Newcastle United’s shock £74m decision after Eddie Howe masterstroke and ‘unplayable’ trio star

Goals from Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon fired Newcastle United to another cup final on what will be remembered as one of the great nights at St James’ Park. For 90 minutes, St James’ Park was transformed into a cauldron of noise and passion that Arsenal simply couldn’t live with.

And with a 2-0 advantage from the first-leg, that was always going to be a recipe for success for Eddie Howe’s side. And so it proved.

Rare formation change

Throughout his time as Newcastle United head coach, Howe has been fairly rigid in his formation and, barring a few exceptions, has largely picked a 4-3-3 system. However, Wednesday night’s game turned out to be one of those rare exceptions as he opted for a back-five, with Sven Botman coming into the side to replace the injured Joelinton.

Kieran Trippier also came into the starting XI in place of Tino Livramento in what seemed from the outset quite a defensive set of changes from Howe.

How wrong those pre-match predictions were…

Mix-and-match pressing machines

The great innovation of having three central defenders on the pitch came as one was given the freedom to press high, usually on Declan Rice, with the other two sitting back and dealing with the long balls pumped towards Kai Havertz. Burn and Botman both had a go at putting the Gunners under pressure, but it was Schar who completed the most meaningful press of the night.

You could have forgiven the 33-year-old for not hounding down Rice in a seemingly innocuous position in the early stages of the second-half, but that’s exactly what Schar did - and it paid dividends as his interception fell to the feet of Gordon to fire home past Raya. Gordon had just moments earlier gave Arsenal a warning, but it was not one that was heeded as he went on to put the tie out of sight.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Howe praised his side’s work ethic: “It was a great night for us. It was a tough game but tactically we were good. The intention was to be aggressive and sometimes when you do that it doesn't always work. Today it did. I thought it helped to solidify our plan. We had to retreat at times but we were always in the game.

“The work [on the game plan] started on Monday, which is quick. The Champions League last year helped us to work on those two-day turnarounds. We do tweak things depending on the opposition. We felt we needed more height in the team, we wanted solidity at the back and we had to change in order to win the game.

“The players followed the instruction to the letter, they deserve the credit. Fabian [Schar] had big distances to cover in his job, tracking Declan Rice whether he dropped low or went wide or went central. At times he went right across the pitch. He is a good athlete and is very capable of doing it.”

Magical St James’ Park

From the off, Newcastle United were roared on by a raucous St James’ Park crowd who, unlike their previous run to the Carabao Cup final, weren’t just there for a good time - they were there for blood. There was a palpable sense of confidence, expectation and excitement as 52,000 entered the stadium, came through the turnstiles and found their seats.

Scarves twirled, flags waved and hearts were sung out as ‘Thunderstruck’ by ACDC set the tone for Jonny Blue Hat to play a beautiful rendition of Local Hero as the teams entered the field of play. All pre-match expectations were lived up to and the atmosphere never let-up throughout the 90 minutes.

Of course, it dipped at times but again, that came down to the feeling that Newcastle didn’t need their fans all of the time. They were simply better than Arsenal for most of the match and probably could have won it in total silence - not that that was ever at risk of happening on Wednesday night.

Majestic Murphy, imperious Isak, golden Gordon

Arsenal’s defenders will have left Tyneside completely bamboozled after a 90 minutes, well 180 minutes in truth, that saw them bullied, bruised and baffled by the Magpies. That dominance occurred all over the park, but particularly in Newcastle’s final-third with Gordon, Isak and Murphy shining throughout.

Gordon’s two goals over the tie settled both matches whilst Isak and Murphy assisted each other for their respective openers as their telepathic partnership continues to get stronger by the week. If there’s a trio playing as good as them three right now, then put them right into the top drawer of your collection, because MIG (as no one is calling them) are simply unplayable right now.

Mindset change

Newcastle now have more than a month to wait for their return to Wembley - with a date against Spurs or Liverpool in the book. However, unlike their trip to the home of football two years ago, the Magpies will head there this season with a new mindset. Winning.

Of course, they didn’t head to Wembley last time to lose, but there was a feeling that the whole club was just happy to be there and enjoy the weekend in the capital, rather than coming for silverware like their opponents did.

That’s all changed this time around. Newcastle United will be ready.

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