Lewis Hall of Newcastle United reacts during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD4 match between Newcastle United FC and Athletic Club at St James' Park on November 05, 2025 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)placeholder image
Lewis Hall of Newcastle United reacts during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD4 match between Newcastle United FC and Athletic Club at St James' Park on November 05, 2025 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Newcastle United left-back Lewis Hall has opened up on his long spell on the sidelines.
A few weeks before the final, Hall played a full 90 minutes at Anfield in the Premier League and despite Newcastle losing 2-0 was highly praised for his performance against in-form Mohamed Salah.
But that proved to be Hall’s final appearance of the 2024-25 season. Nursing a foot injury, it was decided the 21-year-old would undergo surgery - five days before the final at Wembley.
It meant Hall was unable to be in the capital with his teammates as they ended the club’s 70-year domestic trophy drought with a 2-1 victory. That marked the start of what the player has described as the “worst part” of his career so far.
The left-back was sidelined for around five months in total. Not only did his club aspirations take a hit but country too, as Hall had not long made his senior England debut.
Lewis Hall’s hurt at missing Newcastle United’s Carabao Cup final win over Liverpool
Speaking candidly to The Sun, Hall admitted: “It was the worst part of my career so far. The cup final was incredibly hard to take.
“Even now — although we won and I’ve got my medal and everything — it still hurts quite a lot seeing that and not being able to be there.
“Not so much not being able to play, but I’d had my surgery five days beforehand, so I wasn’t able to get to the game and celebrate with the team, which was difficult.
“I spent a lot of time with my family back home, who are probably the people that I’d open up to the most. But at the club, we have a psychologist who I used to speak to every week. I used to speak to the coaching staff fairly regularly and the players.
“I tried to keep myself having breakfast and lunch and do everything I could with them to keep myself part of the team.
“Everyone was so good with me and they knew how much it was upsetting to me to miss the cup final. It’s made me mentally a lot stronger. It’s all just part of the process. Now I’m just enjoying every moment and never take anything for granted these days.”
Lewis Hall set to start for Newcastle United v Manchester City
Hall recently suffered a setback with a hamstring injury ruling him out for a month. It came just a week after Hall made his first starts of the campaign against AFC Bournemouth and Bradford City.
He is back available now and, after back-to-back cameo appearances against Athletic Bilbao and Brentford, as well as playing 70 minutes for England under-21s last Friday, is in line to start against Manchester City on Saturday evening (kick-off 5:30pm).
Dan Burn had been deputising at left-back but his red card in the 3-1 defeat at Brentford last time out sees him serve a one-match suspension.
The visit of Man City could be the start of a regular run in the side which for Hall, which he hopes can propel him into the thoughts of Thomas Tuchel ahead of next summer’s World Cup.
Hall added: “I had him at Chelsea before, so I knew a little bit about his style of play, so it was more of a reintroduction and giving me the confidence to keep going. I have the confidence in my ability to get into the squad. That is something that I’m aiming to do.”
Continue Reading