The Magpies fell behind when Nico O’Reilly fired home from the edge of the area, but equalised when Lewis Hall responded with a deflected strike from 20 yards.
City scored again five minutes later though, with O’Reilly heading home from Erling Haaland’s cross to claim his second goal of the game, and despite Newcastle exerting some decent pressure in the second half, Peo Guardiola’s side held on to move within two points of Arsenal at the top of the table.
What were the main talking points from the Etihad?
MORE MANCUNIAN MISERY
A much better performance than so many of Newcastle’s visits to the Etihad in the Premier League era – but still the same result.
The Magpies have now gone 22 successive away matches at Manchester City in the league without claiming a victory. That is the longest sequence one club has gone without winning at the home ground of another in the whole of the Premier League era.
Newcastle have still never won a league game at the Etihad, so while they can take some positives from today’s performance, with their counter-attacking causing City problems and Pep Guardiola’s side having become increasingly nervous as they hung on to their lead in the second half, the feeling at the final whistle was still one of disappointment.
Last season’s wins at Old Trafford and the Emirates proved Newcastle are capable of ending away hoodoos, but the Etihad remains the one stadium where, no matter how well they play, they inevitably leave with nothing. Thank goodness next month’s FA Cup fifth-round tie will be staged at St James’ rather than at Manchester City’s home ground.
WOLTEMADE STAYS IN MIDFIELD
When Newcastle’s team was announced, with Jacob Ramsey replacing Harvey Barnes in the only alteration to the side that started Wednesday’s Champions League win over Qarabag, it felt like there was a decent chance Nick Woltemade would be playing up front.
Instead, Eddie Howe made the bold call to keep the German in midfield, where he had been so effective against both Aston Villa and Qarabag, with Anthony Gordon continuing as the central striker as Joe Willock pushing forward to fill the wide-attacking role on the left.
Woltemade had looked good as a midfielder when Newcastle were on the front foot, dominating possession. How would he fare in a completely different game, when the Magpies found themselves defending deep for long spells as their opponents poured forward?
Not brilliantly was the answer. As you would expect, Woltemade produced the odd nice flick and pass when Newcastle had the ball in the Manchester City half.
But, positionally, he was found wanting on a number of occasions, not least when Antoine Semenyo broke away from him far too easily to play the pass to Erling Haaland that led to City’s second goal.
Woltemade had to be strong and aggressive as Semenyo looked to force his way past him; instead, he effectively ushered the Manchester City forward towards goal.
THREAT ON THE BREAK
Where Newcastle’s formation did work was on the break. When they got the opportunity to counter-attack, the Magpies asked major questions of the Manchester City defence.
Gordon led the attacking charge, clearly enjoying the chance to gallop into big pockets of space behind the Manchester City backline. He was hauled down by Ruben Dias shortly before the half-time, earning the City centre-half a deserved red card, and did well to tee up Jacob Ramsey for a first-half effort that was saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Ramsey, Willock and Anthony Elanga all boast plenty of pace, and they did what they could to get forward in support of Gordon.
There were times when both Dias and Marc Guehi looked uncomfortable trying to keep up with Newcastle’s players breaking forward, and if the Magpies are going to continue using this formation, their attacking pace and fluidity are going to be a big part of their threat.
DEFENSIVE FAILINGS
Where Newcastle’s game-plan fell down was in the quality of their defending. For all that they packed out their midfield, the Magpies were unable to cope with Manchester City’s incisive attacking play. All too often, City’s runners went untracked. Throw in a handful of individual errors, and it was the recipe for a defensive disaster.
City’s first goal saw Omar Marmoush nip ahead of Dan Burn to win the ball on the halfway line, with the forward then releasing Nico O’Reilly, who fired home from the edge of the area. Nick Pope should have done much better with O’Reilly’s shot, getting his hand to the ball, but only palming it into the net.
The home side’s second, which came just five minutes after Lewis Hall’s deflected equaliser, saw Woltemade fail to deal with Semenyo, no one track Erling Haaland’s run into the right of the box and O’Reilly outjump Kieran Trippier to head home his second goal of the game.