warming up on the touchline during Newcastle’s 2-1 defeat to Marseille(Image: 2025 Newcastle United)
Lewis Hall may have returned to the Newcastle United fold after injury but head coach Eddie Howe is not taking any chances when it comes to stepping up his exposure to more minutes on the pitch.
Hall made his first start for Newcastle since September in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Manchester City but he was replaced after 77 minutes by Sven Botman.
The England international was then left on the bench in Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at Marseille in the Champions League and was restricted to just 36 minutes of action.
Speaking in the aftermath of the Magpies’ win over Man City, Howe revealed Hall was still ‘some way short’ of completing 90 minutes and they are still managing his progress carefully after recovering from a hamstring injury.
“I think it was more cramp,” Howe said when explaining why Hall was substituted against Manchester City.
“It wasn’t totally unexpected that Lewis would probably suffer that way, having missed the amount of football and just the change in intensity from England [U21], because he went away with England, compared to these games.
“They’re totally different. That’s why we’ve tried to build him up to full fitness. He’s still sort of some way short of being able to complete 90 but the minutes that he did play, I thought he was outstanding.”
Newcastle’s careful approach towards Hall has led to some frustration among supporters, particularly given he is the only natural left-back in the squad.
The Magpies have had to use Dan Burn at left-back in Hall’s absence, while Tuesday night saw them line up in a back five to accommodate his absence from the starting XI.
Hall’s hamstring injury happened not too long after he returned to the squad following a serious knee injury last season that ruled him out of the Carabao Cup final and United’s end of season run-in.
However, injury expert Ben Dinnery believes Newcastle are managing Hall’s progress well and insists there should ne no questions about his robustness after suffering a couple of damaging injuries in 2025.
“Let’s not forget he is still a very young lad,” Dinnery told Chronicle Live via Adventure Gamers.
“He has been managed and coached really well and Lewis Hall was certainly up there before he suffered the major injury setback before the Carabao Cup final.
“He is a superb player but he is still young and still adapting to the top flight and while Newcastle have been able to deal with his absence with Dan Burn going out to left-back, I do think Eddie Howe has the options to facilitate Lewis Hall being rested on occasions. He doesn’t need to be in there week in, week out.
“Up until that injury he suffered at the end of last season, which was fairly innocuous, he showed himself to be a fairly robust player.
“I have got no questions about how the players have been managed and there is a lot of credit in the bank with Eddie Howe and his backroom staff.”
