Isak earns Newcastle Carabao Cup win as Manchester City rue wasted journey

If Pep Guardiola did not particularly relish receiving a reminder that, sometimes, possession can be overrated, Eddie Howe saw his Newcastle team transformed by the half-time introduction of Bruno Guimarães and Anthony Gordon. That pair made a mockery of Manchester City’s earlier domination, paving the way for Alexander Isak’s second-half winner to propel Howe’s side into the fourth round. Not to mention ensuring that “Gulf derby” bragging rights belong to Saudi Arabia.

Guardiola did not arrive on Tyneside in the best of moods. City’s failure to organise a plane to fly their team the 150 miles south west across the Pennines back to Manchester dictated that the squad faced a three-hour coach journey home.

Even without such logistical problems, this was a tie Guardiola could almost certainly have done without. With John Stones, Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva among those first-teamers injured, and Rodri suspended, City’s manager had said he “would not waste 1% of energy” on a fixture so close to his side’s Premier League visit to Wolves on Saturday and Champions League trip to RB Leipzig next Wednesday.

Eddie Howe had seemed sceptical about that stance yet Guardiola, four times a League Cup winner, made eight changes to his starting lineup. Indeed despite protesting that “all competitions are equal” Howe evidently had one eye on not merely Saturday’s Premier League date with Burnley here but next Wednesday’s much-anticipated home game against Paris Saint-Germain. Why else would Newcastle’s manager have made 10 alterations to the side which thrashed Sheffield United 8-0 at Bramall Lane last Sunday, with Nick Pope the sole survivor?

At least all this mutual reshuffling allowed City’s Kalvin Phillips and Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali to find themselves in direct combat in a midfield contest also featuring Tonali’s 17-year-old teammate Lewis Miley.

Miley, making his first senior start, and Tonali spent long periods watching City pass the ball around them with metronomic efficiency. Eventually all that monopolisation of possession resulted in a clear-cut chance involving Oscar Bobb’s deft reverse pass picking out Julián Álvarez. On that occasion Pope saved with an outstretched right foot but, with Bobb making the most of his full City debut, Newcastle were firmly on the back foot.

Howe’s players were penned so firmly into their own half that Guardiola was able to take the time to tell off Stefan Ortega, his goalkeeper, for kicking long rather than playing out from the back. It all seemed part of the process of trying to wear Newcastle down. Granted Pope had only made that solitary significant first-half save but, with Mateo Kovacic imperious in a midfield department in which Tonali, once again, struggled, City seemed utterly irrepressible. Not to mention capable of outmanoeuvring their hosts at almost every turn.

The crowd became fretful, but they had something to cheer when Paul Dummett, making a rare start alongside Jamaal Lascelles in central defence, produced a goal-preventing tackle to halt Jack Grealish in his tracks. Even better from Howe’s viewpoint, Newcastle might have turned those overwhelming possession stats on their head and taken a counterattacking lead as half-time approached. When Jacob Murphy was left clean through courtesy of Isak’s fine pass, it took an excellent save, made with his extended right foot, on Ortega’s part to keep the score level. Tellingly, it was the first occasion Newcastle had entered City’s box with attacking intent.

The good news for locals was that Dummett was excelling defensively, reminding everyone precisely why he used to be such a favourite of Rafael Benítez’s. St James’ Park regulars were also pleased to see Gordon and Guimarães replace Lewis Hall and Miley. The improvement among those wearing black and white was instant. Suddenly Newcastle looked like a side who believed they could win.

The newcomers brought a dangerous change of pace, inventive passing and intensity. It raised the home team’s collective game to the point where Murphy and Joelinton combined to goal-creating effect. When the latter shrugged off a couple of tackles and centred, Isak arrived at the right place at the right time to lash home at the far post. As the Swede celebrated gleefully, Rico Lewis’s downcast expression suggested he might have cut the danger out.

Although Newcastle’s ferocious tempo dropped after Isak subsequently limped off injured, City had not appreciated their hosts’ new habit of getting in their faces and an evidently discomfited Phillips was booked for fouling Murphy.

Guardiola, too, was yellow carded for dissent, specifically demanding that Guimarães be booked but, deep down, City’s manager was quite possibly far from heartbroken by the outcome of a tie in which he opted to leave Erling Haaland on the bench throughout.