Eddie Howe watched on as the game ended Newcastle 0 Manchester City 2.
The United Head Coach declaring after the final whistle: “All I can look at is the effort levels of the players and I think considering Saturday’s efforts that we gave against Bournemouth, that was a great effort from the guys against the worst side that could expose that fatigue.”
As the statistics show (see below), very little between the two sides and arguably Newcastle United having the better chances.
The woodwork twice denying United, replicating what has happened so often this season.
If you don’t take your big chances though, then invariably you end up getting punished.
Early on, Newcastle opened Man City up and Yoane Wissa presented with a great chance to open the scoring, only to miss the target, Eddie Howe admitting: “Looking back with hindsight, you would say that was potentially a big turning point. We wanted to get the crowd fully into the match and Manchester City want to do the opposite by retaining the ball and calm the crowd down, also it’s always that dynamic by the two teams. Yoane is a top player and he is still finding his very best level after a long time injured. Maybe in a couple more weeks that might have gone in.”
A lot of the talk after the match was about eventually the VAR and on-pitch referee between them, disallowing a second Semenyo goal, Eddie Howe asked to that: “I’m pleased that it was ruled out, I have got no opinion [on whether that was the correct decision] because I haven’t seen it again.”
Largely due to that lengthy delay before the goal was ruled out, there were nine minutes of added time at the end.
Beyond ironic that due to this, the match was still playing when United conceded a killer second with seconds of that added time remaining.
Eddie Howe reacting to that late late goal: “It is a body blow…but not fatal at the moment, we are still in there fighting. I think maybe a bit of naivety with a minute to go on the clock, that we are still trying to chase a goal. In that moment, we needed to defend after we got our structure wrong from that position, and then we got punished.”
I think a draw would have been fair, certainly when it came to chances created, but it wasn’t to be.
For sure, the Newcastle United players didn’t deserve to lose by two goals and Eddie Howe calling it right: “I think the lads gave everything today under difficult circumstances after the extra time on Saturday and there was a bit of fatigue in our performance…but I can’t fault the players.”
Newcastle 0 Manchester City 2 – Tuesday 13 January 2026 8pm
Match Stats
Goals:
Newcastle United :
Man City:
Semenyo 58, Cherki 90+8
Possession was Newcastle 43% Man City 57%
Total shots were Newcastle 10 Man City 11
Shots on target were Newcastle 3 Man City 4
Corners were Newcastle 5 Man City 6
Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 23 Man City 27
Newcastle team v Man City:
Pope, Miley, Thiaw, Botman, Hall, Ramsey (Tonali 69), Joelinton, Bruno (Trippier 87), Jacob Murphy (Barnes 47), Gordon (Elanga 69), Wissa (Woltemade 69)
Subs:
Ramsdale, Willock, Alex Murphy, Neave