3 Positives and 3 Negatives to take from Birmingham 2 Newcastle 3

The Mag

·9. Februar 2025

3 Positives and 3 Negatives to take from Birmingham 2 Newcastle 3

Saturday night’s match ended Birmingham 2 Newcastle 3.

Ahead of each match we ask one of our writers to come up with three positives and three negatives following the game.

OneFootball Videos

Plenty to talk about after this one.

On this occasion it is ‘Matt Busby said to Joe Harvey…’:

POSITIVES

In the hat

Mission accomplished.

United into the last sixteen.

Ball number 9 is the one to look out for, heated up of course….

Little Joe, Callum and Nick all playing their part in getting us through to the fifth round.

After suffering some vile abuse on social media last weekend, Joe Willock having a barnstormer of a game and scoring twice, the vital equaliser after United had fallen behind and then popping up to steer Longstaff’s cross come shot into the net where the travelling hordes were congregated near the end for the winner.

I especially loved his quip afterwards when asked whether his first had crossed the line, “I was convinced, that’s why I kicked it over the bar the second time”. My MOTM.

The second string did well

Okay, it wasn’t an entirely different line-up from the one that beat Arsenal so convincingly in the League Cup in midweek, but the team that Eddie put out did see nine changes, only Guimaraes and Burn sent out to do battle again at St Andrew’s.

And it was a battle, from conceding in the first minute to having to contend with a display of thuggery that was way over the top from their lower tier opponent.

The home crowd was partisan and raucous, their biggest day out in years and make no mistake, that was a proper old fashioned, blood and thunder FA Cup tie, the likes of which has time and again exposed the brittleness of previous versions of Newcastle United.

Not so this last night and whisper it quietly, that was out sixth consecutive win on the road.

NEGATIVES

The second string has its limitations

I know, I’ve just contradicted myself, by saying the second string did well and yet it does have its limitations.

I don’t want to provide fodder to the boo boys, but I’m sure we could all single out one or two, say that they struggled to make an impact.

Playing a bunch of cloggers is hazardous

Let’s hope we get a reasonable draw because the fifth round is scheduled for a fortnight before the League Cup Final and we can ill afford to put our first teamers through the sort of thuggery United encountered last night.

Little Joe needed treatment before continuing after a dubious tackle, and in another incident, he ended up clattering into the advertising hoardings. In fact, it was rinse and repeat, Fabian Schar suffering the same fate.

Lyndon Dykes’ assault on Emil Krafth was another that the referee was seemingly content to let go and I imagine Will Osula will be pretty sore this morning, after having seven bells kicked out of him all night, with little or no protection offered by Mr Donohue.

To our credit, we didn’t retaliate, so quite how we ended with yellow cards at only 4-3 in favour of the Brummies is beyond me.

Big Dan Burn injured?

As above, we were lucky to escape without serious injuries, but it seems that BDB’s withdrawal ten minutes into the second half might have been due to an injury he sustained in the battle of St Andrew’s.

Let’s hope it’s nothing too serious and he’s back soon.

Birmingham 2 Newcastle 3 – Saturday 8 February 2025 5.45pm

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)