Wembley awaits – Liverpool v Newcastle preview | OneFootball

Welcome to the Newcastle v Liverpool preview.

Newcastle United are just ninety minutes away from achieving hopes and dreams that have been harboured on Tyneside for an excruciating fifty six years. The opportunity to achieve true legendary status and go down in Geordie folklore awaits, for the eleven men lucky enough to be chosen to carry out such a huge responsibility.

Eddie Howe may well have gone to bed dreaming about having a statue outside of St James’ Park and he must be safe in the knowledge that this is a mere ninety minutes from reality, should the Toon secure a famous and long-awaited victory on Sunday afternoon.

Standing in our way are a Liverpool side who have already been outplayed by Newcastle United once this season.

Frustratingly, this came in a 3-3 draw, as the reds do have a habit of gaining results at NUFC’s expense. As League Cup holders, Liverpool will be looking to defend their title against a Toon team that have never won the trophy.

The match is a repeat of the 1974 FA Cup final. Incredibly, both sides went into that fixture having won the same number of major trophies in their entire history. Newcastle fans will be hoping for a repeat of the atmosphere that day but not the final score, as United limped to a desperately disappointing 3-0 defeat with all the goals coming in the second half.

Newcastle’s League Cup form has been exemplary this season with wins over Nottingham Forest, AFC Wimbledon, Chelsea, Brentford and Arsenal (twice) taking us to the Wembley Final.

In fact, the past three seasons have seen the Toon play sixteen League Cup matches and lose only twice. The blemishes have unfortunately come against Man United in the 2023 final and away at Chelsea in last season’s quarter-final, where a last-minute equaliser for the blues was followed by an unlucky penalty shootout defeat. This season we’ve scored eleven goals in the League Cup and conceded just two.

Liverpool have seen off West Ham, Brighton, Southampton and Tottenham to reach this stage. They’ll be hoping to lift the trophy for the third time in four years. They’ve scored nine goals in this year’s competition and conceded five.

Last time out

Newcastle travelled to West Ham on Monday night and pulled off an incredibly important 1-0 win with the goal coming care of Bruno in the second half.

The victory fired us up to sixth in the league and just two points off fourth in an increasingly tight race to qualify for the Champions League.

Liverpool had a home match with PSG in the Champions League on Tuesday night having won the away leg by a single goal. They lost the match 1-0 which triggered extra time and penalties. They went on to lose the shootout 4-1. Hopefully this was an extremely draining experience that will lead to a lot of tired players at Wembley.

Stat attack!

(Those of a nervous disposition should look away now)

Newcastle have lost their past five cup finals in a row, having been defeated in Wembley showpieces in the FA Cup to Liverpool in 1974, Arsenal in 1998 and Man United in 1999. League Cup heartache has come courtesy of Man City in 1976 and Man United in 2023.

No team has ever lost their first three League Cup finals, Newcastle will be hoping to avoid this, having been beaten by Man City and Man United on the only occasions we’ve even reached this stage.

Newcastle have lost their past nine matches at Wembley in all competitions: Three FA Cup finals, two League Cup finals, one FA Cup semi-final, one Charity Shield and two Premier League matches, whilst the Tottenham stadium was being built. We’ve conceded eighteen goals during this time and scored just twice.

Newcastle last scored at Wembley in 2000 when Robert Lee gloriously blasted a header into the top corner to equalise an FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea. The goal and celebration live long in the memory but was unfortunately part of a desperately unlucky 2-1 defeat for Sir Bobby’s brave team.

Memorable match

In 1955, Newcastle United went to the FA Cup final at Wembley with high hopes of winning the famous trophy for the third time in just five years.

It may be hard to believe now but back then Newcastle were an incredibly successful Cup team and boasted a tremendous Wembley record. We’d enjoyed success over Blackpool in 1951 and Arsenal 1952 to win the FA Cup and any optimism going into this one was reinforced by Jackie Milburn who opened the scoring after just forty five seconds.

This was the fastest ever cup final goal, a record that would stand for forty two years, and set United on their way to more Wembley glory. Despite being reduced to ten men when a defender was carried off with a serious injury (no substitutes in those days), Manchester City were able to equalise, tying the scores at half-time. The occasion would ultimately belong to United with Mitchell and Hannah scoring early in the second half to secure a 3-1 victory for Stan Seymour’s team.

IMAGO/Colorsport

The win wasn’t without controversy however, as manager Doug Livingstone attempted to drop Jackie Milburn for the final before director Seymour stepped in, picked the team and subsequently banned Livingstone from having anything to do with the first team due to such gross misjudgement. Seymour had already become the first man in history to win the FA Cup as player and manager for the same club (playing for the Toon in the 1932 final and managing in both 1951 and 1952) and here he was again being instrumental in another success having been dubbed ‘Mr Newcastle’ by delirious fans. The Toon had secured another FA Cup win and were fast becoming one of the most successful teams in England. It would take a brave man to bet against them enjoying more trophies in the coming years. The notion of 70 years on without adding another domestic cup would have, at the time, been unthinkable. Final Score Newcastle 3-1 Manchester City

Played for both

Kevin Keegan – where to start?! A legend at Liverpool where unfortunately he scored twice against Newcastle in the 1974 FA Cup final, the England captain amazingly signed for second division Newcastle from Southampton in 1982 and spent two years battling to ensure promotion back to the big time.

This was a massive coup for the Toon and was front page news for all the right reasons. Once promotion was achieved in 1984, Keegan famously departed his testimonial in a helicopter from the centre circle of St James Park. He scored forty nine goals in just eighty five appearances in the famous black and white. If that was the end of this story then it would be impressive enough but this is just the first chapter of what became an intriguing relationship between one man and the entire club.

Keegan would return to Newcastle United in 1992 with NUFC on the brink of dropping into the third tier of English football for the first time in our history. He’d not only oversee survival, he’d also take us up as champions twelve months later and then embark upon a rollercoaster ride that saw us heartbreakingly close to being the champions of England for the first time since 1927.

Anyone who wants to relive such a special time should get the club VHS ‘So Close’ and read the excellent Martin Hardy book ‘Touching Distance’ (these may be also be good for some of our younger readers who’d enjoy finding out about Keegan and his entertainers, as well as making me feel very old by learning what a VHS is!). Devastated at missing out on the 1996 title, King Kev walked eight months later, claiming he’d taken the club as far as he could.

He made a sensational return as manager in January 2008 but lasted just six months before being constructively dismissed by Mike Ashley, starting a civil war between fans and owner that lasted thirteen poisonous years. His place is assured as the most influential man in our recent history. A true NUFC legend.

Peter Beardsley had two hugely successful spells paying for the Toon. He was initially signed in 1983 and formed an exciting partnership with the aforementioned Kevin Keegan, scoring twenty goals and setting up many more as United gained promotion to the top flight. The next season he scored a hat-trick in a derby day victory over Sunderland and netted seventeen goals in total. He’d spend four years scoring and assisting spectacular strikes before signing for Liverpool in 1987. He went on to play for Merseyside rivals Everton before sensationally returning to Newcastle when manager Keegan signed him to form potent attacks with Andy Cole and then Sir Les Ferdinand. Beardsley was a huge part of a Toon team that terrorised the rest of the league and was captain when we looked likely to be champions of England for the first time in sixty nine years. Beardsley’s talent should never be underestimated, one of the most naturally gifted footballers this country has ever produced.

Andy Carrol looked the real deal when rising through the ranks at NUFC and scored three goals in our unsuccessful attempt to avoid relegation in 2009. He became a crucial part of the team that regained top flight status just a year later and continued this form into the Premier League campaign, scoring eleven goals before January. Highlights included a hat-trick against Aston Villa in a 6-0 win and the winning goal away at Arsenal.

He was sold to Liverpool by Mike Ashley for an astonishing thirty five million pounds at the end of the January transfer window. His Anfield highlights were few and far between but he did score the winner against rivals Everton in the 2012 FA Cup semi-final and then a consolation in a 2-1 final defeat to Chelsea.

Eddie Howe after a 1-0 win away to West Ham:

“Massive win, not our best game, but one of our best games. It’s a difficult ground to play at, a difficult team to play against but we dug in, we were disciplined. We were everything defensively that we haven’t been in recent weeks. We defended our goal magnificently. We’ve had a challenging week and it was a brilliant response. All the big ingredients you need to be a successful team. Need to win when the game is tight and find a way to get over the line. We defended really well after the first three minutes which were a bit scary. We deserved to win…We’ll focus fully on Liverpool now. We’ll take everything into consideration. I felt we were in need of a win to go into the final with a real boost and lift. It will do us the world of good. Also for our league table position, today was vital.”

Arne Slot after a penalty shootout defeat to PSG :

“The good thing is we play a final on Sunday, so mentally that’s probably the best you can ask for, because this is what we are playing football for: to play finals and then there are two-and-a-half weeks in between before we start the season again. If we can play nine times with this intensity – and the ones we play at home with the same intensity from the fans as well – then I am really looking forward to the end of the season.”

Charity

As it is a match away from SJP, Newcastle United fans will not be collecting opposite the Gallowgate end, for the food bank. However, you can still help out and all online cash donations are very much appreciated. For further info and/or to donate to the food bank online go HERE.

There’s no half measures in this one – if we win then we can celebrate the type of glory not seen on Tyneside since we lifted the Fairs Cup in 1969, defeat however will leave us lamenting yet another near miss.

There’s no way I’m going to be predicting anything other than a Toon victory for this one.

It may well take some resolute defending but if we stay calm and take our chances then there’s no reason why we can’t bring that trophy home.

I fancy Newcastle to take an early lead into half-time which will force Liverpool on to the front foot. Our goal will lead a charmed life and when the reds’ attacks become increasingly more desperate, Newcastle will break away with just ten minutes left and smash home a match-winning second goal to send the travelling Toon Army into raptures. Final Score Newcastle 2-0 Liverpool