The Good, The Bad, and The Average #31: NUFC player ratings vs. Arsenal (h) [LCSF2]

'Mikel Arteta, it must be the ball!' The Geordie boys were well and truly taking the piss on Wednesday night, as Eddie Howe led Newcastle United to a second Carabao Cup Final in three years.

Arsenal had no answers for our Head Coach's ingenious 5-4-1 formation, which saw Tino Livramento replaced by Kieran Trippier and the injured Joelinton dropping out for Sven Botman (more on him later).

In the end, we swept to a 4-0 aggregate victory thanks to goals from Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon—both players surely eyeing a 10-assist and 10-goal season on current form.

There wasn't a poor performance in black and white, with the crowd doing their bit to roar our beautiful boys onto a display for ages, second only to PSG in recent times in terms of occasion and atmosphere.

Here's how we scored everyone from Martin Dúbravka through to Alexander Isak, after requiring 36 hours to recover from the post-match celebrations in The Canny Lad and Wendy's (with Bruno's dad, no less).

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The Good

Eddie Howe deserves immense credit for how he's turned things around recently, but this was one of his finest moments as Newcastle United head coach. He got his tactics spot-on in difficult circumstances and made a fool out of Mikel Arteta once again. The heights he's taken us to despite PSR are unparalleled in the modern era, we don't dare to think where we'd be without such extreme limits on our spending.

We were torn between four players for the MOTM award, with Sven Botman, Fabian Schär, and Dan Burn all in the mix. Botman just edged it for us with his imperious display, only getting caught out once for the Martin Ødegaard chance in the first half. Schär got the assist for the second goal and made Declan Rice's night hell, while Burn won every single one of his duels and made more defensive interventions than anyone on the pitch. No wonder Alan Shearer texted him some praise the next morning!

The other man in contention was Alexander Isak, who followed up his imperious display at The Emirates by running Gabriel and William Saliba ragged again. This is by far the best central defensive duo in the league we're talking about here—arguably in the world—and our superlative Swede has got them on toast. His first goal was only a tiny bit offside and his left-footed effort that led to Jacob Murphy's opener might've been his best strike in our colours had it hit the net. We've got the most deadly striker in world football on our books and it's been quite a few years since we could say that!

Outside of him, Anthony Gordon kept up his insane record against the 'big six' with a well-taken goal and Jacob Murphy got the party started with a difficult finish after Isak's post-bound effort. Our wingers are two of the most productive in the division in terms of goals and assists, but their work off the ball often goes unnoticed. While not everything they tried came off for them, their contribution to this two-legged victory was enormous.

How good was it to see Kieran Trippier back in the side and playing somewhere like his best? We've been calling for his reintroduction for a while now and he was a great choice in the 5-4-1 instead of Tino Livramento due to his better quality on the ball. On the other side of the pitch, Lewis Hall put in a typically assured shift and only made one error of any note.

In the heart of the team, Bruno Guimarães and Sandro Tonali put in titanic defensive shifts to protect the back five. While neither was particularly good on the ball—Bruno much more assured in possession than Sandro—the ground the latter covered at high speed was a sight to see. If they're both fit for the final, along with Isak, then we've got every chance.

Martin Dúbravka continued his redemption arc with another faultless showing. He didn't have too much to do in terms of shot-stopping but did produce one big save from Havertz in the first half, while he looked much better than normal under aerial bombardment from North London Stoke. He's still on for his second Carabao Cup winners medal in three years! (😅)

Although only the pitch for around 15 minutes, Emil Krafth was impressive in every action. He's another who could benefit from this formation change (if it sticks around), as he looks at his best in that right-sided centre-back slot.

We can't even pick too much fault with Simon Hooper, who began his engagements with us in 2024/25 by earning a 1/10 for how he refereed our loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. He was a little too lenient on Arsenal in the latter stages, but he let a lot go on our side as well, which allowed our three centre-backs to bully the hapless Havertz from the first whistle to the last.

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The Bad

Arsenal are tragic for supposedly the second-best team in the country, aren't they? Mikel Arteta's style of football is horrendous, with their reliance on set pieces reminiscent of Stoke under Tony Pulis or Bolton under Sam Allardyce. Lego Head and his charges completely lost their heads here, with Declan Rice lucky to stay on the pitch by the end, which was beautiful to see. We'd been assured by some extremely cocky Arsenal fans that they'd run over us here, as well. Jokers.

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The Average

Joe Willock, Sean Longstaff, Callum Wilson, and Lewis Miley were all introduced from the bench with the scoring complete and didn't have enough time to influence proceedings. It's brilliant to have Wilson back, though, and if we're sticking with this new formation then it'll be very interesting to see how Willock fares further upfield, those floating winger spots seem to suit his game perfectly.

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The Breakdown

You won't be surprised to see a sea of 8s and 9s again here. What a time to be alive!

The XI

Martin Dúbravka – 7

Kieran Trippier – 8

Fabian Schär – 9

Sven Botman – 9 ⭐️

Dan Burn – 9

Lewis Hall – 8

Bruno Guimarães – 8

Sandro Tonali – 7

Jacob Murphy – 9

Anthony Gordon – 9

Alexander Isak – 9

The Subs

Joe Willock – 6 (on 80')

Emil Krafth – 7 (on 80')

Sean Longstaff – 6 (on 87')

Callum Wilson – 6 (on 87')

Lewis Miley – 6 (on 90+1')

The Gaffer

Eddie Howe – 10

The Opposition

Arsenal – 3

The Ref

Simon Hooper – 8

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The Next

It's from one cup to another as we head to St. Andrew's to face Birmingham City in the Fourth Round of the 2024/25 FA Cup on Saturday. It's a 5.45 p.m. kick-off and will be shown live on BBC One.

Admittedly, it's a much less glamorous tie than Arsenal, but it's no less important. We've got every chance of going the distance in this competition as well, so let's bloody well make sure we do.

Howay the lads!