Newcastle United left with impossible task if they want to retain Carabao Cup after gifting Manchester City two-goal advantage
Let's be realistic: Anything less than a win tonight would likely have meant that Newcastle United's chances of getting to the Carabao Cup final were tiny.
Newcastle simply cannot win at the Etihad Stadium, but if we'd taken a one-goal lead with us into the second leg, we could possibly have stifled them enough to progress.
With a draw tonight, it would be a tough ask, but we'd like to think we could have kept the faith.
Now, though, we have to overturn a two-goal deficit at a ground where we've not scored a single goal under Eddie Howe. We don't want to be pessimistic, but our Carabao Cup dream looks to be over.
Newcastle United might as well wave the white flag already
It was a strange old game with Newcastle having the better of the chances with the score tied. Yoane Wissa should have put Newcastle into the lead early on in the first half, but skied his shot. Then, five minutes into the second half, Wissa once again came agonisingly close.
Anthony Gordon whipped in a delightful cross from the left, and Wissa got his head on it, looping the ball over James Trafford, who managed to just get a fingertip to the ball to push it onto the bar. Bruno Guimaraes hit a superb follow-up shot that cannoned back off the post.
However, just two minutes later, Manchester City were in the lead via Antoine Semenyo, the man who wouldn't have been allowed to play in any other season, but City were able to take full advantage of a rule change this year.
That offside decision, while beneficial to Newcastle, was an absolute joke
Semenyo thought he had doubled City's lead; in fact, we all did. In reality, we probably all actually still think he did, but after almost five minutes, VAR judged that Erling Haaland was in an offside position as Semenyo poked the ball home. If Haaland was offside, it was purely because Puma make thicker socks than Adidas, because it seemed to be the width of the fibre of his sock that played him offside. Obviously, we were happy to take the decision, but if this is what the game has come to, you can keep it.
Newcastle waited far too late to turn up the pressure to go for the equaliser, and Nick Woltemade found himself in some glorious positions but was unable to do anything in the end.
There was time for more late drama at St James' Park, though, as has been the tradition in 2026, with former Toon target Rayan Cherki putting the game beyond doubt in the eighth minute of stoppage time after a typical spooned clearance by Nick Pope gave Man City a throw-in which set up their attack.
It's so annoying, as Pope had actually been really good all night, but it took just one moment to revert to his old ways and cost us any chance we had of progression.
Another little note, too. Anthony Elanga may just be the biggest waste of £55 million there has ever been. Not just in sport, but in every facet of life throughout the entire history of man. The stats say he completed six of his 10 attempted passes, but I can honestly only remember one. What has happened to him?
