It was smooth sailing at St James’ Park as we began our Carabao Cup defence with a 4-1 win against League One leaders Bradford City.

A brace each from Joelinton and Will Osula made all the difference, as we built some big momentum heading into Sunday’s crunch clash against Arsenal in the Premier League.

It may only be our second win of the season in all competitions, but it was certainly much-needed, and could be the catalyst for some big performances needed in the coming weeks across both the Premier League and Champions League.

Here’s what Eddie Howe had to say after final whistle in the third round win, picking out two Mags for special praise and discussing the importance of a much-needed win:

Big praise for Will Osula

It’s a been a relatively mixed start to the season for Will Osula: excluding his dramatic goal at home to Anfield, the Dane has struggled to find his scoring boots in the absence of the departed Alexander Isak from the squad.

But he bounced back from that poor display at Leeds on his last start with a big brace on Wednesday night: a goal in each calf which saw him slot home a one-vs-one and arrive at the back post late on to round off a 4-1 win.

And Howe expressed his satisfaction with Osula’s overall display, and hinted that future starts both in and aside from the Carabao Cup could be on the cards.

“It was a slightly turbulent end to the transfer window for Will. Slowly but surely he is improving his game.”

“It wasn’t just his goals tonight, it was his hold-up play, his wing play.

“He’s done his chances (of starting in Premier League) no harm.”

“Great to see him score. He’s come back for pre-season and trained really well. His game is improving all of the time.”

Howe hails “excellent” Lewis Miley

2025 has been a truly stop-start year for Lewis Miley, with the 19-year-old struggling to build momentum and rediscover the magic form that he showed two years ago when he broke onto the scene on Tyneside.

And with the unfortunate task of trying to break into our current midfield, the teenager needs to capitalise on any opportunity Howe can give him, and he certainly delivered tonight deputising for Sandro Tonali.

“I thought Lewi (Miley) was excellent. He really helped us in the first half.”

“Some lovely little deft touches and short passes into midfield, using Joe and Bruno as a springboard to control that midfield.

“He’s developing all the time and I’m really pleased with him.”

With Jacob Ramsey out injured and Joe Willock out-of-form, Miley has a perfect chance to cement his place as the gaffer’s go-to back-up midfielder behind Guimaraes, Joelinton and Tonali.

A good display given the rotation – Howe

There were seven changes from the side that drew 0-0 against Bournemouth, with some big calls in defence, midfield and attack.

With our next game against Arsenal rapidly approaching, there’s only a handful of players who you would say are guaranteed a spot in the starting XI, which probably inspired some of the stronger performances we saw tonight against Bradford, something which Howe has subtly acknowledged.

“We think we have a good squad, but we have to keep people fresh.”

“There were quite a lot of changes but the rhythm of the team was good. The players who were given a chance took it and that is only good for the group as a whole.”

“The players know there is someone waiting behind them to take their shirt if they do not play well. I think that is the best way for it to be for a manager.”

On desire to retain Carabao Cup crown

Even before the season started, the general expectation was that Howe and his side would be determined to fight and try to win in every single competition they played in.

And despite the difficulties encountered so far in the Premier League and Champions League, that desire to succeed has not waned at all, even in what many see as a ‘lesser’ competition like either of the domestic cups.

“We want to win whatever is put in front of us and the attitude stems from us, the coaches and it should filter down.”

“There is no difference between the games; these are opportunities to win trophies, and you can’t just turn them away.”

Howe’s respect for in-form Bradford

Despite the gulf in quality and league places between ourselves and tonight’s opponents, there was still plenty to be nervy about concerning Bradford.

Much like last season’s FA Cup game against Birmingham City, Bradford were backed by a raucous set of supporters and threatened our defence multiple times throughout the night in one of the tougher challenges we’ve faced this season.

Howe expressed his respect for the visitors’ performance following their strong form in League One and the early rounds:

“Bradford are top of their league and we needed a bit of patience in our performance but once we got into our groove we were very good.”

“So the hard rounds are the early ones. They are very difficult. Last year, we had to battle through against Wimbledon on the way to winning it; Bradford was the same. The mentality you can’t switch off.”

“We wanted to win and wanted to score and try to entertain everybody that came.”

“I thought we did that, it was always going to be a difficult game, nobody wants to make anything easy for you.”