Newcastle United 1-0 Manchester City: 3 Takeaways

Newcastle United advanced to the Fourth Round of the Carabao Cup yesterday after defeating Manchester City 1-0 at St. James’ Park. Alexander Isak opened the scoring in the 53rd minute with an impressive assist from Joelinton. The Magpies were the better team on both sides of the ball and looked sharp. Here are three things that stood out in Newcastle’s cup win over Manchester City:

Every player did their job on defense

Eddie Howe played a rotated backline with players including Jamaal Lascelles and Paul Dummett getting the start. It was Dummett’s first appearance in over a year, but he looked like he fit right into the defense and played solid.

As for the rest of the backline, Tino Livramento made an amazing tackle on Matheus Nunes to preserve Newcastle’s lead. Livramento looked like the perfect backup to Kieran Trippier.

Livramento finished the game with eight tackles, three interceptions, and 11 duels won. An outstanding performance for the 20-year-old.

Matt Targett slotted in at left-back over Dan Burn and did a fantastic job defending Sergio Gómez. Lascelles and Dummett had excellent chemistry as the center-backs and looked sharp on the ball.

Newcastle United played with their hearts

This Newcastle squad is something special – the amount of passion and love for the club that every player has is irreplaceable. The Magpies gave Manchester City a tough game, and it was such a lovely sight to see.

Newcastle pressed City for the entire game and put their bodies on the line. A great example of this came later in the second-half from Isak.

Stefan Ortega played a short pass to Manual Akanji, and Isak jumped right in front of Akanji to deflect the ball out. The crowd at St. James’ Park erupted, and Isak hyped the crowd up with a look of confidence on his face.

The Magpies played with confidence and a swagger that inspired the fans to believe in this club even more. Newcastle look like they can beat anyone at the moment.

Anthony Gordon is a difference-maker

Anthony Gordon did not start against Manchester City, but instead came on as a substitute to begin the second half.

Gordon has been in terrific form and scored a goal in Newcastle’s 8-0 thrashing over Sheffield United. Gordon did not score yesterday, but he provided a positive spark in attack that helped lead to the win.

Gordon’s electric pace on the wing allowed for him to press the City defenders and make dangerous runs in behind.

An example of this was evident when Gordon ran towards the byline of the right-side of the pitch to tackle the ball from Joško Gvardiol. Gordon sprinted to Gvardiol and tackled the ball out of bounds to stop City’s build-up play.

There are much more takeaways from this outstanding win, but Newcastle United have now kept four clean sheets in a row and are in fantastic form. The Magpies will look to continue their form against Burnley this weekend before welcoming PSG to St. James’ Park on Wednesday in the UCL.