Newcastle United's English head coach Eddie Howe gestures on the touchline during the English League Cup semi-final first leg football match between Newcastle United and Manchester City at St James' Park in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, north east England on January 13, 2026.placeholder image
Newcastle United's English head coach Eddie Howe gestures on the touchline during the English League Cup semi-final first leg football match between Newcastle United and Manchester City at St James' Park in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, north east England on January 13, 2026. | AFP via Getty Images
Even Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe complained about Antoine Semenyo’s disallowed goal for Manchester City at St James’ Park.
Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe hit out at VAR following Manchester City’s controversially disallowed goal at St James’ Park.
Semenyo had opened the scoring for City and thought he’d made it 2-0 only for VAR to intervene and eventually prompt referee Chris Kavanagh to consult the pitchside monitor and overturn the decision.
The Man City newboy also told Sky Sports afterwards: “The second goal should have counted. The referee came and spoke to me and told me what was going on. It is what it is."
Eddie Howe hits out at VAR - but not the decision
While Eddie Howe claimed to have no opinion on the decision itself, he did hit out at the five-and-a-half-minute delay it took to finally come to a decision.
“I’ve got no view of it really,” Howe said. I’ve not seen it again so I can’t give you an opinion.”
He later added on the delay the decision caused: “Yes, I think it’s too long, especially on a cold night, not just for the players but for the supporters of both clubs.
“So I don’t know why that took so long, I’ve got no idea, but for me it’s too long. But the right decision hopefully reached, then okay, but can we speed that up?”
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Man City ultimately felt they made up for the decision with a stoppage-time second from Rayan Cherki to give Newcastle a mountain to climb heading into next month’s second leg at the Etihad Stadium.
It was the first time Newcastle had lost a match inside 90 minutes in the Carabao Cup since the 2023 final defeat against Manchester United.
To reach a third final in four years, Newcastle would have to overturn a 2-0 deficit at a ground they have only won at once. That win was a 2-0 victory in the same competition back in 2014.
A repeat scoreline would be enough to force penalties for a place in the final at Wembley Stadium in March.
Eddie Howe reacts to Carabao Cup defeat
Reflecting on the match, Howe said: “I thought it was a tough defeat on us tonight because I thought the lads really did give everything today and I thought we had the chances to make that scoreline very different if we could have got that first goal.
But there were chances, there were moments. I thought we defended pretty well for the majority of the game.
“Really disappointed to lose 2-0, I think 1-0. Obviously a very different feel about it and we needed to defend better in that last moment of the game.
“ I think fatigue played a part just generally for us today. I thought we looked a little bit fatigued but that’s understandable with the exertions and the efforts we gave on Saturday.
“It’s such a quick turnaround against the worst team you can play to expose any fatigue because they keep the ball so well. That’s where I have to compliment the lads because I thought they did give everything.
“We tried our best to rouse ourselves to the levels we wanted to be at and I thought it was a decent enough performance without being great.”
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