1 good, 3 bad from Newcastle 0-2 Man City

Newcastle United lost 2-0 to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg on Tuesday night. United were wasteful in front of goal and by the end the lads just looked absolutely gassed after our recent marathon matches and schedule.

It’s quite the “coincidence” that the player who should be cup tied in Antoine Semenyo looked by far and away the best player on the pitch as a convenient rule change allowed him to play, which is a diabolical rule considering he has already been knocked out of the competition once already.

Here is one good and three bad from the game:

Bad: Wasteful in front of goal

United had plenty of chances on the night but were incredibly wasteful in front of goal with Wissa and Woltemade missing glorious chances and Bruno striking the post. Wissa looks a yard short in everything he does which is a huge concern considering he was supposed to ease Big Nick into life in England, injury notwithstanding.

Woltemade also seems to be going backwards in terms of his finishing after a lightning start to life on Tyneside, throw in the fact that everyone just looked dead on their feet by the end, and it all just adds to what felt like a really deflating result.

You simply can’t afford to miss chances of that calibre against a side who are littered with world class players and can punish you at any moment. Add in that they are simply allowed to sign players whenever they like, especially when their season isn’t going to plan (for the second season in a row too mind), and it was always going to be an uphill battle.

Good: Superb Lewis Hall

The one player who really shone on the night (and has shone consistently this season) was Lewis Hall. The lad is a class act; his technical quality is outstanding, and he offered outlets and relieved pressure throughout the 90 mins.

He is such an attacking threat that he sometimes gets caught out of position and I feel like a fully fit Sven Botman would be able to cover his forward runs better but it feels like a churlish complaint when you have such an attacking full back in your side who is able to drive to byline and put dangerous crosses in over and over.

We must protect the lad as we just don’t have any other options especially with Tino now being out for eight weeks too. But surely now we must go into the market to bolster this squad (Murphy went off injured too on the night) as the squad is really struggling for numbers.

Bad: Summer business coming back to bite us

Unfortunately, it appears like some of our summer business is coming back to bite us as Ramsey, Elanga, and Wissa failed to make an impact yet again.

Jacob Ramsey probably had the best of the game, but for £40m you would expect him to have some goals and assists to his name. He was often caught out of position and didn’t track his runners at all which really incensed Eddie Howe at one point.

Wissa, despite having scored a couple, is missing big chances consistently that we need him to be taking so that we can kill games, and he looks a shadow of the player we thought we were signing following his injury. He was also offside so much that he killed our momentum, and it didn’t allow us to build any consistent pressure on Man City. Add to that he was up against two inexperienced centre backs, and it was a hugely disappointing display from him. He is probably rusty after three months, but it’s a frustration when we paid £55m in the hope he’d hit the ground running.

Elanga looks like a man who has forgotten how to play football, he is so out of sorts. He has the worst take on percentage for attackers in the entire Premier League (he is successfully tackled 76% of the time he attempts a take-on), and he gives the ball away 1/3 of time he attempts a pass. A player that out of sorts cannot be expected to make a difference when coming on but we simply don’t have any other options, and that is a huge concern.

Bad: Out of gas and a killer late second goal

Ultimately picking holes in individual performances (whilst a factor in the defeat) is meaningless when the lads just looked completely out of gas by the end of the match. It looked like the brain was willing, but their bodies were done, which doesn’t bode well considering the run of fixtures we have coming up.

That tiredness contributed to the sucker punch killer late second goal which has probably finished off the tie, but Man City should’ve already been two up as they had a goal disallowed for a criminal VAR decision.

We must now park this result and use the upcoming five days rest wisely as it’s the longest break between fixtures we have for a month and a half, and the Wolves game on Sunday is huge for our chances of finishing in the European places this season.

Keep the faith. HWTL