Newcastle's League Cup Collapse Leaves Alan Pardew 1 Game from Trouble (Again)
LONDON — Newcastle United do not care about domestic cup competitions. That is not an exaggeration, merely a statement of fact.
Over recent seasons, the club’s hierarchy have made no secret of the fact that domestic cups are not a priority for them; that surviving in the Premier League—and ensuring the cash windfall that comes with it—is the one and only ambition.
That might be the sort of pragmatic approach that the demands, and rewards, of modern football force upon a club. Even so, it is sad to see a club with supporters as magnificent as Newcastle’s limp out of what was increasingly looking like a winnable competition in the manner they did against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday evening.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
Newcastle have not won a trophy of note since 1969 or one on home soil since 1955. At White Hart Lane, they entered the Capital One Cup quarter-final match knowing victory would bring them within one tie of Wembley, and that there was a 33 percent chance that the one team standing in their way would be League One side Sheffield United.
As far as chances of breaking that trophy drought go, this was about as good as the club could hope for.
Nevertheless, Alan Pardew named a rotated side for the game (in fairness, Spurs did exactly the same thing), leaving Papiss Cisse and Daryl Janmaat (among others) at home, while giving forward Emmanuel Riviere his first start since September.
The visitors, playing in that garish grey and lime-grey away kit, nevertheless started brightly, but a dropped cross by inexperienced goalkeeper Jak Alnwick gave Spurs an early lead, and the hosts never looked back.
“If ever goals changed games, this was it,” Pardew bemoaned afterward. "I thought the game was pretty even really, but Jak makes a mistake on a cross…you can get away with that sometimes, but it summed up our night really."
He added: "All of us were so desperate to resurrect it for him. It’s a cruel game, as we all know, and Jak’s really in the firing line at the minute. We had some big chances we didn’t take."
Newcastle did have a couple of “big” chances—glorious ones, in fact—but it was Spurs who edged the overall play and ultimately increased the scoreline at regular intervals.
Mauricio Pochettino also “freshened” his lineup, but the greater depth of his squad was evident by the names listed on the substitutes bench (Erik Lamela's opposite number was Adam Armstrong)—and so a side that has always prided itself on its FA Cup and League Cup achievements moved a step closer to adding another chapter to that history.
“I think it was very important for us,” Pochettino said. “We needed this victory and this performance. Our players needed to feel this freedom and confidence.
"The team is starting to show more solidity, more character—I think we showed today we believe in our way, and I’m very pleased with that.
“We can go to the semi-final; we know Tottenham have a tradition in the cups and this victory is very important for us.”
Pochettino also professed himself “very happy,” sounding very much like a man who had seen his side turn an important corner. Yet despite that, and how embarrassing it threatened to get late on, it was the travelling supporters who drowned out the home fans with their chanting throughout, a credit to their club even as such a tantalising shot at a trophy slipped through their fingers.
“At one point I was just absorbing what the fans were doing,” Pardew acknowledged afterward, having made a point of recognising them at the final whistle. “They were with us all game.”
It was all so different last time Newcastle were at White Hart Lane, at the end of October.
Coming into the Premier League fixture having previously scraped a 1-0 home win over struggling Leicester City that many believed saved Pardew his job, a smash-and-grab effort in the second half saw Newcastle steal a second win in succession, driving what would eventually become a run of five wins in a row that sent them soaring up the table.
That pulled Pardew away from the precipice; now two subsequent visits to north London have him, if not right back at it, then certainly edging toward it, peering nervously at what might be around the corner.
The weekend’s 4-1 Premier League defeat to Arsenal exposed the lack of options—and, perhaps, occasional lack of spine—in some areas, and following it up with a 4-0 loss in a cup game was not the way to respond.
“We need to get back to winning ways,” Pardew acknowledged. “The irony is that a win at the weekend and we could be into the top six.”
The irony of that irony, then, is that a top-six side should by rights have been eminently capable of giving Tottenham a better contest and this cup tie a better shot.
Injuries undoubtedly harmed things—a shoulder problem picked up by Alnwick means Pardew will explore the Premier League’s emergency loan rules on Thursday—but Newcastle’s next game is also against Sunderland, a derby in which Pardew’s side have not fared too well in recent seasons.
Perhaps Pardew, ever focused on his own self-preservation, realised that a win in the derby would boost his short-term popularity far more than a cup win over Spurs, even if that cup triumph might have paved the way to perhaps ending the club’s trophy drought in 2015.
“I thought we were a little short of personnel tonight,” Pardew said. “We looked unbalanced. This wasn’t the same as Arsenal; this was a much better performance, but the scoreline doesn’t reflect it.
“We need to put some difficult results behind us and what has happened recently against Sunderland. We need to make sure our fans go home with a performance that gives them a win.
“This [Sunderland] fixture is not about the performance level…that ain’t going to be enough, we need a win [as well].”
If that win comes, Pardew will be flying high once more. If it does not, however, an up-and-down season for this fabled club may be heading back toward some turbulence.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
