Newcastle United have one foot in the Carabao Cup final after an intense first-leg game with Southampton at St Mary’s.
It was a night of VAR decisions and Joelinton, but in the end, it was a night that sees Newcastle gain the advantage in the tie as they head into the home leg of the semi-final.
Once again it was a game that Newcastle dominated, at one point in the first half Southampton had had one touch in our box compared to our eleven in theirs, but the scoreline remained 0-0.
Newcastle had the ball in the net on 39 minutes as Joelinton poked the ball home from inside the area, but a VAR check ensued and the goal was ruled out for handball. The ball seemed to spin up off Joelinton’s side and stroke his arm (which was by his side) before he flicked the ball into the net. It seemed very harsh, but it was ultimately ruled out.
Right at the end of the first half, Nick Pope flattened Moussa Djenepo just outside the area as he rushed out to clear the ball with his head forcing the Southampton man to leave the field to be replaced by a familiar face in Adam Armstrong. Fortunately, the placement of the free kick made it a tricky one for James Ward-Prowse and the chance came to nothing and the half ended all square.
Southampton grew into the second half forcing Nick Pope into a couple of excellent saves proving once again that he is up there with the best. It was Joelinton once again, however, who should have given Newcastle the lead when the ball fell to him six yards out in front of an open goal and he somehow managed to blast it over the bar.
Eddie Howe made his usual changes taking off Callum Wilson for Alexander Isak and Joe Willock for Allan Saint-Maximin and those changes turned the game back in our favour. Both players looked creative and seemed to have Southampton on the back foot.
It was Alexander Isak’s blistering run down the right flank that got him into a great position to fire over a low cross for Joelinton to make up for his error and slot the ball home to give the Magpies the lead.
It wasn’t all plain sailing though as Southampton immediately went up the other end and scored, and of course it was that man, Adam Armstrong who got the goal. But, much like Joelinton’s goal in the first half, the celebrations were short lived as VAR also ruled the ball had hit Armstrong’s hand and the goal was ruled out. Both decisions were harsh, but there may be a case that this one was even more harsh than ours … but we’ll take it.
On the 89th minute Allan Saint-Maximin found himself in a great position to run on and score but was brought down by Duje Caleta-Car who received his second yellow of the game and was given his marching orders. Just in case he wasn’t aware what to do, he was waved off the bitch by a cocky Jacob Murphy.
Stoppage time played out at a furious pace as Newcastle looked for a second goal with Murphy and Isak both hitting the side-netting, but it ended 0-1 and now Newcastle can go into the home leg on the front foot.
For my Man Of The Match, I’m going with Joelinton. Yes he missed a sitter, but he had the ball in the net twice and he plucked his wick out as always and didn’t let his miss ruin his game.