Carabao Cup

FOOTIE fans were left in hysterics during Newcastle United’s Carabao Cup final celebrations.The Magpies ended their 70-year-long wait for domestic silverware last weekend with a 2-1 win over Liverpool at Wembley.Newcastle United ended their 70-year trophy drought by winning the Carabao CupCredit: REXSean Longstaff celebrated wildly as the trophy was hoisted in the confetti-filled airCredit: SKY SPORTSThe midfielder seemed to gag on the confettiCredit: SKY SPORTSThe Magpies were over the moon after the final whistle, but even more so when they finally got their hands on the trophy.Eddie Howe’s troops leapt for the stars after being presented the cup in the Royal Box.Green and white confetti filled the sky as the Toon stars celebrated, although a piece of it ended up getting caught in Sean Longstaff’s mouth.Footage of the midfielder reacting to the confetti going into his mouth spread like wildfire on social media, with one footie fan saying: “Unbelievable.”READ MORE ON NEWCASTLEAnother said: “Dying!”And another said: “Could only be Longstaff.”One remarked: “I saw this while replaying and laughed my head off. Glad you’re okay Sean, we love you!”Another chimed in: “Missed this and now p***ing myself at Longstaff nearly choking to death on a bit of confetti.”Most read in FootballJOIN SUN VEGAS: GET £50 BONUSCarabao Cup final ratingsNEWCASTLE ended their 70-year trophy drought in style by beating Premier League champions-elect Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final.The 2-1 scoreline flattered the Reds in truth, with Eddie Howe’s Toon having produced a sensational performance to flatten runaway league leaders.Local lad Dan Burn, fresh off his first England call-up, rose highest to head his boyhood club into the lead on the stroke of half-time.Alexander Isak then deservedly doubled Newcastle’s lead shortly after the break.The Toon could have further increased their advantage, only for forgotten man Federico Chiesa to hand Liverpool a late lifeline on 94 minutes.But that goal was unable to spur a further comeback as Newcastle saw out the remaining added time.Here’s how SunSport’s Lloyd Canfield rated the Liverpool players and Gary Stonehouse rated the Newcastle players.Howe – the first English manager to win a major trophy since 2008 – was overjoyed to have ended Newcastle’s trophy drought.The 47-year-old said: “We were well aware of the history.How Newcastle outsmarted Liverpool with Dan Burn and Alexander Isak’s genius tricks”We knew what was at stake for all our fans — we wanted to do them, and the club proud and win the trophy.”Eddie Howe was over the moon to end Newcastle’s trophy droughtCredit: REX More

ALAN SHEARER shed a tear for his late father following Newcastle’s Carabao Cup final triumph.The Magpies ended their 70-year wait for a domestic trophy with a 2-1 win over Liverpool at Wembley on Sunday.Newcastle United ended their 70-year wait for domestic silverware with a 2-1 win over LiverpoolCredit: REXClub legend Alan Shearer went wild after the final whistleCredit: MATCHDAY IMAGES LTDShearer revealed he then shed a tear as he thought about his late father, AlanCredit: THE REST IS FOOTBALLClub legend Shearer, his son Will and daughter Chloe were among the thousands of Geordies who were in a state of ecstasy after the final whistle.But his thoughts quickly turned to his late father Alan, who passed away last year following his battle with cancer.During the latest episode of the Rest is Football Podcast, he said: “I must admit, I had a tear or two [in my eye] when the final whistle went because I thought of my old man.”He was lucky enough, he went to the ’69 final when they won the Fairs Cup, so he sampled it a little bit.READ MORE ON NEWCASTLE”But I just wish he’d been there yesterday. But he’d been looking down.”According to Shearer, his old man was still thinking about the team during his final days on the planet.He continued: “Even in his last few days, he was on about Newcastle and how he wanted them to do well and win the trophy and what have you.”But me and Will and my daughter Chloe and her boyfriend were all at the game yesterday so we’ll give him a little nod.”Most read in FootballJOIN SUN VEGAS: GET £50 BONUSAlan Shearer is wild with celebration as Newcastle win the Carabao CupCredit: INSTAGRAM@ALANSHEARERShearer bravely opened up on the passing of his father last year, writing in a column for The Athletic: “He told us exactly what he wanted and he told us that when the time came, he wanted to be at home. And he was.”We were all there with him and it was very peaceful. The pain had gone.Alan Shearer’s daughter Chloe and Newcastle stars go wild at Boxpark as they celebrate famous Carabao Cup final win”On the way, there were light and dark moments.”We knew what was coming and one day when I was trying to switch off for a couple of hours, I got a call from my mam, ‘Dad wants you and Karen home now. He’s ready to go.'”In the end, he lasted for another 27 or 28 hours.”But on that final evening, he talked through his life, the people he had fights with and didn’t like and plans for his own funeral.”He was laughing and reminiscing. The clarity was amazing.”Newcastle will parade the Carabao Cup trophy around the city on Saturday, March 29.Shearer, who at We,bley with son Will and daughter Chloe, celebrates with Dan BurnCredit: Instagram More

NEWCASTLE fans have waited 70 years to see their club win silverware and finally the Toon Army have something to celebrate.Goals by Blyth-born Dan Burn and star striker Alexander Isak sunk Liverpool 2-1 to lift the Carabao Cup at Wembley.Eddie Howe outsmarted Arne Slot on set-piecesCredit: GettyNewcastle’s midfield three were crucial to the dominant performanceCredit: GettyNewcastle fully deserved victory and laid the blueprint for how to stop Arne Slot’s Reds and nullify goal machine Mo Salah.In the latest episode of SunSport’s Tactics Exposed, our expert DEAN SCOGGINS explains ‘Howe’ it was done…1. Burn Baby BurnA local lad scoring in a cup final is what dreams are made of.But this was masterminded by Howe and his coaches, shattering Liverpool’s zonal marking system.READ MORE IN FOOTBALLThey used Burn perfectly. Slot leaves five big lads in front of the six-yard box by the goalkeeper and then he sends the other players out to mark, like the smaller Alexis MacAllister.Newcastle floated the ball to Burn to isolate the man mountain against Mac AllisterSo Newcastle put Fabian Schar, Joelinton and big Burn in those positions to hit clipped, flat corners, letting them win aerial duels, while Bruno Guimaraes gets in the way of Liverpool’s big lads on the edge of the six-yard box.Liverpool defend like this a lot and it’s fantastic from Howe and Jason Tindall because they’ve taken Liverpool’s two best headers in Ibrahima Konate and Van Dijk out of the picture as they can’t get to the ball.There’s this square in front of them that becomes Newcastle’s territory and it is all wrong for Slot.Most read in FootballCASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITSDan Burn’s bullet header nestled into the bottom cornerCredit: RexOnce pushing trolleys at Asda, now in the England squad, what a week Burn has had.2. Isak leaves VVD in a spinIsak’s classic “go, stop, go” movement fooled Van Dijk. A burst of movement before holding back and going again to create a yard of space.Making it 2-0, it was Van Dijk’s mistake, he got caught under the ball and he knew it.The cross comes in from the left and the ball goes over both Isak and Van Dijk to Jacob Murphy.As the ball goes to winger, Isak does his movement to create himself three or four yards of space. Isak’s clever movement fooled Van DijkAs the ball goes over the Liverpool skipper’s head, his position is wrong. He gets himself into a situation where Isak can almost see his shirt number and he takes his eye off the Swede. Van Dijk should be in a position so when the ball drops to Isak, he can sprint out and close the ball down to, at the very worst, block the shot. Instead he is caught nowhere near the goalscorer.Van Dijk’s reaction said it allCredit: Rex3. Three midfield heroes First and foremost, they were the epitome of the Geordie nation, the Toon Army. Everything came through them.Joelinton, Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali – the blocks, the dual successes, the headers, the tackles and most importantly, they work together as a three.In the match, Tonali is the one who breaks out of the three to join Isak in the press. And then the other two are ready to pounce behind.It is man-for-man, but if it they get through the press, they work hard to retreat into a compact shape. Liverpool did not have control and their midfielder had no time on the ball – you’re looking around thinking, ‘as soon as I receive the ball here, I’m going to get smashed by one of these physical three’. It felt like three against one.The midfield’s pressing, physicality and desire was keyBut tactics aside, to implement a plan properly and have the levels of effort required is a credit to those three players.You can tell a team how to play and you can talk about tactics, but if the players don’t trust it and don’t commit to it, it’s not going to work.Newcastle won the midfield battle4. ‘Howe’ they broke LiverpoolEddie Howe take a bow, this was a blueprint of how to stop Liverpool – after PSG did a similar thing in the Champions League.Newcastle pressed with four or five players, forcing Liverpool to go long.The most important thing is the fifth player makes a good decision, because if he goes and there’s too many – that’s the press gone and you’re outnumbered in midfield and in front of the back four. Newcastle pressed aggressively and made Liverpool go longIn the coaching manual, we are told to make the pitch small when you’re defending and make the pitch big when you’re attacking. But what Newcastle do is throw that out the window and go, ‘we’re going to make it massive and force the keeper and defenders to go long’ into the space behind the press.Their man-for-man pressing system forced Liverpool into going direct and when they went long, those duels were won easily by Burn, Schar and Joelinton.The midfield made it chaotic and it was very, very difficult for the Reds to get out.Newcastle’s big lads won the aerial duels with ease5. Slow Mo – how Salah was stoppedIn Salah’s eight games at Wembley, he has scored in just one of them.Again, he was a shadow of his usual self at the home of English football and he touched the ball just once in the box versus the Magpies. Liverpool like to use Salah in the build-up, coming in off the sideline to receive passes into his feet that let him turn and dribble Liverpool up the pitch.But the Toon created a black and white wall around him by swarming as the balls were fired into him.Salah was surrounded by Newcastle stars in the build-up of Liverpool attacksThey stopped these passes being effective and every time he got the ball, he touched it backwards towards his own half.Liverpool could not isolate Salah one-vs-one against Tino Livramento, who is a good one-vs-one defender anyway, doing an outstanding job if the Egyptian King ever did have space to run into.Most of Salah’s touches came from chasing long balls over the top into the channel after Newcastle’s brilliant press.READ MORE SUN STORIESSalah had a frustrating afternoon and could not get touches in dangerous areasNewcastle had the effort and application to make this a perfect final performance and make their fans’ dreams come true.Liverpool are 12 points ahead and have won the Premier League – but their route to the title would not be so simple if Howe laid out this masterplan earlier in the season. 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