EFL Cup final: What we learned as Newcastle end 56-year wait for major trophy

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Football writer Alex Keble reviews the EFL Cup final as Newcastle United beat Liverpool at Wembley Stadium to claim their first major trophy for more than 50 years.

As the referee finally blew the whistle on an agonisingly long period of additional time, the Newcastle United end at Wembley was a sea of screams and limbs and scarves – but, in pockets, also something altogether more disorientating: silence.

For some Newcastle supporters, the delirium only really set in a little later with the trophy presentation, whereas at full-time they looked quietly stunned, as if they couldn’t quite believe it had happened.

That’s perfectly understandable. It won’t truly sink in for a while yet. After a 56-year wait for their team to win a major trophy, many of those shell-shocked supporters will have assumed this day would never come.

Only Newcastle fans well into their 60s will have experienced this feeling before, ruling out most of those at Wembley today, among them Alan Shearer, the club's all-time leading goalscorer not yet born the last time their club won a trophy: the 1969 Fairs Cup.

That’s over half a century without silverware. Indeed, they hadn’t won major domestic silverware since the FA Cup in 1955 and had never won the EFL Cup.

After all that pain, it was worth the wait.

Newcastle end 56-year wait with excellent performance

How you win a final doesn’t really matter.

This team is immortal now. Eddie Howe, match-winner Alexander Isak, and boyhood fan Dan Burn - who scored the opener and won Player of the Match – will go down as club legends.

But it does make it that much sweeter that Newcastle were by far the better team, bullying champions-elect Liverpool from start to finish.

Save for a nervy final couple of minutes, they were always in control, and frankly from the moment Burn rose to thump in the opener and fulfil a childhood dream, Newcastle looked like winners.

Newcastle lift the EFL Cup trophy

That goal was Newcastle’s first in a cup final since 1976, when Alan Gowling scored in an EFL Cup final defeat. In just one of many statistics that reveal the length of Newcastle’s barren spell, Gowling celebrated his 76th birthday today.

Burn told Sky Sports: "I've had worse weeks. I don't want to go to sleep because I feel like I'm dreaming and it's all going to be a lie. I don't get many so I saved it for a big occasion. I feel strange, I feel numb at the minute."

An incredible 24 hours will continue on Monday when he joins up with the England team, having been picked in Thomas Tuchel's first squad: "I'll be first there tomorrow [at England training] at 8 o'clock!" Burn added.

Here’s another stat: more than 20 English clubs have won a major trophy since Newcastle last did, including Oxford United, Norwich City, and Luton Town.

Suffice to say Newcastle were hungry for success – and it showed. From the first whistle they had more grit, more fight, and more energy than Liverpool.

They took 17 shots to Liverpool’s seven. In a game with an unusual amount of long balls (more on that below), they won twice as many aerial duels (17 to eight), as well as winning more tackles (23 to 17) and interceptions (seven to three).

Fittingly, it was everything Howe wants his Newcastle team to be: bullish, explosive, and clinical.

Newcastle's EFL Cup win in photos Previous Next Liverpool 1-2 Newcastle

Liverpool 1-2 Newcastle

Liverpool 1-2 Newcastle

Liverpool 1-2 Newcastle

Liverpool 1-2 Newcastle

Liverpool 1-2 Newcastle Liverpool 1-2 Newcastle 1 / 6 Liverpool 1-2 Newcastle 2 / 6 Liverpool 1-2 Newcastle 3 / 6 Liverpool 1-2 Newcastle 4 / 6 Liverpool 1-2 Newcastle 5 / 6 Liverpool 1-2 Newcastle 6 / 6

Newcastle’s midfield dominate as Salah goes quiet

Perhaps the headline feature of Liverpool’s performance was their fatigue after playing 120 minutes as they were knocked out by Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, as evidenced by their clear improvement after the fresher Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones took to the field.

That might excuse a poor display from Mohamed Salah, who, for the first time ever in a Liverpool shirt, neither attempted a shot nor created a chance in a match where he played 90+ minutes.

Salah was largely anonymous, continuing a poor record in Liverpool finals of just one goal: a penalty against Tottenham Hotspur in the 2019 Champions League final.

But Salah, as well as suffering from Newcastle’s defensive tenacity in their sturdy 4-5-1 formation, also wasn’t helped by Liverpool’s surprisingly direct strategy.

They continually pumped long balls forward in the first half, playing into Newcastle’s hands by making this an old-fashioned cup tie, rather than quelling the underdogs’ spirit with calm possession.

In the first 45 minutes, Liverpool’s pass completion was 74 per cent, their lowest of the season across all competitions.

Presumably they wanted to limit the ground passes that would allow Newcastle to nick the ball and counter-attack, but the strategy proved too safe, and although Liverpool abandoned the long-ball strategy in the second half it was too late.

Newcastle scored the second goal against the run of play - exploiting a weakness on Jarrell Quansah’s side that had been there all game - and Arne Slot’s changes were for nought.

Newcastle qualify for Europe and revitalise the Howe project

From the corner technique that led to Burns’ goal, to the targeting of Quansah, to Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali snapping at heels, Howe’s game-plan was pretty much perfect.

It has huge ramifications for the future of the club.

First and foremost, the wait is over and Newcastle, tasting victory, will expect to push on from here.

It has also justified the entire Howe project, which can now be considered an unqualified success no matter what comes next. Less than four years after his appointment in November 2021 - when Newcastle were 19th in the Premier League, five points from safety - he has won a major trophy.

What’s more, the first English manager to win either the FA Cup or EFL Cup since 2008 has also taken Newcastle back into Europe. They are guaranteed at least a UEFA Conference League place now.

But they will want more than that. This could be a springboard to Champions League qualification, and beyond this season, who knows?

"It's all for these fans," captain Bruno Guimaraes said. "They deserve everything. When I first came here I said I wanted to put my name in history. We can now say we are the champions again.

"I don't have any words. It's the best day of my life. For them [the fans] it's like the World Cup. People have grown up and not seen us as champions.

"My first year as captain of this club and it's one of the best days. This is unbelievable. This is my second home. We are making history. Some day when I leave this club I want the fans to sing my name the way they do to Alan Shearer. He texted me before the game. I'm so emotional today."

After outclassing Liverpool today, Newcastle players and the fans have every right to believe that bigger and better things are on the horizon.

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