Manchester City 3 Newcastle 1 – Wednesday 4 February 2026 8pm
Instant fan/writer reaction from some of our regular contributors on The Mag.
Nat Seaton:
‘Conceding the first goal was always going to be the killer… and so it happened, and so early!
Yet another Etihad defeat, I’ve seen too many over recent times, but at least we have the positive of Elanga finally getting his first goal (not the ‘miss’ after!).
Big game at home on Saturday, would be a massive three points and boost before all the away games.’
Billy Miller:
‘On a night where we’d need a lot of quality and a bit of luck, we had little of the former and none of the latter.
Whilst we didn’t take some decent chances, everything seemed to come off for Man City in the first half.
I feared a walloping and at least we kept it respectable and technically ‘won’ the second half.
Our focus turns to the league and a desperate need to turn these nuggets of positivity into actual results.’
Jamie Smith:
‘Not sure what all the bed wetting was about at half time, in a tie that was well lost at St James’ Park 3 weeks ago.
The plan to get at them had to be attempted, although the defending was poor when Man City broke against it.
Having said, they benefited from 2 extremely lucky goals whereas chances were spurned for us by Willock, Gordon, Wissa, Elanga etc.
Second half much better, albeit aided by Man City doubtless taking their foot off.
Elanga’s fine goal will hopefully be the boost he needs.
Chance for a bit of course correction against Brentford in the league as we sadly bow out of our cup.’
GToon:
‘Their keeper was man of match by a mile. He made countless saves to stop us, while at the other end the ball is deflected onto them and in.
We have absolutely no luck against certain teams. Handballs are ignored, fouls waved away etc etc.
Some players did well and we seemed to give it a go at least.
Still, that’s what 115 charges and PSR give you.’
Matt Busby said…:
‘Sadness is my overriding emotion as the final whistle blows this evening.
We have made a decent fist of defending the trophy we won 11 months ago, but came up well short over two legs, against a football club that epitomises everything that is wrong with the game we love.
I don’t care that Man City have won every honour the game has to offer, the lack of passion from their fans and the sheer number of empty seats was gobsmacking. It was a semi final for goodness sakes!’
David Punton:
‘A humiliating night as our grasp on the League Cup slipped away.
We were so bad in that first half it was eye watering.
In all the years he’s been in charge, Eddie Howe has overseen some of our worst displays this season. It had shades of Alan Pardew / Steve Bruce about it.
The way we let them race to a 3-0 lead was embarrassing. We gifted them all of those goals.
The gulf between the two clubs looked wider than a mile.
As holders, it’s always hard to follow up the success, and I have to say we really do miss Isak.
This is a tough time at the moment, for manager and players.’
Simon Ritter:
‘No miracle at the Emptyhad Stadium but we did at least win the second half of the second half of this tie.
More pertinent is conceding seven goals between the 41st minute at Anfield and the 32nd minute tonight.
We were lacking Schar and Livramento in defence, went to a 5-3-2 or a 3-5-2, but Man City found plenty of space to cut through us, just as Liverpool did.
One explanation is that without Guimaraes in midfield and with Tonali playing his 41st match of the season, our midfield is stretched beyond breaking point.
Yet we still made enough chances tonight to have put our opponents under severe pressure.
If we had taken even half of them, the miracle would have been a possibility.’
Tony Mallabar:
‘Massively disappointed. Not with the result, as Man City ran out deserved winners..but a missed opportunity to step up after the luckypool defeat on Saturday.
Many on here will have a more articulated opinion. But I am going to buck the trend on here about all the empty seats tonight.
Going to football ain’t cheap or accessible anymore to your normal Joe/Anna.
So when we get success, hopefully we will show a lot more humility to our fellow working class fans.’
The Armchair Fan:
‘Champions, finalists, semi-finalists and quarter-finalists isn’t a bad record in the League Cup over the past four seasons.
We’ve lost the tie by four goals but tonight we missed golden chances from Willock, Gordon, Wissa and Elanga as well as having two VAR checks for a penalty and had a goal disallowed.
When you also consider Wissa’s two chances in the first leg and Bruno hitting the post, things could have ended very differently.
Beat Villa in the FA Cup and Qarabag in the Champions League and we can all start dreaming of another trophy for NUFC.’
Manchester City 3 Newcastle 1 – Wednesday 4 February 2026 8pm
Match Stats
Goals:
Newcastle United :
Elanga 62
Man City:
Marmoush 7, 29 Reijnders 32
Possession was Newcastle 37% Man City 63%
Total shots were Newcastle 12 Man City 18
Shots on target were Newcastle 5 Man City 8
Corners were Newcastle 4 Man City 5
Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 14 Man City 34
Newcastle team v Man City:
Ramsdale, Trippier (Osula 76), Thiaw, Botman, Burn, Hall (Jacob Murphy 46), Tonali, Ramsey, Willock (Elanga 46), Gordon (Barnes 44), Woltemade (Wissa 46)
Subs:
Pope, Alex Murphy, Neave, Shahar