What does it mean for Manchester City to not win the Quadruple following Carabao Cup loss?
Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United ended Manchester City’s hopes of winning the Quadruple (winning 4 trophies in a season) as the Carabao Cup runners-up of last season defeated the Premier League champions by 1-0 at the St. James Park.
It was one of those games that City dominated throughout, in terms of possession, shots, shots on target, passes and what not? They stat padded the entire game but all they couldn’t do was score a goal against an opponent they defeated by the same score line on August 20.
There were absolutely no surprises about the possession rate with Newcastle not even keeping half of the ball at their feet. City had an upper hand on ball retention by 68-32, had a passing accuracy of 89% and made a total of 711 passes.
The visitors started off the game on a very high note as they kept putting darting balls inside of Newcastle’s box, constantly threatening them to find the back of the net. With Erling Haaland not in the starting line-up, the onus for scoring was totally on Julian Alvarez.
Bruno Guimarães masterclass in the 2nd half against Man City.
Well and truly got his mojo back now.
🇧🇷 3️⃣9️⃣ ⚫⚪ 🔥 🔥 🔥#NUFC @brunoog97 https://t.co/sA7WdVgRUd
— 𝗠𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝘆𝗻𝗲 #NUFC (@ToonMouthTyne) September 27, 2023
City’s backline consisted of the familiar faces – Manuel Akanji, Josko Gvardiol and Nathan Akanji. Rico Lewis and Kalvin Phillips played in the midfield while Jack Grealish, Mateo Kovacic, Oscar Bobb and Sergio Gomez played behind Alvarez, the only recognised striker.
Their squad was mainly filled with young faces and players that are not a part of the first team. And maybe that was one of the reasons why City could not win. For the 3rd season in a row the Cityzens have bowed out of the competition right after winning 4 Carabao Cups in a row from 2016-2020.
Last year it was Southampton who showed them the exit door and this year its Newcastle United. Eddie Howe’s side will now take on reigning champions Manchester United in the round of 16. Lastly not winning the Quadruple will not mean anything to City as they are still in contention to defend the remaining competitions – PL, UCL and FA Cup.
