Pep Guardiola: "Ten years here ... I know what happens"
Asked by Sky Sports for his thoughts on Semenyo’s disallowed goal, Pep prefers instead to embark on a diatribe about two “insane penalties” he feels City were denied in their league defeat at St James’ Park in November. He also harks back to the decision not to send Crystal Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson off for handling the ball outside his penalty area in last season’s FA Cup final. “Ten year here … I know what happens,” he says, refusing to elaborate on what he means when pressed.
More on that disallowed goal: The prevailing post-match consensus seems to be that Semenyo’s second goal was correctly disallowed according to our old friend the Letter of the Law, but that the law in question: a byzantine and incomprehensible “subjective offside” is a complete ass. I can get on board with that.
Bernardo Silva: "It should have been 3-0"
“Happy but it is just one leg, we have the second at home,” says City’s skpiper in a chat with ITV. “A very good result. It should have been 3-0 but we are quite used to this at the moment.”
On the decision to rule out City’s second goal: “I don’t know what to say, I don’t want to say too much because we know how these things work. I saw it, it looked really close to me but it is what it is. It is so frustrating because the last time we came here we also had a lot of decisions go against us. Even though we won it was just frustrating to be honest.”
Antoine Semenyo: "We were victorious so I'm happy"
“It was a tough game today but if we stuck in there we knew we would get chances,” says Antoine Semenyo in an interview with Sky Sports. “I was in the right area to tap it in and we were victorious so I am happy.
“The whole environment here is perfect. Everyone is confident and wanting achieve the best. I have come into that and they helped with my confidence and made me feel welcome. It’s been a lot but I have enjoyed it so far. I am picking things up very quickly and enjoying it. I am just taking the confidence I had from Bournemouth here and playing with a smile on my face. I am enjoying every moment.”
Semenyo concludes his interview by saying his “second goal should have counted”.
That disallowed goal: Standing behind Nick Pope, Thiaw and Haaland were clinging to each other as the ball was whipped into the mixer from a free-kick. Haaland was in an offside position and between them the officials decided he had impeded Thiaw’s ability to prevent – or attempt to prevent – a kneed effort from Semenyo crossing the line after he’d struck it from two yards out.
In a stadium full of people who had no idea what was going on, it took almost six minutes for the officials to reach the decision. Whether you think it was right or wrong, it was definitely a case of the game being re-refereed, a state of affairs we are repeatedly being told isn’t supposed to happen.
A game of two halves: But not in the traditional sense of one team dominating the first and the other sweeping all before them in the second. In this case, the first half was terribly boring but the second half was thrilling. Manchester City had to work extremely hard for their win but had those little moments of quality when it mattered.
An email: “This felt like a game too much for us but there’s still a sense of disappointment because it’s not as if our bench was devoid of quality,” writes Newcastle fan Chris Paraskevas, who is still awake at some ungodly hour of the morning Down Under. “City have their injury problems too but they managed the occasion better, picked their moments to strike and were slightly fortunate to call on the underrated Semenyo.”
Full time: Newcastle 0-2 Manchester City
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeeep! Manchester City go home with a strong grip on this Carabao Cup semi-final. While Newcastle hit the woodwork twice and missed one glorious chance to go in front early doors, City were the better side on the night. Having gone ahead through Antoine Semenyo, they thought they’d doubled their lead when their acquisition from Bournemouth poked home his second only to see it controversially ruled out after a six-minute VAR check. In the time added on for that interruption, City increased their lead through Rayan Cherki.
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GOAL! Newcastle 0-2 Manchester City (Cherki 90+9)
City double their lead (again): Rayan Cherki sweeps home a Rayan Ait Nouri pullback after excellent play by Semenyo, the Algerian and Reijnders, who played Ait Nouri to the byline with a delightful flick. It’s over at St James’ Park.
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90+6 min: Lewis Hall slides to the rescue again, stretching out a leg to prevent a low Semenyo cross reaching Cherki at the far post. It’s another brilliant interception by this reporter’s man of the match. And rest assured that, as a Sunderland fan, I don’t hand those gongs out to Newcastle players lightly.
90+4 min: Nick Woltemade flings himself at the ball as its crossed from the left by Harvey Barnes but is unable to get anything on it. It only needed the slightest of touches.
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90+3 min: Rayan Cherki advances on the Newcastle penalty area with the home defenders backing off him. His low shot is weak and Pope saves comfortably.
90+2 min: Sandro Tonali is booked for wrestling Bernardo Silva to the ground as the City skipper tried to wriggle past him.
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90+1 min: What do I know? There’ll be nine minutes of added time.
90 min: Trippier is penalised for a foul on Semenyo following good work by Khusanov to deny Miley a decent goalscoring opportunity.
88 min: There’s only two minutes of normal time remaining but I can’t see how there can be any less than 10 minutes of added time given that lengthy VAR check and all those substitutions.
87 min: City substitution: back from his Afcon adventures with Algeria, Rayan Ait Nouri comes on for Nathan Ake. Newcastle substitution: Kieran Trippier is on for Bruno Guimaraes.
86 min: Pope is quick out of his area to take the ball off Haaland, who had outsprinted Sven Botman (no, really) and had his first sight of goal this evening.
84 min: An error in the City defensive ranks leads to the ball falling for Woltemade with a clear sight on goal from about 12 yards out. He decides to take a touch instead of shooting first-time and an excellent chance goes to waste as he’s crowded off the ball.
83 min: Rico Lewis is booked for time-wasting, as he dawdles over a throw-in.
81 min: The game was threatening to get away from City in the minutes following that moment of controversy but they’ve had enough of the ball to calm things down and send the St James’ Park crowd back to sleep. Rayan Cherki forces an unconvincing save out of Nick Pope at the near post with a low drive from a tight angle.
80 min: City substitution from a couple of minutes ago: Rayan Cherki on for Doku.
78 min: In the Newcastle penalty area, Bernardo Silva shimmies left and right before unleashing a low shot. Lewis Hall stretches out a leg to block his effort. Great defending.
77 min: “I think you misheard the var decision,” writes David. “He was in an offside position blocking the defender from getting at the ball. I think that’s true, if he wasn’t stood there the defender could have got his leg out and blocked it.”
Could he, aye?
75 min: That goal being ruled out has given St James’ Park a quite obvious lift and Tonali sends a shot fizzing narrowly wide.
73 min: The word from Stockley Park is that City’s second goal was ruled out because Haaland was deemed to have been impairing the view of Malick Thiaw while standing in an offside position. That makes the decision seem even more ridiculous.
71 min: Newcastle triple-substitution during that interminable wait: Anthony Elanga, Nick Woltemade and Sandro Tonali come on for Gordon, Wissa and Ramsey. I’d completely forgotten Jacob Ramsey was on the pitch.
The goal is ruled out ...
68 min: Those in the VAR bunker think Haaland was impairing Nick Pope’s view while standing in an offside position and have recommended that Chris Kavanagh go to his monitor to decide for himself. He does exactly that and rules out the goal. It took the best part of seven minutes for everyone involved to reach that decision and I think it’s the wrong one. But like they say, it’s subjective. I don’t think Pope had a hope of getting near the ball whether Haaland was standing nearby or not.
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65 min: Was Haaland impairing Nick Pope’s view of the ball while standing in an offside position? Did Semenyo foul Wissa? These are the questions curtain-twitching’s Stuart Attwell is pondering. My two cents? The answert to both questions is no. The VAR check enters it’s fifth minute and an on-field review has been recommended for “a subjective offside offence”.
GOAL! Newcastle 0-2 Manchester City (Semenyo 62)
City double their lead! City whip a free-kick into the Newcastle penalty area, where Antoince Semenyo outmuscles Yoane Wissa to sort of karate kick the ball home from close range off his knee. There’s a VAR check.
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61 min: Haaland gets a rare touch and tries to tee up Bernardo Silva, whose shot is put out for a corner by Malick Thiaw. City triple substitution: Rodri, Reijnders and Rico Lewis come on for O’Reilly, Nunes and Foden.
60 min: Newcastle take a corner and Trafford leaps to punch the inswinger away.
56 min: Newcastle advance with Lewis Miley on the ball. They get the ball wide to Gordon, who plays it inside to Wissa. He loses possession but it breaks to Guimaraes, whose shot is easily saved by Trafford. I have a feeling we could see Nick Woltemade sooner rather than later, as Wissa is really struggling to hold on to the ball any time it comes his way.
GOAL! Newcastle 0-1 Manchester City (Semenyo 53)
City lead! Having survived another scare, City go in front. Jeremy Doku takes on and beats Harvey Barnes down the left, before sending a low cross through the corridor of uncertainty in front of the Newcastle goal. Bernardo Silva stretches to help it on its way towards the far post, where Antoine Semenyo taps home from close range.
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49 min: Wissa connects with a Gordon cross from the right and sends a looping header goalwards. Trafford has to stretch every sinew to tip it on to the bar. The ball finds its way to Guimaraes, who wraps his foot around it but hits the post.
48 min: City spray the ball right to Semenyo on the right, it’s played back inside and then finds its way to Doku on the other wing. He plays it inside to Ake, whose cross towards the edeg of the six-yard box hits a defender and is claimed by Pope before it can cross the line.
46 min: Foden goes down holding his ankle after being fouled by Guimaraes and City have a free-kick in a good position, about 35 yards from goal. They play it wide to Doku, whose poor cross from the left is cleared by the first defender.
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Second half: Newcastle United 0-0 Manchester City
46 min: We go again, with no changes in personnel on either side beyond the introduction of Harvey Barnes for Jacob Murphy just before the break.
An email: “I would suggest that you, very much like Gabriel Martinelli, are straying very much out of your lane with your ability to assess a knee injury,” writes Tim. “Injury stoppages can be annoying (and tactical), but they are there for a reason. Watching on the telly the other day, I also felt that Bradley may have been feigning injury to delay the restart.”
To be clear, I was not even remotely annoyed by the stoppage for Nick Pope’s “injury”; more amused. It’s a black and white movie I’ve seen many, many times before.
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Half-time: Newcastle United 0-0 Manchester City
Peep! A first half which will not live long in the memory of anyone who played in or watched it draws to a close. The polite way to describe what we’ve seen unfold is “cagey”, “absorbing” or “like a chess match” but in truth it was just dull. Yoane Wissa missed the only chance of note, shooting high and wide when presented with an excellent opportunity to open the scoring by Jacob Murphy. Beyond that, there’s been little or nothing to get the pulse racing.
45+2 min: From a City corner, the ball drops for Nathan Ake, who takes a shot on the turn. His effort takes a nick off a Newcastle defender on its way over the bar. There’s just enough time to take the next corner but nothing comes of it. It’s half-time.
44 min: Murphy goes to ground rubbing the back of his left thigh as he waits for treatment. It looks like he’s done his hamstring a mischief without actually tearing it. His race is run for tonight and he’s replaced by Harvey Barnes.
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43 min: Foden plays a give-and-go with O’Reilly before darting into the Newcastle penalty area to collect a return pass that fails to find him. Newcastle clear their lines again.
41 min: An Ake dink into the the Newcastle penalty area is headed clear after no end of passing and probing by City as they try to find a way through the massed ranks of the home defence.
39 min: Semenyo fouls Lewis Hall again and Newcastle have a free-kick just inside their own half. Hall floats the ball towards the Manchester City penalty area, with just enough welly on it for Trafford to be able to catch it without fear of stepping out of his fiefdom.
37 min: Bruno Guimaraes’ free-kick to the near post is poor but Nunes concedes a corner. Standing over a dead ball for the second time in quick succession, Bruno swings the ball towards the far post, where Trafford punches clear.
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36 min: Anthony Gordon tries to sprint past Matheus Nunes after playing the ball behind him and is hacked down by the City right-back. Yellow card.
35 min: Jacob Murphy cuts in from the right and tries to stand the ball up at the far post but his delivery is far too close to James Trafford, who plucks it to safety.
33 min: Bernardo Silva fouls Lewis Hall and is fortunate not to see yellow for a needlessly daft challenge.
32 min: Over half-an-hour in and the only chance of note in a quite turgid and scrappy game thus far has fallen to Newcastle. It was missed by Yoane Wissa.
30 min: Nico O’Reilly and Joelinton are both booked for some bad-tempered off-the-ball pushing and shoving. It’s something and nothing.
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28 min: Now Bruno Guimaraes goes down having been knocked over by an agricultural challenge from Nico O’Reilly. Not for the first, second or third time in this game, Newcastle play the ball long towards Nathan Ake, having clearly targetted the space in behind him as an area to be exploited.
25 min: To nobody’s great surprise, Pope is passed fit to continue in the time it takes both head coaches to stage impromptu team briefings on the touchline.
23 min: There’s a break in play as Nick Pope requires treatment for what might be an injury to his right knee. Whether he’s genuinely hurt or Eddie Howe requires one of his unofficial technical time-outs is open to debate.
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20 min: A long clearance from Trafford drops at the feet of Lewis Miley, who sends it back upfield. Lewis Hall runs at the City defence and is blatantly tripped by Semenyo, who is lucky to avoid a booking.
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18 min: James Trafford does Max Alleyne few favours by passing the ball short to him in an area where he almost certainly doesn’t want it and the young centre-half is immediately put under severe pressure by Jacob Murphy. He elects to hoy the ball into the safety of the stand and it takes a deflection off Murphy on its way into Row Z.
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16 min: Jeremy Doku plays a low Hail Mary ball into space behind the Newcastle defensive for Haaland to chase but there’s far too much welly on his pass for the big man to reach it before Nick Pope.
14 min: Joelinton plays the ball wide to Gordon on the left and his cross, when it arrives, picks out the Brazilian on the edge of the City penalty area. Joelinton gets his head to the ball but is unable to steer it on target.
13 min: City corner. Phil Foden’s near post delivery is headed clear but the visitors recycle the ball. A Haaland foul on Malick Thiaw gifts possession back to Newcastle.
11 min: A correction: It was Jacob Murphy, not Anthony Gordon, who crossed to Wissa for that Big Newcastle Opportunity. I mean, I have one job and it’s not like they look even remotely alike.
9 min: Out on the left wing, Doku jinks this way and that before cutting inside Jacob Murphy. He slips and loses his footing, allowing the Newcastle winger to recover the ball.
7 min: City advance upfield, having survived that early scare. Anthony Gordon is forced to hack clear after Bernardo Silva runs on to a weighted Doku ball in behind and almost picks out Haaland with a pull-back from the byline. The ball took a nick off a defender en route to the Norwegian.
5 min: That’s more like it. Newcastle work the ball from back to front and Anthony Gordon curls a low cross from the right into the path of Yoane Wissa. His first touch his excellent but the second isn’t great – leaning back, he balloons a shot high and wide when he should have scored.
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4 min: It’s cagey stuff in these early stages, with little or nothing of significance to report.
3 min: Trafford gets another touch upon receiving a backpass from Nathan Ake, who is playing at left-back for City.
1 min: Lewis Miley takes a throw-in deep in his own half, Erling Haaland wins it before being quickly dispossessed and Newcastle advance with Joelinton on the ball.
Newcastle United v Manchester City is go ...
1 min: Phil Foden gets the ball rolling for Manchester City, giving James Trafford an early touch. The goalkeeper boots it long and within a few seconds the ball’s back at his feet.
Not long now: The sax solo from Local Hero concludes and referee Chris Kavanagh and his team of match officials lead the players of both sides out on to the pitch. Bernardo Silva and Bruno Guimaraes skipper the sides and kick-off is just a few minutes away.
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An email: “G’Day Bazza,” writes Chris Paraskevas from Australia. “It’s a civilized 0700 kickoff for those of us Down Under and there is only one question on Newcastle fans’ collective hive mind: will Anthony Gordon and Anthony Elanga wear matching headbands tonight?
“As the season has progressed, Gordon has moved from plain black headband to a branded Adidas one, but Elanga’s game and fashion have comparatively stalled this season - maybe he’ll go fot something spicey, like one of the bandanas the gangsters wear in Blood In Blood Out.
“I have a feeling this game might be decided by one or two of the substitutes and Elanga is one of those who needs to start contributing more assists and goals if we’re to kick on this season.”
Goalkeeping news: The chances of James Trafford joining Newcastle from Manchester City in the summer heightened on Monday when Eddie Howe spoke admiringly of the goalkeeper and Pep Guardiola left open the porspect of a move. Louise Taylor and Jamie Jackson report …
This just in: Manchester United have confirmed what we already knew – Michael Carrick will take interim charge of their first team until the end of the season. In a statement on their website, the club said they are “delighted” to announce their former midfielder’s appointment.
““Having the responsibility to lead Manchester United is an honour,” said Carrick. “I know what it takes to succeed here; my focus is now on helping the players to reach the standards that we expect at this incredible club, which we know that this group is more than capable of producing.
“I have worked with a number of the players already and have obviously continued to watch the team closely in recent years, I have total belief in their talents, dedication and ability to be successful here. There is still a lot to fight for this season, we are ready to pull everyone together and give the fans the performances that their loyal support deserves.”
Tonight’s match officials
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
Referee’s assistants: Dan Cook and Ian Hussin
Fourth official: Matthew Donohue
VAR: Stuart Attwell
Assistant VAR: Craig Taylor
Pre-match managerial musings ...
Eddie Howe: “Pep will tactically have something ready for us and we will have to be at our very best to get through,” said the Newcastle head coach at his pre-match press conference. “They change and tinker a lot with the tactical set-up they have. They’re a difficult team to read and know how to plan and prepare for.”
Pep Guardiola: “I didn’t go to sleep last night thinking about how my genius can come up with a plan for Eddie Howe,” said the City boss. “Many years since Eddie Howe took over, look how many games they have won in the last minute. The push from the crowd - it’s always been like that for a long time. In that stadium it is special. The semi-finals, playing Arsenal and Chelsea, it would be as difficult as Newcastle is.”
Those teams: Eddie Howe makes seven changes to the side that started against Bournemouth, some of them enforced. Nick Pope is back between the sticks, while Lewis Miley, Lewis Hall, Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon also return. As expected, Harvey Barnes starts on the bench despite his sizzling xcurrent form.
Pep Guardiola makes five changes: Nico O’Reilly, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Matheus Nunes and Jeremy Doku all come into the side, while Antoine Semenyo makes his second start for his new club.
Newcastle United v Manchester City line-ups
Newcastle: Pope, Miley, Thiaw, Botman, Hall, Guimaraes, Ramsey, Joelinton, Murphy, Wissa, Gordon.
Subs: Ramsdale, Trippier, Tonali, Barnes, Elanga, Woltemade, Willock, Alex Murphy, Neave.
Manchester City: Trafford, Matheus Luiz, Khusanov, Alleyne, Ake, Silva, O’Reilly, Semenyo, Foden, Doku, Haaland.
Subs: Donnarumma, Cherki, Reijnders, Rodri, Ait Nouri, McAidoo, Gray, Mukasa, Lewis.
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Route to the semi-final
Newcastle: Bradford City (4-1), Tottenham Hotspur (2-0), Fulham (2-1)
Manchester City: Huddersfield Town (2-0), Swansea City (3-1), Brentford (2-0)
Early team news
While Eddie Howe said assessing his players’ “energy levels” in the wake of Saturday’s epice FA Cup tie against Bournemouth would be important ahead of tonight’s team selection, Newcastle are definitely without defenders Dan Burn, Fabian Schar and Tino Livramento, while reserve defenders Emil Krafth and Jamaal Lascelles are also unavailable.
William Osula remains sidelined with an ankle injury, while Jacob Murphy and Anthony Elanga were to face late fitness tests. With a daunting run of fixtures looming for Newcastle, the in-form Harvey Barnes may be kept in reserve on the bench having played every single minute of his side’s past two games.
Manchester City have absentees of their own at the back, with Ruben Dias, John Stones and Josko Gvardiol all injured, while Mateo Kovacic, Oscar Bobb and Savinho are also out. Omar Marmoush is still away with Egypt, preparing for tomorrow’s Afcon semi-final against Senegal. At his press conference yesterday, Pep Guardiola echoed the sentiments of many, including his opposite number, in saying he would prefer if this Carabao Cup final was not played over two legs and was instead just “one game”.
Carabao Cup: Newcastle United v Manchester City
To Tyneside, where Newcastle host perennial heavyweights Manchester City in the first installment of this winter double-header. There’s a place at Wembley up for grabs, with Eddie Howe’s side the current holders of the three-handled trophy Manchester City used to win as matter of course.
As up-and-down as their season has been thus far, the hosts are in an excellent run of form and have turned St James’ Park into something of a fortress – unbeaten in 13 at home (W11 D2 – and haven’t lost their knack for the dramatic, evidenced by Saturday’s chaotic 7-6 penalty shootout win over Bournemouth.
Manchester City’s season to date has been similarly unpredictable. They spent the weekend treating their match against Exeter City like a light training session in a 10-1 demolition, yet their Premier League form has been uncharacteristically sticky and three straight draws have left them chasing Arsenal’s tail. Kick-off in this Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at St James’ Park is at 8pm but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.
