After the third goal went in and it became clear that a night that began with faint hope was in danger of turning into an embarrassment, Eddie Howe’s assistant Graeme Jones sat down in the dug-out and mouthed a pretty appropriate one-word expletive.
There was a little more than half an hour gone at the time but this game and this tie had been over for quite a while already by then.
Indeed, when Manchester City’s reserve striker Omar Marmoush had bundled in his team’s first goal in the seventh minute, all Newcastle ambition and optimism had seemed to be extinguished. This may not be the City of yesteryear or even of two seasons ago.
This may be a City that is young and sometimes disjointed and confusing and occasionally vulnerable. This may be a City beset with a persecution complex about referees and awash with talk of this being their manager’s final season at the Etihad.
But they remain a devilishly good football team when the mood takes them and here they were far too good for a painfully open Newcastle side. Indeed City set about this game as though they had been stung and motivated a little by recent setbacks and criticism.
Whereas their fellow finalist at Wembley next month Arsenal had taken a one-goal lead from their own first leg at Chelsea and simply sat on it in North London on Tuesday night, Pep Guardiola’s City team did exactly the opposite. They sought to stamp out any semblance of Newcastle belief from the outset and their plan worked perfectly.
Omar Marmoush celebrates scoring for Manchester City in their 3-1 second-leg win
City romped to the Carabao Cup final and demolished Newcastle over two matches
Eddie Howe’s men went 3-0 down quickly but managed to save some dignity
Newcastle were certainly compliant. City scored three first half goals and cut through their opponents from inside their own half on each occasion. Newcastle were generous and disorganised and supine.
Their manager Howe has not had many worse 45 minutes during his time at the club and the excellent goal substitute Anthony Elanga scored for him just after their hour was very much of the consolation variety.
Still, though, City had to do their work and they did it with relish. Their best two players were Tijjani Reijnders and Antoine Semenyo. Newcastle couldn’t cope with the speed of their minds and the quickness of their feet. Marmoush, meanwhile, scored twice and now has scored five of his twelve City goals here at this stadium against this opponent.
‘Can I play you every week’ is how the song goes.
Best of all for Guardiola, his team did all the damage without any need for all the heavy artillery he had decided to leave on the bench. So Erling Haaland, Rodri, Ruben Dias, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Rayan Cherki will all head to Anfield for Sunday’s big Premier League assignment against Liverpool with at least a little rest in their legs.
Haaland was given a 20-minute run at the end and nobody here really could work out why, even if he did bring a super late save from Aaron Ramsdale.
Whether this night proves to be portentous for the rest of City’s season remains to be seen. If they are to launch any kind of league challenge in Arsenal’s slipstream then it’s going to have to start soon. Newcastle, meanwhile, must just hope that this is a one-off as they really were very poor indeed.
The early goal was important for sure. Newcastle began without intensity and energy and seemingly without an awful lot of inner conviction. As a result City pressed them back for the opening six or seven minutes and when Marmoush swapped passes with Reijnders to burst in to the penalty area, Dan Burn’s sliding tackle could only divert the ball back against the Egyptian’s shins and up over goalkeeper Ramsdale and in.
Newcastle needed to respond quickly and wasted two chances to do so. Joe Willock and, later, Anthony Gordon were both handed one-on-one opportunities against James Trafford and the City reserve goalkeeper prevailed both times.
Marmoush headed in his second from close range as Man City capitalised on their fast start
Tijjani Reijnders latched onto a ball in the box and side-footed it past Aaron Ramsdale
In between those moments, City had their own moments. Reijnders shot across goal from one side and Semenyo drove low from the other. Meanwhile, left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri sped down his flank and saw a shot diverted over by Malick Thiaw.
When goals two and three of the night – and four and five of the tie – came City’s way, they did so either side of the half hour, with just three minutes between them.
Marmoush’s second actually began in Trafford’s hands as he fielded a low Kieran Trippier free-kick. The ease which City swept upfield – with Reijnders carrying the ball thirty yards on his own – will have concerned Howe and when Semenyo’s shot span up off Trippier, Marmoush rose to head the ball in from a yard.
The game was up and with it went Newcastle’s resolve. Almost immediately, Reijnders fed Semenyo again and though Trippier tackled the City player as he cut inside, Reijnders was able to slide the loose ball in for the goal his opening half hour of work had deserved.
With Gordon taken off with a hamstring problem just before the break, Howe and his players must have felt like going home. Up above one goal, the thousands of Newcastle fans who had made the journey chose to stick around too. Credit to them. And they at least got to witness a terrific goal from Elanga, who cut inside from the right touchline past three defenders to curl a super shot low into the far corner.
There was still half an hour left at that point. Seven minutes later the same player spurned a much easier chance from six yards. Had that gone in, the temperature may have lifted just a notch.
Newcastle were actually the better side in the second half. Their goal gave them the belief to press and harry and therefore worry City. But it was far too late. They still needed four goals to even take the game to an extra period.
As such this felt rather like a belated search for some self-respect and dignity. Whether the recovered any or not will be for Howe and his assistants to decide.
