Online Reporter
NEWCASTLE fans have waited 70 years to see their club win silverware and finally the Toon Army have something to celebrate.
Goals by Blyth-born Dan Burn and star striker Alexander Isak sunk Liverpool 2-1 to lift the Carabao Cup at Wembley.
Newcastle fully deserved victory and laid the blueprint for how to stop Arne Slot’s Reds and nullify goal machine Mo Salah.
In the latest episode of SunSport’s Tactics Exposed, our expert DEAN SCOGGINS explains ‘Howe’ it was done…
1. Burn Baby Burn
A local lad scoring in a cup final is what dreams are made of. But this was masterminded by Howe and his coaches, shattering Liverpool’s zonal marking system.
They used Burn perfectly. Slot leaves five big lads in front of the six-yard box by the goalkeeper and then he sends the other players out to mark, like the smaller Alexis MacAllister.
So Newcastle put Fabian Schar, Joelinton and big Burn in those positions to hit clipped, flat corners, letting them win aerial duels, while Bruno Guimaraes gets in the way of Liverpool’s big lads on the edge of the six-yard box.
Liverpool defend like this a lot and it’s fantastic from Howe and Jason Tindall because they’ve taken Liverpool’s two best headers in Ibrahima Konate and Van Dijk out of the picture as they can’t get to the ball.
There’s this square in front of them that becomes Newcastle’s territory and it is all wrong for Slot.
2. Isak leaves VVD in a spin
Isak’s classic “go, stop, go” movement fooled Van Dijk. A burst of movement before holding back and going again to create a yard of space.
Making it 2-0, it was Van Dijk’s mistake, he got caught under the ball and he knew it.
The cross comes in from the left and the ball goes over both Isak and Van Dijk to Jacob Murphy.
As the ball goes to winger, Isak does his movement to create himself three or four yards of space.
Van Dijk should be in a position so when the ball drops to Isak, he can sprint out and close the ball down to, at the very worst, block the shot. Instead he is caught nowhere near the goalscorer.
3. Three midfield heroes
First and foremost, they were the epitome of the Geordie nation, the Toon Army. Everything came through them.
Joelinton, Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali − the blocks, the dual successes, the headers, the tackles and most importantly, they work together as a three.
In the match, Tonali is the one who breaks out of the three to join Isak in the press. And then the other two are ready to pounce behind.
It is man-for-man, but if it they get through the press, they work hard to retreat into a compact shape.
Liverpool did not have control and their midfielder had no time on the ball – you’re looking around thinking, ‘as soon as I receive the ball here, I’m going to get smashed by one of these physical three’. It felt like three against one.
5. Slow Mo – how Salah was stopped
In Salah’s eight games at Wembley, he has scored in just one of them. − Sun.
