Rolls Royce, Howe genius and SJP atmosphere – Five takeaways from Newcastle 2-0 Arsenal

Newcastle United advanced to a second League Cup final in three years on Wednesday evening, as a professional, combative, quality performance secured a huge 2-0 win (4-0 aggregate) over Arsenal.

Fresh from their huge win against Man City at the weekend, the **** were no match for United as Eddie Howe schooled Mikel Arteta tactically once again. The ball was also to blame as goals from Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon flew into the back of the net, but the stubborn ball just wouldn’t play ball for the Gunners.

Here are our five key takeaways from the game:

1. Fluid back 5: an Eddie Howe tactical masterclass

I’ll hold my hands up and say I was questioning the five at the back before kick-off, but I was completely wrong. Eddie Howe has conjured up yet another tactical masterclass against Mikel ‘Legohead’ Arteta as the fluidity of the back five nullified Arsenal’s attack in the main.

Schar’s pressing and man marking job on Declan Rice made him look every bit the player Chelsea rejected as a youngster as he didn’t get a sniff all night and grabbed an assist for the second. When the Swiss pressed into midfield the back five shifted across into a four to cover the space. Hall also pushed on into centre mid/left wing on occasion restoring the 2022/23 back four with Burn dropping into LB to cover for Hall pushing on, as the space between the lines was squeezed.

Bruno went man for man on Partey and marked him out of the game too, the Brazilian often dropping back in when Schar pushed ahead of him onto Rice, and with his incredible engine he was also able to support the attacks with his laser-like passing.

All this was achieved without Joelinton too (often the man to drop into the backline), who was ruled out via a knee injury, but ultimately his power, flexibility and direct running style were not missed, and despite the marginalist of marginalist offsides denying Isak an early goal United didn’t wilt in the red-hot atmosphere.

And despite Arsenal having 13 corners, they hardly threatened and to top it all off the old school housery was back on show again as every time an Arsenal player tried to dish it out, a United player gave it back to them. It was a thing of beauty.

Oh, and by the way Gabriel Martinelli, how many goals did you score on the night? Credit to Arsenal though for keeping the score down to four. Stay humble lads.

2. Rolls Royce

A special, special mention must go to Sven Botman who was a man mountain on the night as he led the back line with massive aplomb as the Dutchman was another United player who pocketed his opposition, no matter who it was.

Harvertz certainly isn’t a striker, but he was anonymous on the evening as our Rolls Royce put in one of the most complete centre half performances in recent memory. His dominance was pretty much complete (one Odegaard chance aside), and he was the platform on which the lads made Arsenal look like mid table chumps.

Sven must come back into the starting lineup regularly as he is the best centre half at the club and we must get him up to full fitness before the final because with him in the defence, we can shut down anybody.

3. Desire and rolling back the clock

Kieran Trippier put in one of the most complete full back performances I’ve seen from him in recent memory as he pocketed each Arsenal winger and full back he faced (including the second coming of Roberto Carlos himself Miles Lewis-Skelly…) – he was vocal, tackled hard, marshalled the troops and won most of his duels.

I love Tino Livramento, but on nights like Wednesday to have proven winners like Trippier in your side more often than not gets you over the line. The physicality he brought to the team also fed into the desire the lads showed as they clearly wanted to make up for the weekend’s result.

Trippier was also the housery-in-chief too as he unleashed his verbal best on the Arsenal players to get into them mentally and put them off their game. His heart and desire flowed through to all the other lads, and it was truly like the former England international rolled back the years on the night.

4. St. James’ Park was electric!

Before the game a rallying cry was sent out to the St James’ crowd and it certainly delivered on the night, as it had shades of the PSG game last season, with plenty of edge, fight, and thunder rolling down from the stands and onto the pitch.

The pre-match buildup was great too with different, adrenaline producing songs, a live performance of ‘Local Hero’ from Sam Fenders saxophonist and a special Wor Flags display, which even had black and white stripes on the pitch, all contributing to the electric atmosphere.

Arsenal were rattled, and their fans didn’t produce a peep all night. On nights like Wednesday, when fans and players are in sync it would take a special away performance to stop us.

5. We’re going to Wembley

And so, United moved a huge step closer to ending our 56-year wait for a major trophy. Eddie Howe turned the 2-0 advantage from the semi-final first leg in a comprehensive victory and we will now face either Liverpool or Spurs in the final.

United are also a step closer to banishing the memories of losing to a dire Man United side two years ago too. Wembley hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for us, but we are now just 90 minutes away from winning something for the first time since the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

Ultimately, we’ll be happy to play either side, as anything can happen in a one-off game but I’m sure we will all watch the second semi-final tomorrow night with much anticipation but also comfortable in the knowledge that we have already booked out place in the final on the 16^th March.

What a night. HWTL