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Match report: Newcastle 0-2 Manchester City
Carabao Cup semi-final first leg: Manchester City emerged victorious from a game that took 45 minutes to spark into life but were left bemused, if not quite incensed by a controversial VAR consultation that took alm ost six minutes to chalk off a goal. Louise Taylor reports from St James’ Park …
SharePep 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.
ShareBernardo 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.”
ShareAntoine 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.”
ShareFull 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.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola looks like a happy bunny as he embraces goalscorer Rayan Cherki. Photograph: Lee Smith/Action Images/ReutersShare
Updated at 17.15 EST
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.
Rayan Cherki fires home to double Manchester City’s lead at Newcastle in the final moments of the game. Photograph: Anna Gowthorpe/ShutterstockCherki celebrates. Photograph: Dave Thompson/APThen is congratulated by his teammate Tijjani Reijnders (right). Photograph: Dave Thompson/APShare
Updated at 17.16 EST
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.
Nick Woltemade of Newcastle United is unable to divert a cross goalwards. Photograph: Richard Lee/ShutterstockHere’s a view of Woltemade’s effort from the side of the pitch. Photograph: Lee Smith/Action Images/ReutersShare
Updated at 17.00 EST
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.
Newcastle United’s Sandro Tonali goes all WWE on Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 16.56 EST
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.
ShareThe 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.
Referee Chris Kavanagh checks the pitch-side monitor before disallowing a City goal. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 16.37 EST
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”.
ShareGOAL! 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.
Manchester City’s Antoine Semenyo acrobatically puts the ball into the net. Photograph: Scott Heppell/ReutersShare
Updated at 16.29 EST
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.
ShareGOAL! 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.
Antoine Semenyo of Manchester City tucks the ball away from close range to open the scoring at Newcastle. Photograph: Richard Lee/ShutterstockHere’s a view of the finish from up in the stands. Photograph: Anna Gowthorpe/ShutterstockSemenyo celebrates with a knee slide. Photograph: Dave Thompson/APShare
Updated at 16.25 EST
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.
Phil Foden of Manchester City is fouled by Bruno Guimaraes of Newcastle United. Photograph: Alex Livesey/Danehouse/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 16.12 EST
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.
Updated at 15.58 EST
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.
Newcastle United’s Jacob Murphy (left) applauds the fans after being substituted following an injury. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PAShare
Updated at 15.53 EST
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.
Updated at 15.48 EST
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.