The £38million man is clearly Newcastle's man of the moment and must surely start in the Carabao Cup
Newcastle United's Harvey Barnes celenrates scoring his side's third goal of the game against Bournemouth
Newcastle United's Harvey Barnes celenrates scoring his side's third goal of the game against Bournemouth(Image: Getty Images)
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Harvey Barnes admits he will play anywhere for Newcastle United despite Eddie Howe delicately tip-toeing around upsetting Anthony Gordon.
Howe stated that Gordon doesn't like playing on the right of his three-pronged attack, but Barnes showed against AFC Bournemouth that he is capable of dragging his team through tough winter tests. Had it not been for some iffy defending against the Cherries, Barnes could have walked off the hero after 90 minutes, and Newcastle could have got their feet up ahead of the Man City encounter in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.
Instead, Barnes was asked to go to the well again to put Newcastle 3-2 up at the end of extra time and then haul his team through with a penalty during an intense shoot-out at the Leazes End. Against City, Howe faces the dilemma of either benching Barnes or playing him out of position.
Given the 11-goal talisman is quite clearly giving the St James' Park crowd energy right now, not using him where he is most effective after two 10/10 performances in a row would be a big gamble. When pushed on Barnes playing left wing against Pep Guardiola's side, Eddie Howe said: "It's a brilliant return from someone who has always had the ability to score, always been a very, very good finisher – we see that in training consistently. It's just great to see him getting the rewards on a game day.
"His two goals today were excellent and really pleasing for me because one comes off one side, one comes off the other, so he's showing versatility.
"He's always been a really good team player, very popular in the dressing room, and it's good to see him get some individual recognition."
The Kevin Keegan effect
The love for Kevin Keegan in midweek, after the legend was diagnosed with cancer, was clear again on Saturday.
A brilliant Gallowgate End showing from Wor Flags sparked more chants of "Keegan wonderland" from the Gallowgate. The gritty display against Leeds was transferred into this game too, and Eddie Howe admitted that it has done his team no harm after a season in which we've seen one or two capitulations.
In his post-game Press conference, Howe pointed to the 'extra' boost the seven-goal thriller against Leeds may have given his team in the cup tie.
Howe said afterwards: "We haven’t scored enough late goals. You know, our numbers aren’t too bad, actually, and we’re increasing them rapidly, so that’s good to see.
"And I think that feeling that you’re never out of a game, would we have come back today if we hadn’t come back against Leeds? I don’t know, maybe not."Maybe there’s extra belief because we have scored late goals and then we do it again today. So maybe that helps us, and I believe those things truly are linked."
Strong mentality under Eddie Howe
The Magpies' record in penalty shoot-outs had been poor before Howe took over as boss. But for the fourth time in five spot-kick contests, the black and whites came out on top in cup ties. In fact, it has never been better in club history on pens.
Before Howe took over Newcastle had won twice in a dozen shoot-outs from 1969/70 to 2021/22. But preparation behind the scenes paid off again when the Cherries came to Tyneside.
Despite two misses from Nick Woltemade and Bruno Guimaraes, Newcastle triumphed on pens again to add to victories over Nottingham Forest last season, Blackburn in 2024 (FA Cup) and Crystal Palace (2022).
Unlike the 1992 FA Cup shoot out, Newcastle held their nerve to beat the same opponents in this competition.