Man City 2-0 Newcastle: Toon dumped out at the Etihad in frustrating quarter-final

Newcastle crashed out the FA Cup to holders Manchester City as Eddie Howe’s change in tactical shape did not provide much joy for the Magpies.

Bernardo Silva's deflected brace separated the sides on a wet night in the North West. Both first-half goals were fortunate, but came after some more stand-off defending; much like we saw in Monday's 3-2 defeat at Chelsea.

It continues a torrid run of form at the Etihad – a stadium the Toon have only won once at - and puts all the focus back to the Premier League, where we sit three points behind 7th placed West Ham; our next opponents in two weeks time after the international break.

Howe made two changes from Chelsea, as Jamaal Lascelles and Jacob Murphy came in for Tino Livramento - out with a minor ankle knock - and Miguel Almiron. This also meant a change in system, featuring three at the back, Dan Burn and Jacob Murphy at wing-back, the usual midfield three - keeping Miley and Anderson on the bench - and Anthony Gordon in attack with Alexander Isak.

13 minutes in, City played the ball around the final third with poise and worked it right to Bernardo. His shot looped over Dubravka via the outstretched leg of Dan Burn to open the scoring.

Howe’s Mags reacted better than they did against Chelsea earlier in the week, but City were soon two goals ahead. Again, Bernardo Silva on the right. Again, a deflection – this time off Botman. Again, Dubravka beaten by a strike he would have normally stopped.

At the break we found ourselves 2-0 down, but it could have been a smaller deficit. Isak squandered a great chance before half-time after volleying a knock down from Burn. But Ortega in the Citizens’ net was equal to the shot from around 10 yards out.

The second-half started similarly to the end of the first. City kept piling the pressure on and Newcastle sat back and tried to force chances on the counter.

But it wasn’t until Howe made a quadruple substitution around the hour mark that Newcastle looked to have gained any amount of energy in the game.

The introduction of Hall, Almiron, Miley and Anderson injected a bit of a buzz to the build up play with 30 minutes remaining, but a strike on target was seemingly too much for those in black and white.

City hesitated on the ball midway through the second-half allowing Almiron to nick in, his pass to Isak was the obvious choice in a 3 v 2 scenario. He found the Swedish forward, but his first touch was uncharacteristically poor and was forced wide himself when a shot was on.

Lewis Hall in particular looked like he was taking the opportunity to make the case to Howe for more minutes. The young left back had some neat touches and showed a lot of willing to progress the ball, despite the scoreline.

The story of the night however, was one of City dominance and Newcastle hesitance as we failed to take our chances. Last season’s treble winners didn’t look like they got out of second gear.

Once again this season, the Toon bow out of a cup at the quarter-final stage and the search for silverware will go on another year.

Next up, a warm weather training camp in Dubai for those not representing their countries, followed by West Ham at St James' Park in two weeks time.

(3-5-2): Dubravka – Schar, Lascelles, Botman – Murphy, Longstaff, Bruno, Willock, Burn – Gordon, Isak.

SUBS: Karius, Dummett, Ritchie, Targett, Krafth, Hall, Almiron, Anderson, Miley.