Wow. Just wow. One year ago today we were wondering if our newfound form was going to be enough to keep us in the Premier League, now here we are, third in the league and heading to Wembley for our first cup final of the century. How times change.
I’ve deliberately not done a match review as I was too distracted doing the Vital Football Podcast to give it my full attention, so this is a look back at the night as a whole as there were a lot of talking points on and off the pitch.
Starting with on the pitch – but not during the game itself, Anthony Gordon and Harrison Ashby got their first taste of the St James’ Park crowd, and let’s be honest, they couldn’t have had a better night for it – a cup semi-final with the Toon Army in full voice. If either of them had any lingering doubts about their move, they will have been firmly banished last night.
Now, the game itself. That opening 20 minutes was a thing of absolute beauty. Some of the best football we have played under Howe and one man shone like a diamond – Sean Longstaff. He’s clearly been working on keeping his shots down and it paid dividends. A geordie born and bred scoring two goals to send his boyhood club to a cup final – things don’t get much better than that. He could have had four, too. The one he put narrowly wide in the first half and a blistering volley in the second. Absolutely stunning.
Unfortunately, after that second goal went in the lads seemed to go on cruise control and that let Southampton back into the game and our defence was breached for the first time in 12 games – it had to happen sooner or later, but what a goal to do it, a superb curling shot from 20-odd yards by Che Adams.
The bad news didn’t end there, unfortunately, with Bruno Guimaraes getting a straight red card after a VAR review. He can have no complaints about that one, for me. There was obviously no intent there from Bruno, but it was a bad challenge and worthy of a red. He’ll now miss the next three games for Newcastle, which means we might see more of Anthony Gordon than Eddie Howe had initially planned. The good news is that there are three league games between now and the final, so Bruno will be back for the Wembley trip.
On a mad night where we reached a cup final with Idris Elba in attendance alongside Amanda Staveley (still trying to fathom that one), where two new signings were paraded on the pitch, and where an excellent servant to the club in Jonjo Shelvey came back up after signing for his new club to spend one more night with the boys and to say his goodbyes – even being a part of the obligatory team photo – the highlight of the night was Dan Burn’s post-match antics – singing “Wemb-er-ley” as he returned to the dressing room and hijacking Sean Longstaff’s interview to unleash a Gazza tribute – “I’m happy, I’m happy … I’m gannin to get me SUIT MEASURED!”
Dan Burn is away to get his suit MEASURED! 😂 pic.twitter.com/xx23JFlM09
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) February 1, 2023
I’m sure there are plenty of sore heads in the Toon today, but not a single regret amongst them.
WE ARE GOING TO WEMBLEY!