I am heading back to Newcastle Upon Tyne for this Wembley final | OneFootball

Ahead of Liverpool v Newcastle in the Carabao Cup Final, we are looking to gauge the thoughts of Newcastle United fans ahead of that 4.30pm kick-off at Wembley on Sunday.

So we have asked a number of regular and irregular contributors to The Mag a range of questions.

How they think things are looking ahead of this massive match.

Whether or not they have a ticket for this Carabao Cup Final and what they expect to see happen when Newcastle United meet Liverpool.

Next up we have The Armchair Fan:

Ticketed or ticketless for Sunday?

Ticketless.

I’ve been an armchair fan since Benitez left so I knew there was no chance of getting to Wembley.

I decided to arrange the next best thing and had a hotel booked in Newcastle Upon Tyne (I live outside the region now) as soon as we won the first leg of the semi-final.

What are your plans around the match this weekend?

Travelling up to Newcastle on Sunday morning via train and checking into my hotel.

Then it’s off to the fanzone in my retro Toon top to get the party started. Hopefully it’ll be a huge celebration and a fantastic occasion.

The old favourite, would you rather win this Cup Final on Sunday or qualify for the Champions League via the Premier League (Obviously bearing in mind the PSR/money side of things as well)?

There’s no way I’d ever turn down lifting a trophy as we’ve waited so many years for it.

In terms of keeping our best players however and recruiting better ones, it’s imperative that we strive towards regularly competing in the Champions League. There’s no reason why we can’t have both.

Maybe a bit more difficult, would you rather win on Sunday but have no Champions League qualification these next five seasons, or lose on Sunday and have Champions League qualification guaranteed for each of the next five seasons. (Obviously bearing in mind the PSR/money side of things as well)?

Unfortunately, I’d have to plump for the latter. The Champions League is just too important to the development of the club. To not be in it for the next five years would be disastrous.

What would be your starting eleven in the Carabao Cup Final?

Dubravka, Burn, Livramento, Schar, Trippier, Bruno, Joelinton, Tonali, Murphy, Willock and Isak.

What would have been your starting eleven if everybody had been available?

I would have found space for Hall and Gordon so out would go Tripper and Willock.

What chance do Newcastle United have of lifting the trophy (rating it between 0 and 10)?

5/10 It’s a one-off match so it’s a complete fifty-fifty.

How important was the West Ham match to our chances in the final? Has defeating the Hammers gave us a better (or worse?!!) chance, compared to if NUFC had lost on Monday?

I think momentum is crucial in football and it’s great to go into a final off the back of a fine away win. Certainly, can’t have done any harm especially as we seem to have gotten away without picking up injuries or suspensions.

Similarly, what impact do you think it will have on Newcastle’s chances, what happened at Anfield on Tuesday night against PSG?

It couldn’t have gone any better for us really, extra time and penalties are always draining especially during a painful defeat. In addition, we’ve had a day extra to prepare.

These are all small margins but if they help then so be it. I stand by what I said earlier though, both sides have a fifty percent chance of winning as it’s a one-off match between two good teams. Liverpool may be favourites but that will count for very little come kick off.

Who do you think are the three most important players on Sunday and in what order and why?

Isak definitely is the most important and that goes without saying. He’s a match-winner and you can guarantee that if we do win on Sunday, he’ll have been a huge part of it.

I think Tonali is key to our midfield. When he plays well, he makes the team tick and raises the game of those around him. Get him and Bruno working in tandem and we could be in business.

Dubravka/Pope – I don’t know who will start but we’re going to need a top-class goalkeeping performance. There will be spells in this match when the Toon are on the back foot and will need to stand firm in the face of pressure. A strong performance from our ‘keeper will instil confidence throughout the defence that it’s finally our day.

Looking back at your time supporting Newcastle United, which are the times when you thought NUFC were potentially going to win something?

I was spoiled growing up as I started to really know what was going on during the mid-nineties, so in my first four seasons, we were runners up twice in the league and then twice in the FA Cup (1996 through to 1999). I was convinced we were going to win every one of those.

The match that has hurt me the most however was probably the 2000 semi-final when we hammered Chelsea at Wembley and were desperately unlucky to lose 2-1. It was my first match away from SJP and the scenes when Robert Lee scored were incredible. I actually cried at the final whistle due to the sheer injustice of it all.

When Sir Bobby had us challenging near the top of the table in 2002 and 2003, I thought we might finally break our duck and then the 2004 run to the UEFA Cup Semi-Final as well when an away goal in Marseille would have really given us a great chance to make the final.

I think people forget how close we came in 2005 too, when we went 2-0 up on aggregate in Lisbon (with a crucial away goal) and still failed to make the UEFA Cup Semi-Final, in the same week we lost the FA Cup semi-final to Man United in Cardiff. Those two 4-1 defeats were deeply scarring.

God, this answer has really depressed me!

Would this automatically be the highlight of your time supporting NUFC if they beat Liverpool on Sunday?

Yes definitely! We haven’t won a trophy for fifty six years so it really would be such a special occasion. I remember being in high school at the turn of the millennium and we all had to write our ambitions for a display on what we hoped to achieve in the next millennium. Mine was to see Newcastle win a trophy! Haha! Twenty-five years later, could this finally be the time?

Anything special planned if/when we win this Cup Final?

I dread to think of what state I’ll be in come the end of the match, win or lose! I don’t have any specific plans but as I’ll be right in the centre of Newcastle, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of partying!

Do you think if Newcastle United win this trophy it will live up to what you ever hoped it feel like, or do you think maybe a bit of an anti-climax, as in…is that it?

I can’t even imagine what it’ll be like in that city when United finally win a trophy. Going to be amazing!

How would you describe how you feel ahead of this match – excited, terrified, can’t wait, dreading it…?

Excited and can’t wait!

I’ve had plenty of heartache supporting the Toon over the years so I’m fully versed in how to deal with that. What I’ve never experienced is glory, so it’s a really exciting thing to be a part of. Hard to believe just a few years ago, the height of our ambition was to avoid relegation. Now we’re talking about Cup finals and the Champions League, it’s brilliant!

Do you think Eddie Howe and his team have got enough recognition for even getting to the final, considering the fact that in this cup run Newcastle have defeated current top four sides Chelsea, Forest and Arsenal (twice!) just to get to Wembley?

Possibly not, I think the League Cup goes under the radar in the media these days which is a real shame. It’s been a brilliant cup run and all Toon fans know that. Whether we get recognition or not from elsewhere really doesn’t bother me. If we win the cup, it’ll go down in Toon Army folklore!

In your optimistic moments do you think back to our first game in the competition this season, behind in the penalty shootout at Forest, then think maybe this was all meant to be…?

No, I think we’ve won a number of football matches through hard work, a strong team ethic and a manager who is massively underrated.

Of course, there have been fine margins and no more so than when we won the penalty shootout, but I don’t think there was any predetermined ‘meant to be’ about our cup run. I don’t think sporting achievements are ever really down to fate, they’re down to hard work, dedication, tactics and maybe a touch of luck here and there.