Eddie Howe reflects on what he witnessed at St Andrew’s – Birmingham 2 Newcastle 3 | OneFootball

Eddie Howe watched on as his team progressed to the FA Cup fifth round.

Newcastle United falling behind in the first minute but bouncing back to win 3-2 against Birmingham City.

It was a sixth away win in a row for United, in all competitions.

Whilst it was also a twelfth win the last fourteen games, home and away.

The FA Cup fifth round draw to be made on the One Show on BBC at 7.10pm on Monday.

Eddie Howe reflecting on Birmingham 2 Newcastle 3:

“I’ve watched a lot of them [Birmingham City] in the build-up [to this FA Cup match] and I knew it was going to be difficult.

“I like their style,  I like the system they play.

“They have got some physical players as well, which you need in the division that they are in.

“We were disappointed with the first goal.

“If you consider the amount of corners Arsenal had on Wednesday, we looked pretty solid, then to concede from the first set-piece…

“I have to pay tribute to the strike for the second [Birmingham] goal.

“It was an unbelievable hit, I was right behind it.

“It was a tough game for us.

“Mentally, physically… you could see a few players were on the edge .

“We are delighted to get through.

“I thought it was going to be a difficult night before the game.

“The early goal made it doubly difficult because the atmosphere in the stadium totally changed.

“We managed to get a foothold and did really well.

“At half-time, it was about staying calm.

“I thought we did that a lot better in the second half.

“The two goals are typical Joe.

“I was really pleased with the second one because from our perspective we didn’t want extra-time.

“It was a second half with not a lot of goalscoring opportunities, so we needed to be clinical when they came and thankfully Joe was.

“We did it in the 90 minutes which was massive for us, we didn’t want to go to extra-time.

“The priority was to try and get through so we would’ve done that if that needed to be the case, but we wanted to get it done in 90 minutes.

“We needed to keep the momentum and feelgood factor.

“We had everything to lose really but a geat response from the players following the highs of Wednesday [against Arsenal].

“We really respect the FA Cup and we want to stay in it.

“This was a very, very difficult tie, we knew it would be, a very competitive team, Birmingham, they ran us really close.”

Eddie Howe on Joe Willock:

“I think Joe has handled himself really well this week.

“His response to what he suffered [social media abuse after the Fulham match] was really admirable, really strong-willed.

“He loves his football and I think he has just concentrated on that this week, tried to put all other distractions behind him.

“He let his football do the talking.

“Really pleased for him because he is such a talented lad.

“You want to see Joe at his best, it has been a stop-start season for him but this [Birmingham match] is a big moment I think.”

Eddie Howe on Callum Wilson:

“We judged it on how he looked.

“I thought he looked good but 55 minutes was probably the limit for him.

“We were delighted he was able to start the game.

“Touch wood, he’s fine , with no ill-effects.”

Eddie Howe on Will Osula:

“I thought his performance was strong.

“He gave added attributes to our team with his pace, strength and running power.

“Really pleased with his all-round play.

“He has got some rough edges but that versatility and flexibility will be important.”

Eddie Howe on the injury situation at Newcastle United:

“In the last couple of weeks we seem to have picked up a couple.

“It would be the last thing we need to [potentially] derail us.

“We have such a small squad and last season we had big numbers of players out and it disrupted us in the middle of the season.

“We were forced to take Dan Burn off, it was something with his groin, fingers crossed it’s not too bad.

“It is very unlike Dan to say that he needs to come off.

“We didn’t want to start any of the players from Wednesday but we were forced to because of the numbers.”

Eddie Howe on Anthony Gordon who wasn’t part of the matchday squad:

“He has got a slight injury.

“I think it is only a small one, but enough for him not to feel comfortable travelling [for this Birmingham match], so let’s wait and see.”

Birmingham 2 Newcastle 3 – Saturday 8 February 2025 5.45pm

(Stats via BBC Sport)

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Willock 21, 82 Wilson 26

Birmingham:

Laird 1, Iwata 40

(Half-time stats in brackets)

Possession was Newcastle 63% (63%) Birmingham 37% (37%)

Total shots were Newcastle 16 (7) Birmingham 11 (6)

Shots on target were Newcastle 9 (5) Birmingham 6 (5)

Corners were Newcastle 3 (1) Birmingham 3 (1)

Touches in the box Newcastle 35 (14) Birmingham 19 (11)

Newcastle team v Birmingham:

Pope, Livramento, Krafth, Burn (Schar 55), Targett, Longstaff, Bruno (Tonali 46), Miley, Willock, Osula (Isak 104), Wilson (Murphy 55)

Subs:

Dubravka, Ruddy, Trippier, Hall, Neave

(BBC Sport comments from ‘neutrals’ – Interesting on Newcastle United after 3-2 win at Birmingham – Read HERE)

(Birmingham 2 Newcastle 3 – Instant Newcastle United fan/writer reaction – Read HERE)

Newcastle United upcoming matches:

Saturday 15 February – Man City v Newcastle (3pm)

Sunday 23 February – Newcastle v Forest (2pm) Sky Sports

Wednesday 26 February – Liverpool v Newcastle (8.15pm) TNT Sports

Weekend of Saturday 1 March –  FA Cup fifth round (TBC)

Monday 10 March – West Ham v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports

Saturday 16 March – Newcastle v Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final! (Time TBC)