Another season, another empty trophy cabinet for Newcastle United whose last chance of silverware disappeared last night with a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City.
The long wait to have commentators stop mentioning the last time Newcastle won a trophy continues. At this point, it has become something of an unwritten law that, during a cup game, whoever is commentating has to mention how long it has been since Newcastle last lifted silverware. As if the Championship, Intertoto Cup, Diriyah Season Cup and Sela Cup don't count or something.
If we're being honest with ourselves, as soon as we were drawn away at the Etihad Stadium we knew that our FA Cup dream was all but over and so it came to pass. Manchester City made it all look so easy last night but were fortunate with both of their goals thanks to deflections off Newcastle defenders.
In truth, that just sums up our luck against the Champions lately. We've usually given them a good game but come undone by bad luck ... like having Kevin De Bruyne available for a 20-minute cameo that completely changed the game last time around.
It wasn't just the fans who were disappointed last night with Bruno Guimaraes looking almost inconsolable at full-time.
The Brazilian maestro, who was one of the few players who managed to hold their own against the might of City, took to social media to share his thoughts after the game and the image he chose to accompany it was so fitting.
"Struggling to find words now! Disappointed to not go through in the FA Cup. We still have 10 games in the premier league to save our season. We count on our fans as always"
There's still a chance that eighth place could land the occupant with a European place this season with the new Champions League rules, and Newcastle are currently just two points off eighth right now, and only three points away from seventh which would guarantee a spot in the Europe.
We have 10 games left to close that gap and stay there, and who knows, maybe something crazy happens and we go on a crazy run of form and nick sixth, although the gap to Manchester United who currently occupy sixth is seven points and that seems like a lot of work in just 10 games.
After the highs of last season, it's going to be hard to look back on this one with any fondness no matter what happens now, but if we manage to scrape our way through into Europe that will at least give us something to look forward to next season.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
14 | 18 | 35 |
2 |
Chelsea
|
15 | 17 | 31 |
3 |
Arsenal
|
15 | 14 | 29 |
4 |
Manchester City
|
15 | 6 | 27 |
5 |
Nottingham Forest
|
15 | 1 | 25 |
6 |
Aston Villa
|
15 | 0 | 25 |
7 |
Brighton
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
8 |
Bournemouth
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
9 |
Brentford
|
15 | 3 | 23 |
10 |
Fulham
|
15 | 2 | 23 |
11 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
15 | 12 | 20 |
12 |
Newcastle United
|
15 | -2 | 20 |
13 |
Manchester United
|
15 | 1 | 19 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
15 | -8 | 18 |
15 |
Everton
|
14 | -7 | 14 |
16 |
Leicester
|
15 | -9 | 14 |
17 |
Crystal Palace
|
15 | -6 | 13 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
15 | -13 | 9 |
19 |
Wolves
|
15 | -15 | 9 |
20 |
Southampton
|
15 | -20 | 5 |