Soldato
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Listening to the totally football show. Guy just said “Ant and Dec where on the TV more than Salah” 
Carabao Cup Final Liverpool v Newcastle ** Spoilers ** [16th March 2025 @16:30]
- Thread starter explicit4u
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Yeah I agree. There isn't a single player we have that Howe has not improved. Joelinton is the obvious one but Murphy and Kraft looked terrible for a long time too and Schar couldn’t even get in Bruces team.
Watched the game again. You see it slightly differently when you already know the outcome.
It was a nervy watch first time but second viewing you can see how much better Newcastle were and how much more they wanted it. Was comfortable really. Liverpool had very few clear chances and Newcastle should have scored 4 or 5
Joelinton forcefully won a header in the centre circle after 8 seconds then just commanded the game from that point in the middle of midfield and pretty much eliminated Szobozlei. He woke up Sunday morning and said, nope. This lot aren't beating me today. I went into the game wondering what Howes tactic with his fullback would be to contain Salah, turns out it didn't involve Livramento defending very much at all. More often it was Burn moving out to cover Salah and the tactic was to get at Quansah using Tino and Barnes overlapping which was forcing Gravenbach towards the space where you'd expect Salah to track back into, which of course he wasn't going to do so we ended up with 2 v 1 plenty times in the first half especially. Schar was pinging balls over the top of the FB any chance he got and it worked an absolute treat. On the right side Trippier had a first half you would expect from such an experienced player in a cup final and I feel that influence rubbed off on the entire team, some of those cushioned headers back to the keeper under pressure were superb. Without the ball we had a solid 5 man midfield line that was rarely broken.
We can't mention tactics though without talking about the Burn / Mac Allister mismatch. This is the worst plan I have seen since Amorin decided to match Eriksen and Casemerio up against Tonali, Bruno and Joelinton. At least Amorin realised his mistake and did something about it, although it did take him half an hour and the conceding of two goals.
I get the idea that Mac Allister is there to block his run and it worked to an extent that Burn wasn't really running but someone at Newcastle spotted it also and clearly told Burn to stay out of the 6 yard box and Trippier to keep the ball away from VVD's head and just see what happens. He won 6 of those challenges in the first half alone, granted you'd not normally expect anyone to score many headers from that position to be fair. 4 minutes into the second half he lines him up against Burn again. This time Burn wins the second ball on the deck after making a run that he failed to block which leads to a goal, albeit offside.
I'm going to say it again but I always felt that for Newcastle to be successful, to properly beat the best team in the country, to banish this Wembley hoodoo and end the drought then all of the players would have to perform at their absolute best and they all did. Newcastle's players worked so hard and gave their all, had they been defeated I don't think we could be too disappointed but they weren’t and we are not. Instead we have multiple generations of fans that have now seen their club win something.
Watched the game again. You see it slightly differently when you already know the outcome.
It was a nervy watch first time but second viewing you can see how much better Newcastle were and how much more they wanted it. Was comfortable really. Liverpool had very few clear chances and Newcastle should have scored 4 or 5
Joelinton forcefully won a header in the centre circle after 8 seconds then just commanded the game from that point in the middle of midfield and pretty much eliminated Szobozlei. He woke up Sunday morning and said, nope. This lot aren't beating me today. I went into the game wondering what Howes tactic with his fullback would be to contain Salah, turns out it didn't involve Livramento defending very much at all. More often it was Burn moving out to cover Salah and the tactic was to get at Quansah using Tino and Barnes overlapping which was forcing Gravenbach towards the space where you'd expect Salah to track back into, which of course he wasn't going to do so we ended up with 2 v 1 plenty times in the first half especially. Schar was pinging balls over the top of the FB any chance he got and it worked an absolute treat. On the right side Trippier had a first half you would expect from such an experienced player in a cup final and I feel that influence rubbed off on the entire team, some of those cushioned headers back to the keeper under pressure were superb. Without the ball we had a solid 5 man midfield line that was rarely broken.
We can't mention tactics though without talking about the Burn / Mac Allister mismatch. This is the worst plan I have seen since Amorin decided to match Eriksen and Casemerio up against Tonali, Bruno and Joelinton. At least Amorin realised his mistake and did something about it, although it did take him half an hour and the conceding of two goals.
I get the idea that Mac Allister is there to block his run and it worked to an extent that Burn wasn't really running but someone at Newcastle spotted it also and clearly told Burn to stay out of the 6 yard box and Trippier to keep the ball away from VVD's head and just see what happens. He won 6 of those challenges in the first half alone, granted you'd not normally expect anyone to score many headers from that position to be fair. 4 minutes into the second half he lines him up against Burn again. This time Burn wins the second ball on the deck after making a run that he failed to block which leads to a goal, albeit offside.
I'm going to say it again but I always felt that for Newcastle to be successful, to properly beat the best team in the country, to banish this Wembley hoodoo and end the drought then all of the players would have to perform at their absolute best and they all did. Newcastle's players worked so hard and gave their all, had they been defeated I don't think we could be too disappointed but they weren’t and we are not. Instead we have multiple generations of fans that have now seen their club win something.
Soldato
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I honestly don’t think we could have beaten a better team to smash our Wembley hoodoo and give us belief going into future games, Liverpool are by far the best team in the country and one of the best in Europe, beating them shows we can do it.
Plymouth beat them as well
Soldato
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My team, Spurs could learn a lot from the mentality shown by Newcastle yesterday.
I'm normally of the opinion that Micah Richards talks bunkum but it looks like he might be onto something with Salah and Ramadan. When you look at Salah during Ramadan and his stats each year, he always has a huge drop off during Ramadan, so Micah might well be right about it being an explanation of why Salah has been so quiet of late
I mean, trying to perform at any level whilst fasted is hard. People train it but I have never heard of people doing it to prepare for Ramadan because 90% of the year you just want to fuel yourself effectively.
Isak's goal despite the defending is so satisfyingly good as far as a finish goes, class celebration too
Generally second half the year gets derailed for him
Been obvious for a while now, Afcon too
Generally second half the year gets derailed for him
I'm not so sure its quite as simple as that. Mane for example would often 'pick up the slack' when Salah had his inevitable drop of period post xmas. The wider issue is that he wasnt getting the ball due to the midfiled being utterly done in due to playing so many games- it's been an issue for a few weeks and it's up to slot to trust the other midfielders he has - it took Klopp a few seasons until the penny dropped in that regard
I've been of the opinion that the League Cup should be scrapped for a number of years now however, and I mean this in the least patronising way possible, watching the joy West Ham fans got from winning the Conference League and Newcastle fans yesterday, I'm now very much of the opinion that it should be kept but teams competing in Europe shouldn't enter.
To lower League sides and the biggest sides in Europe, the League Cup is just a distraction and with the calendar getting busier and busier thanks to the expanded CL and the new format of the Club World Cup, we're reaching the point where the physical demand on players is reaching breaking point. Obviously once you reach the final you want to win it but at the start of the season none of the biggest sides truly cares about the League Cup and I'm sure if they were offered the chance to not compete in it, they'd take the option. Keeping the tournament for non European sides makes sense though. It'll still generate a bit of cash for the EFL each season and it will give sides that don't typically get a chance to win trophies a far greater opportunity than before.
To lower League sides and the biggest sides in Europe, the League Cup is just a distraction and with the calendar getting busier and busier thanks to the expanded CL and the new format of the Club World Cup, we're reaching the point where the physical demand on players is reaching breaking point. Obviously once you reach the final you want to win it but at the start of the season none of the biggest sides truly cares about the League Cup and I'm sure if they were offered the chance to not compete in it, they'd take the option. Keeping the tournament for non European sides makes sense though. It'll still generate a bit of cash for the EFL each season and it will give sides that don't typically get a chance to win trophies a far greater opportunity than before.
Wouldn't removing those sides really make it a tinpot/mickey mouse cup though? I can't speak for them, but I don't think Newcastle fans would feel the same way if their cup run didn't include Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool...
You say that but look at the way West Ham fans celebrated their Europa Conference League win. West Ham didn't face a single side that would finish top half in the PL and several sides wouldn't even be PL quality at all.
Not only did West Ham fans celebrate that win the same as Newcastle fans yesterday but they spent a season declaring themselves European Champions.
That's my point, Newcastle faced three top 7 sides along the way and if they had been removed it wouldn't have felt the same at all I imagine except for lifting silverware again after a long wait. Part of the magic yesterday was watching them dominate the team that will go on to win the league. If they'd done that against a team from the bottom half of the PL or leagues below, it would have just been expected.
The Conference League is a very new competition, and despite the bigger prize money and more games, to me it ranks below the League Cup as it's been around for over 60 years.
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Ok but my point was that it will be celebrated by these clubs fans regardless. Will it be a better feeling that they've come through Arsenal and Liverpool? Of course but do you really think Newcastle supporters wouldn't have celebrated as hard had they beat Brentford and Brighton instead? And by removing the biggest sides makes this a far more realistic opportunity than it is now because despite the fact that the biggest sides aren't that fussed, they generally end up winning it still because they have bigger/better squads.
Newcastle going so many decades without a trophy isn't right, nor was it West Ham going so long or Everton now 30 years on from their last trophy. How many years has it been since Villa won anything and then of course you've got clubs like Brentford, Brighton and Bournemouth that are run ridiculously well but have nothing to show for it. This would provide a genuine opportunity for these sorts of sides to not only win something (and then qualify for Europe the next season) but even just a chance to get to Wembley.
If not keeping the competition but without European sides, I really struggle to see a long term future for the League Cup. Pretty much all major Leagues have scrapped their 2nd domestic cups and with the calendar getting busier and busier it's hard to see how it can be kept.
Clubs are free to treat it however they like. If they want to play their youth/second XI then they are welcome to. The idea is that the biggest sides also have the resources/squads to compete on all fronts.
I don't see any issue with it how it is.
Caporegime
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Silverware is silverware at the end of the day I have witnessed United win 40+ items in my lifetime and it never gets boring no matter what it is.
Of course they'll still celebrate, but the competition would be absolutely devalued with the top third of the PL not even in it. It would also probably see Newcastle not competing in it for the next however many years.
I don't buy the whole going without a trophy isn't right thing either, there are plenty of clubs of similar size or just below that haven't won anything in decades. Nobody should feel entitled to win anything just because they're a "big club", have existed in the PL for however many years or have spent money.
Making what is already seen as the least valuable domestic competition easier to win would just make it really tinpot/micky mouse. Better to scrap it instead.
I don't buy the whole going without a trophy isn't right thing either, there are plenty of clubs of similar size or just below that haven't won anything in decades. Nobody should feel entitled to win anything just because they're a "big club", have existed in the PL for however many years or have spent money.
Making what is already seen as the least valuable domestic competition easier to win would just make it really tinpot/micky mouse. Better to scrap it instead.
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Caporegime
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I think it needs to be scrapped, every other major nation has done this and it's a joke we haven't. We don't need two cups.